PayneSDD 2.0.0 — one short protocol file

Changed

• The protocol is one short file. DIGEST.md now holds the whole protocol
  (~1.3k tokens by tiktoken o200k_base, 5,070 bytes): name the tier; write a short contract that puts
  the tricky spots — contradictions, missing data, assumptions, risks — first
  and asks about them; ask before code (one line on Light, a plan block naming
  every irreversible act on Full); prove "done" with the machine check and its
  criterion → check map; break the result (a self-review on Light, an
  independent reviewer on Full); run long work through the manager (each change
  checked by its own tests, the full check and the review at check points, no
  «ok?» for a change the human dictated, nothing dropped); close with a verdict
  and the three-header summary; questions in one block at the end; Joe in a
  few lines. There is no second file to read: the full protocol (AGENT.md,
  ~16.7k tokens) and the rule that a Full task reads it are gone; AGENT.md is
  now a pointer to DIGEST.md. Why: the maintainer asked whether the protocol
  was overdoing it — on the stand the measure of the work itself (outcome)
  stayed inside each pair's acceptance cut across 0.9.8, 1.0.0 and its fix
  (z +0.52, −1.0, −0.48 against cuts of about −2.2)
  (benchmark/verdict-word-2026-10-06.json), while releases moved the ritual
  measures.
  Measured on the local stand in one epoch of 27 tasks, two runs per text
  (benchmark/slim-2026-10-07.json, every
  definition and the reading rules registered before the runs): against 1.0.1
  the one-file text passed the acceptance rule (worst measure: checks run, 38
  of 42 against 40, z −0.85, reached by about 88% of random splits of that
  epoch), flagged contradictions in 8 of 8 against 8 of 8, and used 0.56 of the
  input tokens (13.4M against 24.1M) in 0.63 of the mean wall time per run (100
  s against 159 s) — beyond the bar registered before the run, a bar taken from
  another epoch's same-text halves (this comparison's own noise not measured).
  In a 13-turn dialog, three runs each, nothing was forgotten in any run; the
  manager held in 2 of 3 runs against 1.0.1's 3 of 3 (the miss: 5 reviews after
  the first build where the bar is 4), at 0.23 of the tokens and 0.46 of the
  time. A 12-task first look preceded it (a PASS without an admissible cut;
  contradictions flagged 2 of 4 against 4 of 4 there). The shipped file changes
  the title line and adds a version line to the measured text.
• Rewritten for one file: README (install is one @DIGEST.md line),
  scripts/payne-check.sh (the protocol's size band is 3,000–7,000 bytes, the
  version stamp now lives in DIGEST.md, AGENT.md must stay a pointer),
  /payne-review, /payne-edit and the payne-quality reviewer, and the
  repo's own CLAUDE.md. The rules for changing the protocol — the decision
  log, the independent review, measurement on the stand, releases, dev mode and
  its inbox — move to MAINTAINING.md; they are not part of the protocol an
  agent runs on a project.
• Upgrading from 1.x: import DIGEST.md and delete a host line that points
  at AGENT.md (a config that loaded AGENT.md whole must switch); remove a
  payne-spec command copy or link; a copied Stop-hook is no longer maintained;
  a talk-level block still works but its «AGENT.md, TALK LEVEL» pointer is stale;
  dev mode in other projects needs @…/MAINTAINING.md in the host config.

Removed

• The full protocol text in AGENT.md, ROLES.md, DEPLOYMENT.md, the
  enforced Stop-hook (hooks/) with its behavior suite and
  settings.example.json, scripts/payne-digest-stamp.sh, the /payne-spec
  command and templates/SPEC.template.md. Every rule not in DIGEST.md is
  gone from the protocol, among them: the analyst subagent and the depth
  choice, the look-back before outward acts, the decision log in user projects
  (projects no longer keep .payne/decisions.log), the ratchets, the helper
  subagent for heavy checks, the no-subagent fallback, the talk level, dev mode
  (now in MAINTAINING.md), the measurement-method rules and the long examples.
  All of it stays in the git history (v1.0.1).