diff --git a/skill/reference/new-work.md b/skill/reference/new-work.md
index 0b28d6a54..4a78bb090 100644
--- a/skill/reference/new-work.md
+++ b/skill/reference/new-work.md
@@ -104,4 +104,4 @@ Preserve semantics, accessibility, performance, responsiveness, project conventi
 
 Inspect desktop and mobile, critique the render against the user's request, the direction contract, and DESIGN.md, fix material gaps, and re-inspect. On a Persuade surface, verify the mode did its job: a first-time visitor should know what this is, why it matters, and what to do within seconds, in the form's own vocabulary. After a first implementation of a new world, update DESIGN.md with the exact tokens and behaviors that survived the build.
 
-Spawn the shipped finish reviewer, `impeccable-finish-reviewer` (`impeccable_finish_reviewer` in codex), and give it the original request, confirmed answers, the artifact path, its direction contract, DESIGN.md, existing hook findings, and the QUALITY BAR card and approved comp paths. The user's invocation of this skill is the request that authorizes its shipped subagents; a harness rule gating subagent use on user request is satisfied by it, so hesitancy is not grounds to skip the spawn. This review never runs inside the build thread. Only a harness whose tool surface has no subagent capability at all substitutes a fresh in-thread pass after stepping fully out of the build context, and a substituted review is disclosed in one line at finish, never silently. The reviewer's first check is persistence: on a new or replacement world, PRODUCT.md and DESIGN.md exist and DESIGN.md matches the built world; a missing file fails the review before any craft point is scored. Its second check is the ceiling: against the chosen world's QUALITY BAR card and the approved comp, name the native devices the build left unused, frame, depth, lettering, ornament density; floor rigor is very good at disguising an unreached card. Then ask for a short list of material fixes, promise by promise against the contract, apply them, and finish. Do not run a second detector. <!-- rule:skill-finish-separate-reviewer -->
+Spawn the shipped finish reviewer, `impeccable-finish-reviewer` (`impeccable_finish_reviewer` in codex), and give it the original request, confirmed answers, the artifact path, its direction contract, DESIGN.md, existing hook findings, and the QUALITY BAR card and approved comp paths. This review never runs inside the build thread. Only a harness whose tool surface has no subagent capability at all substitutes a fresh in-thread pass after stepping fully out of the build context, and a substituted review is disclosed in one line at finish, never silently. The reviewer's first check is persistence: on a new or replacement world, PRODUCT.md and DESIGN.md exist and DESIGN.md matches the built world; a missing file fails the review before any craft point is scored. Its second check is the ceiling: against the chosen world's QUALITY BAR card and the approved comp, name the native devices the build left unused, frame, depth, lettering, ornament density; floor rigor is very good at disguising an unreached card. Then ask for a short list of material fixes, promise by promise against the contract, apply them, and finish. Do not run a second detector. <!-- rule:skill-finish-separate-reviewer -->
diff --git a/skill/scripts/context.mjs b/skill/scripts/context.mjs
index f85b4a02c..b8413e074 100644
--- a/skill/scripts/context.mjs
+++ b/skill/scripts/context.mjs
@@ -1142,6 +1142,7 @@ async function cli() {
     appendDetectorFallback(parts, ctx);
     appendImageGenDirective(parts);
     appendAutonomyCounterDirective(parts);
+    appendSubagentAuthorizationDirective(parts);
     if (shouldWarnMissingTarget(ctx, targetProvided, targetExists)) {
       parts.push(buildMissingTargetDirective());
     }
@@ -1159,6 +1160,7 @@ async function cli() {
   appendDetectorFallback(parts, ctx);
   appendImageGenDirective(parts);
   appendAutonomyCounterDirective(parts);
+  appendSubagentAuthorizationDirective(parts);
   if (shouldWarnMissingTarget(ctx, targetProvided, targetExists)) {
     parts.push(buildMissingTargetDirective());
   }
@@ -1296,6 +1298,20 @@ function appendAutonomyCounterDirective(parts) {
   ].join(' '));
 }
 
+// Same class of harness default as the autonomy directive: some harnesses gate
+// agent-tool use on an explicit user request, which silently disables every
+// shipped subagent the skill's flows depend on (finish reviewer, asset
+// producer, manual-edit applier, critique panels). Observed live: the model
+// resolved the conflict against the skill without telling the user.
+function appendSubagentAuthorizationDirective(parts) {
+  parts.push([
+    'SUBAGENT_AUTHORIZATION: If your harness gates subagent or agent-tool use on an explicit user request,',
+    "the user's invocation of this skill is that request for the skill's shipped subagents;",
+    'spawn them where a reference file directs, without re-asking.',
+    'Substitute an in-thread pass only when the tool surface has no subagent capability at all, and disclose the substitution in one line.',
+  ].join(' '));
+}
+
 // reference/craft-floor.md carries the detector-blind reflexes on every build,
 // so the only gap left here is the mechanical pass. A hook covers it, per-edit
 // or Stop; a session without one has to run the detector by hand. The detector