@gemstack/agent-data out of skill-branches; the branches SKILL.md for every place an agent wakes up

[suleimansh]

Preparatory work for #1750 PR (a) — not PR (a) itself: no branch rename, no queue split, no publish.

1. packages/agent-data — the data-branch machinery leaves skill-branches into a library: file-branch.ts, git.ts, git-exclude.ts (with their tests and SPECs, moved as renames), plus names.ts with BRANCHES_DIR and DATA_BRANCH = 'agent-data'. No SKILL.md, no command. skill-branches, skill-tickets and the framework import from it; the old copies are gone, nothing is re-exported. No behavior change.

DECISIONS.md in the package is the design record: the non-obvious decisions, in plain words — that is the file to review. skill-branches and skill-tickets get theirs in the same shape (#1750 point 7); the tickets one changes again with the queue split in PR (a).

2. skill-branches/SKILL.md rewritten. The dogfood (use-npm-skills 0.1.0, fresh clones) found two flaws: it said branches … without saying how to install the command, and it opened with "you were started inside .branches/agent-<id>/", false on a plain clone. Now: install the repository's dependencies, run npx branches; read where you are off npx branches status — an agent-* branch means a checkout was made for you, anything else means a plain clone and you branch with git switch -c agent-<name>. Leftovers of the report-the-name design removed. skill-tickets/SKILL.md gets the same install line and npx tickets; the framework's presets still say bare tickets … (they run where it is on the PATH) and change in PR (a) §6.

Open point, to settle before PR (a): npx never consults PATH. When @gemstack/skill-branches is not in the nearest node_modules, npx branches fetches the registry's branches@1.0.4 — a stranger's file-tree printer. This repository's root has no .bin/branches (the dependency sits in packages/framework), so a daemon-started agent following the new text would hit it. Same for npx tickets: the registry's tickets@0.2.2 is a JIRA tool. Either the skills become root devDependencies (what use-npm-skills adoption needs anyway) or the text says npx -p @gemstack/skill-branches branches.

Second open point, for PR (a): .branches/agent-data matches the agent-* pattern skill-branches lists and reclaims (any path-safe id counts, and data is one). After the rename, branches list would show the data checkout as agent data, and prune could delete it once it is clean and pushed. PR (a) either keeps the data branch out of that listing by name, or the branch gets a name outside the agent- prefix.

Left as-is on purpose: TICKETS_BRANCH = 'tickets' (the rename is PR (a)), holder.ts still reading the agent id off the checkout (AGENT_ID is PR (a)), the branch_yourself.md prompt bridge, repoHasRemote in skill-branches. The three DECISIONS.md describe the branch as it is after PR (a): the branch and its checkout are still named tickets, DATA_BRANCH has no importer yet, and the tickets skill still imports skill-branches for the holder.

Tests: agent-data 53, skill-branches 77, skill-tickets 57, framework 1386 + dashboard 865 — all green on fresh builds.

🤖 curated · Fable 5.1, effort high — the agent moved the files and drafted the SKILL.md and DECISIONS.md; I read both and stand behind them.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_01MwF8Navc7vvfDT65t7JZiA