cat-mode: local-only repos end in a local merge, never GitHub

[EdbertChan]

Summary

Some projects live only on your own computer and have no GitHub copy. The assistant should finish work there with a local merge.

Today the assistant can still try to push or open a pull request in those projects.

This change adds one rule. If a project has no GitHub copy, or you say stay local, the assistant stops at a local merge.

It never pushes or probes GitHub.

Two small example files and a test check the rule.

Review Claim

When a project is local only, the assistant ends in a local merge and never touches GitHub.

Review Lane

behavior

Review Unit

corpus-lesson

Safety Invariant

Skill text plus small test files that only read that text. No hook or script changes.

Slice Rationale

Each standing rule is one reviewable claim, stacked in order. This is the first rule; the second rule builds on the same file.

Non-goals

• No hook or script changes.
• No change to how repos that have a remote publish.

Measured

Command: python3 -m unittest discover -s corpus/skills/cat-mode/tests

• base: Ran 2 tests in 0.024s -- OK
• head: Ran 3 tests in 0.007s -- OK

Test Plan

Test Plan

• python3 -m unittest discover -s corpus/skills/cat-mode/tests
• python3 scripts/ci/check_no_dated_provenance.py (ok, exit 0)
• python3 scripts/ci/check_skill_file_refs.py (ok, exit 0)
• python3 scripts/ci/check_skill_test_coverage.py --base origin/main --head HEAD (ok, exit 0)
• python3 scripts/ci/check_skill_test_debt_no_growth.py (ok, exit 0)

Revert Plan

Revert Plan

• Safe to revert? Yes
• Revert command: git revert <sha>
• Post-revert steps: None
• Data migration? No

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

---

Note

Low Risk
Documentation and corpus test fixtures only; no hooks, scripts, or runtime behavior changes beyond agent skill guidance.

Overview
Adds a local-only repo autonomy rule to cat-mode: when there is no GitHub remote or the user says stay local, workflows end on a local branch and local merge—no push, gh, or credential probing—and Invoker should use the repo’s local folder. The existing auto-commit/PR bullet now explicitly treats local-only as a reason to skip GitHub publication.

Two trigger fixtures (fires_local_only_no_github, stays_silent_remote_repo_publishes) plus test_local_only_rule_has_fixtures lock the rule text and the split between local-merge vs default push/PR behavior.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit c79e019. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

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[mergify]

Queued — the merge queue status continues in this comment ↓.

[EdbertChan]

@Mergifyio queue

[mergify]

Merge Queue Status

• ✅ Entered queue — 2026-10-13 10:13 UTC · Rule: admin-bypass · triggered by a @mergifyio queue command
• 🟠 Checks running · on draft merge queue: checking #1378 on main (9cf9f36) #1400
• 🚫 Left the queue — 2026-10-13 10:19 UTC · at c79e01980b803505a20717af27d4dbaca303d98a

This pull request spent 5 minutes 38 seconds in the queue, with no time running CI.

Reason

Pull request #1378 has been merged manually at 9cf9f36

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queue

☑️ The pull request has been merged manually

Details

The pull request has been merged manually at 9cf9f36