diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 923ac9f..b01f13d 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -19,38 +19,74 @@ Do not rely on previous conversation memory.
 Before making significant changes:
 
 1. Read this `AGENTS.md`.
-2. Read `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md`, and the PR record document and
-   PR description of any open PR you are continuing.
+2. Inspect the headings in `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md`, then read the latest
+   dated Q4 closeout and the sections relevant to this task. Read the
+   record document and live description of any PR you are continuing.
 3. Understand the relevant existing code, architecture, tests, and conventions.
-4. Review the current Git branch and working tree.
+4. Review the current Git branch and working tree; preserve existing local changes.
 5. Continue from the documented current state.
 
 Prefer small, safe, targeted changes consistent with existing conventions.
 Avoid unrelated refactoring unless it is required for the task.
 
+## Repository operations and context
+
+- Validate fetch and push URLs before network operations; target only
+  `github.com/SAM-BIM/<repository>`. Use explicit SAM-BIM repository/API
+  targets; avoid automatic fork-parent discovery. Do not contact HoareLea
+  repositories or request their access/SAML authorization.
+- Preserve historical attribution, legacy records and external integration
+  references; changes to integrations require a separate migration decision.
+- Treat dated bootstrap/Q2/Q3 entries as historical evidence. Check Git and
+  live PR metadata before acting on old status/next-step text. Read earlier
+  evidence when the task depends on it; do not load whole histories by default.
+- Section position is not a period marker: active-quarter closeouts may appear
+  beneath a historical heading. Scan all dated headings and classify each entry
+  by its date, PR and base branch, not by the heading it sits under.
+- These instructions and `CLAUDE.md` belong on `sow/*` and their feature branches;
+  never promote internal agent files to `master`.
+
+## Quarter transition (owner-approved release work)
+
+Release, product promotion, quarter freeze and quarter bootstrap each need
+explicit owner approval; none is implied by merging an ordinary PR.
+
+- Promote approved Q4 product changes through a reviewed release PR. A normal
+  merge includes internal files: prepare and verify the promotion tree excludes
+  `AGENTS.md`, `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md`, `CLAUDE.md` and the internal continuity
+  records (`documentation/Agent-Continuity-*-Q4.md`).
+  Classify other documentation separately; retain product documentation
+  selected for release.
+- Complete known-SHA Q4 closeouts before freezing `sow/2026-Q4`. The release-promotion
+  PR's closeout belongs on the outgoing `sow/2026-Q4`, never on `master`, although
+  `master` is that PR's base. Preserve the frozen branch as the quarter's record:
+  no commits, rebase, rename, archive or deletion.
+- Create `sow/2027-Q1` from the owner-approved promoted product baseline. Carry
+  forward useful shared instructions and the Claude import onto Q1 only; update
+  the active/frozen quarter references and carry unresolved work with evidence.
+- Initialize a concise Q1 progress record only as an explicitly authorized
+  quarter-bootstrap operation, referencing the frozen Q4 commit for history.
+  This does not widen the ordinary post-merge-only progress-closeout exception.
+  These steps describe future release work; they are not authorized by this file.
+
 ## Project continuity
 
 `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` is updated only after a PR has merged.
 During implementation, keep status/evidence on the PR branch in the
 PR record document and PR description. After merge, fetch the base
 branch and add the closeout entry, including the merge SHA, as a
-direct docs-only commit on the base branch. Do not modify unrelated
-stream entries.
+direct docs-only commit on the base branch (for a release-promotion
+PR into `master`, on the outgoing `sow` branch instead). Do not modify
+unrelated stream entries.
 
 The order of work is:
 
 code + tests + evidence → final PR CI → merge →
 `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` closeout commit on the base branch.
 
-Never change `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` on a PR branch.
-
-The closeout is written only after the merge SHA is known, so it cannot be
-part of the reviewed PR; putting it in the PR would force another review/CI
-cycle merely for a progress-file update. Direct commits to `sow/2026-Q4`
-are therefore allowed for this one case: the post-merge, docs-only
-`PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` closeout. This exception does not cover code, tests,
-workflows or any other file. All code changes still go through a feature
-branch and a PR.
+Never change `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` on a PR branch. The sole direct-Q4
+exception is its post-merge docs-only closeout with a known merge SHA
+and `[skip ci]`; other changes require a feature branch and owner-reviewed PR.
 
