Initial plan

2026-07-03 20:36:23 +08:00 · 2026-06-08 13:10:00 +00:00
71 changed files with 1807 additions and 3679 deletions
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,34 +2,6 @@

 <!-- insert new changelog below this comment -->

-## [0.10.1] - 2026-06-09
-
-### Changed
-
- Update DocGuard — CDD Enforcement extension to v0.25.1 (#2909)
- Update a11y-governance preset to v0.3.0 (#2867)
- docs: document spec persistence models (#2856)
- chore(catalog): bump Linear Integration to v0.3.0 (repo renamed to spec-kit-linear-sync) (#2893)
- chore: update DocGuard extension to v0.25.0 (#2707)
- chore: remove unused open_github_url/_StripAuthOnRedirect from _github_http.py (#2883)
- fix(catalogs): validate extension and preset catalog payload shape (#2621)
- feat(integration): add status reporting (#2674)
- chore: release 0.10.0, begin 0.10.1.dev0 development (#2904)
-
-## [0.10.0] - 2026-06-09
-
-### Changed
-
- feat: make git extension opt-in and remove --no-git at v0.10.0 (#2873)
- [Preset] UpdateFiction book writing v1.9.0 - Illustration support (#2821)
- test(workflows): cover executable override fallback preflight (#2843)
- Add GitHub Copilot CLI guidance to readme (#2891)
- Update Security Review extension to v1.5.3 (#2898)
- Update Architecture Guard extension to v1.8.17 (#2897)
- feat(extensions): per-event hook lists with priority ordering (#2798)
- feat!: remove legacy --ai, --ai-commands-dir, and --ai-skills flags (0.10.0) (#2872)
- chore: release 0.9.5, begin 0.9.6.dev0 development (#2875)
-
 ## [0.9.5] - 2026-06-05

 ### Changed
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ Bare `specify self upgrade` executes immediately, matching the no-prompt behavio

 ### 3. Establish project principles

-Launch your coding agent in the project directory. Most agents expose spec-kit as `/speckit.*` slash commands; Codex CLI in skills mode uses `$speckit-*` instead; GitHub Copilot CLI uses `/agents` to select the agent or address it directly in a prompt.
+Launch your coding agent in the project directory. Most agents expose spec-kit as `/speckit.*` slash commands; Codex CLI in skills mode uses `$speckit-*` instead.

 Use the **`/speckit.constitution`** command to create your project's governing principles and development guidelines that will guide all subsequent development.

--- a/docs/community/extensions.md
+++ b/docs/community/extensions.md
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ The following community-contributed extensions are available in [`catalog.commun
 | Conduct Extension | Orchestrates spec-kit phases via sub-agent delegation to reduce context pollution. | `process` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-conduct-ext](https://github.com/twbrandon7/spec-kit-conduct-ext) |
 | Confluence Extension | Create a doc in Confluence summarizing the specifications and planning files | `integration` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-confluence](https://github.com/aaronrsun/spec-kit-confluence) |
 | Cost Tracker | Track real LLM dollar cost across SDD workflows — per-feature budgets, per-integration comparison, and finance-ready exports | `visibility` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-cost](https://github.com/Quratulain-bilal/spec-kit-cost) |
-| DocGuard — CDD Enforcement | Canonical-Driven Development enforcement. Validates, scores, and traces project documentation with automated checks, AI-driven workflows, and spec-kit hooks. One pinned runtime dependency; pure Node.js otherwise. | `docs` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-docguard](https://github.com/raccioly/docguard) |
+| DocGuard — CDD Enforcement | Canonical-Driven Development enforcement. Validates, scores, and traces project documentation with automated checks, AI-driven workflows, and spec-kit hooks. Zero NPM runtime dependencies. | `docs` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-docguard](https://github.com/raccioly/docguard) |
 | Extensify | Create and validate extensions and extension catalogs | `process` | Read+Write | [extensify](https://github.com/mnriem/spec-kit-extensions/tree/main/extensify) |
 | Fix Findings | Automated analyze-fix-reanalyze loop that resolves spec findings until clean | `code` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-fix-findings](https://github.com/Quratulain-bilal/spec-kit-fix-findings) |
 | FixIt Extension | Spec-aware bug fixing — maps bugs to spec artifacts, proposes a plan, applies minimal changes | `code` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-fixit](https://github.com/speckit-community/spec-kit-fixit) |
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ The following community-contributed extensions are available in [`catalog.commun
 | Iterate | Iterate on spec documents with a two-phase define-and-apply workflow — refine specs mid-implementation and go straight back to building | `docs` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-iterate](https://github.com/imviancagrace/spec-kit-iterate) |
 | Jira Integration | Create Jira Epics, Stories, and Issues from spec-kit specifications and task breakdowns with configurable hierarchy and custom field support | `integration` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-jira](https://github.com/mbachorik/spec-kit-jira) |
 | Learning Extension | Generate educational guides from implementations and enhance clarifications with mentoring context | `docs` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-learn](https://github.com/imviancagrace/spec-kit-learn) |
-| Linear Integration | Mirror spec-kit feature directories into Linear (filesystem → Linear, reconcile-based, unidirectional). | `integration` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-linear-sync](https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear-sync) |
+| Linear Integration | Mirror spec-kit feature directories into Linear (filesystem → Linear, reconcile-based, unidirectional). | `integration` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-linear](https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear) |
 | MAQA — Multi-Agent & Quality Assurance | Coordinator → feature → QA agent workflow with parallel worktree-based implementation. Language-agnostic. Auto-detects installed board plugins. Optional CI gate. | `process` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-maqa-ext](https://github.com/GenieRobot/spec-kit-maqa-ext) |
 | MAQA Azure DevOps Integration | Azure DevOps Boards integration for MAQA — syncs User Stories and Task children as features progress | `integration` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-maqa-azure-devops](https://github.com/GenieRobot/spec-kit-maqa-azure-devops) |
 | MAQA CI/CD Gate | Auto-detects GitHub Actions, CircleCI, GitLab CI, and Bitbucket Pipelines. Blocks QA handoff until pipeline is green. | `process` | Read+Write | [spec-kit-maqa-ci](https://github.com/GenieRobot/spec-kit-maqa-ci) |
--- a/docs/community/presets.md
+++ b/docs/community/presets.md
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ The following community-contributed presets customize how Spec Kit behaves — o

 | Preset | Purpose | Provides | Requires | URL |
 |--------|---------|----------|----------|-----|
-| A11Y Governance | Adds WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility checks, bilingual DE/EN delivery, CEFR-B2 readability, CLI accessibility, inclusive-content guidance, and didactic inline-code-comment review | 10 templates, 3 commands | — | [spec-kit-preset-a11y-governance](https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-a11y-governance) |
+| A11Y Governance | Adds WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility checks, bilingual DE/EN delivery, CEFR-B2 readability, CLI accessibility, and inclusive-content guidance | 9 templates, 3 commands | — | [spec-kit-preset-a11y-governance](https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-a11y-governance) |
 | Agent Parity Governance | Keeps shared AI-agent instructions aligned and adds agent-neutral Spec Kit model-routing guidance across project-defined agent guidance surfaces | 9 templates, 3 commands | — | [spec-kit-preset-agent-parity-governance](https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-agent-parity-governance) |
 | AIDE In-Place Migration | Adapts the AIDE extension workflow for in-place technology migrations (X → Y pattern) — adds migration objectives, verification gates, knowledge documents, and behavioral equivalence criteria | 2 templates, 8 commands | AIDE extension | [spec-kit-presets](https://github.com/mnriem/spec-kit-presets) |
 | Architecture Governance | Adds secure architecture governance: trust boundaries, threat modeling, STRIDE/CAPEC, S-ADRs, Zero Trust applicability, and OWASP SAMM | 11 templates, 3 commands | — | [spec-kit-preset-architecture-governance](https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-architecture-governance) |
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ The following community-contributed presets customize how Spec Kit behaves — o
 | Claude AskUserQuestion | Upgrades `/speckit.clarify` and `/speckit.checklist` on Claude Code from Markdown-table prompts to the native AskUserQuestion picker, with a recommended option and reasoning on every question | 2 commands | — | [spec-kit-preset-claude-ask-questions](https://github.com/0xrafasec/spec-kit-preset-claude-ask-questions) |
 | Cross-Platform Governance | Adds Bash/PowerShell parity, dry-run/WhatIf parity, Unix man-page expectations, PowerShell comment-based help, and Verb-Noun Cmdlet discipline | 8 templates, 3 commands | — | [spec-kit-preset-cross-platform-governance](https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-cross-platform-governance) |
 | Explicit Task Dependencies | Adds explicit `(depends on T###)` dependency declarations and an Execution Wave DAG to tasks.md for parallel scheduling | 1 template, 1 command | — | [spec-kit-preset-explicit-task-dependencies](https://github.com/Quratulain-bilal/spec-kit-preset-explicit-task-dependencies) |
-| Fiction Book Writing | It adapts the Spec-Driven Development workflow for storytelling to create books or audiobooks (with annotations) in 12 languages: features become story elements, specs become story briefs, plans become story structures, and tasks become scene-by-scene writing tasks. Supports single and multi-POV, all major plot structure frameworks, and two style modes: an author voice sample or humanized AI prose principles. Supports interactive elements like brainstorming, interview, roleplay, and extras like statistics, cover builder, illustration builder, and bio command. Export with templates for KDP, D2D, etc. | 26 templates, 34 commands, 2 scripts | — | [speckit-preset-fiction-book-writing](https://github.com/adaumann/speckit-preset-fiction-book-writing) |
+| Fiction Book Writing | It adapts the Spec-Driven Development workflow for storytelling to create books or audiobooks (with annotations) in 12 languages: features become story elements, specs become story briefs, plans become story structures, and tasks become scene-by-scene writing tasks. Supports single and multi-POV, all major plot structure frameworks, and two style modes: an author voice sample or humanized AI prose principles. Supports interactive elements like brainstorming, interview, roleplay and extras like statistics, cover builder and bio command. Export with templates for KDP, D2D etc. | 25 templates, 33 commands, 2 scripts | — | [speckit-preset-fiction-book-writing](https://github.com/adaumann/speckit-preset-fiction-book-writing) |
 | Game Narrative Writing | Spec-Driven Development for interactive game narrative pre-production for video games. Authors write in a portable generic format, Twine/Sugarcube (.twee) or Ink (.ink). Covers choice-IF, visual novels, and branching dialogue. Supports Tier 1 mechanic hooks (flag, counter, inventory, timer, trust, currency, npc_state, ending_condition), multi-ending design, series carry-over variable registry, and NPC-focused character architecture. | 22 templates, 36 commands, 2 scripts | — | [speckit-preset-game-narrative-writing](https://github.com/adaumann/speckit-preset-game-narrative-writing) |
 | iSAQB Architecture Governance | Adds general iSAQB/CPSA-F and arc42 architecture governance: goals, context, building blocks, runtime and deployment views, quality scenarios, ADRs, risks, and technical debt | 13 templates, 3 commands | — | [spec-kit-preset-isaqb-architecture-governance](https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-isaqb-architecture-governance) |
 | Jira Issue Tracking | Overrides `speckit.taskstoissues` to create Jira epics, stories, and tasks instead of GitHub Issues via Atlassian MCP tools | 1 command | — | [spec-kit-preset-jira](https://github.com/luno/spec-kit-preset-jira) |
--- a/docs/concepts/sdd.md
+++ b/docs/concepts/sdd.md
@@ -11,11 +11,6 @@ Spec-Driven Development is a structured process that emphasizes:
 - **Multi-step refinement** rather than one-shot code generation from prompts
 - **Heavy reliance** on advanced AI model capabilities for specification interpretation

-Spec Kit does not prescribe how teams preserve or mutate `spec.md`, `plan.md`,
-and `tasks.md` after requirements change. See
-[Spec Persistence Models](spec-persistence.md) for three common ways to manage
-those artifacts over time.
-
 ## Development Phases

 | Phase | Focus | Key Activities |
--- a/docs/concepts/spec-persistence.md
+++ b/docs/concepts/spec-persistence.md
@@ -1,107 +0,0 @@
-# Spec Persistence Models
-
-Spec Kit intentionally leaves teams in control of what happens to `spec.md`,
-`plan.md`, and `tasks.md` after requirements change. The toolkit gives you a
-repeatable workflow, but it does not force one artifact maintenance strategy.
-
-This page names three common models so teams can make that choice explicit.
-None is the default, and none is required by Spec Kit.
-
-## Two Separate Questions
-
-Spec-driven development has a temporal question: how long should the
-specification matter? One
-[overview of SDD tooling](https://martinfowler.com/articles/exploring-gen-ai/sdd-3-tools.html)
-frames that lifecycle in three levels:
-
- **Spec-first**: write a spec before coding, then allow it to be discarded.
- **Spec-anchored**: keep the spec after implementation and use it for future
-  changes.
- **Spec-as-source**: treat the spec as the only human-edited source and
-  regenerate implementation artifacts from it.
-
-Spec Kit also exposes a second question: what happens to the artifact set when
-requirements change? The models below describe that mutation strategy.
-
-## Flow-Back Spec
-
-Use flow-back when `spec.md`, `plan.md`, `tasks.md`, and the implementation are
-all allowed to inform each other.
-
-In this model, edits can begin in any artifact. A developer might update
-`tasks.md` during implementation, revise `plan.md` after a technical discovery,
-or adjust `spec.md` after a product clarification. The team then reconciles the
-artifact set manually so the final project history still makes sense.
-
-Flow-back works well when:
-
- the team is small enough to notice and reconcile drift quickly
- implementation discoveries are expected to reshape the original plan
- speed matters more than preserving each intermediate decision as immutable
-  history
-
-The main risk is silent divergence. If the team changes lower-level artifacts
-without reflecting the decision back into `spec.md`, future contributors may
-not know which artifact to trust.
-
-## Flow-Forward Spec
-
-Use flow-forward when each feature directory should remain a historical record.
-
-In this model, completed artifacts are treated as immutable. When requirements
-change, the team creates a new feature directory instead of mutating the
-existing `spec.md`, `plan.md`, or `tasks.md`. The older directory remains useful
-for audit, comparison, or explaining how the project reached its current state.
-
-Flow-forward works well when:
-
- auditability and traceability matter
- features are well-scoped and rarely revisited in place
- the team wants a clear sequence of requirement changes over time
-
-The main tradeoff is duplication. Related decisions can be spread across
-multiple feature directories, so teams need naming, linking, or review habits
-that make the lineage easy to follow.
-
-## Living Spec
-
-Use living spec when `spec.md` is the contract and the other artifacts are
-derived from it.
-
-In this model, teams update `spec.md` first and then regenerate or revise
-`plan.md` and `tasks.md` from that source. The plan and task list are still
-valuable, but they are treated as disposable derivations rather than permanent
-sources of truth.
-
-Living spec works well when:
-
- the product contract is stable enough to own the workflow
- the team is comfortable regenerating derived artifacts after spec changes
- consistency between requirements and implementation matters more than keeping
-  every intermediate plan intact
-
-The main risk is losing useful implementation rationale if derived artifacts are
-discarded without preserving important decisions elsewhere.
-
-## Choosing a Model
-
-The model is a team convention, not a CLI setting. A project can even use
-different models in different areas, as long as contributors know which one
-applies.
-
-| Model | Mutation rule | Best fit | Watch out for |
-|---|---|---|---|
-| Flow-back spec | Edit any artifact, then reconcile | Fast iteration and close collaboration | Silent drift between artifacts |
-| Flow-forward spec | Create a new feature directory for new requirements | Audit trails and historical clarity | Duplicate or fragmented context |
-| Living spec | Edit `spec.md`; regenerate derived artifacts | Spec as contract | Lost rationale in regenerated files |
-
-If your team has not chosen a model yet, start by answering two questions:
-
-1. Should completed feature directories be historical records or editable work
-   areas?
-2. Is `spec.md` the single source of truth, or are `plan.md` and `tasks.md`
-   allowed to become co-equal sources?
-
-Once those answers are clear, document the convention in your project
-constitution or team onboarding notes so future contributors know how to handle
-changes.
--- a/docs/installation.md
+++ b/docs/installation.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 - AI coding agent: [Claude Code](https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code), [GitHub Copilot](https://code.visualstudio.com/), [Codebuddy CLI](https://www.codebuddy.ai/cli), [Gemini CLI](https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli), or [Pi Coding Agent](https://pi.dev)
 - [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) for package management (recommended) or [pipx](https://pipx.pypa.io/) for persistent installation
 - [Python 3.11+](https://www.python.org/downloads/)
- [Git](https://git-scm.com/downloads) _(optional — required only when the git extension is enabled)_
+- [Git](https://git-scm.com/downloads)

 ## Installation

--- a/docs/local-development.md
+++ b/docs/local-development.md
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ rm -rf .venv dist build *.egg-info
 |---------|-----|
 | `ModuleNotFoundError: typer` | Run `uv pip install -e .` |
 | Scripts not executable (Linux) | Re-run init or `chmod +x scripts/*.sh` |
-| Git commands unavailable | Install the git extension with `specify extension add git` |
+| Git step skipped | You passed `--no-git` or Git not installed |
 | Wrong script type downloaded | Pass `--script sh` or `--script ps` explicitly |
 | TLS errors on corporate network | Configure your environment's certificate store or proxy. The `--skip-tls` flag is deprecated and has no effect. |

--- a/docs/reference/core.md
+++ b/docs/reference/core.md
@@ -15,13 +15,16 @@ specify init [<project_name>]
 | `--script sh\|ps`        | Script type: `sh` (bash/zsh) or `ps` (PowerShell)                       |
 | `--here`                 | Initialize in the current directory instead of creating a new one        |
 | `--force`                | Force merge/overwrite when initializing in an existing directory         |
+| `--no-git`               | Skip git repository initialization                                       |
 | `--ignore-agent-tools`   | Skip checks for AI coding agent CLI tools                                |
 | `--preset <id>`          | Install a preset during initialization                                   |
+| `--branch-numbering`     | Branch numbering strategy: `sequential` (default) or `timestamp`         |

 Creates a new Spec Kit project with the necessary directory structure, templates, scripts, and AI coding agent integration files.

 > [!NOTE]
-> Git repository initialization and branching are managed by the **git extension**, which is not installed by default. Run `specify extension add git` after init to enable git workflows.
+> The git extension is currently enabled by default during `specify init`.
+> Starting in `v0.10.0`, it will require explicit opt-in. To add it after init, run `specify extension add git`.

 Use `<project_name>` to create a new directory, or `--here` (or `.`) to initialize in the current directory. If the directory already has files, use `--force` to merge without confirmation.

@@ -42,8 +45,14 @@ specify init --here --force --integration copilot
 # Use PowerShell scripts (Windows/cross-platform)
 specify init my-project --integration copilot --script ps

+# Skip git initialization
+specify init my-project --integration copilot --no-git
+
 # Install a preset during initialization
 specify init my-project --integration copilot --preset compliance
+
+# Use timestamp-based branch numbering (useful for distributed teams)
+specify init my-project --integration copilot --branch-numbering timestamp
 ```

 ### Environment Variables
@@ -58,7 +67,7 @@ specify init my-project --integration copilot --preset compliance
 specify check
 ```

-Checks that CLI-based AI coding agents are available on your system. IDE-based agents are skipped since they don't require a CLI tool.
+Checks that required tools are available on your system: `git` and any CLI-based AI coding agents. IDE-based agents are skipped since they don't require a CLI tool.

 This command stays offline. If a command behaves like an older Spec Kit version or an expected CLI feature is missing, run `specify self check` to check whether your local CLI is behind the latest release.

--- a/docs/reference/integrations.md
+++ b/docs/reference/integrations.md
@@ -126,27 +126,6 @@ specify integration upgrade [<key>]

 Reinstalls an installed integration with updated templates and commands (e.g., after upgrading Spec Kit). Defaults to the default integration; if a key is provided, it must be one of the installed integrations. Detects locally modified files and blocks the upgrade unless `--force` is used. Stale files from the previous install that are no longer needed are removed automatically. Shared templates stay aligned with the default integration even when upgrading a non-default integration.

