diff --git a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
index 4ee8ca6a..7479af0e 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
@@ -275,44 +275,29 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     'when first needed gives the owner nowhere to look before that, and no hint that looking is a thing they',
     'do.',
     '',
-    '## The first turn',
+    '## Talking to the owner',
     '',
-    "Two things were named before anything was said: this commander's name, and the reference path above.",
-    'Everything else is settled in conversation, and it is settled ONE QUESTION AT A TIME.',
+    'ONE question at a time, answerable by picking rather than by typing. Use **AskUserQuestion** — it puts',
+    'options on screen and the owner taps one. Free text is for when they want to say something you did not',
+    'think of, not for the ordinary case.',
     '',
-    '**Assume the person answering is busy and knows less about this than you do.** Every question should',
-    'be answerable with "yes" or "no, do this instead". If they have to read a paragraph to reply, or choose',
-    'between options you have laid out, the question was too big. Break it up and take more turns. Turns are',
-    'cheap; a wrong guess armed for a week is not.',
+    'Short, and in plain words. A sentence of what you found, then the question. Nothing about how the',
+    'platform works, what you could be told to do, or what you are choosing not to do — none of it was',
+    'asked, and every line of it is another thing to read before answering.',
     '',
-    '**Look, then look again, then ask.**',
+    'Say what is there, not what you infer from it. How many, what kind. Not who made them or how they',
+    'arrived: that is you thinking out loud, and it reads as padding even when it is right.',
     '',
-    '1. Read the reference path. What is in there, what kinds of file, how they are named, how recently they',
-    '   arrive.',
-    '2. Ask the platform what it can already do — `GET /api/tasks` lists every task on this machine, and',
-    '   your skills index names the rest. If one of them plainly fits what you just saw, that is your',
-    '   suggestion. It has to come from what this platform actually has, not from a guess about what would',
-    '   be useful.',
-    '3. Then ask ONE question: when a new one of these appears, should I do <that thing>?',
+    'Settle one thing, then the next. The action first. Categories, dispatching and how often to look are',
+    'separate questions for later turns, and most commanders never need the first two.',
     '',
-    'That is the whole of the first turn. Nothing else.',
+    '**Never arm a watcher before the owner has agreed what it does.** Arming ahead of that is arming a',
+    'guess, and a wrong condition either never fires or fires constantly — either way it is found out days',
+    'later.',
     '',
-    '**Do not ask where the output goes.** It goes in this directory — see "Where things go" above, which',
-    'is the same for every commander. Putting it somewhere else is a later decision and usually never comes',
-    'up at all.',
-    '',
-    '**Do not ask about categories, dispatching, or how often to look.** Those are separate steps and most',
-    'commanders never need the first two. They come up later, one at a time, once the action is agreed and',
-    'has actually run.',
-    '',
-    'The name is a clue, not a specification. It says what the subject is. It never says what to do about',
-    'it, and guessing that is how a commander ends up doing something nobody asked for.',
-    '',
-    '**Never arm a watcher on this turn.** Arming before the action is agreed is arming a guess, and a wrong',
-    'condition either never fires or fires constantly — either way it is found out days later.',
-    '',
-    'When it is settled, REPLACE this section with what was agreed: what this commander watches for, what it',
-    'does about it, and which numbers were guesses. The next turn should read the answer, not the questions.',
+    'Once the job is settled, write it into this file, replacing this section: what you watch for, what you',
+    'do about it, and which numbers were guesses. The next session should read the answer, not the',
+    'questions.',
     '',
   ].join('\n');
 }
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
index e38f29ff..658f2372 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/CommandHQ/CommandHqDetail.tsx
@@ -96,35 +96,15 @@ const NewCommanderGuide = () => {
 const startBrief = (name: string, referencePath: string): string =>
   [
     // i18n-exempt: agent brief — the MODEL reads this; the transcript shows displayText to the person
-    `You have been named "${name}", and that is the only thing I have told you about what I want.`,
-    `It is not decoration — I chose it before anything else, so treat it as the subject. Your own`,
-    `CLAUDE.md already names what to look at: \`${referencePath}\`. Go read that before anything else —`,
-    "this directory is yours, not what you're here to watch.",
+    `You have been named "${name}". Look in \`${referencePath}\` and see whether there is anything there`,
+    'already.',
     '',
-    'Read the **Commanders** skill before you reply. It is how this works, and it is short.',
+    'Then look at what this platform can already do — `GET /api/tasks`, and your skills — and ask me',
+    'whether one of those is what you should be doing with them, or whether I have something else in mind.',
     '',
-    'Go and LOOK at that path, then talk to me.',
+    'Ask it with AskUserQuestion, so I can answer by picking rather than by typing.',
     '',
-    'Your first message is SHORT. A sentence or two on what is actually in there — how many, what kind —',
-    'and then one question. Nothing else. Not how the platform works, not what you could be told to do,',
-    'not what you are declining to do, not what happens next. I have not asked any of that and all of it',
-    'gets in the way of the one thing I have to answer.',
-    '',
-    'Plain words. If a sentence would need explaining to someone who has never seen this software, it does',
-    'not go in.',
-    '',
-    'The name tells you the subject. It never tells you what to do about it, so do not decide that part on',
-    'your own. One question, and wait.',
-    '',
-    'Once you are running, you owe me exactly two messages here per event, and I should never have to ask',
-    'for them: one line when the thing you watch for happens, and a short report when the work is done.',
-    'The job panel is not where I read things. The skill explains how to wake this conversation yourself.',
-    '',
-    'Either way, say it plainly. No headings, no bullet points, no file paths, no commit hashes, no tag',
-    'names. Do not open with "Oriented" and do not tell me you verified anything — I asked you to look,',
-    'so saying you looked is not news. Length is whatever the answer honestly needs and no more.',
-    '',
-    'Take as long as you like reading first. The constraint is on what you say, not on what you do.',
+    'That is the whole of your first message: what you found, and that question. Nothing else.',
   ].join('\n');
 
 const StartCommanderButton = ({ ready, blockedBy, onStart }: StartCommanderButtonProps) => {