[CAT-UNVERIFIED tag](4) cat-mode and the prove-it skills name the tag

corpus/skills/cat-mode/SKILL.md

@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ bug: invoke `automate-me`, do not wait.
   workers and other work whose success is a side effect outside the repo
   (Linear filing, deploy, live mine) are not "done" on fixture, unit, or
   UI proof alone. Show live-path evidence in the same turn (ticket URL,
-  deployed host, observed mine hit) or write `UNVERIFIED: live path` in
+  deployed host, observed mine hit) or tag the claim and name the blocker in
   the same breath as any done/ship claim. Follow `prove-it-ship-gate`
   (and installed `prove-it`) on every such claim, not only when the user
   says "prove" or asks to investigate — a done/ship/it-works claim for
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ agent switch, or resubmit is a fix, and none comes before the repro.
 
 **A factual or technical claim gets a real repro script, not a history search.** Judging an old comment or a "probably confabulated" suspicion needs an actual attempt under the claimed conditions, not a `git log` sweep. No citation means "never verified," not "false."
 
-**Unhedged root-cause or fix claims about live system behavior need instrument-level proof in the same message, or `UNVERIFIED:`.** The gate is the claim type, not a hedge word. Invoking `/prove-it` once does not arm it for later claims. Any hedge auto-runs prove-it in the same turn — a hedge is a trigger to verify, never a place to stop.
+**Unhedged root-cause or fix claims about live system behavior need instrument-level proof in the same message, or a `{{CAT-UNVERIFIED}}` tag naming the blocker.** The gate is the claim type, not a hedge word. Invoking `/prove-it` once does not arm it for later claims. Any hedge auto-runs prove-it in the same turn — a hedge is a trigger to verify, never a place to stop.
 
 Outputs carry failures explicitly (a status column, an error row), never
 dropped — [[principle-explicit-errors]].

corpus/skills/cat-mode/references/verify.md

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ place immediately, not left in chat until asked again.
   How long something was broken, how many passes found it, who wrote it,
   whether it ever ran — each is one `git log` and none is answerable from
   memory or from a file's mtime. State the command's output beside the claim,
-  or write `UNVERIFIED:` before it. These are the cheapest facts available and
+  or tag it `{{CAT-UNVERIFIED: <claim> -- cannot verify: <reason>}}`. These are the cheapest facts available and
   the easiest to be confidently wrong about, which is why they reach PR bodies.
 
 ## Confirming a write, and keeping its output
@@ -67,11 +67,11 @@ place immediately, not left in chat until asked again.
 ## Unhedged causal claims about live system behavior
 
 Unhedged root-cause or fix claims about live system behavior need
-instrument-level proof in the same message, or `UNVERIFIED:`. The gate is the
+instrument-level proof in the same message, or a `{{CAT-UNVERIFIED}}` tag naming the blocker. The gate is the
 claim type ("this is why it's slow," "this is the bug"), not a hedge word.
 Log-reading and code-reading aren't enough: attach with `strace`/a debugger, or
 query live state (raw SQLite `PRAGMA`). Take a second sample before calling a
 hang. Invoking `/prove-it` once does not arm it for later claims — each new
 causal claim needs its own same-message evidence. Any hedge — "I think,"
-"probably," `UNVERIFIED:` — auto-runs prove-it in the same turn; a hedge is a
+"probably," a retired bare `UNVERIFIED:` — auto-runs prove-it in the same turn; a hedge is a
 trigger to verify, never a place to stop.

corpus/skills/principle-prove-it/SKILL.md

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ same message, one of:
 2. A `file:line` read this turn, named with the ref it was read at.
 3. A test name plus its real pass/fail line from the runner.
 
-Otherwise write `UNVERIFIED:` immediately before the claim. There is no
+Otherwise tag the claim `{{CAT-UNVERIFIED: <claim> -- cannot verify: <reason>}}`, naming what blocks the check. There is no
 softer wording. The full evidence rules live in `engine/CLAUDE.core.md` and
 are always loaded; this file is the judgment half plus the routing below.
 