-## Report Integration Status
-
-```bash
-specify integration status
-specify integration status --json
-```
-
-Reports the current project's integration status without changing files. The
-status report includes the default integration, installed integrations,
-multi-install safety, missing managed files, modified managed files, invalid
-manifest paths, shared Spec Kit infrastructure health, unchecked manifests, and
-the target integration for default-sensitive shared templates. The JSON form is
-intended for CI and coding agents that need stable machine-readable status data;
-it also reports the raw recorded integrations and the integration manifests that
-were checked when state repair heuristics differ from the recorded file.
-The command exits 0 when the report status is `ok` or `warning`; it exits 1
-only when the report status is `error`. In JSON output, `multi_install_safe`
-is `null` when no installed integration set can be evaluated, such as when the
-integration state is missing, unreadable, lacks a valid recorded integration
-list, or records no installed integrations.
-
 ## Integration-Specific Options

 Some integrations accept additional options via `--integration-options`:
--- a/docs/toc.yml
+++ b/docs/toc.yml
@@ -41,8 +41,6 @@
  items:
    - name: What is SDD?
      href: concepts/sdd.md
-    - name: Spec Persistence Models
-      href: concepts/spec-persistence.md

 # Development workflows
 - name: Development
--- a/docs/upgrade.md
+++ b/docs/upgrade.md
@@ -257,38 +257,70 @@ rm speckit.old-command-name.md
 # Restart your IDE
 ```

-### Scenario 4: "I don't want the git extension"
+### Scenario 4: "I'm working on a project without Git"

-The git extension is now opt-in, so upgrades do not install it unless you add it explicitly.
+If you initialized your project with `--no-git`, you can still upgrade:

 ```bash
 # Manually back up files you customized
-cp .specify/memory/constitution.md .specify/memory/constitution.backup.md
+cp .specify/memory/constitution.md /tmp/constitution-backup.md

 # Run upgrade
-specify init --here --force --integration copilot
+specify init --here --force --integration copilot --no-git

 # Restore customizations
-mv .specify/memory/constitution.backup.md .specify/memory/constitution.md
+mv /tmp/constitution-backup.md .specify/memory/constitution.md
 ```

-If you later decide you want the git extension's commands and hooks, install it explicitly:
+The `--no-git` flag skips git initialization but doesn't affect file updates.
+
+---
+
+## Using `--no-git` Flag
+
+The `--no-git` flag tells Spec Kit to **skip git repository initialization**. This is useful when:
+
+- You manage version control differently (Mercurial, SVN, etc.)
+- Your project is part of a larger monorepo with existing git setup
+- You're experimenting and don't want version control yet
+
+**During initial setup:**

 ```bash
-specify extension add git
+specify init my-project --integration copilot --no-git
 ```

-Projects that do not use Git can still work with Spec Kit by setting `SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY` to the feature directory path before planning commands:
+**During upgrade:**
+
+```bash
+specify init --here --force --integration copilot --no-git
+```
+
+### What `--no-git` does NOT do
+
+❌ Does NOT prevent file updates
+❌ Does NOT skip slash command installation
+❌ Does NOT affect template merging
+
+It **only** skips running `git init` and creating the initial commit.
+
+### Working without Git
+
+If you use `--no-git`, you'll need to manage feature directories manually:
+
+**Set the `SPECIFY_FEATURE` environment variable** before using planning commands:

 ```bash
 # Bash/Zsh
-export SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY="specs/001-my-feature"
+export SPECIFY_FEATURE="001-my-feature"

