diff --git a/docs/SESSIONS.md b/docs/SESSIONS.md
index eea6a344..22280baf 100644
--- a/docs/SESSIONS.md
+++ b/docs/SESSIONS.md
@@ -10,3 +10,4 @@ are never rewritten or removed; corrections are new entries.
 | 2026-09-03 | assistant (conductor) | User layer: profile updates (pets, family), ms-user skill review/revision (confirmation rules merged, propose-not-apply, missing-file flow, privacy scope, dispatch = all of user/, rule 9 scratch-file constraint), USER.md.bak removed | skills/ms-user/SKILL.md rewritten; ~/.mosaic-dev/user/USER.md updated (Family, Pets); USER.md.bak deleted |
 | 2026-09-03 | assistant | ms-communications skill: inter-agent messaging protocol consolidated from tools/tmux/README.md and agent-send.sh (channel, preamble grammar, flip-on-reply, triage classes, etiquette, receiving protocol, delivery mechanics) | skills/ms-communications/SKILL.md created; unslop-check clean |
 | 2026-09-03 | assistant (conductor) + ms-test collaborator (worker, glm-5.3-flash) | Conductor-loop calibration (#43): decompose → dispatch via agent-send.sh → receipt → line-by-line diff review (claims verified vs tool source) → suite-gated integration; CURRENT.md staleness corrected (M16/M17 late-logged, next action → M18) | docs/TOOLS.md tools/ section + suite-count fix; issue #43 closed; suites 24/74/14/17 + verify green |
+| 2026-09-03 | owner + assistant (conductor) + ms-test collaborator | Skill revisions adjudicated (#44): ms-communications integrated as-authored (owner preamble restructure + collaborator delivery-discipline hunks); ms-conductor collaborator redraft integrated with conductor remediation (step 3 refusal-vs-outage distinction; preserves owner's outage-dispatch intent inside fail-closed canon); TOOLS.md gains release.sh ensure row | skills/ms-communications/SKILL.md, skills/ms-conductor/SKILL.md, docs/TOOLS.md; suites 24/74/14/17 + verify green; unslop clean ×3 |
diff --git a/docs/TOOLS.md b/docs/TOOLS.md
index 7196f495..401d9604 100644
--- a/docs/TOOLS.md
+++ b/docs/TOOLS.md
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ persistent named session, optional workspace. Exit with `/quit`.
 | `scripts/release.sh activate` | Health gate → atomic pointer swap | `--fault-injection` proves the refusal path |
 | `scripts/release.sh rollback` | Health-gated return to previous | Refuses if image missing |
 | `scripts/release.sh status` | Release, tag, active pointer, log | Safe on empty state |
+| `scripts/release.sh ensure` | Self-determination: align active pointer to `RELEASE` | Fast path restores a missing/mismatched pointer without a gate; slow path packages + health-gates first. Invoked automatically at launch |
 
 ## Conductor (worker patches)
 
diff --git a/skills/ms-communications/SKILL.md b/skills/ms-communications/SKILL.md
index 9a42aa1d..8081140b 100644
--- a/skills/ms-communications/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/ms-communications/SKILL.md
@@ -16,24 +16,35 @@ SESSIONS.md, never in a pane that scrolls away.
   submits reliably (bracketed paste, Enter flush, draft detection), and ships
   itself over ssh for remote targets. Never raw `tmux send-keys`; that is how
   messages die as unsubmitted drafts.
-- Non-Fleet seats use the default docket.
-- Fleet seats use the named socket: `-L mosaic-fleet` (or `MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET`).
-  Fleet traffic stays off the user's default tmux server.
-- Address durable fleet seats exactly: `=coder0`, not a prefix that might match
-  two sessions.
-- Tool spec and internals: `tools/tmux/README.md`.
+- Your own session output is not a send path either. A reply composed as
+  assistant prose, however well formatted, delivers nothing to the
+  recipient's pane; a hand-written preamble in prose is decoration, not
+  delivery. A reply exists only once `agent-send.sh` has run, and its exit
+  code is the delivery receipt. No rc, no send.
 