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ nothing needs its exit code shown.
 **Blaming a gate is a causal claim.** "The hook is wrong," "the check
 misfired," "the classifier blocked it for no reason" — each one needs the
 gate's rule read this turn and quoted, with its `file:line`, next to the
-input it judged. Without that, write `UNVERIFIED:` like any other cause.
+input it judged. Without that, tag it like any other unchecked cause.
 A reversal ("actually it doesn't block that") is a new claim needing the
 same evidence as the first. This is Chesterton's fence: do not take a fence
 down until you know why it was put up (G.K. Chesterton, *The Thing*, 1929,

corpus/skills/principle-prove-it/tests/fires_example.md

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ hook and the reply says "the hook is wrong, it misfired on a read-only
 command." Nothing was read this turn: not the hook's detector, not the
 condition it tests, not the input it judged. This skill fires on that claim
 shape too, because blaming a gate is a causal claim like any other — it needs
-the rule quoted with its `file:line` next to the input, or `UNVERIFIED:`. The
+the rule quoted with its `file:line` next to the input, or a `{{CAT-UNVERIFIED}}` tag naming the blocker. The
 reversal that usually follows ("actually it doesn't block that") is a second
 claim needing its own evidence, not a correction that inherits the first
 one's. Chesterton's fence names the failure: the fence came down before

corpus/skills/principle-prove-it/tests/fires_subagent_contradiction.md

@@ -13,5 +13,5 @@ carries `grounding: read-confirmed` and a real command output or a
 disagreement the parent cannot act on.
 
 Correct handling is to verify before re-scoping, or to prefix the re-scope
-with `UNVERIFIED:` — not to treat one delegate's unevidenced assertion as
+with `{{CAT-UNVERIFIED: ... -- cannot verify: <reason>}}` — not to treat one delegate's unevidenced assertion as
 having moved the investigation.

corpus/skills/prove-it-ship-gate/SKILL.md

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ When the work under claim has live side effects:
 - **Fixture ≠ live.** Unit tests, mocked fixtures, and UI registration Visual
   Proof do not prove the live path ran.
 - Before stating done / shipped / working: show **live evidence in the same
-  turn**, or prefix the claim with `UNVERIFIED: live path`.
+  turn**, or tag the claim `{{CAT-UNVERIFIED: <claim> -- cannot verify: <reason>}}`.
 - Do not frame UI Visual Proof (for example worker registration in a settings
   panel) as product e2e of the live side effect.
 
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ When the work under claim has live side effects:
 The same-turn check is a Stop hook, `engine/hooks/prove-it-ship-gate/`
 (installed by `install.sh`). It blocks the turn when a done/shipped/live claim sits
 near a live-side-effect noun with no chaseable evidence, no live command this turn,
-and no `UNVERIFIED: live path` prefix. This file keeps the judgment half: deciding
+and no well-formed `{{CAT-UNVERIFIED}}` tag. This file keeps the judgment half: deciding
 whether the work really has live side effects.
 
 ## Incident

corpus/skills/prove-it-ship-gate/tests/fires_example.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ This should fire: the claim is "done/shipped" and the work has a live
 side effect (a real Linear ticket write). Unit tests and UI registration
 are exactly the "fixture ≠ live" case this skill exists to block — the
 agent must show live evidence in the same turn or say
-`UNVERIFIED: live path`.
+`{{CAT-UNVERIFIED: the live path -- cannot verify: <reason>}}`.
 
 This case is also caught mechanically: `engine/hooks/prove-it-ship-gate/`
 blocks the turn (exit 2) on this exact message shape. See that hook's tests for the

tests/test_cat_mode.py

@@ -376,6 +376,22 @@ def test_routing_covers_unavailable_small_and_durable_cases(self):
         self.assertIn("database reads", text.lower())
 
 
+class TestEscapeHatchVocabulary(unittest.TestCase):
+    """cat-mode is always loaded, so an instruction here to write the retired
+    bare `UNVERIFIED:` would send every session into a block."""
+
+    def test_skill_and_verify_reference_name_the_tag_not_the_retired_marker(self):
+        import sys
+        sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+        import escape_hatch_vocab as vocab
+        verify_ref = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(SKILL_PATH), "references", "verify.md")
+        for path in (SKILL_PATH, verify_ref):
+            with open(path, encoding="utf-8") as handle:
+                text = handle.read()
+            self.assertEqual(vocab.instructs_retired_marker(text), [], path)
+            self.assertIn("CAT-UNVERIFIED", text, path)
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     unittest.main()