 Do not record trivial actions such as opening files,
 searching the repository, or reading documentation.
@@ -70,6 +106,15 @@ the `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` closeout entry must contain:
 - unresolved issues, risks, or blockers;
 - exact recommended next step.
 
+Identify the PR, base branch and tested head SHA. Distinguish local results
+from GitHub checks, including failures/skips, required dependency order and
+remaining gaps. Give reproducible commands and committed evidence paths; label
+machine-local evidence and prerequisites that must be copied or provisioned
+elsewhere. Record the validated content SHA in the committed PR record. If a
+record-only commit follows, keep that tested SHA and its commands in the record,
+validate the final docs diff, and identify the final PR head/checks in the PR
+description. The post-merge closeout records the immutable merge SHA.
+
 When updating `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md`, preserve still-relevant information
 from previous sessions. Remove or replace information only when it is
 obsolete, resolved, or superseded.
@@ -83,3 +128,50 @@ switching computers, accounts, sessions, or AI agents.
 
 Never assume conversation history, terminal history, generated files,
 or uncommitted local changes will exist on another computer.
+
+## Pull requests and merging
+
+- Implementation, tests, workflows and ordinary documentation changes go
+  through focused feature branches and owner-reviewed PRs into `sow/2026-Q4`.
+  Continue an existing PR for the task rather than opening a duplicate.
+- Merge only after owner/code-owner approval, required checks passing at the
+  final PR head, and each review finding resolved or explicitly accepted by
+  the owner.
+- Permission for the direct post-merge closeout does not authorize source,
+  test, workflow or any other file change. A specific owner exception must be
+  recorded explicitly and kept narrowly scoped.
+
+## Post-merge branch cleanup
+
+Once the owner authorizes a PR merge, cleaning up that task's fully merged
+feature branches is included; no separate cleanup approval is needed.
+
+Before deleting a branch:
+
+- verify the remote head SHA is the expected (approved) head;
+- verify it is completely merged into the intended base on the remote;
+- confirm no unmerged local or remote work remains on it;
+- confirm no open PR uses it as head or base;
+- exclude protected, default, quarterly (`sow/*`), shared and specifically
+  protected repository branches.
+
+Delete an eligible remote task branch with a lease guard, for example
+`git push origin --force-with-lease=refs/heads/<branch>:<expected-sha> :refs/heads/<branch>`,
+then confirm the ref is gone. Return the clean checkout to the active base
+and delete the local task branch only when it is fully merged and no worktree
+uses it. Never delete or archive worktrees automatically. If any condition
+fails, preserve the branch and report why. Never force deletion of unmerged work.
+
+Dependency resolution: downstream CI may select a dependency branch by PR
+branch name before falling back to `sow/2026-Q4`. Inspect that resolution. When
+a merged task branch would shadow Q4, clean it up first, then rerun downstream
+CI and verify in the logs that the intended merged dependency was selected.
+
+This covers only the current task's branches. Older unrelated leftovers need
+a separate inventory and authorization.
+
+## Recommendations and handoffs
+
+When recommending a task or writing a prompt or handover, state the model,
+effort, new or existing session and Plan or Build mode, with a brief reason.
+A recommendation does not mean any setting was changed automatically.
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbaeafb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+@AGENTS.md
+
+Keep shared project instructions in AGENTS.md. Read task-specific progress
+and PR evidence as directed there; do not import the full progress history.
diff --git a/documentation/Agent-Continuity-Rollout-Q4.md b/documentation/Agent-Continuity-Rollout-Q4.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae159d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/documentation/Agent-Continuity-Rollout-Q4.md
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+# Agent instructions rollout — Q4 (2026-10-12)
+
+Status: implemented on `docs/agent-instructions-rollout-q4`; owner review required. Not merged.
+Kind: Rollout of the shared baseline.
+Base: `sow/2026-Q4` at `c0dc4281d87991e2cfc39d7ab4acabe76207f483`.
+PR: the live PR for this branch in `SAM-BIM/SAM_Systems` (its number is not committed here).