 # PowerShell
-$env:SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY = "specs/001-my-feature"
+$env:SPECIFY_FEATURE = "001-my-feature"
 ```

-Alternatively, run the `/speckit.specify` command which creates `.specify/feature.json` automatically.
+This tells Spec Kit which feature directory to use when creating specs, plans, and tasks.
+
+**Why this matters:** Without git, Spec Kit can't detect your current branch name to determine the active feature. The environment variable provides that context manually.

 ---

--- a/extensions/catalog.community.json
+++ b/extensions/catalog.community.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
  "schema_version": "1.0",
-  "updated_at": "2026-06-09T00:00:00Z",
+  "updated_at": "2026-06-04T00:00:00Z",
  "catalog_url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/spec-kit/main/extensions/catalog.community.json",
  "extensions": {
    "aide": {
@@ -242,11 +242,11 @@
      "id": "architecture-guard",
      "description": "Framework-agnostic architecture review extension for validating implementation against governance and architecture constitutions, detecting architectural drift, and generating non-blocking refactor tasks.",
      "author": "DyanGalih",
-      "version": "1.8.17",
-      "download_url": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-architecture-guard/archive/refs/tags/v1.8.17.zip",
+      "version": "1.8.9",
+      "download_url": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-architecture-guard/archive/refs/tags/v1.8.9.zip",
      "repository": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-architecture-guard",
      "homepage": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-architecture-guard",
-      "documentation": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-architecture-guard/blob/main/docs/architecture-overview.md",
+      "documentation": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-architecture-guard/blob/main/README.md",
      "changelog": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-architecture-guard/releases",
      "license": "MIT",
      "requires": {
@@ -269,7 +269,7 @@
      "downloads": 0,
      "stars": 0,
      "created_at": "2026-05-05T07:26:00Z",
-      "updated_at": "2026-06-08T00:00:00Z"
+      "updated_at": "2026-05-27T00:00:00Z"
    },
    "archive": {
      "name": "Archive Extension",
@@ -438,7 +438,7 @@
      "updated_at": "2026-04-10T00:00:00Z"
    },
    "brownkit": {
-      "name": "BrownKit — Brownfield Discovery for Spec-Kit",
+      "name": "BrownKit \u2014 Brownfield Discovery for Spec-Kit",
      "id": "brownkit",
      "description": "Evidence-driven capability discovery, security and QA risk assessment for existing codebases.",
      "author": "Maksim Shautsou",
@@ -849,10 +849,10 @@
    "docguard": {
      "name": "DocGuard — CDD Enforcement",
      "id": "docguard",
-      "description": "Canonical-Driven Development enforcement. Validates, scores, and traces project documentation with automated checks, AI-driven workflows, and spec-kit hooks. One pinned runtime dependency; pure Node.js otherwise.",
+      "description": "Canonical-Driven Development enforcement. Validates, scores, and traces project documentation with automated checks, AI-driven workflows, and spec-kit hooks. Zero NPM runtime dependencies.",
      "author": "raccioly",
-      "version": "0.25.1",
-      "download_url": "https://github.com/raccioly/docguard/releases/download/v0.25.1/spec-kit-docguard-v0.25.1.zip",
+      "version": "0.9.11",
+      "download_url": "https://github.com/raccioly/docguard/releases/download/v0.9.11/spec-kit-docguard-v0.9.11.zip",
      "repository": "https://github.com/raccioly/docguard",
      "homepage": "https://www.npmjs.com/package/docguard-cli",
      "documentation": "https://github.com/raccioly/docguard/blob/main/extensions/spec-kit-docguard/README.md",
@@ -886,7 +886,7 @@
      "downloads": 0,
      "stars": 0,
      "created_at": "2026-03-13T00:00:00Z",
-      "updated_at": "2026-06-09T00:00:00Z"
+      "updated_at": "2026-03-18T18:53:31Z"
    },
    "doctor": {
      "name": "Project Health Check",
@@ -1251,12 +1251,12 @@
      "id": "linear",
      "description": "Mirror spec-kit feature directories into Linear (filesystem → Linear, reconcile-based, unidirectional).",
      "author": "Ash Brener",
-      "version": "0.3.0",
-      "download_url": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear-sync/archive/refs/tags/v0.3.0.zip",
-      "repository": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear-sync",
-      "homepage": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear-sync",
-      "documentation": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear-sync/blob/main/README.md",
-      "changelog": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear-sync/releases",
+      "version": "0.2.0",
+      "download_url": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear/archive/refs/tags/v0.2.0.zip",
+      "repository": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear",
+      "homepage": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear",
+      "documentation": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear/blob/main/README.md",
+      "changelog": "https://github.com/ashbrener/spec-kit-linear/releases",
      "license": "MIT",
      "requires": {
        "speckit_version": ">=0.1.0"
@@ -1277,7 +1277,7 @@
      "downloads": 0,
      "stars": 0,
      "created_at": "2026-06-01T00:00:00Z",
-      "updated_at": "2026-06-08T00:00:00Z"
+      "updated_at": "2026-06-01T00:00:00Z"
    },
    "m365": {
      "name": "Microsoft 365 Integration",
@@ -2554,9 +2554,9 @@
      "name": "Security Review",
      "id": "security-review",
      "description": "Full-project secure-by-design security audits plus staged, branch/PR, plan, task, follow-up, and apply reviews",
-      "author": "Spec-Kit Security Team",
-      "version": "1.5.3",
-      "download_url": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-security-review/archive/refs/tags/v1.5.3.zip",
+      "author": "DyanGalih",
+      "version": "1.5.0",
+      "download_url": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-security-review/archive/refs/tags/v1.5.0.zip",
      "repository": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-security-review",
      "homepage": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-security-review",
      "documentation": "https://github.com/DyanGalih/spec-kit-security-review/blob/main/README.md",
@@ -2580,7 +2580,7 @@
      "downloads": 0,
      "stars": 0,
      "created_at": "2026-04-03T03:24:03Z",
-      "updated_at": "2026-06-08T00:00:00Z"
+      "updated_at": "2026-05-11T14:58:00Z"
    },
    "sf": {
      "name": "SFSpeckit — Salesforce Spec-Driven Development",
@@ -3607,4 +3607,4 @@
      "updated_at": "2026-04-13T00:00:00Z"
    }
  }
-}
+}
--- a/extensions/git/README.md
+++ b/extensions/git/README.md
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ When Git is not installed or the directory is not a Git repository:

 The extension bundles cross-platform scripts:

- `scripts/bash/create-new-feature-branch.sh` — Bash implementation (branch creation only)
+- `scripts/bash/create-new-feature.sh` — Bash implementation
 - `scripts/bash/git-common.sh` — Shared Git utilities (Bash)
- `scripts/powershell/create-new-feature-branch.ps1` — PowerShell implementation (branch creation only)
+- `scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1` — PowerShell implementation
 - `scripts/powershell/git-common.ps1` — Shared Git utilities (PowerShell)
--- a/extensions/git/commands/speckit.git.feature.md
+++ b/extensions/git/commands/speckit.git.feature.md
@@ -31,9 +31,8 @@ If the user explicitly provided `GIT_BRANCH_NAME` (e.g., via environment variabl
 Determine the branch numbering strategy by checking configuration in this order:

 1. Check `.specify/extensions/git/git-config.yml` for `branch_numbering` value
-2. Check `.specify/init-options.json` for `feature_numbering` value (inherit from core)
-3. Check `.specify/init-options.json` for `branch_numbering` value (deprecated, backward compatibility — will be removed in a future release)
-4. Default to `sequential` if none of the above exist
+2. Check `.specify/init-options.json` for `branch_numbering` value (backward compatibility)
+3. Default to `sequential` if neither exists

 ## Execution

@@ -44,10 +43,10 @@ Generate a concise short name (2-4 words) for the branch:

 Run the appropriate script based on your platform:

- **Bash**: `.specify/extensions/git/scripts/bash/create-new-feature-branch.sh --json --short-name "<short-name>" "<feature description>"`
- **Bash (timestamp)**: `.specify/extensions/git/scripts/bash/create-new-feature-branch.sh --json --timestamp --short-name "<short-name>" "<feature description>"`
- **PowerShell**: `.specify/extensions/git/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature-branch.ps1 -Json -ShortName "<short-name>" "<feature description>"`
- **PowerShell (timestamp)**: `.specify/extensions/git/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature-branch.ps1 -Json -Timestamp -ShortName "<short-name>" "<feature description>"`
+- **Bash**: `.specify/extensions/git/scripts/bash/create-new-feature.sh --json --short-name "<short-name>" "<feature description>"`
+- **Bash (timestamp)**: `.specify/extensions/git/scripts/bash/create-new-feature.sh --json --timestamp --short-name "<short-name>" "<feature description>"`
+- **PowerShell**: `.specify/extensions/git/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1 -Json -ShortName "<short-name>" "<feature description>"`
+- **PowerShell (timestamp)**: `.specify/extensions/git/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1 -Json -Timestamp -ShortName "<short-name>" "<feature description>"`

 **IMPORTANT**:
 - Do NOT pass `--number` — the script determines the correct next number automatically
--- a/extensions/git/scripts/bash/create-new-feature-branch.sh
+++ b/extensions/git/scripts/bash/create-new-feature-branch.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# Git extension: create-new-feature-branch.sh
-# Creates a git feature branch only. The feature directory and spec file
-# are created by the core create-new-feature.sh script.
+# Git extension: create-new-feature.sh
+# Adapted from core scripts/bash/create-new-feature.sh for extension layout.
 # Sources common.sh from the project's installed scripts, falling back to
 # git-common.sh for minimal git helpers.

--- a/extensions/git/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature-branch.ps1
+++ b/extensions/git/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature-branch.ps1
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env pwsh
-# Git extension: create-new-feature-branch.ps1
-# Creates a git feature branch only. The feature directory and spec file
-# are created by the core create-new-feature.ps1 script.
+# Git extension: create-new-feature.ps1
+# Adapted from core scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1 for extension layout.
 # Sources common.ps1 from the project's installed scripts, falling back to
 # git-common.ps1 for minimal git helpers.
 [CmdletBinding()]
@@ -20,7 +19,7 @@ param(
 $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'

 if ($Help) {
-    Write-Host "Usage: ./create-new-feature-branch.ps1 [-Json] [-DryRun] [-AllowExistingBranch] [-ShortName <name>] [-Number N] [-Timestamp] <feature description>"
+    Write-Host "Usage: ./create-new-feature.ps1 [-Json] [-DryRun] [-AllowExistingBranch] [-ShortName <name>] [-Number N] [-Timestamp] <feature description>"
    Write-Host ""
    Write-Host "Options:"
    Write-Host "  -Json               Output in JSON format"
@@ -38,7 +37,7 @@ if ($Help) {
 }

 if (-not $FeatureDescription -or $FeatureDescription.Count -eq 0) {
-    Write-Error "Usage: ./create-new-feature-branch.ps1 [-Json] [-DryRun] [-AllowExistingBranch] [-ShortName <name>] [-Number N] [-Timestamp] <feature description>"
+    Write-Error "Usage: ./create-new-feature.ps1 [-Json] [-DryRun] [-AllowExistingBranch] [-ShortName <name>] [-Number N] [-Timestamp] <feature description>"
    exit 1
 }

--- a/presets/catalog.community.json
+++ b/presets/catalog.community.json
@@ -1,16 +1,16 @@
 {
  "schema_version": "1.0",
-  "updated_at": "2026-06-05T00:00:00Z",
+  "updated_at": "2026-06-03T00:00:00Z",
  "catalog_url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/spec-kit/main/presets/catalog.community.json",
  "presets": {
    "a11y-governance": {
      "name": "A11Y Governance",
      "id": "a11y-governance",
-      "version": "0.3.0",
-      "description": "Adds accessibility, bilingual DE/EN delivery, CEFR-B2 readability, inclusive-content governance, and didactic inline-code-comment review to Spec Kit.",
+      "version": "0.2.0",
+      "description": "Adds accessibility, bilingual DE/EN delivery, CEFR-B2 readability, and inclusive-content governance to Spec Kit.",
      "author": "Thorsten Hindermann",
      "repository": "https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-a11y-governance",
-      "download_url": "https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-a11y-governance/archive/refs/tags/v0.3.0.zip",
+      "download_url": "https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-a11y-governance/archive/refs/tags/v0.2.0.zip",
      "homepage": "https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-a11y-governance",
      "documentation": "https://github.com/hindermath/spec-kit-preset-a11y-governance/blob/main/README.md",
      "license": "MIT",
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
        "speckit_version": ">=0.8.0"
      },
      "provides": {
-        "templates": 10,
+        "templates": 9,
        "commands": 3
      },
      "tags": [
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
        "inclusion"
      ],
      "created_at": "2026-04-27T00:00:00Z",
-      "updated_at": "2026-06-05T00:00:00Z"
+      "updated_at": "2026-04-27T00:00:00Z"
    },
    "agent-parity-governance": {
      "name": "Agent Parity Governance",
@@ -224,11 +224,11 @@
    "fiction-book-writing": {
      "name": "Fiction Book Writing",
      "id": "fiction-book-writing",
-      "version": "1.9.0",
-      "description": "Spec-Driven Development for novel and long-form fiction. 34 AI commands from idea to submission: story bible governance, 9 POV modes, all major plot structure frameworks, scene-by-scene drafting with quality gates, audiobook pipeline (SSML/ElevenLabs), cover design, illustrations, sensitivity review, pacing and prose statistics, and pandoc-based export to DOCX/EPUB/LaTeX. Two style modes: author voice sample extraction or humanized-AI prose with 5 craft profiles. 12 languages supported. Support for offline semantic search.",
+      "version": "1.8.1",
+      "description": "Spec-Driven Development for novel and long-form fiction. 33 AI commands from idea to submission: story bible governance, 9 POV modes, all major plot structure frameworks, scene-by-scene drafting with quality gates, audiobook pipeline (SSML/ElevenLabs), cover design, sensitivity review, pacing and prose statistics, and pandoc-based export to DOCX/EPUB/LaTeX. Two style modes: author voice sample extraction or humanized-AI prose with 5 craft profiles. 12 languages supported. Support for offline semantic search.",
      "author": "Andreas Daumann",
      "repository": "https://github.com/adaumann/speckit-preset-fiction-book-writing",
-      "download_url": "https://github.com/adaumann/speckit-preset-fiction-book-writing/archive/refs/tags/v1.9.0.zip",
+      "download_url": "https://github.com/adaumann/speckit-preset-fiction-book-writing/archive/refs/tags/v1.8.1.zip",
      "homepage": "https://github.com/adaumann/speckit-preset-fiction-book-writing",
      "documentation": "https://github.com/adaumann/speckit-preset-fiction-book-writing/blob/main/fiction-book-writing/README.md",
      "license": "MIT",
@@ -236,8 +236,8 @@
        "speckit_version": ">=0.5.0"
      },
      "provides": {
-        "templates": 26,
-        "commands": 34,
+        "templates": 25,
+        "commands": 33,
        "scripts": 2
      },
      "tags": [
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@
        "language-support"
      ],
      "created_at": "2026-04-09T08:00:00Z",
-      "updated_at": "2026-06-02T08:00:00Z"
+      "updated_at": "2026-05-24T08:00:00Z"
    },
    "game-narrative-writing": {
      "name": "Game Narrative Writing",
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "specify-cli"
-version = "0.10.1"
+version = "0.9.6.dev0"
 description = "Specify CLI, part of GitHub Spec Kit. A tool to bootstrap your projects for Spec-Driven Development (SDD)."
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
 dependencies = [
--- a/scripts/bash/check-prerequisites.sh
+++ b/scripts/bash/check-prerequisites.sh
@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ if $PATHS_ONLY; then
    exit 0
 fi

+# Validate branch name
+check_feature_branch "$CURRENT_BRANCH" "$HAS_GIT" || exit 1
+
 # Validate required directories and files
 if [[ ! -d "$FEATURE_DIR" ]]; then
    echo "ERROR: Feature directory not found: $FEATURE_DIR" >&2
--- a/scripts/bash/common.sh
+++ b/scripts/bash/common.sh
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ find_specify_root() {
    return 1
 }

-# Get repository root, prioritizing .specify directory
-# This prevents using a parent repository when spec-kit is initialized in a subdirectory
+# Get repository root, prioritizing .specify directory over git
+# This prevents using a parent git repo when spec-kit is initialized in a subdirectory
 get_repo_root() {
    # First, look for .specify directory (spec-kit's own marker)
    local specify_root
@@ -34,24 +34,123 @@ get_repo_root() {
        return
    fi

-    # Final fallback to script location
+    # Fallback to git if no .specify found
+    if git rev-parse --show-toplevel >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        git rev-parse --show-toplevel
+        return
+    fi
+
+    # Final fallback to script location for non-git repos
    local script_dir="$(CDPATH="" cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
    (cd "$script_dir/../../.." && pwd)
 }

-# Get current feature name from explicit state only.
-# Returns the feature identifier or empty string if none is set.
-# Feature state is set by SPECIFY_FEATURE (from create-new-feature or
-# the git extension) or implicitly via .specify/feature.json.
+# Get current branch, with fallback for non-git repositories
 get_current_branch() {
+    # First check if SPECIFY_FEATURE environment variable is set
    if [[ -n "${SPECIFY_FEATURE:-}" ]]; then
        echo "$SPECIFY_FEATURE"
        return
    fi

-    # No explicit feature set — caller must handle this via feature.json
-    # in get_feature_paths(). Return empty to signal "unknown".
-    echo ""
+    # Then check git if available at the spec-kit root (not parent)
+    local repo_root=$(get_repo_root)
+    if has_git; then
+        git -C "$repo_root" rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD
+        return
+    fi
+
+    # For non-git repos, try to find the latest feature directory
+    local specs_dir="$repo_root/specs"
+
+    if [[ -d "$specs_dir" ]]; then
+        local latest_feature=""
+        local highest=0
+        local latest_timestamp=""
+
+        for dir in "$specs_dir"/*; do
+            if [[ -d "$dir" ]]; then
+                local dirname=$(basename "$dir")
+                if [[ "$dirname" =~ ^([0-9]{8}-[0-9]{6})- ]]; then
+                    # Timestamp-based branch: compare lexicographically
+                    local ts="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+                    if [[ "$ts" > "$latest_timestamp" ]]; then
+                        latest_timestamp="$ts"
+                        latest_feature=$dirname
+                    fi
+                elif [[ "$dirname" =~ ^([0-9]{3,})- ]]; then
+                    local number=${BASH_REMATCH[1]}
+                    number=$((10#$number))
+                    if [[ "$number" -gt "$highest" ]]; then
+                        highest=$number
+                        # Only update if no timestamp branch found yet
+                        if [[ -z "$latest_timestamp" ]]; then
+                            latest_feature=$dirname
+                        fi
+                    fi
+                fi
+            fi
+        done
+
+        if [[ -n "$latest_feature" ]]; then
+            echo "$latest_feature"
+            return
+        fi
+    fi
+
+    echo "main"  # Final fallback
+}
+
+# Check if we have git available at the spec-kit root level
+# Returns true only if git is installed and the repo root is inside a git work tree
+# Handles both regular repos (.git directory) and worktrees/submodules (.git file)
+has_git() {
+    # First check if git command is available (before calling get_repo_root which may use git)
+    command -v git >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
+    local repo_root=$(get_repo_root)
+    # Check if .git exists (directory or file for worktrees/submodules)
+    [ -e "$repo_root/.git" ] || return 1
+    # Verify it's actually a valid git work tree
+    git -C "$repo_root" rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree >/dev/null 2>&1
+}
+
+# Strip a single optional path segment (e.g. gitflow "feat/004-name" -> "004-name").
+# Only when the full name is exactly two slash-free segments; otherwise returns the raw name.
+spec_kit_effective_branch_name() {
+    local raw="$1"
+    if [[ "$raw" =~ ^([^/]+)/([^/]+)$ ]]; then
+        printf '%s\n' "${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
+    else
+        printf '%s\n' "$raw"
+    fi
+}
+
+check_feature_branch() {
+    local raw="$1"
+    local has_git_repo="$2"
+
+    # For non-git repos, we can't enforce branch naming but still provide output
+    if [[ "$has_git_repo" != "true" ]]; then
+        echo "[specify] Warning: Git repository not detected; skipped branch validation" >&2
+        return 0
+    fi
+
+    local branch
+    branch=$(spec_kit_effective_branch_name "$raw")
+
+    # Accept sequential prefix (3+ digits) but exclude malformed timestamps
+    # Malformed: 7-or-8 digit date + 6-digit time with no trailing slug (e.g. "2026031-143022" or "20260319-143022")
+    local is_sequential=false
+    if [[ "$branch" =~ ^[0-9]{3,}- ]] && [[ ! "$branch" =~ ^[0-9]{7}-[0-9]{6}- ]] && [[ ! "$branch" =~ ^[0-9]{7,8}-[0-9]{6}$ ]]; then
+        is_sequential=true
+    fi
+    if [[ "$is_sequential" != "true" ]] && [[ ! "$branch" =~ ^[0-9]{8}-[0-9]{6}- ]]; then
+        echo "ERROR: Not on a feature branch. Current branch: $raw" >&2
+        echo "Feature branches should be named like: 001-feature-name, 1234-feature-name, or 20260319-143022-feature-name" >&2
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    return 0
 }

 # Safely read .specify/feature.json's "feature_directory" value.
@@ -86,66 +185,105 @@ read_feature_json_feature_directory() {
    return 0
 }

-# Persist a feature_directory value to .specify/feature.json.
-# Writes only when the file is missing or the value differs from what's stored.
-# Accepts the raw (possibly relative) path — callers should pass the original
-# user-supplied value, not the normalized absolute path.
-_persist_feature_json() {
+# Returns 0 when .specify/feature.json lists feature_directory that exists as a directory
+# and matches the resolved active FEATURE_DIR (so __SPECKIT_COMMAND_PLAN__ can skip git branch pattern checks).
+# Delegates parsing to read_feature_json_feature_directory, which is safe under `set -e`.
+feature_json_matches_feature_dir() {
    local repo_root="$1"
-    local feature_dir_value="$2"
-    local fj="$repo_root/.specify/feature.json"
+    local active_feature_dir="$2"

-    # Strip repo_root prefix if the value is absolute and under repo_root
-    if [[ "$feature_dir_value" == "$repo_root/"* ]]; then
-        feature_dir_value="${feature_dir_value#"$repo_root/"}"
-    fi
+    local _fd
+    _fd=$(read_feature_json_feature_directory "$repo_root")

-    # Read current value (if any) and skip write when unchanged
-    local current_val
-    current_val=$(read_feature_json_feature_directory "$repo_root")
-    if [[ "$current_val" == "$feature_dir_value" ]]; then
-        return 0
-    fi
+    [[ -n "$_fd" ]] || return 1
+    [[ "$_fd" != /* ]] && _fd="$repo_root/$_fd"
+    [[ -d "$_fd" ]] || return 1

-    # Ensure .specify/ directory exists
-    mkdir -p "$repo_root/.specify"
+    local norm_json norm_active
+    norm_json="$(cd -- "$_fd" 2>/dev/null && pwd -P)" || return 1
+    norm_active="$(cd -- "$active_feature_dir" 2>/dev/null && pwd -P)" || return 1

-    # Write feature.json — prefer jq for safe JSON, fall back to printf
-    if command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-        jq -cn --arg fd "$feature_dir_value" '{feature_directory:$fd}' > "$fj"
+    [[ "$norm_json" == "$norm_active" ]]
+}
+
+# Find feature directory by numeric prefix instead of exact branch match
+# This allows multiple branches to work on the same spec (e.g., 004-fix-bug, 004-add-feature)
+find_feature_dir_by_prefix() {
+    local repo_root="$1"
+    local branch_name
+    branch_name=$(spec_kit_effective_branch_name "$2")
+    local specs_dir="$repo_root/specs"
+
+    # Extract prefix from branch (e.g., "004" from "004-whatever" or "20260319-143022" from timestamp branches)
+    local prefix=""
+    if [[ "$branch_name" =~ ^([0-9]{8}-[0-9]{6})- ]]; then
