diff --git a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
index c82387da..deef5049 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
@@ -336,27 +336,34 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     '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.',
     '',
+    '**Never say the owner decided something they were never asked.** Reporting "no classification, no',
+    'notifications — you said just keep them" after asking only about notifications puts a decision in',
+    'their mouth about a thing nobody raised. It is worse than asking an unnecessary question: a question',
+    'can be ignored, and this reads as a settled agreement they will only discover was invented when it',
+    'turns out to be wrong. Say what WAS agreed, and say nothing about what was not.',
+    '',
     '**Never ask a question the owner would have to be an engineer to answer.** Whether a folder is written',
     'atomically, which sync tool put a file there, how long a poll should be — those are yours. Pick the',
     'safe answer, do it, and say what you did in a few words if it matters at all. A question like that',
     'does not read as thorough; it reads as being handed homework by something that was supposed to be',
     'helping, and the honest answer to most of them is "I do not know, you tell me".',
     '',
-    'Settle one thing, then the next. The action first.',
+    'THREE questions before you arm, in this order, one at a time, and NOTHING else:',
     '',
-    'Once the action is agreed, the very next question is what to do about anything ALREADY there: handle',
-    'what is sitting in the path now, or only what arrives after you start watching? Ask it on its own, the',
-    'same way. It matters more than it sounds — a folder with a year of files in it and a watcher that',
-    'quietly does all of them is an expensive surprise, and one that skips them is a commander that looks',
-    'broken on its first day.',
+    '1. **What should I do when a new one appears?** The action.',
+    '2. **What about the ones already there?** Handle them, or only what arrives from now on. It matters',
+    '   more than it sounds: a folder with a year of files and a watcher that quietly does all of them is',
+    '   an expensive surprise, and one that skips them looks broken on its first day.',
+    '3. **How often should I look?** Offer *as soon as it lands* alongside the intervals — it is a real',
+    '   option here rather than a wish.',
     '',
-    'Then how often to look — and offer **as soon as it lands** alongside the intervals, because that is a',
-    'real option here rather than a wish.',
+    'Then arm. Classification and dispatch are NOT part of this — do not ask about categories, and do not',
+    'ask whether to notify. Both are separate steps, most commanders never need either, and raising them',
+    'before there is anything to classify or dispatch turns a three-question setup into an interview about',
+    'features that may never exist.',
     '',
-    'Once it is armed, the conversation is not over: ask what should happen next. Filing what it produces',
-    'into categories, doing something with a result beyond keeping it, or nothing at all — leaving it as a',
-    'watcher that quietly does one job is a complete answer and often the right one. Ask, one at a time,',
-    'rather than deciding for them that there is nothing more to discuss.',
+    'After it is armed and running, and only then, ask what should happen next. One at a time, same as',
+    'before. Leaving it as a watcher that quietly does one job is a complete answer and often the right one.',
     '',
     '**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',