Add step gate checks, crew briefing template, and imperative language

[EmanuelFaria]

Summary

Implements the three accepted items from #3:

• Gate checks — Verification gate after Step 3 ("Before proceeding to Step 4: verify sailing orders exist, squadron is formed, and every task has an owner, deliverable, and action station tier"). Prevents the admiral from advancing with incomplete assignments.
• Crew briefing template — New admiralty-templates/crew-briefing.md for dispatching context to teammates. Complementary to the ship manifest: the manifest is the admiral's planning view, the briefing is what the teammate receives on spawn. ~500 tokens — enough to work independently, not so much it wastes context.
• Imperative language — All "Use X" / "Consult X" directives changed to "You MUST read X" / "You MUST consult X" for stronger instruction adherence in longer missions.

Files changed

• .claude/skills/nelson/SKILL.md — Gate check, crew briefing note, imperative phrasing
• .claude/skills/nelson/references/admiralty-templates.md — Index entry for crew-briefing.md
• .claude/skills/nelson/references/admiralty-templates/crew-briefing.md — NEW template

Test plan

• Install skill locally and invoke /nelson
• Verify admiral reads crew briefing template when spawning teammates
• Verify gate check fires after Step 3 (admiral should confirm assignments before proceeding)
• Verify imperative directives are followed (admiral loads reference files rather than skipping them)

Closes #3

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[harrymunro]

Thanks @EmanuelFaria — scope matches exactly what we agreed in #3 and the content is solid. A few things to address before merging:

Crew briefing placement (main issue)

The briefing instruction is currently at the end of Step 2 (Form The Squadron), but the template fields reference information that doesn't exist until Step 3 — task, deliverable, action station tier, file ownership, dependencies. If the admiral follows this instruction during Step 2, they won't have the battle plan information to fill in the briefing.

The crew briefing reference should move to after Step 3 or the start of Step 4, when agents are actually dispatched with their full assignments.

Gate check scope

The issue mentioned "a one-line gate at each major transition" but the PR only adds one after Step 3. That's the most critical transition point so it may be sufficient — but worth considering whether you intended gates elsewhere too.

Minor style nit on template index

The new entry in admiralty-templates.md says "Spawn teammate" which breaks the pattern of the other entries that are step-based ("Issue Sailing Orders", "Draft Battle Plan", etc.). Something like "Brief crew for dispatch" would fit better.

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Everything else — imperative language changes, gate check wording, and the crew briefing template itself — looks great. Happy to merge once the placement issue is sorted.

[EmanuelFaria]

Thanks for the thorough review — all three points addressed in 527ee65:

1. Crew briefing placement: Moved from Step 2 to after Step 3 (after the gate check), so all battle plan fields are available when the admiral fills in the briefing.

2. Gate check scope: The Step 3→4 gate is intentionally the only one. It's the critical transition where the admiral shifts from planning to execution — if anything is missing at this point, it cascades into every downstream step. The other transitions are lower-risk: Step 1→2 (sailing orders → squadron) is naturally sequential (you can't form a squadron without orders), and Step 5→6 (action stations → stand down) is enforced by the verification evidence requirements in Step 5. Adding more gates would add friction without proportional value. Happy to revisit if operational experience suggests otherwise.

3. Template index: "Spawn teammate" → "Brief crew for dispatch" ✓

[harrymunro]

Thanks @EmanuelFaria - merged!

[EmanuelFaria]

This is my first contribution ever! I'm so pleased you found it useful!