diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 0e27f92..29d10cb 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -199,6 +199,35 @@ Exempt artifact types (no trailer required): `chore`, `style`, `ci`, `docs`, `bu
 To skip traceability for a commit, add: `Trace: skip`
 <!-- END rivet-managed -->
 
+## Before You Push (Rust)
+
+`Format` and `Clippy` are the two most common first-push CI failures, and
+neither has a fast guard in the default agent workflow unless you have run
+`./scripts/install-hooks.sh` (which installs a git `pre-commit` that runs
+`cargo fmt --all -- --check` on staged `.rs` files). Even with the hook,
+clippy is not checked per-commit (too slow). So before every push that
+touches Rust, run the **exact CI gates** by hand:
+
+```sh
+cargo fmt --all -- --check          # CI "Format" gate (ci.yml)
+cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings   # CI "Clippy" gate — note --all-targets and -D warnings
+```
+
+Pitfalls (verified against CI):
+- `cargo clippy ... | grep '^error'` is **deceptive** — CI uses `-D warnings`,
+  so a *warning* (e.g. `doc_lazy_continuation`) fails CI while that grep reports
+  clean. Always run the full `-D warnings` form, no grep.
+- `cargo clippy -p <crate>` skips test code; CI runs `--all-targets`, which
+  lints tests too. Test-only lints pass locally but fail CI without
+  `--all-targets`.
+- The commit-msg hook rejects body lines shaped like `Word:` as malformed
+  trailers — phrase verification prose as "Confirmed with …", and keep real
+  trailers (`Implements`/`Verifies`/`Refs`) in the final block.
+
+A one-shot `pre-commit install --install-hooks` also activates the
+`.pre-commit-config.yaml` `cargo-fmt` + `cargo-clippy` hooks if you prefer the
+pre-commit framework. See `docs/pre-commit.md`.
+
 ## Parallel-PR friction (avoiding merge conflicts)
 
 When several PRs are in flight at once (the dogfooding loop is the heaviest
diff --git a/artifacts/requirements.yaml b/artifacts/requirements.yaml
index 84f6e76..9c93111 100644
--- a/artifacts/requirements.yaml
+++ b/artifacts/requirements.yaml
@@ -6183,3 +6183,55 @@ artifacts:
     links:
       - type: traces-to
         target: REQ-007
+  - id: REQ-202
+    type: requirement
+    title: "rivet-cli must support a minimal `--no-default-features` build (validate/list/commit-msg-check) that excludes the serve+MCP+LSP stack"
+    status: draft
+    description: |
+      Finding (issue #456, AI-agent dogfooding, verified against
+      rivet-cli/Cargo.toml). `rivet validate` is the hook-critical and
+      CI-critical hot path, yet rivet-cli has NO way to build a minimal binary:
+      `[features]` is `default = []` (only `wasm` is non-trivial), and `axum`,
+      `tower-http`, `notify` (serve), `lsp-server`/`lsp-types` (LSP), and `rmcp`
+      (full streamable-HTTP MCP server) are UNCONDITIONAL dependencies. So every
+      from-source build — `cargo install rivet`, CI's compile step, and a local
+      build to test a one-line validate change — compiles the entire web/MCP/LSP
+      tree even though validate/list/commit-msg-check never use it. rivet-core
+      already gates its heavy deps (`wasm`, `reqwest`, `spar-*` are
+      `optional = true`); the coupling is specific to rivet-cli.
+
+      Fix (additive, preserves published behavior): introduce cargo features and
+      KEEP them in `default`, so the released binary is byte-for-byte unchanged:
+        default = ["serve", "mcp", "lsp"]
+        serve = ["dep:axum", "dep:tower-http", "dep:notify"]
+        mcp   = ["dep:rmcp", "dep:tokio"]
+        lsp   = ["dep:lsp-server", "dep:lsp-types"]
+      …with `#[cfg(feature = ...)]` gating the corresponding command handlers and
+      `mod serve`/`mod mcp`/`mod lsp` declarations in main.rs. The code-side
+      gating across the serve/mcp/lsp command dispatch is the bulk of the work
+      and needs care so `--no-default-features` still compiles cleanly. The
+      default-feature set is a maintainer call (filed as draft).
+
+      Acceptance:
+        - `rivet-cli/Cargo.toml` declares `serve`/`mcp`/`lsp` features, all in
+          `default`, with the corresponding deps marked `optional = true`
+          (`dep:` syntax).
+        - `cargo build -p rivet-cli --no-default-features` succeeds and the
+          resulting binary runs `validate`, `list`, and `commit-msg-check`.
+        - `cargo build -p rivet-cli --no-default-features` does NOT compile
+          `axum`, `rmcp`, or `lsp-server` (verify via
+          `cargo tree -p rivet-cli --no-default-features` absence).
+        - Default build (`cargo build -p rivet-cli`) is unchanged: serve, mcp,
+          and lsp subcommands all present.
+        - `rivet validate` on the rivet repo still PASS.
+    tags: [cli, build, cargo-features, minimal-build, friction, dogfooding]
+    fields:
+      priority: should
+      category: functional
+    links:
+      - type: traces-to
+        target: REQ-007
+    provenance:
+      created-by: ai-assisted
+      model: claude-opus-4-8
+      timestamp: 2026-06-05T09:23:14Z