+        prefix="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+    elif [[ "$branch_name" =~ ^([0-9]{3,})- ]]; then
+        prefix="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
    else
-        printf '{"feature_directory":"%s"}\n' "$(json_escape "$feature_dir_value")" > "$fj"
+        # If branch doesn't have a recognized prefix, fall back to exact match
+        echo "$specs_dir/$branch_name"
+        return
+    fi
+
+    # Search for directories in specs/ that start with this prefix
+    local matches=()
+    if [[ -d "$specs_dir" ]]; then
+        for dir in "$specs_dir"/"$prefix"-*; do
+            if [[ -d "$dir" ]]; then
+                matches+=("$(basename "$dir")")
+            fi
+        done
+    fi
+
+    # Handle results
+    if [[ ${#matches[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
+        # No match found - return the branch name path (will fail later with clear error)
+        echo "$specs_dir/$branch_name"
+    elif [[ ${#matches[@]} -eq 1 ]]; then
+        # Exactly one match - perfect!
+        echo "$specs_dir/${matches[0]}"
+    else
+        # Multiple matches - this shouldn't happen with proper naming convention
+        echo "ERROR: Multiple spec directories found with prefix '$prefix': ${matches[*]}" >&2
+        echo "Please ensure only one spec directory exists per prefix." >&2
+        return 1
    fi
 }

 get_feature_paths() {
    local repo_root=$(get_repo_root)
    local current_branch=$(get_current_branch)
+    local has_git_repo="false"
+
+    if has_git; then
+        has_git_repo="true"
+    fi

    # Resolve feature directory.  Priority:
    #   1. SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY env var (explicit override)
-    #   2. .specify/feature.json "feature_directory" key (persisted by specify command)
-    #   3. Error — no feature context available
+    #   2. .specify/feature.json "feature_directory" key (persisted by __SPECKIT_COMMAND_SPECIFY__)
+    #   3. Branch-name-based prefix lookup (legacy fallback)
    local feature_dir
    if [[ -n "${SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY:-}" ]]; then
        feature_dir="$SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY"
        # Normalize relative paths to absolute under repo root
        [[ "$feature_dir" != /* ]] && feature_dir="$repo_root/$feature_dir"
-        # Persist to feature.json so future sessions without the env var still work
-        _persist_feature_json "$repo_root" "$SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY"
    elif [[ -f "$repo_root/.specify/feature.json" ]]; then
+        # Shared, set -e-safe parser: jq -> python3 -> grep/sed. Returns empty on
+        # missing/unparseable/unset so we fall through to the branch-prefix lookup.
        local _fd
        _fd=$(read_feature_json_feature_directory "$repo_root")
        if [[ -n "$_fd" ]]; then
            feature_dir="$_fd"
            # Normalize relative paths to absolute under repo root
            [[ "$feature_dir" != /* ]] && feature_dir="$repo_root/$feature_dir"
-        else
-            echo "ERROR: Feature directory not found. Set SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY or ensure .specify/feature.json contains feature_directory." >&2
+        elif ! feature_dir=$(find_feature_dir_by_prefix "$repo_root" "$current_branch"); then
+            echo "ERROR: Failed to resolve feature directory" >&2
            return 1
        fi
-    else
-        echo "ERROR: Feature directory not found. Set SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY or run the specify command to create .specify/feature.json." >&2
+    elif ! feature_dir=$(find_feature_dir_by_prefix "$repo_root" "$current_branch"); then
+        echo "ERROR: Failed to resolve feature directory" >&2
        return 1
    fi

@@ -153,6 +291,7 @@ get_feature_paths() {
    # via crafted branch names or paths containing special characters
    printf 'REPO_ROOT=%q\n' "$repo_root"
    printf 'CURRENT_BRANCH=%q\n' "$current_branch"
+    printf 'HAS_GIT=%q\n' "$has_git_repo"
    printf 'FEATURE_DIR=%q\n' "$feature_dir"
    printf 'FEATURE_SPEC=%q\n' "$feature_dir/spec.md"
    printf 'IMPL_PLAN=%q\n' "$feature_dir/plan.md"
--- a/scripts/bash/create-new-feature.sh
+++ b/scripts/bash/create-new-feature.sh
@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ while [ $i -le $# ]; do
            echo ""
            echo "Options:"
            echo "  --json              Output in JSON format"
-            echo "  --dry-run           Compute feature name and paths without creating directories or files"
-            echo "  --allow-existing-branch  Reuse an existing feature directory if it already exists"
-            echo "  --short-name <name> Provide a custom short name (2-4 words) for the feature"
+            echo "  --dry-run           Compute branch name and paths without creating branches, directories, or files"
+            echo "  --allow-existing-branch  Switch to branch if it already exists instead of failing"
+            echo "  --short-name <name> Provide a custom short name (2-4 words) for the branch"
            echo "  --number N          Specify branch number manually (overrides auto-detection)"
            echo "  --timestamp         Use timestamp prefix (YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS) instead of sequential numbering"
            echo "  --help, -h          Show this help message"
@@ -113,18 +113,94 @@ get_highest_from_specs() {
    echo "$highest"
 }

+# Function to get highest number from git branches
+get_highest_from_branches() {
+    git branch -a 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^[* ]*//; s|^remotes/[^/]*/||' | _extract_highest_number
+}
+
+# Extract the highest sequential feature number from a list of ref names (one per line).
+# Shared by get_highest_from_branches and get_highest_from_remote_refs.
+_extract_highest_number() {
+    local highest=0
+    while IFS= read -r name; do
+        [ -z "$name" ] && continue
+        if echo "$name" | grep -Eq '^[0-9]{3,}-' && ! echo "$name" | grep -Eq '^[0-9]{8}-[0-9]{6}-'; then
+            number=$(echo "$name" | grep -Eo '^[0-9]+' || echo "0")
+            number=$((10#$number))
+            if [ "$number" -gt "$highest" ]; then
+                highest=$number
+            fi
+        fi
+    done
+    echo "$highest"
+}
+
+# Function to get highest number from remote branches without fetching (side-effect-free)
+get_highest_from_remote_refs() {
+    local highest=0
+
+    for remote in $(git remote 2>/dev/null); do
+        local remote_highest
+        remote_highest=$(GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 git ls-remote --heads "$remote" 2>/dev/null | sed 's|.*refs/heads/||' | _extract_highest_number)
+        if [ "$remote_highest" -gt "$highest" ]; then
+            highest=$remote_highest
+        fi
+    done
+
+    echo "$highest"
+}
+
+# Function to check existing branches (local and remote) and return next available number.
+# When skip_fetch is true, queries remotes via ls-remote (read-only) instead of fetching.
+check_existing_branches() {
+    local specs_dir="$1"
+    local skip_fetch="${2:-false}"
+
+    if [ "$skip_fetch" = true ]; then
+        # Side-effect-free: query remotes via ls-remote
+        local highest_remote=$(get_highest_from_remote_refs)
+        local highest_branch=$(get_highest_from_branches)
+        if [ "$highest_remote" -gt "$highest_branch" ]; then
+            highest_branch=$highest_remote
+        fi
+    else
+        # Fetch all remotes to get latest branch info (suppress errors if no remotes)
+        git fetch --all --prune >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+        local highest_branch=$(get_highest_from_branches)
+    fi
+
+    # Get highest number from ALL specs (not just matching short name)
+    local highest_spec=$(get_highest_from_specs "$specs_dir")
+
+    # Take the maximum of both
+    local max_num=$highest_branch
+    if [ "$highest_spec" -gt "$max_num" ]; then
+        max_num=$highest_spec
+    fi
+
+    # Return next number
+    echo $((max_num + 1))
+}
+
 # Function to clean and format a branch name
 clean_branch_name() {
    local name="$1"
    echo "$name" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | sed 's/[^a-z0-9]/-/g' | sed 's/-\+/-/g' | sed 's/^-//' | sed 's/-$//'
 }

-# Resolve repository root using common.sh functions which prioritize .specify
+# Resolve repository root using common.sh functions which prioritize .specify over git
 SCRIPT_DIR="$(CDPATH="" cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
 source "$SCRIPT_DIR/common.sh"

 REPO_ROOT=$(get_repo_root)

+# Check if git is available at this repo root (not a parent)
+if has_git; then
+    HAS_GIT=true
+else
+    HAS_GIT=false
+fi
+
 cd "$REPO_ROOT"

 SPECS_DIR="$REPO_ROOT/specs"
@@ -200,10 +276,23 @@ if [ "$USE_TIMESTAMP" = true ]; then
    FEATURE_NUM=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
    BRANCH_NAME="${FEATURE_NUM}-${BRANCH_SUFFIX}"
 else
-    # Determine branch number from existing feature directories
+    # Determine branch number
    if [ -z "$BRANCH_NUMBER" ]; then
-        HIGHEST=$(get_highest_from_specs "$SPECS_DIR")
-        BRANCH_NUMBER=$((HIGHEST + 1))
+        if [ "$DRY_RUN" = true ] && [ "$HAS_GIT" = true ]; then
+            # Dry-run: query remotes via ls-remote (side-effect-free, no fetch)
+            BRANCH_NUMBER=$(check_existing_branches "$SPECS_DIR" true)
+        elif [ "$DRY_RUN" = true ]; then
+            # Dry-run without git: local spec dirs only
+            HIGHEST=$(get_highest_from_specs "$SPECS_DIR")
+            BRANCH_NUMBER=$((HIGHEST + 1))
+        elif [ "$HAS_GIT" = true ]; then
+            # Check existing branches on remotes
+            BRANCH_NUMBER=$(check_existing_branches "$SPECS_DIR")
+        else
+            # Fall back to local directory check
+            HIGHEST=$(get_highest_from_specs "$SPECS_DIR")
+            BRANCH_NUMBER=$((HIGHEST + 1))
+        fi
    fi

    # Force base-10 interpretation to prevent octal conversion (e.g., 010 → 8 in octal, but should be 10 in decimal)
@@ -237,13 +326,43 @@ FEATURE_DIR="$SPECS_DIR/$BRANCH_NAME"
 SPEC_FILE="$FEATURE_DIR/spec.md"

 if [ "$DRY_RUN" != true ]; then
-    if [ -d "$FEATURE_DIR" ] && [ "$ALLOW_EXISTING" != true ]; then
-        if [ "$USE_TIMESTAMP" = true ]; then
-            >&2 echo "Error: Feature directory '$FEATURE_DIR' already exists. Rerun to get a new timestamp or use a different --short-name."
-        else
-            >&2 echo "Error: Feature directory '$FEATURE_DIR' already exists. Please use a different feature name or specify a different number with --number."
+    if [ "$HAS_GIT" = true ]; then
+        branch_create_error=""
+        if ! branch_create_error=$(git checkout -q -b "$BRANCH_NAME" 2>&1); then
+            current_branch="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>/dev/null || true)"
+            # Check if branch already exists
+            if git branch --list "$BRANCH_NAME" | grep -q .; then
+                if [ "$ALLOW_EXISTING" = true ]; then
+                    # If we're already on the branch, continue without another checkout.
+                    if [ "$current_branch" = "$BRANCH_NAME" ]; then
+                        :
+                    # Otherwise switch to the existing branch instead of failing.
+                    elif ! switch_branch_error=$(git checkout -q "$BRANCH_NAME" 2>&1); then
+                        >&2 echo "Error: Failed to switch to existing branch '$BRANCH_NAME'. Please resolve any local changes or conflicts and try again."
+                        if [ -n "$switch_branch_error" ]; then
+                            >&2 printf '%s\n' "$switch_branch_error"
+                        fi
+                        exit 1
+                    fi
+                elif [ "$USE_TIMESTAMP" = true ]; then
+                    >&2 echo "Error: Branch '$BRANCH_NAME' already exists. Rerun to get a new timestamp or use a different --short-name."
+                    exit 1
+                else
+                    >&2 echo "Error: Branch '$BRANCH_NAME' already exists. Please use a different feature name or specify a different number with --number."
+                    exit 1
+                fi
+            else
+                >&2 echo "Error: Failed to create git branch '$BRANCH_NAME'."
+                if [ -n "$branch_create_error" ]; then
+                    >&2 printf '%s\n' "$branch_create_error"
+                else
+                    >&2 echo "Please check your git configuration and try again."
+                fi
+                exit 1
+            fi
        fi
-        exit 1
+    else
+        >&2 echo "[specify] Warning: Git repository not detected; skipped branch creation for $BRANCH_NAME"
    fi

    mkdir -p "$FEATURE_DIR"
@@ -258,12 +377,8 @@ if [ "$DRY_RUN" != true ]; then
        fi
    fi

-    # Persist to .specify/feature.json so downstream commands can find the feature
-    _persist_feature_json "$REPO_ROOT" "$FEATURE_DIR"
-
-    # Inform the user how to set feature state in their own shell
+    # Inform the user how to persist the feature variable in their own shell
    printf '# To persist: export SPECIFY_FEATURE=%q\n' "$BRANCH_NAME" >&2
-    printf '#              export SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY=%q\n' "$FEATURE_DIR" >&2
 fi

 if $JSON_MODE; then
@@ -294,6 +409,5 @@ else
    echo "FEATURE_NUM: $FEATURE_NUM"
    if [ "$DRY_RUN" != true ]; then
        printf '# To persist in your shell: export SPECIFY_FEATURE=%q\n' "$BRANCH_NAME"
-        printf '#                           export SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY=%q\n' "$FEATURE_DIR"
    fi
 fi
--- a/scripts/bash/setup-plan.sh
+++ b/scripts/bash/setup-plan.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@ _paths_output=$(get_feature_paths) || { echo "ERROR: Failed to resolve feature p
 eval "$_paths_output"
 unset _paths_output

+# If feature.json pins an existing feature directory, branch naming is not required.
+if ! feature_json_matches_feature_dir "$REPO_ROOT" "$FEATURE_DIR"; then
+    check_feature_branch "$CURRENT_BRANCH" "$HAS_GIT" || exit 1
+fi
+
 # Ensure the feature directory exists
 mkdir -p "$FEATURE_DIR"

@@ -70,15 +75,17 @@ if $JSON_MODE; then
            --arg impl_plan "$IMPL_PLAN" \
            --arg specs_dir "$FEATURE_DIR" \
            --arg branch "$CURRENT_BRANCH" \
-            '{FEATURE_SPEC:$feature_spec,IMPL_PLAN:$impl_plan,SPECS_DIR:$specs_dir,BRANCH:$branch}'
+            --arg has_git "$HAS_GIT" \
+            '{FEATURE_SPEC:$feature_spec,IMPL_PLAN:$impl_plan,SPECS_DIR:$specs_dir,BRANCH:$branch,HAS_GIT:$has_git}'
    else
-        printf '{"FEATURE_SPEC":"%s","IMPL_PLAN":"%s","SPECS_DIR":"%s","BRANCH":"%s"}\n' \
-            "$(json_escape "$FEATURE_SPEC")" "$(json_escape "$IMPL_PLAN")" "$(json_escape "$FEATURE_DIR")" "$(json_escape "$CURRENT_BRANCH")"
+        printf '{"FEATURE_SPEC":"%s","IMPL_PLAN":"%s","SPECS_DIR":"%s","BRANCH":"%s","HAS_GIT":"%s"}\n' \
+            "$(json_escape "$FEATURE_SPEC")" "$(json_escape "$IMPL_PLAN")" "$(json_escape "$FEATURE_DIR")" "$(json_escape "$CURRENT_BRANCH")" "$(json_escape "$HAS_GIT")"
    fi
 else
    echo "FEATURE_SPEC: $FEATURE_SPEC"
    echo "IMPL_PLAN: $IMPL_PLAN" 
    echo "SPECS_DIR: $FEATURE_DIR"
    echo "BRANCH: $CURRENT_BRANCH"
+    echo "HAS_GIT: $HAS_GIT"
 fi

--- a/scripts/bash/setup-tasks.sh
+++ b/scripts/bash/setup-tasks.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,12 @@ _paths_output=$(get_feature_paths) || { echo "ERROR: Failed to resolve feature p
 eval "$_paths_output"
 unset _paths_output

-# Validate required files
+# Validate branch
+# If feature.json pins an existing feature directory, branch naming is not required.
+if ! feature_json_matches_feature_dir "$REPO_ROOT" "$FEATURE_DIR"; then
+    check_feature_branch "$CURRENT_BRANCH" "$HAS_GIT" || exit 1
+fi
+
 if [[ ! -f "$IMPL_PLAN" ]]; then
    echo "ERROR: plan.md not found in $FEATURE_DIR" >&2
    echo "Run $(format_speckit_command plan "$REPO_ROOT") first to create the implementation plan." >&2
--- a/scripts/powershell/check-prerequisites.ps1
+++ b/scripts/powershell/check-prerequisites.ps1
@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ if ($PathsOnly) {
    exit 0
 }

+# Validate branch name
+if (-not (Test-FeatureBranch -Branch $paths.CURRENT_BRANCH -HasGit:$paths.HAS_GIT)) {
+    exit 1
+}
+
 # Validate required directories and files
 if (-not (Test-Path $paths.FEATURE_DIR -PathType Container)) {
    Write-Output "ERROR: Feature directory not found: $($paths.FEATURE_DIR)"
--- a/scripts/powershell/common.ps1
+++ b/scripts/powershell/common.ps1
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ function Find-SpecifyRoot {
    }
 }

-# Get repository root, prioritizing .specify directory
-# This prevents using a parent repository when spec-kit is initialized in a subdirectory
+# Get repository root, prioritizing .specify directory over git
+# This prevents using a parent git repo when spec-kit is initialized in a subdirectory
 function Get-RepoRoot {
    # First, look for .specify directory (spec-kit's own marker)
    $specifyRoot = Find-SpecifyRoot
@@ -33,81 +33,263 @@ function Get-RepoRoot {
        return $specifyRoot
    }

-    # Final fallback to script location
+    # Fallback to git if no .specify found
+    try {
+        $result = git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>$null
+        if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
+            return $result
+        }
+    } catch {
+        # Git command failed
+    }
+
+    # Final fallback to script location for non-git repos
    # Use -LiteralPath to handle paths with wildcard characters
    return (Resolve-Path -LiteralPath (Join-Path $PSScriptRoot "../../..")).Path
 }

 function Get-CurrentBranch {
-    # Return feature name from explicit state only.
-    # Feature state is set by SPECIFY_FEATURE (from create-new-feature or
-    # the git extension) or implicitly via .specify/feature.json.
+    # First check if SPECIFY_FEATURE environment variable is set
    if ($env:SPECIFY_FEATURE) {
        return $env:SPECIFY_FEATURE
    }

-    # No explicit feature set - return empty to signal "unknown".
-    return ""
-}
-
-
-
-# Persist a feature_directory value to .specify/feature.json.
-# Writes only when the file is missing or the value differs from what's stored.
-function Save-FeatureJson {
-    param(
-        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$RepoRoot,
-        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$FeatureDirectory
-    )
-
-    # Strip repo root prefix if the value is absolute and under repo root.
-    # Use case-insensitive comparison on Windows only (case-sensitive filesystems elsewhere).
-    $prefix = $RepoRoot + [System.IO.Path]::DirectorySeparatorChar
-    if ($null -ne $IsWindows) { $onWin = $IsWindows } else { $onWin = $true }
-    if ($onWin) {
-        $cmp = [System.StringComparison]::OrdinalIgnoreCase
-    } else {
-        $cmp = [System.StringComparison]::Ordinal
-    }
-    if ($FeatureDirectory.StartsWith($prefix, $cmp)) {
-        $FeatureDirectory = $FeatureDirectory.Substring($prefix.Length)
-    }
-
-    $fjPath = Join-Path (Join-Path $RepoRoot '.specify') 'feature.json'
-
-    # Read current value and skip write when unchanged
-    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $fjPath -PathType Leaf) {
+    # Then check git if available at the spec-kit root (not parent)
+    $repoRoot = Get-RepoRoot
+    if (Test-HasGit) {
        try {
-            $raw = Get-Content -LiteralPath $fjPath -Raw
-            $cfg = $raw | ConvertFrom-Json
-            if ($cfg.feature_directory -eq $FeatureDirectory) {
-                return
+            $result = git -C $repoRoot rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>$null
+            if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
+                return $result
            }
        } catch {
-            # File is corrupt or unreadable - overwrite it
+            # Git command failed
        }
    }

-    # Ensure .specify/ directory exists
-    $specifyDir = Join-Path $RepoRoot '.specify'
-    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $specifyDir -PathType Container)) {
-        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $specifyDir -Force | Out-Null
+    # For non-git repos, try to find the latest feature directory
+    $specsDir = Join-Path $repoRoot "specs"
+    
+    if (Test-Path $specsDir) {
+        $latestFeature = ""
+        $highest = 0
+        $latestTimestamp = ""
+
+        Get-ChildItem -Path $specsDir -Directory | ForEach-Object {
+            if ($_.Name -match '^(\d{8}-\d{6})-') {
+                # Timestamp-based branch: compare lexicographically
+                $ts = $matches[1]
+                if ($ts -gt $latestTimestamp) {
+                    $latestTimestamp = $ts
+                    $latestFeature = $_.Name
+                }
+            } elseif ($_.Name -match '^(\d{3,})-') {
+                $num = [long]$matches[1]
+                if ($num -gt $highest) {
+                    $highest = $num
+                    # Only update if no timestamp branch found yet
+                    if (-not $latestTimestamp) {
+                        $latestFeature = $_.Name
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        if ($latestFeature) {
+            return $latestFeature
+        }
+    }
+    
+    # Final fallback
+    return "main"
+}
+
+# Check if we have git available at the spec-kit root level
+# Returns true only if git is installed and the repo root is inside a git work tree
+# Handles both regular repos (.git directory) and worktrees/submodules (.git file)
+function Test-HasGit {
+    # First check if git command is available (before calling Get-RepoRoot which may use git)
+    if (-not (Get-Command git -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
+        return $false
+    }
+    $repoRoot = Get-RepoRoot
+    # Check if .git exists (directory or file for worktrees/submodules)
+    # Use -LiteralPath to handle paths with wildcard characters
+    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath (Join-Path $repoRoot ".git"))) {
+        return $false
+    }
+    # Verify it's actually a valid git work tree
+    try {
+        $null = git -C $repoRoot rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree 2>$null
+        return ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0)
+    } catch {
+        return $false
+    }
+}
+
+# Strip a single optional path segment (e.g. gitflow "feat/004-name" -> "004-name").
+# Only when the full name is exactly two slash-free segments; otherwise returns the raw name.
+function Get-SpecKitEffectiveBranchName {
+    param([string]$Branch)
+    if ($Branch -match '^([^/]+)/([^/]+)$') {
+        return $Matches[2]
+    }
+    return $Branch
+}
+
+function Test-FeatureBranch {
+    param(
+        [string]$Branch,
+        [bool]$HasGit = $true
+    )
+    
+    # For non-git repos, we can't enforce branch naming but still provide output
+    if (-not $HasGit) {
+        Write-Warning "[specify] Warning: Git repository not detected; skipped branch validation"
+        return $true
    }

-    # Write feature.json
-    $json = @{ feature_directory = $FeatureDirectory } | ConvertTo-Json -Compress
-    $utf8NoBom = New-Object System.Text.UTF8Encoding($false)
-    [System.IO.File]::WriteAllText($fjPath, $json, $utf8NoBom)
+    $raw = $Branch
+    $Branch = Get-SpecKitEffectiveBranchName $raw
+    
+    # Accept sequential prefix (3+ digits) but exclude malformed timestamps
+    # Malformed: 7-or-8 digit date + 6-digit time with no trailing slug (e.g. "2026031-143022" or "20260319-143022")
+    $hasMalformedTimestamp = ($Branch -match '^[0-9]{7}-[0-9]{6}-') -or ($Branch -match '^(?:\d{7}|\d{8})-\d{6}$')
+    $isSequential = ($Branch -match '^[0-9]{3,}-') -and (-not $hasMalformedTimestamp)
+    if (-not $isSequential -and $Branch -notmatch '^\d{8}-\d{6}-') {
+        [Console]::Error.WriteLine("ERROR: Not on a feature branch. Current branch: $raw")
+        [Console]::Error.WriteLine("Feature branches should be named like: 001-feature-name, 1234-feature-name, or 20260319-143022-feature-name")
+        return $false
+    }
+    return $true
+}
+
+# True when .specify/feature.json pins an existing feature directory that matches the
+# active FEATURE_DIR from Get-FeaturePathsEnv (so __SPECKIT_COMMAND_PLAN__ can skip git branch pattern checks).
+function Test-FeatureJsonMatchesFeatureDir {
+    param(
+        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$RepoRoot,
+        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$ActiveFeatureDir
+    )
+
+    $featureJson = Join-Path (Join-Path $RepoRoot '.specify') 'feature.json'
+    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $featureJson -PathType Leaf)) {
+        return $false
+    }
+
+    try {
+        $raw = Get-Content -LiteralPath $featureJson -Raw
+        $cfg = $raw | ConvertFrom-Json
+    } catch {
+        return $false
+    }
+
+    $fd = $cfg.feature_directory
+    if ([string]::IsNullOrWhiteSpace([string]$fd)) {
+        return $false
+    }
+
+    if (-not [System.IO.Path]::IsPathRooted($fd)) {
+        $fd = Join-Path $RepoRoot $fd
+    }
+
+    if (-not (Test-Path -LiteralPath $fd -PathType Container)) {
+        return $false
+    }
+
+    # Resolve both paths to canonical absolute form. Prefer Resolve-Path (follows
