Style Evolve

Use this skill for any Citum style request that should be handled through the shared style workflow.

Read first:

• docs/policies/STYLE_WORKFLOW_DECISION_RULES.md
• docs/guides/STYLE_WORKFLOW_EXECUTION.md
• docs/guides/AGENT_SKILLS.md
• docs/architecture/audits/2026-07-31_EXACT_PARITY_REFOCUS.md — why fidelity alone is not sufficient evidence of correct rendering
• docs/guides/JJ_AI_CHANGE_STACK.md when .jj is present and local stack curation would help isolate the work

Public Modes

• upgrade: improve an existing Citum style.
• migrate: convert CSL 1.0 source into Citum style YAML.
• create: author a new Citum style from source evidence.
• tune: drive an embedded-core style to 100% fidelity, a raised exact-parity floor, + clean SQI via iterative LLM authoring, seeded by migrate evidence. Fidelity, exact parity, and SQI are all hard gates for this mode, applied in that order. Loop defined in docs/guides/STYLE_WORKFLOW_EXECUTION.md.

Routing

• Use spec-planner when the request needs architecture or schema decisions.
• Use migration-researcher when the evidence points to citum_migrate.
• Use rust-implementer for bounded Rust fixes.
• Use style-qa-reviewer for the final style QA gate.

Operating Rules

• Fidelity is the hard gate for all tiers. It is a lenient, punctuation/case-insensitive comparison — necessary but not sufficient evidence of correct rendering.
• Exact parity is a hard gate for embedded-core styles: passed may never drop below the floor in scripts/report-data/embedded-parity-baseline.json, and it is the primary tuning objective for tune. Diagnostic only for dependent styles.
• SQI is a hard gate for embedded-core styles, ordered after fidelity and exact parity; advisory/tie-breaker for dependent styles. See docs/policies/STYLE_WORKFLOW_DECISION_RULES.md for the tier definition and quality bar.
• For embedded-core targets, use tune rather than treating migrate output as final.
• An exact-parity residual that isn't a style-defect/processor-defect/registered divergence is recorded in scripts/report-data/parity-adjudication.json as citeproc-correct or unclear; only the user may record citum-correct.
• Before editing a style, classify it by semantic class and implementation form using docs/specs/STYLE_TAXONOMY.md and the shared workflow docs.
• Before editing, run node scripts/check-style-coverage-audits.js --status <style-id> and report current, stale, or not registered. Follow the shared workflow for bounded cluster selection, --update-manifest recovery from a stale packet, the shared-ancestor / full-portfolio-baseline rule, and final packet regeneration.
• Profile-family work may require a create pass for a hidden family root followed by upgrade reduction of the public handles.
• Journal/profile reductions must choose parents from guide-backed authority, not nearest CSL or template similarity.
• Keep waves bounded to one family or one clearly related cohort per PR.
• Do not duplicate the shared decision rules or evidence ladder here.
• Keep this skill focused on routing and host-facing behavior.

Self-Improvement

When you encounter a routing case, semantic class, or implementation form not covered by the existing operating rules or the shared workflow docs, record the pattern here as a new bullet under "Operating Rules" and include the file update in the same commit. The goal is that each time style-evolve handles an edge case it couldn't resolve cleanly, that edge case becomes a covered case going forward.