diff --git a/skill/reference/init.md b/skill/reference/init.md
index 34ef41548..7733498c7 100644
--- a/skill/reference/init.md
+++ b/skill/reference/init.md
@@ -109,7 +109,11 @@ Before loading new-work or resuming shape/build, verify that PRODUCT.md exists a
 
 ## Step 5: Record workflow defaults
 
-When image generation is available (context.mjs reports it) and no `buildPath` is recorded yet, ask once how new surfaces should be built, stated as the trade it is: **comp-first** (an image sets the bar before any code; bolder composition, slower, and the build must match the image) or **code-first** (build directly; the ambition is written into the direction contract and audited at the finish; leaner, faster). Write the answer to `.impeccable/config.json` as `"buildPath": "comp"` or `"buildPath": "code"`, merging with the keys already there. A value already recorded in `.impeccable/config.json` or the gitignored `.impeccable/config.local.json` is a confirmed answer: on a re-run, honor it in silence rather than asking again. This is a default, not a lock: the decision page renders a toggle whose flip binds a single session and is never written back. Without image generation there is no choice to record; code-first is the only path.
+When image generation is available and no `buildPath` is recorded yet, ask once how new surfaces should be built. Availability means a harness-native image tool or the API fallback that context.mjs reports as `IMAGE_GEN_AVAILABLE`, and the first of those leaves no trace in the boot output: context.mjs only sees the key, so a silent boot on a harness that generates images is not evidence there is nothing to ask about. This is its own question, never a clause riding inside another one. The stack round asks what to build with; this asks how the building starts, and an answer to the first carries no consent about the second. State the trade in the question the user actually reads, because the two names mean nothing to someone meeting them for the first time: **comp-first** (an image sets the bar before any code; bolder composition, slower, and the build must match the image) or **code-first** (build directly; the ambition is written into the direction contract and audited at the finish; leaner, faster).
+
+Write the answer to `.impeccable/config.json` as `"buildPath": "comp"` or `"buildPath": "code"`, merging with the keys already there. Write only the value the user chose. A recommendation you made is not an answer you received, and a value taken from silence is a standing default nobody set: it then rides every future round in the project, which is the opposite of asking once. When the question goes unanswered, record nothing and say in one line which path this session is taking and that it is not stored. That path is comp-first, the default new-work applies wherever image generation exists and nothing is recorded; name it rather than choosing a quieter one, because a silent default invented here is the same failure as a value written without an answer. Unset is a working state, not a gap: the decision page's toggle governs each session, and new-work's one-time offer records the answer the first time the user flips it. The config is the only place this lives. It is a workflow setting, not product truth, so it never joins `## Stack` or any other PRODUCT.md section, where a second copy would outlive the setting and steer rounds nobody could trace back to it.
+
+A value already recorded in `.impeccable/config.json` or the gitignored `.impeccable/config.local.json` is a confirmed answer: on a re-run, honor it in silence rather than asking again. This is a default, not a lock: the decision page renders a toggle whose flip binds a single session and is never written back. Without image generation there is no choice to record; code-first is the only path.
 
 Then configure live mode when useful: skip native or non-runnable projects and leave existing config untouched. Otherwise follow [live.md](live.md)'s first-time setup. Any CSP source edit still requires its stated consent.