+    # symlinks and is the canonical PS way); fall back to [Path]::GetFullPath when
+    # Resolve-Path can't produce a value. Mirrors the pattern used by Find-SpecifyRoot.
+    $resolvedJson = Resolve-Path -LiteralPath $fd -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+    if ($resolvedJson) {
+        $normJson = $resolvedJson.Path
+    } else {
+        $normJson = [System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath($fd)
+    }
+
+    $resolvedActive = Resolve-Path -LiteralPath $ActiveFeatureDir -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+    if ($resolvedActive) {
+        $normActive = $resolvedActive.Path
+    } else {
+        $normActive = [System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath($ActiveFeatureDir)
+    }
+
+    # Use case-insensitive compare only on Windows; POSIX filesystems are case-sensitive.
+    # PowerShell 5.1 is Windows-only and does not define $IsWindows, so treat its
+    # absence as "we're on Windows".
+    if ($null -ne $IsWindows) {
+        $onWindows = $IsWindows
+    } else {
+        $onWindows = $true
+    }
+
+    if ($onWindows) {
+        $comparison = [System.StringComparison]::OrdinalIgnoreCase
+    } else {
+        $comparison = [System.StringComparison]::Ordinal
+    }
+
+    return [string]::Equals($normJson, $normActive, $comparison)
+}
+
+# Resolve specs/<feature-dir> by numeric/timestamp prefix (mirrors scripts/bash/common.sh find_feature_dir_by_prefix).
+function Find-FeatureDirByPrefix {
+    param(
+        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$RepoRoot,
+        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$Branch
+    )
+    $specsDir = Join-Path $RepoRoot 'specs'
+    $branchName = Get-SpecKitEffectiveBranchName $Branch
+
+    $prefix = $null
+    if ($branchName -match '^(\d{8}-\d{6})-') {
+        $prefix = $Matches[1]
+    } elseif ($branchName -match '^(\d{3,})-') {
+        $prefix = $Matches[1]
+    } else {
+        return (Join-Path $specsDir $branchName)
+    }
+
+    $dirMatches = @()
+    if (Test-Path -LiteralPath $specsDir -PathType Container) {
+        $dirMatches = @(Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $specsDir -Filter "$prefix-*" -Directory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)
+    }
+
+    if ($dirMatches.Count -eq 0) {
+        return (Join-Path $specsDir $branchName)
+    }
+    if ($dirMatches.Count -eq 1) {
+        return $dirMatches[0].FullName
+    }
+    $names = ($dirMatches | ForEach-Object { $_.Name }) -join ' '
+    [Console]::Error.WriteLine("ERROR: Multiple spec directories found with prefix '$prefix': $names")
+    [Console]::Error.WriteLine('Please ensure only one spec directory exists per prefix.')
+    return $null
+}
+
+# Branch-based prefix resolution; mirrors bash get_feature_paths failure (stderr + exit 1).
+function Get-FeatureDirFromBranchPrefixOrExit {
+    param(
+        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$RepoRoot,
+        [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)][string]$CurrentBranch
+    )
+    $resolved = Find-FeatureDirByPrefix -RepoRoot $RepoRoot -Branch $CurrentBranch
+    if ($null -eq $resolved) {
+        [Console]::Error.WriteLine('ERROR: Failed to resolve feature directory')
+        exit 1
+    }
+    return $resolved
 }

 function Get-FeaturePathsEnv {
    $repoRoot = Get-RepoRoot
    $currentBranch = Get-CurrentBranch
+    $hasGit = Test-HasGit

    # Resolve feature directory.  Priority:
    #   1. SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY env var (explicit override)
-    #   2. .specify/feature.json "feature_directory" key (persisted by specify command)
-    #   3. Error - no feature context available
+    #   2. .specify/feature.json "feature_directory" key (persisted by __SPECKIT_COMMAND_SPECIFY__)
+    #   3. Branch-name-based prefix lookup (same as scripts/bash/common.sh)
    $featureJson = Join-Path $repoRoot '.specify/feature.json'
    if ($env:SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY) {
        $featureDir = $env:SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY
@@ -115,8 +297,6 @@ function Get-FeaturePathsEnv {
        if (-not [System.IO.Path]::IsPathRooted($featureDir)) {
            $featureDir = Join-Path $repoRoot $featureDir
        }
-        # Persist to feature.json so future sessions without the env var still work
-        Save-FeatureJson -RepoRoot $repoRoot -FeatureDirectory $env:SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY
    } elseif (Test-Path $featureJson) {
        $featureJsonRaw = Get-Content -LiteralPath $featureJson -Raw
        try {
@@ -132,17 +312,16 @@ function Get-FeaturePathsEnv {
                $featureDir = Join-Path $repoRoot $featureDir
            }
        } else {
-            [Console]::Error.WriteLine("ERROR: Feature directory not found. Set SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY or ensure .specify/feature.json contains feature_directory.")
-            exit 1
+            $featureDir = Get-FeatureDirFromBranchPrefixOrExit -RepoRoot $repoRoot -CurrentBranch $currentBranch
        }
    } else {
-        [Console]::Error.WriteLine("ERROR: Feature directory not found. Set SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY or run the specify command to create .specify/feature.json.")
-        exit 1
+        $featureDir = Get-FeatureDirFromBranchPrefixOrExit -RepoRoot $repoRoot -CurrentBranch $currentBranch
    }
    
    [PSCustomObject]@{
        REPO_ROOT     = $repoRoot
        CURRENT_BRANCH = $currentBranch
+        HAS_GIT       = $hasGit
        FEATURE_DIR   = $featureDir
        FEATURE_SPEC  = Join-Path $featureDir 'spec.md'
        IMPL_PLAN     = Join-Path $featureDir 'plan.md'
--- a/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1
+++ b/scripts/powershell/create-new-feature.ps1
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@ if ($Help) {
    Write-Host ""
    Write-Host "Options:"
    Write-Host "  -Json               Output in JSON format"
-    Write-Host "  -DryRun             Compute feature name and paths without creating directories or files"
-    Write-Host "  -AllowExistingBranch  Reuse an existing feature directory if it already exists"
-    Write-Host "  -ShortName <name>   Provide a custom short name (2-4 words) for the feature"
+    Write-Host "  -DryRun             Compute branch name and paths without creating branches, directories, or files"
+    Write-Host "  -AllowExistingBranch  Switch to branch if it already exists instead of failing"
+    Write-Host "  -ShortName <name>   Provide a custom short name (2-4 words) for the branch"
    Write-Host "  -Number N           Specify branch number manually (overrides auto-detection)"
    Write-Host "  -Timestamp          Use timestamp prefix (YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS) instead of sequential numbering"
    Write-Host "  -Help               Show this help message"
@@ -67,17 +67,111 @@ function Get-HighestNumberFromSpecs {
    return $highest
 }

+# Extract the highest sequential feature number from a list of branch/ref names.
+# Shared by Get-HighestNumberFromBranches and Get-HighestNumberFromRemoteRefs.
+function Get-HighestNumberFromNames {
+    param([string[]]$Names)
+
+    [long]$highest = 0
+    foreach ($name in $Names) {
+        if ($name -match '^(\d{3,})-' -and $name -notmatch '^\d{8}-\d{6}-') {
+            [long]$num = 0
+            if ([long]::TryParse($matches[1], [ref]$num) -and $num -gt $highest) {
+                $highest = $num
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    return $highest
+}
+
+function Get-HighestNumberFromBranches {
+    param()
+
+    try {
+        $branches = git branch -a 2>$null
+        if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0 -and $branches) {
+            $cleanNames = $branches | ForEach-Object {
+                $_.Trim() -replace '^\*?\s+', '' -replace '^remotes/[^/]+/', ''
+            }
+            return Get-HighestNumberFromNames -Names $cleanNames
+        }
+    } catch {
+        Write-Verbose "Could not check Git branches: $_"
+    }
+    return 0
+}
+
+function Get-HighestNumberFromRemoteRefs {
+    [long]$highest = 0
+    try {
+        $remotes = git remote 2>$null
+        if ($remotes) {
+            foreach ($remote in $remotes) {
+                $env:GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT = '0'
+                $refs = git ls-remote --heads $remote 2>$null
+                $env:GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT = $null
+                if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0 -and $refs) {
+                    $refNames = $refs | ForEach-Object {
+                        if ($_ -match 'refs/heads/(.+)$') { $matches[1] }
+                    } | Where-Object { $_ }
+                    $remoteHighest = Get-HighestNumberFromNames -Names $refNames
+                    if ($remoteHighest -gt $highest) { $highest = $remoteHighest }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    } catch {
+        Write-Verbose "Could not query remote refs: $_"
+    }
+    return $highest
+}
+
+# Return next available branch number. When SkipFetch is true, queries remotes
+# via ls-remote (read-only) instead of fetching.
+function Get-NextBranchNumber {
+    param(
+        [string]$SpecsDir,
+        [switch]$SkipFetch
+    )
+
+    if ($SkipFetch) {
+        # Side-effect-free: query remotes via ls-remote
+        $highestBranch = Get-HighestNumberFromBranches
+        $highestRemote = Get-HighestNumberFromRemoteRefs
+        $highestBranch = [Math]::Max($highestBranch, $highestRemote)
+    } else {
+        # Fetch all remotes to get latest branch info (suppress errors if no remotes)
+        try {
+            git fetch --all --prune 2>$null | Out-Null
+        } catch {
+            # Ignore fetch errors
+        }
+        $highestBranch = Get-HighestNumberFromBranches
+    }
+
+    # Get highest number from ALL specs (not just matching short name)
+    $highestSpec = Get-HighestNumberFromSpecs -SpecsDir $SpecsDir
+
+    # Take the maximum of both
+    $maxNum = [Math]::Max($highestBranch, $highestSpec)
+
+    # Return next number
+    return $maxNum + 1
+}
+
 function ConvertTo-CleanBranchName {
    param([string]$Name)

    return $Name.ToLower() -replace '[^a-z0-9]', '-' -replace '-{2,}', '-' -replace '^-', '' -replace '-$', ''
 }
-# Load common functions (includes Get-RepoRoot and Resolve-Template)
+# Load common functions (includes Get-RepoRoot, Test-HasGit, Resolve-Template)
 . "$PSScriptRoot/common.ps1"

-# Use common.ps1 functions which prioritize .specify
+# Use common.ps1 functions which prioritize .specify over git
 $repoRoot = Get-RepoRoot

+# Check if git is available at this repo root (not a parent)
+$hasGit = Test-HasGit
+
 Set-Location $repoRoot

 $specsDir = Join-Path $repoRoot 'specs'
@@ -150,9 +244,21 @@ if ($Timestamp) {
    $featureNum = Get-Date -Format 'yyyyMMdd-HHmmss'
    $branchName = "$featureNum-$branchSuffix"
 } else {
-    # Determine branch number from existing feature directories
+    # Determine branch number
    if ($Number -eq 0) {
-        $Number = (Get-HighestNumberFromSpecs -SpecsDir $specsDir) + 1
+        if ($DryRun -and $hasGit) {
+            # Dry-run: query remotes via ls-remote (side-effect-free, no fetch)
+            $Number = Get-NextBranchNumber -SpecsDir $specsDir -SkipFetch
+        } elseif ($DryRun) {
+            # Dry-run without git: local spec dirs only
+            $Number = (Get-HighestNumberFromSpecs -SpecsDir $specsDir) + 1
+        } elseif ($hasGit) {
+            # Check existing branches on remotes
+            $Number = Get-NextBranchNumber -SpecsDir $specsDir
+        } else {
+            # Fall back to local directory check
+            $Number = (Get-HighestNumberFromSpecs -SpecsDir $specsDir) + 1
+        }
    }

    $featureNum = ('{0:000}' -f $Number)
@@ -185,13 +291,58 @@ $featureDir = Join-Path $specsDir $branchName
 $specFile = Join-Path $featureDir 'spec.md'

 if (-not $DryRun) {
-    if ((Test-Path -LiteralPath $featureDir -PathType Container) -and -not $AllowExistingBranch) {
-        if ($Timestamp) {
-            Write-Error "Error: Feature directory '$featureDir' already exists. Rerun to get a new timestamp or use a different -ShortName."
-        } else {
-            Write-Error "Error: Feature directory '$featureDir' already exists. Please use a different feature name or specify a different number with -Number."
+    if ($hasGit) {
+        $branchCreated = $false
+        $branchCreateError = ''
+        try {
+            $branchCreateError = git checkout -q -b $branchName 2>&1 | Out-String
+            if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
+                $branchCreated = $true
+            }
+        } catch {
+            $branchCreateError = $_.Exception.Message
        }
-        exit 1
+
+        if (-not $branchCreated) {
+            $currentBranch = ''
+            try { $currentBranch = (git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD 2>$null).Trim() } catch {}
+            # Check if branch already exists
+            $existingBranch = git branch --list $branchName 2>$null
+            if ($existingBranch) {
+                if ($AllowExistingBranch) {
+                    # If we're already on the branch, continue without another checkout.
+                    if ($currentBranch -eq $branchName) {
+                        # Already on the target branch -- nothing to do
+                    } else {
+                        # Otherwise switch to the existing branch instead of failing.
+                        $switchBranchError = git checkout -q $branchName 2>&1 | Out-String
+                        if ($LASTEXITCODE -ne 0) {
+                            if ($switchBranchError) {
+                                Write-Error "Error: Branch '$branchName' exists but could not be checked out.`n$($switchBranchError.Trim())"
+                            } else {
+                                Write-Error "Error: Branch '$branchName' exists but could not be checked out. Resolve any uncommitted changes or conflicts and try again."
+                            }
+                            exit 1
+                        }
+                    }
+                } elseif ($Timestamp) {
+                    Write-Error "Error: Branch '$branchName' already exists. Rerun to get a new timestamp or use a different -ShortName."
+                    exit 1
+                } else {
+                    Write-Error "Error: Branch '$branchName' already exists. Please use a different feature name or specify a different number with -Number."
+                    exit 1
+                }
+            } else {
+                if ($branchCreateError) {
+                    Write-Error "Error: Failed to create git branch '$branchName'.`n$($branchCreateError.Trim())"
+                } else {
+                    Write-Error "Error: Failed to create git branch '$branchName'. Please check your git configuration and try again."
+                }
+                exit 1
+            }
+        }
+    } else {
+        Write-Warning "[specify] Warning: Git repository not detected; skipped branch creation for $branchName"
    }

    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $featureDir -Force | Out-Null
@@ -208,12 +359,8 @@ if (-not $DryRun) {
        }
    }

-    # Persist to .specify/feature.json so downstream commands can find the feature
-    Save-FeatureJson -RepoRoot $repoRoot -FeatureDirectory $featureDir
-
-    # Set environment variables for the current session
+    # Set the SPECIFY_FEATURE environment variable for the current session
    $env:SPECIFY_FEATURE = $branchName
-    $env:SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY = $featureDir
 }

 if ($Json) {
@@ -221,6 +368,7 @@ if ($Json) {
        BRANCH_NAME = $branchName
        SPEC_FILE = $specFile
        FEATURE_NUM = $featureNum
+        HAS_GIT = $hasGit
    }
    if ($DryRun) {
        $obj | Add-Member -NotePropertyName 'DRY_RUN' -NotePropertyValue $true
@@ -230,8 +378,8 @@ if ($Json) {
    Write-Output "BRANCH_NAME: $branchName"
    Write-Output "SPEC_FILE: $specFile"
    Write-Output "FEATURE_NUM: $featureNum"
+    Write-Output "HAS_GIT: $hasGit"
    if (-not $DryRun) {
-        Write-Output "SPECIFY_FEATURE set to: $branchName"
-        Write-Output "SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY set to: $featureDir"
+        Write-Output "SPECIFY_FEATURE environment variable set to: $branchName"
    }
 }
--- a/scripts/powershell/setup-plan.ps1
+++ b/scripts/powershell/setup-plan.ps1
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ if ($Help) {
 # Get all paths and variables from common functions
 $paths = Get-FeaturePathsEnv

+# If feature.json pins an existing feature directory, branch naming is not required.
+if (-not (Test-FeatureJsonMatchesFeatureDir -RepoRoot $paths.REPO_ROOT -ActiveFeatureDir $paths.FEATURE_DIR)) {
+    if (-not (Test-FeatureBranch -Branch $paths.CURRENT_BRANCH -HasGit $paths.HAS_GIT)) {
+        exit 1
+    }
+}
+
 # Ensure the feature directory exists
 New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $paths.FEATURE_DIR -Force | Out-Null

@@ -54,6 +61,7 @@ if ($Json) {
        IMPL_PLAN = $paths.IMPL_PLAN
        SPECS_DIR = $paths.FEATURE_DIR
        BRANCH = $paths.CURRENT_BRANCH
+        HAS_GIT = $paths.HAS_GIT
    }
    $result | ConvertTo-Json -Compress
 } else {
@@ -61,4 +69,5 @@ if ($Json) {
    Write-Output "IMPL_PLAN: $($paths.IMPL_PLAN)"
    Write-Output "SPECS_DIR: $($paths.FEATURE_DIR)"
    Write-Output "BRANCH: $($paths.CURRENT_BRANCH)"
+    Write-Output "HAS_GIT: $($paths.HAS_GIT)"
 }
--- a/scripts/powershell/setup-tasks.ps1
+++ b/scripts/powershell/setup-tasks.ps1
@@ -16,9 +16,16 @@ if ($Help) {
 # Source common functions
 . "$PSScriptRoot/common.ps1"

-# Get feature paths
+# Get feature paths and validate branch
 $paths = Get-FeaturePathsEnv

+# If feature.json pins an existing feature directory, branch naming is not required.
+if (-not (Test-FeatureJsonMatchesFeatureDir -RepoRoot $paths.REPO_ROOT -ActiveFeatureDir $paths.FEATURE_DIR)) {
+    if (-not (Test-FeatureBranch -Branch $paths.CURRENT_BRANCH -HasGit $paths.HAS_GIT)) {
+        exit 1
+    }
+}
+
 if (-not (Test-Path $paths.IMPL_PLAN -PathType Leaf)) {
    [Console]::Error.WriteLine("ERROR: plan.md not found in $($paths.FEATURE_DIR)")
    $planCommand = Format-SpecKitCommand -CommandName 'plan' -RepoRoot $paths.REPO_ROOT
--- a/src/specify_cli/init.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/init.py
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ from ._utils import (
    _display_project_path,
    check_tool as check_tool,
    handle_vscode_settings as handle_vscode_settings,
+    init_git_repo as init_git_repo,
+    is_git_repo as is_git_repo,
    merge_json_files as merge_json_files,
    run_command as run_command,
 )
@@ -451,6 +453,9 @@ def check():

    tracker = StepTracker("Check Available Tools")

+    tracker.add("git", "Git version control")
+    git_ok = check_tool("git", tracker=tracker)
+
    agent_results = {}
    for agent_key, agent_config in AGENT_CONFIG.items():
        if agent_key == "generic":
@@ -478,6 +483,9 @@ def check():

    console.print("\n[bold green]Specify CLI is ready to use![/bold green]")

+    if not git_ok:
+        console.print("[dim]Tip: Install git for repository management[/dim]")
+
    if not any(agent_results.values()):
        console.print("[dim]Tip: Install a coding agent for the best experience[/dim]")

--- a/src/specify_cli/_github_http.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/_github_http.py
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
-"""Shared GitHub HTTP request helpers.
+"""Shared GitHub-authenticated HTTP helpers.

-Provides ``build_github_request()`` for attaching GITHUB_TOKEN / GH_TOKEN
-credentials to requests targeting GitHub-hosted domains, and
-``resolve_github_release_asset_api_url()`` — used by extensions, presets,
-and workflow URL resolution — to translate browser release-download URLs
-into GitHub REST API asset URLs. Authenticated downloads themselves go
-through the config-driven helpers in :mod:`specify_cli.authentication.http`.
+Used by both ExtensionCatalog and PresetCatalog to attach
+GITHUB_TOKEN / GH_TOKEN credentials to requests targeting
+GitHub-hosted domains, while preventing token leakage to
+third-party hosts on redirects.
 """

 import os
@@ -56,6 +54,28 @@ def build_github_request(url: str) -> urllib.request.Request:
    return urllib.request.Request(url, headers=headers)


+class _StripAuthOnRedirect(urllib.request.HTTPRedirectHandler):
+    """Redirect handler that drops the Authorization header when leaving GitHub.
+
+    Prevents token leakage to CDNs or other third-party hosts that GitHub
+    may redirect to (e.g. S3 for release asset downloads, objects.githubusercontent.com).
+    Auth is preserved as long as the redirect target remains within GITHUB_HOSTS.
+    """
+
+    def redirect_request(self, req, fp, code, msg, headers, newurl):
+        original_auth = req.get_header("Authorization")
+        new_req = super().redirect_request(req, fp, code, msg, headers, newurl)
+        if new_req is not None:
+            hostname = (urlparse(newurl).hostname or "").lower()
+            if hostname in GITHUB_HOSTS:
+                if original_auth:
+                    new_req.add_unredirected_header("Authorization", original_auth)
+            else:
+                new_req.headers.pop("Authorization", None)
+                new_req.unredirected_hdrs.pop("Authorization", None)
+        return new_req
+
+
 def resolve_github_release_asset_api_url(
    download_url: str,
    open_url_fn: Callable,
@@ -127,3 +147,20 @@ def resolve_github_release_asset_api_url(
            return str(asset["url"])

    return None
+
+
+def open_github_url(url: str, timeout: int = 10):
+    """Open a URL with GitHub auth, stripping the header on cross-host redirects.
+
+    When the request carries an Authorization header, a custom redirect
+    handler drops that header if the redirect target is not a GitHub-owned
+    domain, preventing token leakage to CDNs or other third-party hosts
+    that GitHub may redirect to (e.g. S3 for release asset downloads).
+    """
+    req = build_github_request(url)
+
+    if not req.get_header("Authorization"):
+        return urllib.request.urlopen(req, timeout=timeout)
+
+    opener = urllib.request.build_opener(_StripAuthOnRedirect)
+    return opener.open(req, timeout=timeout)
--- a/src/specify_cli/_utils.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/_utils.py
@@ -77,6 +77,51 @@ def check_tool(tool: str, tracker=None) -> bool:
    return found


+def is_git_repo(path: Path | None = None) -> bool:
+    """Check if the specified path is inside a git repository."""
+    if path is None:
+        path = Path.cwd()
+
+    if not path.is_dir():
+        return False
+
+    try:
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "rev-parse", "--is-inside-work-tree"],
+            check=True,
+            capture_output=True,
+            cwd=path,
+        )
+        return True
+    except (subprocess.CalledProcessError, FileNotFoundError):
+        return False
+
+
+def init_git_repo(project_path: Path, quiet: bool = False) -> tuple[bool, str | None]:
+    """Initialize a git repository in the specified path."""
+    try:
+        original_cwd = Path.cwd()
+        os.chdir(project_path)
+        if not quiet:
+            console.print("[cyan]Initializing git repository...[/cyan]")
+        subprocess.run(["git", "init"], check=True, capture_output=True, text=True)
+        subprocess.run(["git", "add", "."], check=True, capture_output=True, text=True)
+        subprocess.run(["git", "commit", "-m", "Initial commit from Specify template"], check=True, capture_output=True, text=True)
+        if not quiet:
+            console.print("[green]✓[/green] Git repository initialized")
+        return True, None
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
+        error_msg = f"Command: {' '.join(e.cmd)}\nExit code: {e.returncode}"
+        if e.stderr:
+            error_msg += f"\nError: {e.stderr.strip()}"
+        elif e.stdout:
+            error_msg += f"\nOutput: {e.stdout.strip()}"
+        if not quiet:
+            console.print(f"[red]Error initializing git repository:[/red] {e}")
+        return False, error_msg
+    finally:
+        os.chdir(original_cwd)
+

 def handle_vscode_settings(sub_item, dest_file, rel_path, verbose=False, tracker=None) -> None:
    """Handle merging or copying of .vscode/settings.json files.
--- a/src/specify_cli/commands/init.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/commands/init.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from .._assets import (
    get_speckit_version,
 )
 from .._console import StepTracker, console, select_with_arrows, show_banner
-from .._utils import check_tool
+from .._utils import check_tool, init_git_repo, is_git_repo


 def _stdin_is_interactive() -> bool:
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:
        project_name: str = typer.Argument(None, help="Name for your new project directory (optional if using --here, or use '.' for current directory)"),
        script_type: str = typer.Option(None, "--script", help="Script type to use: sh or ps"),
        ignore_agent_tools: bool = typer.Option(False, "--ignore-agent-tools", help="Skip checks for coding agent tools like Claude Code"),