+Tested content SHA: `45f180a73e3b7c4304cc80f34369fc65f27a0fa2` (changes only AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md).
+Final PR head and hosted check results: recorded in the live PR description. A record
+cannot contain its own commit SHA, so this file is the only change after the tested SHA.
+Baseline: SAM-BIM/SAM#191 (merge `02bbafb8`, closeout `46e96b72`) and SAM-BIM/SAM_OCCT#74
+(merge `3d0a4725`, closeout `c825a40`).
+
+## Scope
+
+Documentation only. No product code, build, workflow, dependency pin or tool changed.
+`PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` is not changed on this branch; its closeout follows merge.
+
+## Changes
+
+- `AGENTS.md`: moves from the 2026-10-06 bootstrap template to the SAM#191 / SAM_OCCT#74 baseline (task-specific progress reads, SAM-BIM-only operations, quarter transition, evidence rules) plus merge conditions, guarded post-merge branch cleanup and the model/effort handoff rule. The repository's own branch-context line is kept.
+- `CLAUDE.md` (new): `@AGENTS.md` import, same convention as the pilots.
+
+Shared rules added or confirmed in `AGENTS.md`: Git and committed records are authoritative; SAM-BIM-only
+operations with validated URLs; heading-first, task-specific progress reads; feature branch + owner-reviewed PR
+for everything except the post-merge `[skip ci]` progress closeout; tested-SHA, local-versus-hosted,
+dependency-order and remaining-gap evidence; merge only after owner approval, final-head checks and resolved
+findings; guarded post-merge cleanup of the task's branches (expected-SHA check, full-merge check, no open PR,
+lease-guarded delete, no worktree deletion); frozen quarters; internal agent files stay off master promotions;
+model/effort/session/mode on every recommendation.
+
+## Preserved repository-specific rules
+
+- No repository-specific rule existed beyond the shared template; the repository's own `master` base SHA in Branch context is kept.
+
+## Validation
+
+Local, documentation checks only (no product build or test was run, none applies):
+
+```bash
+base=c0dc4281d87991e2cfc39d7ab4acabe76207f483
+tested=45f180a73e3b7c4304cc80f34369fc65f27a0fa2
+final=$(git rev-parse HEAD)   # must equal the final head in the PR description
+for revision in "$tested" "$final"; do
+  git diff --check "$base" "$revision"; echo "check $revision exit=$?"
+  git diff --name-only "$base" "$revision"
+  git diff --quiet "$base" "$revision" -- PROJECT_PROGRESS.md; echo "progress $revision exit=$?"
+done
+git diff --name-only "$tested" "$final"
+git show "$final":CLAUDE.md | grep -n '^@AGENTS.md'
+```
+
+Expected: every `exit=` is 0; the full-PR file lists contain only AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md and this record
+(at the tested SHA only AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md); the tested-to-final list contains only this record; the import
+line is found. PowerShell works with `git rev-parse HEAD` and `if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0)` checks.
+
+Result at the tested SHA (2026-10-12, Windows, Git for Windows): `git diff --check` exit=0;
+`PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` unchanged exit=0; changed files: AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md; no CR, no BOM, final newline;
+no unreplaced template tokens; `sow/2026-Q4` active, `sow/2026-Q3` frozen, no `sow/2026-Q2` reference.
+The same checks at the final head and the hosted PR checks are reported in the PR description;
+they are not asserted here. No agent-client token/behaviour benchmark was run for this rollout.
+
+## Remaining decisions and next step
+
+- Merge needs owner approval, passing final-head checks and resolved/accepted review findings. Code-owner review is required only for merges to `master` (owner decision recorded in the pilot closeouts).
+- After merge: a docs-only `[skip ci]` closeout in `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` on `sow/2026-Q4` with the merge SHA, then guarded cleanup of `docs/agent-instructions-rollout-q4` per `AGENTS.md`. Stale bootstrap wording already in `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` is not edited by this PR; labelling it is a closeout matter that needs explicit owner authorization.
+- Machine-local: the 29-repository rollout inventory, worktrees and cross-repository status table are in the
+  local parent `PROJECT_PROGRESS.md` checkpoint (not Git-tracked). The committed cross-repository table is in
+  SAM-BIM/SAM's `documentation/Agent-Continuity-Rollout-Q4.md` once that PR lists all rollout PRs.
\ No newline at end of file