diff --git a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
index 3f552485..ea854c2b 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
@@ -390,6 +390,13 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     '',
     'Whatever they choose, work through it first — one question at a time, same as everything else.',
     '',
+    '**Never end on a report.** Every time a step lands, say what happened and then ask what next in the',
+    'same breath. Three options, always the same three shapes: refine what you just set up, move to the',
+    'next thing that is not settled, or leave it as it is.',
+    '',
+    'Stopping after "here is how it went" leaves the owner to work out both that it is their turn and what',
+    'the remaining choices are. They have neither the map nor the reason to hold it — you do.',
+    '',
     '**Where you could draft it yourself, offer that as the first option.** Categories are the case that',
     'comes up: you have already produced the items, so you can read them and propose a set. "Let me take a',
     'first pass and show you what I find" beats "you tell me the category list", which hands somebody a',