+        no_git: bool = typer.Option(False, "--no-git", help="Skip git repository initialization"),
        here: bool = typer.Option(False, "--here", help="Initialize project in the current directory instead of creating a new one"),
        force: bool = typer.Option(False, "--force", help="Force merge/overwrite when using --here (skip confirmation)"),
        skip_tls: bool = typer.Option(False, "--skip-tls", help="Deprecated (no-op). Previously: skip SSL/TLS verification.", hidden=True),
@@ -78,6 +79,7 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:
        github_token: str = typer.Option(None, "--github-token", help="Deprecated (no-op). Previously: GitHub token for API requests.", hidden=True),
        offline: bool = typer.Option(False, "--offline", help="Deprecated (no-op). All scaffolding now uses bundled assets.", hidden=True),
        preset: str = typer.Option(None, "--preset", help="Install a preset during initialization (by preset ID)"),
+        branch_numbering: str = typer.Option(None, "--branch-numbering", help="Branch numbering strategy: 'sequential' (001, 002, …, 1000, … — expands past 999 automatically) or 'timestamp' (YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS)"),
        integration: str = typer.Option(None, "--integration", help="AI coding agent integration to use (e.g. --integration copilot). See 'specify check' for available integrations."),
        integration_options: str = typer.Option(None, "--integration-options", help='Options for the integration (e.g. --integration-options="--commands-dir .myagent/cmds")'),
    ):
@@ -89,16 +91,18 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:
        match the installed CLI version.

        This command will:
-        1. Check that required tools are installed
+        1. Check that required tools are installed (git is optional)
        2. Let you choose your coding agent integration, or default to Copilot
           in non-interactive sessions
        3. Install bundled Spec Kit templates, scripts, workflow, and shared
           project infrastructure
-        4. Set up coding agent integration commands and optional presets
+        4. Initialize a fresh git repository (if not --no-git and no existing repo)
+        5. Set up coding agent integration commands and optional presets

        Examples:
            specify init my-project
            specify init my-project --integration claude
+            specify init my-project --integration copilot --no-git
            specify init --ignore-agent-tools my-project
            specify init . --integration claude         # Initialize in current directory
            specify init .                     # Initialize in current directory (interactive integration selection)
@@ -138,6 +142,13 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:
                console.print(f"[yellow]Available integrations:[/yellow] {available}")
                raise typer.Exit(1)

+        if no_git:
+            console.print(
+                "[yellow]⚠️  --no-git is deprecated and will be removed in v0.10.0.[/yellow]\n"
+                "[yellow]The git extension will no longer be enabled by default "
+                "— use the [bold]specify extension[/bold] commands to install or enable the git extension if needed.[/yellow]"
+            )
+
        if project_name == ".":
            here = True
            project_name = None
@@ -150,7 +161,10 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:
            console.print("[red]Error:[/red] Must specify either a project name, use '.' for current directory, or use --here flag")
            raise typer.Exit(1)

-
+        BRANCH_NUMBERING_CHOICES = {"sequential", "timestamp"}
+        if branch_numbering and branch_numbering not in BRANCH_NUMBERING_CHOICES:
+            console.print(f"[red]Error:[/red] Invalid --branch-numbering value '{branch_numbering}'. Choose from: {', '.join(sorted(BRANCH_NUMBERING_CHOICES))}")
+            raise typer.Exit(1)

        dir_existed_before = False
        if here:
@@ -239,6 +253,12 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:

        console.print(Panel("\n".join(setup_lines), border_style="cyan", padding=(1, 2)))

+        should_init_git = False
+        if not no_git:
+            should_init_git = check_tool("git")
+            if not should_init_git:
+                console.print("[yellow]Git not found - will skip repository initialization[/yellow]")
+
        if not ignore_agent_tools:
            agent_config = AGENT_CONFIG.get(selected_ai)
            if agent_config and agent_config["requires_cli"]:
@@ -288,12 +308,15 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:
        for key, label in [
            ("chmod", "Ensure scripts executable"),
            ("constitution", "Constitution setup"),
+            ("git", "Install git extension"),
            ("workflow", "Install bundled workflow"),
            ("agent-context", "Install agent-context extension"),
            ("final", "Finalize"),
        ]:
            tracker.add(key, label)

+        git_default_notice = False
+
        with Live(tracker.render(), console=console, refresh_per_second=8, transient=True) as live:
            tracker.attach_refresh(lambda: live.update(tracker.render()))
            try:
@@ -346,6 +369,55 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:

                ensure_constitution_from_template(project_path, tracker=tracker)

+                if not no_git:
+                    tracker.start("git")
+                    git_messages = []
+                    git_has_error = False
+                    if is_git_repo(project_path):
+                        git_messages.append("existing repo detected")
+                    elif should_init_git:
+                        success, error_msg = init_git_repo(project_path, quiet=True)
+                        if success:
+                            git_messages.append("initialized")
+                        else:
+                            git_has_error = True
+                            if error_msg:
+                                sanitized = error_msg.replace('\n', ' ').strip()
+                                git_messages.append(f"init failed: {sanitized[:120]}")
+                            else:
+                                git_messages.append("init failed")
+                    else:
+                        git_messages.append("git not available")
+                    try:
+                        from ..extensions import ExtensionManager
+                        bundled_path = _locate_bundled_extension("git")
+                        if bundled_path:
+                            manager = ExtensionManager(project_path)
+                            if manager.registry.is_installed("git"):
+                                git_messages.append("extension already installed")
+                            else:
+                                manager.install_from_directory(
+                                    bundled_path, get_speckit_version()
+                                )
+                                git_default_notice = True
+                                git_messages.append("extension installed")
+                        else:
+                            git_has_error = True
+                            git_messages.append("bundled extension not found")
+                    except Exception as ext_err:
+                        git_has_error = True
+                        sanitized_ext = str(ext_err).replace('\n', ' ').strip()
+                        git_messages.append(
+                            f"extension install failed: {sanitized_ext[:120]}"
+                        )
+                    summary = "; ".join(git_messages)
+                    if git_has_error:
+                        tracker.error("git", summary)
+                    else:
+                        tracker.complete("git", summary)
+                else:
+                    tracker.skip("git", "--no-git flag")
+
                try:
                    bundled_wf = _locate_bundled_workflow("speckit")
                    if bundled_wf:
@@ -379,9 +451,9 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:
                init_opts = {
                    "ai": selected_ai,
                    "integration": resolved_integration.key,
+                    "branch_numbering": branch_numbering or "sequential",
                    "here": here,
                    "script": selected_script,
-                    "feature_numbering": "sequential",
                    "speckit_version": get_speckit_version(),
                }
                from ..integrations.base import SkillsIntegration as _SkillsPersist
@@ -524,6 +596,18 @@ def register(app: typer.Typer) -> None:
                console.print()
                console.print(security_notice)

+        if git_default_notice:
+            default_change_notice = Panel(
+                "The git extension is currently enabled by default during [bold]specify init[/bold].\n"
+                "Starting in [bold]v0.10.0[/bold], this will require explicit opt-in.\n"
+                "Use [bold]specify extension add git[/bold] after init when needed.",
+                title="[yellow]Notice: Git Default Changing[/yellow]",
+                border_style="yellow",
+                padding=(1, 2),
+            )
+            console.print()
+            console.print(default_change_notice)
+
        steps_lines = []
        if not here:
            steps_lines.append(f"1. Go to the project folder: [cyan]cd {project_name}[/cyan]")
--- a/src/specify_cli/extensions.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/extensions.py
@@ -1905,44 +1905,6 @@ class ExtensionCatalog(CatalogStackBase):
            download_url, self._open_url, timeout=timeout
        )

-    def _validate_catalog_payload(self, catalog_data: Any, url: str) -> None:
-        """Validate a parsed catalog payload's shape.
-
-        Applied to both network-fetched and cache-loaded payloads so a
-        once-poisoned cache (older spec-kit version, manual edit, upstream
-        served a bad payload before the network-side guards were added)
-        cannot re-crash ``_get_merged_extensions`` on subsequent calls.
-
-        Checking only key presence would let a payload like
-        ``{"extensions": []}`` or ``{"extensions": null}`` slip through
-        here and then crash with ``AttributeError: 'list' object has no
-        attribute 'items'`` deep inside ``_get_merged_extensions``. The
-        sibling integration catalog reader already guards both the root
-        object and the nested mapping (see ``integrations/catalog.py``);
-        the extension catalog must stay consistent so a malformed payload
-        surfaces as the user-facing ``Invalid catalog format`` error
-        instead of a raw Python traceback.
-
-        Args:
-            catalog_data: Parsed JSON payload from the catalog source.
-            url: Source URL — used in the error message so the user can
-                tell which catalog in a multi-catalog stack is malformed.
-
-        Raises:
-            ExtensionError: If the payload's shape is invalid.
-        """
-        if not isinstance(catalog_data, dict):
-            raise ExtensionError(
-                f"Invalid catalog format from {url}: expected a JSON object"
-            )
-        if "schema_version" not in catalog_data or "extensions" not in catalog_data:
-            raise ExtensionError(f"Invalid catalog format from {url}")
-        if not isinstance(catalog_data.get("extensions"), dict):
-            raise ExtensionError(
-                f"Invalid catalog format from {url}: "
-                "'extensions' must be a JSON object"
-            )
-
    def get_active_catalogs(self) -> List[CatalogEntry]:
        """Get the ordered list of active catalogs.

@@ -2058,51 +2020,21 @@ class ExtensionCatalog(CatalogStackBase):
            is_valid = False
            if not force_refresh and cache_file.exists() and cache_meta_file.exists():
                try:
-                    metadata = json.loads(
-                        cache_meta_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
-                    )
+                    metadata = json.loads(cache_meta_file.read_text())
                    cached_at = datetime.fromisoformat(metadata.get("cached_at", ""))
                    if cached_at.tzinfo is None:
                        cached_at = cached_at.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
                    age = (datetime.now(timezone.utc) - cached_at).total_seconds()
                    is_valid = age < self.CACHE_DURATION
-                except (
-                    json.JSONDecodeError,
-                    OSError,
-                    UnicodeError,
-                    ValueError,
-                    KeyError,
-                    TypeError,
-                    AttributeError,
-                ):
-                    # Cache validity is best-effort: invalid/missing metadata
-                    # fields, an unreadable metadata file (permissions / disk),
-                    # a wrongly-encoded metadata file (written by a tool using
-                    # the system locale codec), or a metadata payload that
-                    # parses to a non-mapping like ``[]`` or ``"oops"`` (so
-                    # ``metadata.get(...)`` raises ``AttributeError``) all
-                    # degrade to "cache invalid" so the caller falls through
-                    # to a network refetch instead of crashing.
+                except (json.JSONDecodeError, ValueError, KeyError, TypeError):
+                    # If metadata is invalid or missing expected fields, treat cache as invalid
                    pass

-        # Use cache if valid. A previously-cached payload must clear the
-        # same shape checks as a freshly-fetched one — otherwise a once-
-        # poisoned cache (older spec-kit version, manual edit, upstream
-        # served a bad payload before the network-side guards were added)
-        # would re-crash on every invocation despite the cache being
-        # "valid" by age. If validation fails on the cached read, fall
-        # through to the network fetch path so the cache gets refreshed.
+        # Use cache if valid
        if is_valid:
            try:
-                cached_data = json.loads(cache_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-                self._validate_catalog_payload(cached_data, entry.url)
-                return cached_data
-            except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError, UnicodeError, ExtensionError):
-                # Cache is best-effort: a JSON-decode failure, an OS-level
-                # read failure (permissions / disk / handle limit), or a
-                # text-encoding failure on a cache file written by an older
-                # client all fall through to the network fetch path. Only
-                # the network failure is surfaced to the caller.
+                return json.loads(cache_file.read_text())
+            except json.JSONDecodeError:
                pass

        # Fetch from network
@@ -2110,32 +2042,16 @@ class ExtensionCatalog(CatalogStackBase):
            with self._open_url(entry.url, timeout=10) as response:
                catalog_data = json.loads(response.read())

-            self._validate_catalog_payload(catalog_data, entry.url)
+            if "schema_version" not in catalog_data or "extensions" not in catalog_data:
+                raise ExtensionError(f"Invalid catalog format from {entry.url}")

-            # Save to cache. Both files are explicitly UTF-8 to match the
-            # ``read_text(encoding="utf-8")`` on the read side and the
-            # ``integrations/catalog.py`` precedent (see the cache write
-            # helpers in ``CatalogCache`` there). Without this, platforms
-            # whose default encoding isn't UTF-8 would write locale-encoded
-            # bytes that the read path can't decode, forcing an unnecessary
-            # network refetch on every invocation. The write itself is
-            # best-effort, matching the read side: an unwritable cache dir
-            # (read-only checkout, permissions) must not fail a fetch whose
-            # payload was already fetched and validated.
-            try:
-                self.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-                cache_file.write_text(
-                    json.dumps(catalog_data, indent=2), encoding="utf-8"
-                )
-                cache_meta_file.write_text(
-                    json.dumps({
-                        "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
-                        "catalog_url": entry.url,
-                    }, indent=2),
-                    encoding="utf-8",
-                )
-            except OSError:
-                pass  # Cache is best-effort; proceed with fetched data
+            # Save to cache
+            self.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+            cache_file.write_text(json.dumps(catalog_data, indent=2))
+            cache_meta_file.write_text(json.dumps({
+                "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
+                "catalog_url": entry.url,
+            }, indent=2))

            return catalog_data

@@ -2182,16 +2098,6 @@ class ExtensionCatalog(CatalogStackBase):
                continue

            for ext_id, ext_data in catalog_data.get("extensions", {}).items():
-                # Per-entry guard: ``_fetch_single_catalog`` already validates
-                # that ``catalog_data["extensions"]`` is a mapping, but it
-                # does not (and should not) validate every entry shape there
-                # — one malformed entry shouldn't poison an otherwise valid
-                # catalog. Skip non-mapping entries here so a payload like
-                # ``{"extensions": {"foo": [], "bar": {...}}}`` still merges
-                # the valid entries without crashing on ``**ext_data``.
-                # Mirrors ``integrations/catalog.py:245``.
-                if not isinstance(ext_data, dict):
-                    continue
                if ext_id not in merged:  # Higher-priority catalog wins
                    merged[ext_id] = {
                        **ext_data,
@@ -2208,12 +2114,6 @@ class ExtensionCatalog(CatalogStackBase):
    def is_cache_valid(self) -> bool:
        """Check if cached catalog is still valid.

-        Returns ``False`` for any read/decoding failure on the metadata
-        file (missing fields, malformed JSON, permissions / disk errors,
-        wrong text encoding) so callers fall through to a network refetch
-        instead of crashing. Treating cache validity as best-effort
-        matches the contract used by the per-URL cache check below.
-
        Returns:
            True if cache exists and is within cache duration
        """
@@ -2221,28 +2121,13 @@ class ExtensionCatalog(CatalogStackBase):
            return False

        try:
-            metadata = json.loads(
-                self.cache_metadata_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
-            )
+            metadata = json.loads(self.cache_metadata_file.read_text())
            cached_at = datetime.fromisoformat(metadata.get("cached_at", ""))
            if cached_at.tzinfo is None:
                cached_at = cached_at.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
            age_seconds = (datetime.now(timezone.utc) - cached_at).total_seconds()
            return age_seconds < self.CACHE_DURATION
-        except (
-            json.JSONDecodeError,
-            OSError,
-            UnicodeError,
-            ValueError,
-            KeyError,
-            TypeError,
-            AttributeError,
-        ):
-            # ``AttributeError`` covers the case where the metadata file is
-            # valid JSON but parses to a non-mapping (``[]``, ``"oops"``,
-            # ``42``) so ``metadata.get(...)`` would otherwise crash. All
-            # decode/shape failures degrade to "cache invalid" so the
-            # caller falls through to a network refetch.
+        except (json.JSONDecodeError, ValueError, KeyError, TypeError):
            return False

    def fetch_catalog(self, force_refresh: bool = False) -> Dict[str, Any]:
@@ -2257,62 +2142,36 @@ class ExtensionCatalog(CatalogStackBase):
        Raises:
            ExtensionError: If catalog cannot be fetched
        """
-        catalog_url = self.get_catalog_url()
-
-        # Check the cache first unless ``force_refresh`` was requested,
-        # then fall through to a network fetch. Match the
-        # ``_fetch_single_catalog`` cache contract: a poisoned or
-        # unreadable cache silently falls through to a network refetch
-        # rather than crashing the caller. ``_validate_catalog_payload``
-        # is reused here so a cache written by an older client
-        # (pre-validation) is rejected and refreshed instead of returning
-        # the stale malformed payload. ``is_cache_valid`` itself swallows
-        # OSError/UnicodeError on the metadata read, so a cache-validity
-        # check can't crash this method before the read-side fallback
-        # runs.
+        # Check cache first unless force refresh
        if not force_refresh and self.is_cache_valid():
            try:
-                cached_data = json.loads(self.cache_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-                self._validate_catalog_payload(cached_data, catalog_url)
-                return cached_data
-            except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError, UnicodeError, ExtensionError):
+                return json.loads(self.cache_file.read_text())
+            except json.JSONDecodeError:
                pass  # Fall through to network fetch

+        # Fetch from network
+        catalog_url = self.get_catalog_url()
+
        try:
            import urllib.error

            with self._open_url(catalog_url, timeout=10) as response:
                catalog_data = json.loads(response.read())

-            # Validate catalog structure. Reuses the same helper as
-            # ``_fetch_single_catalog`` so all three branches (root type,
-            # missing keys, nested-mapping type) stay consistent.
-            self._validate_catalog_payload(catalog_data, catalog_url)
+            # Validate catalog structure
+            if "schema_version" not in catalog_data or "extensions" not in catalog_data:
+                raise ExtensionError("Invalid catalog format")

-            # Save to cache. Explicit UTF-8 on both writes mirrors the
-            # ``read_text(encoding="utf-8")`` on the read side and the
-            # ``integrations/catalog.py`` precedent — otherwise platforms
-            # whose default encoding isn't UTF-8 would write locale-encoded
-            # bytes the read path can't decode, forcing an unnecessary
-            # refetch on every invocation. Like the read side, the write
-            # is best-effort: an unwritable cache dir must not abort a
-            # fetch whose payload was already fetched and validated.
-            try:
-                self.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-                self.cache_file.write_text(
-                    json.dumps(catalog_data, indent=2), encoding="utf-8"
-                )
+            # Save to cache
+            self.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+            self.cache_file.write_text(json.dumps(catalog_data, indent=2))

-                # Save cache metadata
-                metadata = {
-                    "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
-                    "catalog_url": catalog_url,
-                }
-                self.cache_metadata_file.write_text(
-                    json.dumps(metadata, indent=2), encoding="utf-8"
-                )
-            except OSError:
-                pass  # Cache is best-effort; proceed with fetched data
+            # Save cache metadata
+            metadata = {
+                "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
+                "catalog_url": catalog_url,
+            }
+            self.cache_metadata_file.write_text(json.dumps(metadata, indent=2))

            return catalog_data

--- a/src/specify_cli/integration_state.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/integration_state.py
@@ -25,14 +25,17 @@ class IntegrationReadError:
    schema: int | None = None


-def _read_integration_json_data(
+def try_read_integration_json(
    project_root: Path,
 ) -> tuple[dict[str, Any] | None, IntegrationReadError | None]:
-    """Read raw integration state without normalizing or raising.
+    """Parse ``.specify/integration.json`` without raising.

-    Returns ``(data, None)`` when the JSON object is readable and supported,
-    ``(None, None)`` when the file is absent, and ``(None, error)`` for parse,
-    schema, encoding, or filesystem failures.
+    Returns ``(normalized_state, None)`` on success, ``(None, None)`` when the
+    file does not exist, or ``(None, error)`` for any parse / validation
+    failure. This is the single low-level reader; both the CLI's loud
+    ``_read_integration_json`` and the workflow engine's silent
+    ``_load_project_integration`` consume it so the schema guard and parse
+    logic cannot drift between them.
    """
    path = project_root / INTEGRATION_JSON
