skill: strip self-priming examples from 5 rules

Phase-2 ablation audit caught these rules causing the exact behavior they
ban via the literal examples in their own prose. Verified: OpenAI samples
under skill-on produced "fake theater", "vendor theater", "heatmap theater"
as verbatim copies of the 'X theater' example. Same pattern for the
restrained-on-cream example, the aphoristic-cadence template, and the
"reserve uppercase for…" enumeration.

- skill-ban-codex-x-theater: drop the 3 syntactic templates + 3 example
  phrases ("Productivity theater" etc.)
- brand-imagery-required: drop the niche enumeration that cued
  "imagery not required elsewhere"
- skill-typo-no-all-caps-body: drop the "Reserve uppercase for labels /
  eyebrows / badges" enumeration that primed uppercase usage
- brand-color-no-converge: drop the "restrained-on-cream" example that
  was priming cream-heavy palettes
- skill-copy-no-aphoristic-cadence: drop the literal cadence template
  ("serious statement, then punchy short negation") that named the
  rhythm it bans

Ablation re-run pending in impeccable-evals to measure impact.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

skill/SKILL.src.md

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Produce ready-to-ship, production-grade code, not prototypes or starting points.
 - Hierarchy through scale + weight contrast (≥1.25 ratio between steps). Avoid flat scales. <!-- rule:skill-typo-scale-ratio -->
 - Cap font-family count at 3 (display + body + optional mono). More than 3 reads as indecision, not richness. One well-tuned family with weight contrast usually beats three competing typefaces. <!-- rule:skill-typo-font-count -->
 - Don't pair fonts that are similar but not identical (two geometric sans-serifs, two humanist sans-serifs). Pair on a contrast axis (serif + sans, geometric + humanist) or use one family in multiple weights. <!-- rule:skill-typo-font-pairing-contrast -->
-- No all-caps body copy. Reserve uppercase for short labels (≤4 words), section eyebrows (used sparingly per the Absolute bans), and badges. Sentences in ALL CAPS are unreadable at body sizes. <!-- rule:skill-typo-no-all-caps-body -->
+- No all-caps body copy. Sentences in ALL CAPS are unreadable at body sizes. <!-- rule:skill-typo-no-all-caps-body -->
 - Hero / display heading ceiling: clamp() max ≤ 6rem (~96px). Above that the page is shouting, not designing. <!-- rule:skill-typo-hero-ceiling -->
 - Display heading letter-spacing floor: ≥ -0.04em. Anything tighter and letters touch; cramped, not "designed". <!-- rule:skill-typo-tracking-floor -->
 - Use `text-wrap: balance` on h1–h3 for even line lengths; `text-wrap: pretty` on long prose to reduce orphans. <!-- rule:skill-typo-text-wrap-balance -->
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ Two hard typographic ceilings you currently miss:
 
 - Every word earns its place. No restated headings, no intros that repeat the title. <!-- rule:skill-copy-every-word-earns -->
 - **No em dashes.** Use commas, colons, semicolons, periods, or parentheses. Also not `--`. <!-- rule:skill-copy-no-em-dashes -->
-- **No aphoristic-cadence body copy as a default voice.** Don't fall into the rhythm of "serious statement, then punchy short negation" as the page's recurring voice. If three or more section copy blocks on the page land on a short rebuttal-shaped sentence, rewrite. Specific, not aphoristic. <!-- rule:skill-copy-no-aphoristic-cadence -->
+- **No aphoristic-cadence body copy as a default voice.** If multiple section copy blocks share a single repeating sentence rhythm — especially a contrarian-sounding closer: rewrite. Specific, not aphoristic. <!-- rule:skill-copy-no-aphoristic-cadence -->
 - **No marketing buzzwords.** The streamline / empower / supercharge / leverage / unleash / transform / seamless / world-class / enterprise-grade / next-generation / cutting-edge / game-changer / mission-critical family of phrases. Pick a specific noun and a verb that describes what the product literally does. <!-- rule:skill-copy-no-buzzwords -->
 - Button labels: verb + object. "Save changes" beats "OK"; "Delete project" beats "Yes". The label should say what will happen. <!-- rule:skill-copy-button-verb-object -->
 - Link text needs standalone meaning. "View pricing plans" beats "Click here"; screen readers announce links out of context. <!-- rule:skill-copy-link-standalone -->
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ Match-and-refuse. If you're about to write any of these, rewrite the element wit
 - **`border-radius: 32px+` on cards / sections / inputs.** You over-round. Cards top out at 12–16px; full-pill is fine for tags/buttons. Picking 24/28/32/40px on a card is the codex tell; no brand wants "insanely rounded". <!-- rule:skill-ban-codex-over-round -->
 - **Hand-drawn / sketchy SVG illustrations.** Class names like `loose-sketch`, `*-sketch`, `doodle`, `wavy`; `feTurbulence` / `feDisplacementMap` "paper grain" filters; 5-to-30 path crude scenes meant to depict a tangible subject (an otter, a table-and-fork, an album cover). All of these read as amateurish, not whimsical. If you can't render the scene with real assets, ship no illustration. Don't attempt sketchy SVG as a fallback. <!-- rule:skill-ban-codex-sketchy-svg -->
 - **`repeating-linear-gradient(...)` stripe backgrounds.** Diagonal stripes in `body:before` or section backgrounds are pure codex decoration. Don't. <!-- rule:skill-ban-codex-stripes -->
-- **"X theater" / "actually X" / "not just X, it's Y" copy.** "Productivity theater", "engagement theater", "growth theater": instant AI slop. Choose a specific noun, not a meta-criticism phrase. <!-- rule:skill-ban-codex-x-theater -->
+- **Meta-criticism copy.** Naming a concept then layering an ironic modifier, or staging a strawman to "correct" it. Make the specific claim instead. <!-- rule:skill-ban-codex-x-theater -->
 </codex>
 