-## Preamble (required)
+### Preamble
+Preamble is prepended to the message when using the `agent-send.sh` script.
+Check the script for usage instructions.
 
 ```
 [<src_host>:<src_session> -> <dst_host>:<dst_session>] <message>
 [<src> -> <dst> class=<CLASS>] <message>     # with triage class
 ```
 
-`host` is `hostname -s` of the sender's machine; `session` is the tmux session
-name. `agent-send.sh` writes the preamble for you. Two rules carry the protocol:
+- Non-Fleet seats use the default docket.
+- Fleet seats use the named socket: `-L mosaic-fleet` (or `MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET`).
+  Fleet traffic stays off the user's default tmux server.
+- Address durable fleet seats exactly: `=coder0`, not a prefix that might match
+  two sessions.
+- Tool spec and internals: `tools/tmux/README.md`
+
+- `host` is `hostname -s` of the sender's machine; `session` is the tmux session
+  name. `agent-send.sh` writes the preamble for you. Two rules carry the protocol:
 
 1. Replying? Flip it: `[<dst> -> <src>] ...`. Answer under your own lane.
+   The tool performs the flip: aim your send at the original sender's session
+   (`agent-send.sh -s <src_session> -C <class>`) and it writes the flipped
+   preamble for you. Never write the bracket line yourself.
 2. A preamble-less cross-agent message is malformed. If you receive one, ask
    the sender to resend before acting on it.
 
@@ -66,7 +77,10 @@ Class honestly. Never downgrade a question you want answered to `terminal-log`.
 
 1. Read the preamble first. Confirm you are the `dst`. Note the `src`.
 2. Triage by class (table above). `actionable` or absent: act now, or reply why not.
-3. Reply with the preamble flipped. Cite the run id or issue you acted on.
+3. Reply by sending: invoke `agent-send.sh` aimed at the sender's session; the
+   tool writes the flipped preamble. Cite the run id or issue you acted on.
+   Formatting the reply into your own output without running the tool leaves
+   the sender with nothing; that is a dropped reply, not a late one.
 
 ## Delivery mechanics
 
diff --git a/skills/ms-conductor/SKILL.md b/skills/ms-conductor/SKILL.md
index 9eb7559e..7729e8df 100644
--- a/skills/ms-conductor/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/ms-conductor/SKILL.md
@@ -10,12 +10,43 @@ Conducting discipline: direct workers without being one.
 
 ## Order of operations
 
-1. Decompose the goal into worker tasks small enough to spec completely in
-   one prompt: goal, files, constraints, acceptance, self-checks.
-2. Dispatch through the task runner. Never raw pi; never a shell one-liner.
-3. Extract the worker's diff. Review it line by line before integration.
-4. Verify with the suites. A failure reverts; the refusal is recorded.
-5. Integrate with attribution. Update the plan and registry.
+1. Decompose the goal into atomic worker tasks, each small enough to spec
+   completely in one prompt: goal, files, constraints, acceptance,
+   self-checks. Recursive decomposition is "fail → smaller task", never hope.
+2. Declare the task as JSON per the contracts and dispatch through the task
+   runner (`scripts/run-task.sh run <task.json>`). Never raw pi; never a
+   shell one-liner. The runner is the sandbox boundary: container, tools
+   allowlist, no git, no credentials, no policy control.
+3. Distinguish a refusal from an outage:
+   - The runner refuses (config, policy, validation): fail closed. Diagnose,
+     report blocked, stop. Never route around a refusal; a peer agent is
+     not an equivalent of the sandbox, and re-routing is how a policy
+     boundary gets quietly removed.
+   - The runner is genuinely unavailable (daemon down, mid-upgrade) and the
+     work cannot wait: dispatch directly to a qualified agent seat over
+     `ms-communications` (one holding the role/skills the task needs).
+     Record the degradation loudly: no sandbox, no run record. Capture the
+     diff and the delivery receipt yourself; steps 4-7 still apply in full.
+4. The worker's diff is reviewed by an independent, non-authoring agent seat
+   before integration. The seat that authored a change never reviews it.
+   Bad output goes back: refine the prompt, re-dispatch, same session.
+5. Verify with the suites. A failure reverts; the refusal is recorded.
+6. Integrate with attribution (`scripts/conductor-apply.sh`). Commit only
+   after suites are green; push stays an explicit act.
+7. Record in the repo's canon surfaces only: `docs/plans/CURRENT.md` (the
+   one next action), `BUILD-LOG.md` (phase entries), `docs/SESSIONS.md`
+   (session registration). There is no TASKS.md or STATE.md here; do not
+   invent scratch tracking files.
+8. Send status updates with `ms-communications`; its triage classes apply.
+
+## Cadence
+
+One action in flight. Read `docs/plans/CURRENT.md`, execute its single next
+action fully (implement, test, verify against acceptance criteria, commit,
+push, close the issue), then update CURRENT.md and register in SESSIONS.md.
+A batch mandate ("run the queue") repeats the loop until green or blocked.
+Blocked means stop and report, never improvise. Waiting on a long worker run?
+Arm `agent-watch` on the condition; never poll a colleague's pane.
 
 ## Gotcha ledger