    # Avoid Path.exists() / Path.is_file() as a pre-check: both return False
@@ -67,41 +70,9 @@ def _read_integration_json_data(
        and schema > INTEGRATION_STATE_SCHEMA
    ):
        return None, IntegrationReadError(kind="schema_too_new", schema=schema)
-    return data, None
-
-
-def try_read_integration_json(
-    project_root: Path,
-) -> tuple[dict[str, Any] | None, IntegrationReadError | None]:
-    """Parse ``.specify/integration.json`` without raising.
-
-    Returns ``(normalized_state, None)`` on success, ``(None, None)`` when the
-    file does not exist, or ``(None, error)`` for any parse / validation
-    failure. This helper delegates file I/O and raw JSON validation to
-    ``_read_integration_json_data`` so callers that need raw state can share
-    the same low-level reader instead of duplicating parse logic.
-    """
-    data, error = _read_integration_json_data(project_root)
-    if data is None:
-        return None, error
    return normalize_integration_state(data), None


-def try_read_integration_json_with_raw(
-    project_root: Path,
-) -> tuple[dict[str, Any] | None, dict[str, Any] | None, IntegrationReadError | None]:
-    """Parse ``integration.json`` and return normalized plus raw state.
-
-    Returns ``(normalized_state, raw_state, None)`` when the file is readable,
-    ``(None, None, None)`` when it is absent, and ``(None, None, error)`` for
-    parse, schema, encoding, or filesystem failures.
-    """
-    data, error = _read_integration_json_data(project_root)
-    if data is None:
-        return None, None, error
-    return normalize_integration_state(data), data, None
-
-
 def clean_integration_key(key: Any) -> str | None:
    """Return a stripped integration key, or None for empty/non-string values."""
    if not isinstance(key, str) or not key.strip():
--- a/src/specify_cli/integration_status.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/integration_status.py
@@ -1,663 +0,0 @@
-"""Read-only status reporting for project integration state."""
-
-from __future__ import annotations
-
-import hashlib
-import re
-import stat
-from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Any
-
-from .integration_state import (
-    INTEGRATION_JSON,
-    INTEGRATION_STATE_SCHEMA,
-    IntegrationReadError,
-    default_integration_key,
-    installed_integration_keys,
-    try_read_integration_json_with_raw,
-)
-from .integrations import INTEGRATION_REGISTRY
-from .integrations.manifest import IntegrationManifest
-
-_MANIFEST_READ_ERRORS = (ValueError, OSError)
-_MANIFEST_KEY_RE = re.compile(r"^[A-Za-z0-9._-]+$")
-_WINDOWS_RESERVED_MANIFEST_BASENAMES = {
-    "CON",
-    "PRN",
-    "AUX",
-    "NUL",
-    *(f"COM{i}" for i in range(1, 10)),
-    *(f"LPT{i}" for i in range(1, 10)),
-}
-_SHARED_MANIFEST_KEY = "speckit"
-
-
-def _finding(
-    severity: str,
-    code: str,
-    message: str,
-    *,
-    integration: str | None = None,
-    path: str | None = None,
-    suggestion: str | None = None,
-) -> dict[str, str]:
-    item = {
-        "severity": severity,
-        "code": code,
-        "message": message,
-    }
-    if integration:
-        item["integration"] = integration
-    if path:
-        item["path"] = path
-    if suggestion:
-        item["suggestion"] = suggestion
-    return item
-
-
-def _status(findings: list[dict[str, str]]) -> str:
-    if any(item["severity"] == "error" for item in findings):
-        return "error"
-    if findings:
-        return "warning"
-    return "ok"
-
-
-def _with_error_detail(message: str, error: IntegrationReadError) -> str:
-    if error.detail:
-        return f"{message} Detail: {error.detail}"
-    return message
-
-
-def _integration_state_error_message(error: IntegrationReadError) -> str:
-    if error.kind == "decode":
-        return _with_error_detail(
-            f"{INTEGRATION_JSON} contains invalid JSON or is not valid UTF-8.",
-            error,
-        )
-    if error.kind == "os":
-        return _with_error_detail(f"Could not read {INTEGRATION_JSON}.", error)
-    if error.kind == "not_object":
-        return f"{INTEGRATION_JSON} must contain a JSON object, got {error.detail}."
-    if error.kind == "schema_too_new":
-        return (
-            f"{INTEGRATION_JSON} uses integration state schema {error.schema}, "
-            f"which is newer than this CLI supports; supported schema: {INTEGRATION_STATE_SCHEMA}."
-        )
-    return f"Could not inspect {INTEGRATION_JSON}."
-
-
-def _sha256_file(path: Path) -> str:
-    h = hashlib.sha256()
-    with open(path, "rb") as fh:
-        for chunk in iter(lambda: fh.read(8192), b""):
-            h.update(chunk)
-    return h.hexdigest()
-
-
-def _strip_extended_length_prefix(path: Path) -> Path:
-    """Drop the Windows ``\\\\?\\`` extended-length prefix for path comparison.
-
-    ``os.readlink`` and ``Path.resolve`` can return extended-length paths on
-    Windows (e.g. ``\\\\?\\C:\\proj``). Comparing such a path against a plain
-    ``C:\\proj`` root via :meth:`Path.relative_to` would spuriously fail, so we
-    normalise both sides through this helper before containment checks.
-    """
-    raw = str(path)
-    if raw.startswith("\\\\?\\UNC\\"):
-        return Path("\\\\" + raw[len("\\\\?\\UNC\\"):])
-    if raw.startswith("\\\\?\\"):
-        return Path(raw[len("\\\\?\\"):])
-    return path
-
-
-def _is_within_project(project_root_resolved: Path, candidate: Path) -> bool:
-    """Return ``True`` when *candidate* stays within *project_root_resolved*.
-
-    Both paths are stripped of any Windows extended-length prefix first so that
-    a target produced by ``os.readlink`` (which may be ``\\\\?\\``-prefixed) is
-    still recognised as living inside an unprefixed project root.
-    """
-    try:
-        _strip_extended_length_prefix(candidate).relative_to(
-            _strip_extended_length_prefix(project_root_resolved)
-        )
-    except ValueError:
-        return False
-    return True
-
-
-def _safe_manifest_file(
-    project_root: Path,
-    project_root_resolved: Path,
-    rel: str,
-    *,
-    project_root_is_resolved: bool = True,
-) -> Path | None:
-    rel_path = Path(rel)
-    if rel_path.is_absolute() or ".." in rel_path.parts:
-        return None
-    candidate = project_root / rel_path
-    if not project_root_is_resolved:
-        walk = project_root
-        for part in rel_path.parts[:-1]:
-            walk = walk / part
-            try:
-                if walk.is_symlink():
-                    return None
-            except OSError:
-                return None
-    try:
-        candidate_parent = (
-            candidate.parent.resolve(strict=False)
-            if project_root_is_resolved
-            else candidate.parent.absolute()
-        )
-    except (OSError, RuntimeError):
-        return None
-    if not _is_within_project(project_root_resolved, candidate_parent):
-        return None
-    return candidate
-
-
-def _tracked_symlink_manifest_status(
-    path: Path,
-    project_root_resolved: Path,
-    *,
-    project_root_is_resolved: bool = True,
-) -> str:
-    """Classify a tracked symlink without following it outside the project.
-
-    Manifests store content hashes for regular files, so an existing in-project
-    symlink is still reported as modified. Escaping targets are invalid, and
-    dangling in-project targets are missing.
-    """
-    try:
-        target = path.readlink()
-    except OSError:
-        return "modified"
-
-    target_path = target if target.is_absolute() else path.parent / target
-    try:
-        contained_parent = (
-            target_path.parent.resolve(strict=False)
-            if project_root_is_resolved
-            else target_path.parent.absolute()
-        )
-    except (OSError, RuntimeError):
-        return "invalid"
-    if not _is_within_project(project_root_resolved, contained_parent):
-        return "invalid"
-
-    try:
-        target_path.lstat()
-    except FileNotFoundError:
-        return "missing"
-    except OSError:
-        return "modified"
-    return "modified"
-
-
-def _resolve_project_root_for_status(
-    project_root: Path,
-    findings: list[dict[str, str]],
-) -> tuple[Path, bool]:
-    try:
-        return project_root.resolve(), True
-    except (OSError, RuntimeError) as exc:
-        findings.append(
-            _finding(
-                "warning",
-                "project-root-unresolved",
-                f"Could not fully resolve project root: {exc}",
-                suggestion="Check project path permissions and symlinks before relying on manifest path checks.",
-            )
-        )
-        return project_root.absolute(), False
-
-
-def _is_safe_manifest_key(key: str) -> bool:
-    if key in {"", ".", ".."}:
-        return False
-    if key.endswith("."):
-        return False
-    if _MANIFEST_KEY_RE.fullmatch(key) is None:
-        return False
-    if key.split(".", 1)[0].upper() in _WINDOWS_RESERVED_MANIFEST_BASENAMES:
-        return False
-    if "/" in key or "\\" in key:
-        return False
-    key_path = Path(key)
-    return not key_path.is_absolute() and key_path.name == key
-
-
-def _manifest_file_status(
-    manifest: IntegrationManifest,
-    project_root_resolved: Path,
-    *,
-    project_root_is_resolved: bool = True,
-) -> tuple[list[str], list[str], list[str], list[str]]:
-    missing: list[str] = []
-    modified: list[str] = []
-    invalid: list[str] = []
-    valid: list[str] = []
-
-    for rel, expected_hash in manifest.files.items():
-        path = _safe_manifest_file(
-            manifest.project_root,
-            project_root_resolved,
-            rel,
-            project_root_is_resolved=project_root_is_resolved,
-        )
-        if path is None:
-            invalid.append(rel)
-            continue
-        try:
-            path_stat = path.lstat()
-        except FileNotFoundError:
-            valid.append(rel)
-            missing.append(rel)
-            continue
-        except OSError:
-            valid.append(rel)
-            modified.append(rel)
-            continue
-        is_symlink = stat.S_ISLNK(path_stat.st_mode)
-        if not is_symlink:
-            try:
-                is_symlink = path.is_symlink()
-            except OSError:
-                is_symlink = False
-        if is_symlink:
-            symlink_status = _tracked_symlink_manifest_status(
-                path,
-                project_root_resolved,
-                project_root_is_resolved=project_root_is_resolved,
-            )
-            if symlink_status == "invalid":
-                invalid.append(rel)
-                continue
-            valid.append(rel)
-            if symlink_status == "missing":
-                missing.append(rel)
-                continue
-            modified.append(rel)
-            continue
-        valid.append(rel)
-        if not stat.S_ISREG(path_stat.st_mode):
-            modified.append(rel)
-            continue
-        try:
-            if _sha256_file(path) != expected_hash:
-                modified.append(rel)
-        except OSError:
-            modified.append(rel)
-
-    return missing, modified, invalid, valid
-
-
-def _default_not_installed_from_raw_state(raw_state: dict[str, Any]) -> str | None:
-    if not isinstance(raw_state.get("installed_integrations"), list):
-        return None
-
-    raw_default = default_integration_key(raw_state)
-    raw_installed = installed_integration_keys(raw_state)
-    if raw_default and raw_default not in raw_installed:
-        return raw_default
-    return None
-
-
-def _manifest_summary(
-    manifest_path: Path,
-    project_root: Path,
-    *,
-    readable: bool,
-    tracked_files: int = 0,
-    missing_files: list[str] | None = None,
-    modified_files: list[str] | None = None,
-    invalid_files: list[str] | None = None,
-) -> dict[str, Any]:
-    return {
-        "manifest": manifest_path.relative_to(project_root).as_posix(),
-        "readable": readable,
-        "tracked_files": tracked_files,
-        "missing_files": missing_files or [],
-        "modified_files": modified_files or [],
-        "invalid_files": invalid_files or [],
-    }
-
-
-def _manifest_owner(key: str) -> str:
-    if key == _SHARED_MANIFEST_KEY:
-        return "shared Spec Kit infrastructure"
-    return f"integration '{key}'"
-
-
-def _manifest_suggestion(key: str, default_key: str | None) -> str:
-    if key == _SHARED_MANIFEST_KEY:
-        if default_key and default_key in INTEGRATION_REGISTRY:
-            return f"Run `specify integration upgrade {default_key}` to regenerate shared managed files."
-        return (
-            "Run `specify init --here --force --integration <key>` to regenerate "
-            "shared managed files."
-        )
-    if key not in INTEGRATION_REGISTRY:
-        return (
-            "Upgrade Spec Kit, reinstall with a supported CLI version, "
-            f"or remove the stale integration entry from {INTEGRATION_JSON}."
-        )
-    return f"Run `specify integration upgrade {key}` or reinstall the integration."
-
-
-def build_integration_status_report(project_root: Path) -> dict[str, Any]:
-    """Return a machine-readable integration status report for *project_root*."""
-    findings: list[dict[str, str]] = []
-    project_root_resolved, project_root_is_resolved = _resolve_project_root_for_status(
-        project_root,
-        findings,
-    )
-    state, raw_state, error = try_read_integration_json_with_raw(project_root)
-    if error is not None:
-        findings.append(
-            _finding(
-                "error",
-                "integration-state-unreadable",
-                _integration_state_error_message(error),
-                path=INTEGRATION_JSON,
-                suggestion=f"Fix or delete {INTEGRATION_JSON}, then retry.",
-            )
-        )
-        return _build_report(None, [], findings, {}, None)
-
-    if state is None:
-        findings.append(
-            _finding(
-                "error",
-                "integration-state-missing",
-                f"{INTEGRATION_JSON} is missing.",
-                path=INTEGRATION_JSON,
-                suggestion="Run `specify integration install <key>` to install an integration.",
-            )
-        )
-        return _build_report(None, [], findings, {}, None)
-
-    assert raw_state is not None
-    raw_default_key = default_integration_key(raw_state)
-    raw_installed_value = raw_state.get("installed_integrations")
-    raw_installed_is_list = isinstance(raw_installed_value, list)
-    raw_installed_keys = (
-        installed_integration_keys(raw_state)
-        if raw_installed_is_list
-        else []
-    )
-    default_key = raw_default_key or default_integration_key(state)
-    installed_keys = installed_integration_keys(state)
-    raw_default_not_installed = _default_not_installed_from_raw_state(raw_state)
-    if raw_installed_is_list and raw_default_not_installed and raw_installed_keys:
-        check_installed_keys = raw_installed_keys
-    else:
-        check_installed_keys = installed_keys
-    recorded_installed_keys = raw_installed_keys
-    if "installed_integrations" in raw_state and not raw_installed_is_list:
-        findings.append(
-            _finding(
-                "warning",
-                "installed-integrations-invalid",
-                (
-                    "installed_integrations must be a list, "
-                    f"got {type(raw_installed_value).__name__}."
-                ),
-                path=INTEGRATION_JSON,
-                suggestion=f"Fix {INTEGRATION_JSON}, then retry.",
-            )
-        )
-    if not installed_keys:
-        findings.append(
-            _finding(
-                "warning",
-                "no-installed-integrations",
-                "No installed integrations are recorded.",
-                suggestion="Run `specify integration install <key>` to install one.",
-            )
-        )
-
-    if raw_installed_keys and raw_default_key is None:
-        default_key = None
-        findings.append(
-            _finding(
-                "error",
-                "default-integration-missing",
-                "No default integration is recorded.",
-                suggestion="Run `specify integration use <key>` after choosing an installed integration.",
-            )
-        )
-
-    if raw_default_not_installed:
-        findings.append(
-            _finding(
-                "error",
-                "default-integration-not-installed",
-                (
-                    f"Default integration '{raw_default_not_installed}' is not listed "
-                    "in installed_integrations."
-                ),
-                integration=raw_default_not_installed,
-                suggestion="Run `specify integration use <key>` for an installed integration, or reinstall the default integration.",
-            )
-        )
-
-    known_installed = [key for key in check_installed_keys if key in INTEGRATION_REGISTRY]
-    unknown_installed: list[str] = []
-    for key in check_installed_keys:
-        if key not in INTEGRATION_REGISTRY:
-            unknown_installed.append(key)
-            findings.append(
-                _finding(
-                    "error",
-                    "unknown-integration",
-                    f"Integration '{key}' is installed but is not known to this CLI.",
-                    integration=key,
-                    suggestion=(
-                        "Upgrade Spec Kit, reinstall with a supported CLI version, "
-                        f"or remove the stale integration entry from {INTEGRATION_JSON}."
-                    ),
-                )
-            )
-
-    unsafe = [
-        key for key in known_installed
-        if not getattr(INTEGRATION_REGISTRY[key], "multi_install_safe", False)
-    ]
-    if len(check_installed_keys) > 1:
-        unsafe.extend(unknown_installed)
-
-    if len(check_installed_keys) > 1 and unsafe:
-        findings.append(
-            _finding(
-                "error",
-                "unsafe-multi-install",
-                (
-                    "Installed integrations are not all declared multi-install safe: "
-                    + ", ".join(sorted(unsafe))
-                ),
-                suggestion=(
-                    "Use `specify integration use <key>` to change defaults, "
-                    "or `specify integration switch <key>` only when replacing integrations."
-                ),
-            )
-        )
-
-    manifest_files_by_path: dict[str, list[str]] = {}
-    manifest_summaries: dict[str, dict[str, Any]] = {}
-    attempted_manifest_keys: list[str] = []
-    manifest_keys = list(check_installed_keys)
-    if _SHARED_MANIFEST_KEY not in manifest_keys:
-        manifest_keys.append(_SHARED_MANIFEST_KEY)
-
-    for key in manifest_keys:
-        owner = _manifest_owner(key)
-        if not _is_safe_manifest_key(key):
-            findings.append(
-                _finding(
-                    "error",
-                    "integration-key-invalid",
-                    f"Integration key {key!r} cannot be used as a manifest filename.",
-                    integration=key,
-                    path=INTEGRATION_JSON,
-                    suggestion=f"Fix {INTEGRATION_JSON}, then reinstall the integration.",
-                )
-            )
-            continue
-
-        attempted_manifest_keys.append(key)
-        manifest_path = project_root / ".specify" / "integrations" / f"{key}.manifest.json"
-        try:
-            manifest = IntegrationManifest.load(
-                key,
-                project_root_resolved,
-                resolve_project_root=False,
-            )
-        except FileNotFoundError:
-            findings.append(
-                _finding(
-                    "error",
-                    "manifest-missing",
-                    f"Manifest for {owner} is missing.",
-                    integration=key,
-                    path=manifest_path.relative_to(project_root).as_posix(),
-                    suggestion=_manifest_suggestion(key, default_key),
-                )
-            )
-            manifest_summaries[key] = _manifest_summary(
-                manifest_path,
-                project_root,
-                readable=False,
-            )
-            continue
-        except _MANIFEST_READ_ERRORS as exc:
-            manifest_summaries[key] = _manifest_summary(
-                manifest_path,
-                project_root,
-                readable=False,
-            )
-            findings.append(
-                _finding(
-                    "error",
-                    "manifest-unreadable",
-                    f"Manifest for {owner} is unreadable: {exc}",
-                    integration=key,
-                    path=manifest_path.relative_to(project_root).as_posix(),
-                    suggestion=_manifest_suggestion(key, default_key),
-                )
-            )
-            continue
-
-        missing, modified, invalid, valid_files = _manifest_file_status(
-            manifest,
-            project_root_resolved,
-            project_root_is_resolved=project_root_is_resolved,
-        )
-        manifest_summaries[key] = _manifest_summary(
-            manifest_path,
-            project_root,
-            readable=True,
-            tracked_files=len(manifest.files),
-            missing_files=missing,
-            modified_files=modified,
-            invalid_files=invalid,
-        )
-
-        for rel in valid_files:
-            manifest_files_by_path.setdefault(rel, []).append(key)
-        if invalid:
-            findings.append(
-                _finding(
-                    "error",
-                    "manifest-paths-invalid",
-                    f"{len(invalid)} unsafe manifest path(s) are recorded for {owner}.",
-                    integration=key,
-                    path=manifest_path.relative_to(project_root).as_posix(),
-                    suggestion=_manifest_suggestion(key, default_key),
-                )
-            )
-        if missing:
-            findings.append(
-                _finding(
-                    "error",
-                    "managed-files-missing",
-                    f"{len(missing)} managed file(s) are missing for {owner}.",
-                    integration=key,
-                    suggestion=_manifest_suggestion(key, default_key),
-                )
-            )
-        if modified:
-            findings.append(
-                _finding(
-                    "warning",
-                    "managed-files-modified",
-                    f"{len(modified)} managed file(s) were modified for {owner}.",
-                    integration=key,
-                    suggestion="Review the changes before running `specify integration upgrade --force`.",
-                )
-            )
-
-    for rel, keys in sorted(manifest_files_by_path.items()):
-        if len(keys) > 1:
-            findings.append(
-                _finding(
-                    "warning",
-                    "managed-file-collision",
-                    f"Managed file '{rel}' is tracked by multiple integrations: {', '.join(sorted(keys))}.",
-                    path=rel,
-                    suggestion="Review the manifests before uninstalling or upgrading these integrations.",
-                )
-            )
-
-    if not raw_installed_is_list or not raw_installed_keys:
-        multi_install_safe = None
-    else:
-        multi_install_safe = not (len(check_installed_keys) > 1 and unsafe)
-    return _build_report(
-        default_key,
-        installed_keys,
-        findings,
-        manifest_summaries,
-        multi_install_safe,
-        manifest_checked_keys=attempted_manifest_keys,
-        recorded_installed_keys=recorded_installed_keys,
-    )
-
-
-def _build_report(
-    default_key: str | None,
-    installed_keys: list[str],
-    findings: list[dict[str, str]],
-    manifests: dict[str, dict[str, Any]],
-    multi_install_safe: bool | None,
-    *,
-    manifest_checked_keys: list[str] | None = None,
-    recorded_installed_keys: list[str] | None = None,
-) -> dict[str, Any]:
-    missing_count = sum(len(item.get("missing_files", [])) for item in manifests.values())
-    modified_count = sum(len(item.get("modified_files", [])) for item in manifests.values())
-    invalid_count = sum(len(item.get("invalid_files", [])) for item in manifests.values())
-    unchecked_count = sum(1 for item in manifests.values() if not item.get("readable", True))
-    return {
-        "status": _status(findings),
-        "default_integration": default_key,
-        "installed_integrations": installed_keys,
-        "recorded_installed_integrations": (
-            installed_keys if recorded_installed_keys is None else recorded_installed_keys
-        ),
-        "manifest_checked_integrations": (
-            installed_keys if manifest_checked_keys is None else manifest_checked_keys
-        ),
-        "multi_install_safe": multi_install_safe,
-        "shared_templates_target_alignment": default_key,
-        "missing_managed_files": missing_count,
-        "modified_managed_files": modified_count,
-        "invalid_manifest_paths": invalid_count,
-        "unchecked_manifests": unchecked_count,
-        "manifests": manifests,
-        "findings": findings,
-    }
--- a/src/specify_cli/integrations/_query_commands.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/integrations/_query_commands.py