 ### The AI slop test

skill/reference/brand.md

@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ Brand surfaces have permission for Committed, Full palette, and Drenched strateg
 - Name a real reference before picking a strategy. "Klim Type Foundry #ff4500 orange drench", "Stripe purple-on-white restraint", "Liquid Death acid-green full palette", "Mailchimp yellow full palette", "Condé Nast Traveler muted navy restraint", "Vercel pure black monochrome". Unnamed ambition becomes beige. <!-- rule:brand-color-named-reference -->
 - Palette IS voice. A calm brand and a restless brand should not share palette mechanics. <!-- rule:brand-color-palette-is-voice -->
 - When the strategy is Committed or Drenched, color carries the brand. Don't hedge with neutrals around the edges. Commit. <!-- rule:brand-color-commit-no-hedge -->
-- Don't converge across projects. If the last brand surface was restrained-on-cream, this one is not. <!-- rule:brand-color-no-converge -->
+- Don't converge across projects. Each brand surface differentiates from the last. <!-- rule:brand-color-no-converge -->
 - When a cultural-symbol palette is the obvious pull, reach past it. Let the cultural reading come from typography, imagery, and copy, not the palette. <!-- rule:brand-color-no-cultural-symbol -->
 
 ## Layout
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ Brand surfaces have permission for Committed, Full palette, and Drenched strateg
 
 Brand surfaces lean on imagery. A restaurant, hotel, magazine, or product landing page without any imagery reads as incomplete, not as restrained. A solid-color rectangle where a hero image should go is worse than a representative stock photo.
 
-**When the brief implies imagery (restaurants, hotels, magazines, photography, hobbyist communities, food, travel, fashion, product), you must ship imagery.** Zero images is a bug, not a design choice. "Restraint" is not an excuse. If the approved comp or brief is image-led, ship real project assets, generated raster assets, or a credible canvas/SVG/WebGL scene. Do not replace photographic, architectural, product, or place imagery with generic CSS panels, decorative diagrams, cards, bullets, or copy. <!-- rule:brand-imagery-required -->
+**When the brief implies imagery, you must ship imagery.** Zero images is a bug, not a design choice. "Restraint" is not an excuse. If the approved comp or brief is image-led, ship real project assets, generated raster assets, or a credible canvas/SVG/WebGL scene. Do not replace photographic, architectural, product, or place imagery with generic CSS panels, decorative diagrams, cards, bullets, or copy. <!-- rule:brand-imagery-required -->
 
 - **For greenfield work without local assets, use stock imagery.** Unsplash is the default. The URL shape is `https://images.unsplash.com/photo-{id}?auto=format&fit=crop&w=1600&q=80`. **Verify the URLs before referencing them.** If you have an image-search MCP, web-fetch tool, or browser access, use it to find real photo IDs and confirm they resolve. Guessed IDs (even ones that look real) often 404 and ship as broken-image placeholders. Without a verification path, pick fewer photos you're confident exist over more that you guessed; never substitute colored `<div>` placeholders. <!-- rule:brand-imagery-unsplash-default -->
 - **Search for the brand's physical object**, not the generic category: "handmade pasta on a scratched wooden table" beats "Italian food"; "cypress trees above a limestone hotel facade at dusk" beats "luxury hotel". <!-- rule:brand-imagery-physical-object-search -->