@@ -683,3 +683,40 @@ When a prior install left a full skill or command copy in a tool directory, or l
 - **WHEN** `taskless update` finds `.claude/skills/taskless` recorded as a target but present on disk as a symlink
 - **THEN** update SHALL replace the symlink with a real reference stub file
 - **AND** SHALL NOT write through the symlink into another directory
+
+### Requirement: A reference stub says how to restore a missing canonical file
+
+A reference stub's body SHALL state what to do when the canonical file it points at is not present, naming a command that restores it. A stub that only delegates leaves a reader who follows it at a dead end, and the two states that produce a missing canonical file (an install whose untracked files never reached this working directory, and a project that ignores the canonical store) are both reached without anyone doing anything wrong.
+
+Skill stubs and command stubs SHALL carry the same instruction.
+
+The command named SHALL be the one that runs the build which wrote the stub, resolved the same way canonical content resolves it. A stub emitted by a development or nightly build SHALL NOT direct the reader to the released package.
+
+The command named SHALL install without an interactive terminal, since the reader of a stub is typically an agent in a non-interactive context.
+
+Stub content SHALL carry nothing that varies per release, so that adding this instruction changes the footprint outside the canonical store exactly once.
+
+A stub already on disk whose body predates this instruction SHALL be rewritten once by the next install, rather than waiting for its frontmatter to change. Detection of such a stub SHALL NOT depend on the build that wrote it, so that builds with different invocations do not rewrite one another's stubs.
+
+#### Scenario: Stub names the command that restores a missing canonical file
+
+- **WHEN** the CLI writes a skill stub or a command stub
+- **THEN** its body SHALL say what to do if the canonical file does not exist
+- **AND** SHALL name a command that restores it
+
+#### Scenario: A development build points at itself
+
+- **WHEN** a `dev` or `self` build writes a stub
+- **THEN** the command named SHALL be that build's own invocation
+- **AND** SHALL NOT be the released package
+
+#### Scenario: Stub bytes do not move with the CLI version
+
+- **WHEN** two installs of different CLI versions write a stub for the same skill
+- **THEN** the two stubs SHALL be identical
+
+#### Scenario: An older stub is rewritten once
+
+- **WHEN** an install finds a stub whose body carries no recovery instruction
+- **THEN** the install SHALL rewrite that stub
+- **AND** a subsequent install SHALL leave the rewritten stub untouched