PRISM v2.9.0 released

[Ronkupper]

PRISM v2.9.0 is released — SP-13 to vendor + tier, and the framework decomposed into a Skill archive.

Two additive, behavior-preserving changes (MINOR). No capability is removed; default behavior is unchanged.

What landed

SP-13 (Substrate Declaration) → vendor + tier. The orchestration substrate is now declared as Claude, Opus-class / flagship tier — a capability floor, version-agnostic, latest by default — rather than enumerated model versions. This removes the version-halt that pinned earlier releases to specific Opus versions, so PRISM runs on the latest Opus. The session-open self-check now confirms vendor (Claude, not another vendor) and tier (an Opus-class floor), not a version string.

Decomposition into a Skill archive. PRISM is now distributed as a Claude Skill plugin: a lean always-loaded core (PRISM_core.md, ~3,450 lines) plus on-demand reference bundles — the Lens Library, the templates compendium, and the appendices (glossary, provenance, vendor-parsing, worked example, mobile guide, parked ideas) — under plugins/prism/. The core loads at trigger; a bundle loads only when a task reads it. The canonical PRISM.md remains the assembled single-file form for attachment and citation; the packaged core references the standalone bundled Lens Library and drops the embedded Appendix-G copy.

Standing-Principles de-duplication. §10 is now the single canonical home for full Standing-Principle text; the former Appendix F (a terser restatement) is folded in, with no operative text lost.

Cross-file named-reference linting. A new linter (scripts/lint/lint_cross_file_refs.py) resolves §{...} refs across the decomposed archive via a union index — the same rules as the single-file linter, over a wider surface. lint_catalog_version advances to 3.

Install (Claude Code / Cowork)

/plugin marketplace add Ronkupper/PRISM
/plugin install prism@prism

The lean core loads on trigger; reference bundles fetch on demand.

Calibration / report-back

• Trigger precision — does the sharpened, version-pin-free SKILL.md description fire on genuine PRISM cues without over-firing on unrelated audit or prompt-engineering work?
• On-demand fetch in Cowork — confirm bundles load only when read. The runtime-adherence benefit is confirmed for Claude Code; Cowork is pending operator test.
• Lean-core adherence — whether the ~3,450-line core holds the operating mechanics well on its own, with reference material fetched as needed.

Release: v2.9.0 · surface-drift map: Appendix D (now in the provenance bundle) · the canonical PRISM.md and the byte-identical snapshot PRISM_v2_9_0.md are on main.