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
-"""specify integration list/status/use/search/info + catalog list/add/remove command handlers."""
+"""specify integration list/use/search/info + catalog list/add/remove command handlers."""
 from __future__ import annotations

-import json
 import os
-from typing import Any, Optional
+from typing import Optional

 import typer
-from rich.markup import escape as _rich_escape
 from rich.table import Table

 from .._console import console
@@ -122,86 +120,6 @@ def integration_list(
        console.print("Install one with: [cyan]specify integration install <key>[/cyan]")


-def _print_integration_status_report(report: dict[str, Any]) -> None:
-    status = report["status"]
-    status_label = {
-        "ok": "[green]OK[/green]",
-        "warning": "[yellow]WARNING[/yellow]",
-        "error": "[red]ERROR[/red]",
-    }.get(str(status), str(status).upper())
-    installed = report.get("installed_integrations") or []
-    installed_display = ", ".join(_rich_escape(str(item)) for item in installed)
-
-    console.print(f"Integration status: {status_label}")
-    console.print(
-        f"Default integration: {_rich_escape(str(report.get('default_integration') or 'none'))}"
-    )
-    console.print(f"Installed integrations: {installed_display if installed else 'none'}")
-    multi_install_safe = report.get("multi_install_safe")
-    if multi_install_safe is None:
-        multi_install_safe_display = "unknown"
-    else:
-        multi_install_safe_display = "yes" if multi_install_safe else "no"
-    console.print(f"Multi-install safe: {multi_install_safe_display}")
-    console.print(
-        f"Shared templates target alignment: "
-        f"{_rich_escape(str(report.get('shared_templates_target_alignment') or 'none'))}"
-    )
-    console.print(f"Modified managed files: {report.get('modified_managed_files', 0)}")
-    console.print(f"Missing managed files: {report.get('missing_managed_files', 0)}")
-    console.print(f"Invalid manifest paths: {report.get('invalid_manifest_paths', 0)}")
-    console.print(f"Unchecked manifests: {report.get('unchecked_manifests', 0)}")
-
-    findings = report.get("findings") or []
-    if not findings:
-        return
-
-    console.print()
-    console.print("[bold]Findings:[/bold]")
-    for item in findings:
-        severity = item.get("severity", "")
-        severity_label = {
-            "error": "[red]error[/red]",
-            "warning": "[yellow]warning[/yellow]",
-        }.get(severity, severity)
-        prefix = f"- {severity_label} {_rich_escape(str(item.get('code', '')))}"
-        if item.get("integration"):
-            prefix += f" ({_rich_escape(str(item['integration']))})"
-        console.print(
-            f"{prefix}: {_rich_escape(str(item.get('message', '')))}",
-            soft_wrap=True,
-        )
-        if item.get("suggestion"):
-            console.print(
-                f"  Suggestion: {_rich_escape(str(item['suggestion']))}",
-                soft_wrap=True,
-            )
-
-
-@integration_app.command("status")
-def integration_status(
-    json_output: bool = typer.Option(
-        False,
-        "--json",
-        help="Emit machine-readable integration status.",
-    ),
-):
-    """Report the current project's integration status without changing files."""
-    from .. import _require_specify_project
-    from ..integration_status import build_integration_status_report
-
-    project_root = _require_specify_project()
-    report = build_integration_status_report(project_root)
-
-    if json_output:
-        typer.echo(json.dumps(report, indent=2))
-    else:
-        _print_integration_status_report(report)
-
-    if report["status"] == "error":
-        raise typer.Exit(1)
-
-
@integration_app.command("use")
 def integration_use(
    key: str = typer.Argument(help="Installed integration key to make the default"),
--- a/src/specify_cli/integrations/manifest.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/integrations/manifest.py
@@ -108,23 +108,11 @@ class IntegrationManifest:
        key:          Integration identifier (e.g. ``"copilot"``).
        project_root: Absolute path to the project directory.
        version:      CLI version string recorded in the manifest.
-        resolve_project_root: Resolve ``project_root`` before using it.
    """

-    def __init__(
-        self,
-        key: str,
-        project_root: Path,
-        version: str = "",
-        *,
-        resolve_project_root: bool = True,
-    ) -> None:
+    def __init__(self, key: str, project_root: Path, version: str = "") -> None:
        self.key = key
-        self.project_root = (
-            project_root.resolve()
-            if resolve_project_root
-            else project_root.absolute()
-        )
+        self.project_root = project_root.resolve()
        self.version = version
        self._files: dict[str, str] = {}  # rel_path → sha256 hex
        self._recovered_files: set[str] = set()
@@ -399,18 +387,12 @@ class IntegrationManifest:
        return path

    @classmethod
-    def load(
-        cls,
-        key: str,
-        project_root: Path,
-        *,
-        resolve_project_root: bool = True,
-    ) -> IntegrationManifest:
+    def load(cls, key: str, project_root: Path) -> IntegrationManifest:
        """Load an existing manifest from disk.

        Raises ``FileNotFoundError`` if the manifest does not exist.
        """
-        inst = cls(key, project_root, resolve_project_root=resolve_project_root)
+        inst = cls(key, project_root)
        path = inst.manifest_path
        try:
            data = json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
--- a/src/specify_cli/presets.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/presets.py
@@ -1892,48 +1892,6 @@ class PresetCatalog:
            download_url, self._open_url, timeout=timeout
        )

-    def _validate_catalog_payload(self, catalog_data: Any, url: str) -> None:
-        """Validate a parsed preset-catalog payload's shape.
-
-        Applied to both network-fetched and cache-loaded payloads so a
-        once-poisoned cache (older spec-kit version, manual edit, upstream
-        served a bad payload before the network-side guards were added)
-        cannot re-crash ``_get_merged_packs`` on subsequent calls.
-
-        Checking only key presence would let a payload like
-        ``{"presets": []}`` or ``{"presets": null}`` slip through here and
-        then crash with ``AttributeError: 'list' object has no attribute
-        'items'`` deep inside ``_get_merged_packs``. The sibling
-        integration catalog reader already guards both the root object and
-        the nested mapping (see ``integrations/catalog.py``); the preset
-        catalog must stay consistent so a malformed payload surfaces as
-        the user-facing ``Invalid preset catalog format`` error instead of
-        a raw Python traceback.
-
-        Args:
-            catalog_data: Parsed JSON payload from the catalog source.
-            url: Source URL — used in the error message so the user can
-                tell which catalog in a multi-catalog stack is malformed.
-
-        Raises:
-            PresetError: If the payload's shape is invalid.
-        """
-        if not isinstance(catalog_data, dict):
-            raise PresetError(
-                f"Invalid preset catalog format from {url}: "
-                "expected a JSON object"
-            )
-        if (
-            "schema_version" not in catalog_data
-            or "presets" not in catalog_data
-        ):
-            raise PresetError(f"Invalid preset catalog format from {url}")
-        if not isinstance(catalog_data.get("presets"), dict):
-            raise PresetError(
-                f"Invalid preset catalog format from {url}: "
-                "'presets' must be a JSON object"
-            )
-
    def _load_catalog_config(self, config_path: Path) -> Optional[List[PresetCatalogEntry]]:
        """Load catalog stack configuration from a YAML file.

@@ -2095,7 +2053,7 @@ class PresetCatalog:
        if not cache_file.exists() or not metadata_file.exists():
            return False
        try:
-            metadata = json.loads(metadata_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+            metadata = json.loads(metadata_file.read_text())
            cached_at = datetime.fromisoformat(metadata.get("cached_at", ""))
            if cached_at.tzinfo is None:
                cached_at = cached_at.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
@@ -2103,23 +2061,7 @@ class PresetCatalog:
                datetime.now(timezone.utc) - cached_at
            ).total_seconds()
            return age_seconds < self.CACHE_DURATION
-        except (
-            json.JSONDecodeError,
-            OSError,
-            UnicodeError,
-            ValueError,
-            KeyError,
-            TypeError,
-            AttributeError,
-        ):
-            # Cache validity is best-effort: invalid/missing fields, an
-            # unreadable metadata file (permissions / disk), a wrongly
-            # encoded one (written by a tool using the system locale
-            # codec), or a metadata payload that parses to a non-mapping
-            # like ``[]`` or ``"oops"`` (so ``metadata.get(...)`` raises
-            # ``AttributeError``) all degrade to "cache invalid" so the
-            # caller falls through to a network refetch instead of
-            # crashing.
+        except (json.JSONDecodeError, ValueError, KeyError, TypeError):
            return False

    def _fetch_single_catalog(self, entry: PresetCatalogEntry, force_refresh: bool = False) -> Dict[str, Any]:
@@ -2137,55 +2079,29 @@ class PresetCatalog:
        """
        cache_file, metadata_file = self._get_cache_paths(entry.url)

-        # Use cache if valid. A previously-cached payload must clear the
-        # same shape checks as a freshly-fetched one — otherwise a once-
-        # poisoned cache would re-crash on every invocation despite the
-        # cache being "valid" by age. If validation fails on the cached
-        # read, fall through to the network fetch path so the cache gets
-        # refreshed.
        if not force_refresh and self._is_url_cache_valid(entry.url):
            try:
-                cached_data = json.loads(cache_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-                self._validate_catalog_payload(cached_data, entry.url)
-                return cached_data
-            except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError, UnicodeError, PresetError):
-                # Cache is best-effort: a JSON-decode failure, an OS-level
-                # read failure (permissions / disk / handle limit), or a
-                # text-encoding failure on a cache file written by an
-                # older client all fall through to the network fetch path.
-                # Only the network failure is surfaced to the caller.
+                return json.loads(cache_file.read_text())
+            except json.JSONDecodeError:
                pass

        try:
            with self._open_url(entry.url, timeout=10) as response:
                catalog_data = json.loads(response.read())

-            self._validate_catalog_payload(catalog_data, entry.url)
+            if (
+                "schema_version" not in catalog_data
+                or "presets" not in catalog_data
+            ):
+                raise PresetError("Invalid preset catalog format")

-            # Both files are written explicitly as UTF-8 to match the
-            # ``read_text(encoding="utf-8")`` on the read side and the
-            # ``integrations/catalog.py`` precedent. Without this,
-            # platforms whose default encoding isn't UTF-8 would write
-            # locale-encoded bytes the read path can't decode, forcing an
-            # unnecessary refetch on every invocation. The write itself
-            # is best-effort like the read side: an unwritable cache dir
-            # (read-only checkout, permissions) must not be re-raised as
-            # a ``PresetError`` for a payload that was already fetched
-            # and validated.
-            try:
-                self.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-                cache_file.write_text(
-                    json.dumps(catalog_data, indent=2), encoding="utf-8"
-                )
-                metadata = {
-                    "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
-                    "catalog_url": entry.url,
-                }
-                metadata_file.write_text(
-                    json.dumps(metadata, indent=2), encoding="utf-8"
-                )
-            except OSError:
-                pass  # Cache is best-effort; proceed with fetched data
+            self.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+            cache_file.write_text(json.dumps(catalog_data, indent=2))
+            metadata = {
+                "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
+                "catalog_url": entry.url,
+            }
+            metadata_file.write_text(json.dumps(metadata, indent=2))

            return catalog_data

@@ -2211,17 +2127,6 @@ class PresetCatalog:
            try:
                data = self._fetch_single_catalog(entry, force_refresh)
                for pack_id, pack_data in data.get("presets", {}).items():
-                    # Per-entry guard: ``_fetch_single_catalog`` already
-                    # validates that ``data["presets"]`` is a mapping, but it
-                    # does not (and should not) validate every entry shape
-                    # there — one malformed entry shouldn't poison an
-                    # otherwise valid catalog. Skip non-mapping entries here
-                    # so a payload like ``{"presets": {"foo": [], "bar":
-                    # {...}}}`` still merges the valid entries without
-                    # crashing on ``**pack_data``. Mirrors
-                    # ``integrations/catalog.py:245``.
-                    if not isinstance(pack_data, dict):
-                        continue
                    pack_data_with_catalog = {**pack_data, "_catalog_name": entry.name, "_install_allowed": entry.install_allowed}
                    merged[pack_id] = pack_data_with_catalog
            except PresetError:
@@ -2232,12 +2137,6 @@ class PresetCatalog:
    def is_cache_valid(self) -> bool:
        """Check if cached catalog is still valid.

-        Returns ``False`` for any read/decoding failure on the metadata
-        file (missing fields, malformed JSON, permissions / disk errors,
-        wrong text encoding) so callers fall through to a network refetch
-        instead of crashing. Treating cache validity as best-effort
-        matches the contract used by ``_is_url_cache_valid`` above.
-
        Returns:
            True if cache exists and is within cache duration
        """
@@ -2245,9 +2144,7 @@ class PresetCatalog:
            return False

        try:
-            metadata = json.loads(
-                self.cache_metadata_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
-            )
+            metadata = json.loads(self.cache_metadata_file.read_text())
            cached_at = datetime.fromisoformat(metadata.get("cached_at", ""))
            if cached_at.tzinfo is None:
                cached_at = cached_at.replace(tzinfo=timezone.utc)
@@ -2255,20 +2152,7 @@ class PresetCatalog:
                datetime.now(timezone.utc) - cached_at
            ).total_seconds()
            return age_seconds < self.CACHE_DURATION
-        except (
-            json.JSONDecodeError,
-            OSError,
-            UnicodeError,
-            ValueError,
-            KeyError,
-            TypeError,
-            AttributeError,
-        ):
-            # ``AttributeError`` covers the case where the metadata file
-            # parses to a non-mapping (``[]``, ``"oops"``, ``42``) so
-            # ``metadata.get(...)`` would otherwise crash. All decode /
-            # shape failures degrade to "cache invalid" so the caller
-            # falls through to a network refetch.
+        except (json.JSONDecodeError, ValueError, KeyError, TypeError):
            return False

    def fetch_catalog(self, force_refresh: bool = False) -> Dict[str, Any]:
@@ -2285,61 +2169,35 @@ class PresetCatalog:
        """
        catalog_url = self.get_catalog_url()

-        # Match the ``_fetch_single_catalog`` cache contract: a poisoned
-        # or unreadable cache silently falls through to a network refetch
-        # rather than crashing the caller. ``_validate_catalog_payload``
-        # is reused here so a cache written by an older client
-        # (pre-validation) is rejected and refreshed instead of returning
-        # the stale malformed payload.
        if not force_refresh and self.is_cache_valid():
            try:
-                metadata = json.loads(
-                    self.cache_metadata_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
-                )
+                metadata = json.loads(self.cache_metadata_file.read_text())
                if metadata.get("catalog_url") == catalog_url:
-                    cached_data = json.loads(
-                        self.cache_file.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
-                    )
-                    self._validate_catalog_payload(cached_data, catalog_url)
-                    return cached_data
-            except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError, UnicodeError, PresetError):
-                # Cache is corrupt, unreadable, or fails the shape check;
-                # fall through to network fetch.
+                    return json.loads(self.cache_file.read_text())
+            except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
+                # Cache is corrupt or unreadable; fall through to network fetch
                pass

        try:
            with self._open_url(catalog_url, timeout=10) as response:
                catalog_data = json.loads(response.read())

-            # Validate catalog structure. Reuses the same helper as
-            # ``_fetch_single_catalog`` so all three branches (root type,
-            # missing keys, nested-mapping type) stay consistent.
-            self._validate_catalog_payload(catalog_data, catalog_url)
+            if (
+                "schema_version" not in catalog_data
+                or "presets" not in catalog_data
+            ):
+                raise PresetError("Invalid preset catalog format")

-            # Save to cache. Explicit UTF-8 on both writes mirrors the
-            # ``read_text(encoding="utf-8")`` on the read side and the
-            # ``integrations/catalog.py`` precedent — otherwise platforms
-            # whose default encoding isn't UTF-8 would write
-            # locale-encoded bytes the read path can't decode, forcing an
-            # unnecessary refetch on every invocation. Like the read
-            # side, the write is best-effort: an unwritable cache dir
-            # must not be re-raised as a ``PresetError`` for a payload
-            # that was already fetched and validated.
-            try:
-                self.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-                self.cache_file.write_text(
-                    json.dumps(catalog_data, indent=2), encoding="utf-8"
-                )
+            self.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+            self.cache_file.write_text(json.dumps(catalog_data, indent=2))

-                metadata = {
-                    "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
-                    "catalog_url": catalog_url,
-                }
-                self.cache_metadata_file.write_text(
-                    json.dumps(metadata, indent=2), encoding="utf-8"
-                )
-            except OSError:
-                pass  # Cache is best-effort; proceed with fetched data
+            metadata = {
+                "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
+                "catalog_url": catalog_url,
+            }
+            self.cache_metadata_file.write_text(
+                json.dumps(metadata, indent=2)
+            )

            return catalog_data

--- a/templates/commands/specify.md
+++ b/templates/commands/specify.md
@@ -83,12 +83,11 @@ Given that feature description, do this:
   **Resolution order for `SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY`**:
   1. If the user explicitly provided `SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY` (e.g., via environment variable, argument, or configuration), use it as-is
   2. Otherwise, auto-generate it under `specs/`:
-      - Check `.specify/init-options.json` for `feature_numbering` (preferred) or `branch_numbering` (deprecated, migration only — will be removed in a future release)
+      - Check `.specify/init-options.json` for `branch_numbering`
      - If `"timestamp"`: prefix is `YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS` (current timestamp)
      - If `"sequential"` or absent: prefix is `NNN` (next available 3-digit number after scanning existing directories in `specs/`)
      - Construct the directory name: `<prefix>-<short-name>` (e.g., `003-user-auth` or `20260319-143022-user-auth`)
      - Set `SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY` to `specs/<directory-name>`
-      - If `branch_numbering` was used (and `feature_numbering` was absent), emit a one-line warning: "⚠️ `branch_numbering` in init-options.json is deprecated. Rename to `feature_numbering`."

   **Create the directory and spec file**:
   - `mkdir -p SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY`
--- a/tests/extensions/git/test_git_extension.py
+++ b/tests/extensions/git/test_git_extension.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ Tests for the bundled git extension (extensions/git/).

 Validates:
 - extension.yml manifest
- Bash scripts (create-new-feature-branch.sh, initialize-repo.sh, auto-commit.sh, git-common.sh)
+- Bash scripts (create-new-feature.sh, initialize-repo.sh, auto-commit.sh, git-common.sh)
 - PowerShell scripts (where pwsh is available)
 - Config reading from git-config.yml
 - Extension install via ExtensionManager
@@ -193,11 +193,11 @@ class TestGitExtensionInstall:
        manager.install_from_directory(EXT_DIR, "0.5.0", register_commands=False)

        ext_installed = tmp_path / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git"
-        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "bash" / "create-new-feature-branch.sh").is_file()
+        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "bash" / "create-new-feature.sh").is_file()
        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "bash" / "initialize-repo.sh").is_file()
        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "bash" / "auto-commit.sh").is_file()
        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "bash" / "git-common.sh").is_file()
-        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "powershell" / "create-new-feature-branch.ps1").is_file()
+        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "powershell" / "create-new-feature.ps1").is_file()
        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "powershell" / "initialize-repo.ps1").is_file()
        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "powershell" / "auto-commit.ps1").is_file()
        assert (ext_installed / "scripts" / "powershell" / "git-common.ps1").is_file()
@@ -270,16 +270,16 @@ class TestInitializeRepoPowerShell:
        assert result.returncode == 0


-# ── create-new-feature-branch.sh Tests ──────────────────────────────────────────────
+# ── create-new-feature.sh Tests ──────────────────────────────────────────────


@requires_bash
 class TestCreateFeatureBash:
    def test_creates_branch_sequential(self, tmp_path: Path):
-        """Extension create-new-feature-branch.sh creates sequential branch."""
+        """Extension create-new-feature.sh creates sequential branch."""
        project = _setup_project(tmp_path)
        result = _run_bash(
-            "create-new-feature-branch.sh", project,
+            "create-new-feature.sh", project,
            "--json", "--short-name", "user-auth", "Add user authentication",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
@@ -288,10 +288,10 @@ class TestCreateFeatureBash:
        assert data["FEATURE_NUM"] == "001"

    def test_creates_branch_timestamp(self, tmp_path: Path):
-        """Extension create-new-feature-branch.sh creates timestamp branch."""
+        """Extension create-new-feature.sh creates timestamp branch."""
        project = _setup_project(tmp_path)
        result = _run_bash(
-            "create-new-feature-branch.sh", project,
+            "create-new-feature.sh", project,
            "--json", "--timestamp", "--short-name", "feat", "Feature",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@ class TestCreateFeatureBash:
        (project / "specs" / "002-second").mkdir(parents=True)

        result = _run_bash(
-            "create-new-feature-branch.sh", project,
+            "create-new-feature.sh", project,
            "--json", "--short-name", "third", "Third feature",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
@@ -313,10 +313,10 @@ class TestCreateFeatureBash:
        assert data["FEATURE_NUM"] == "003"

    def test_no_git_graceful_degradation(self, tmp_path: Path):
-        """create-new-feature-branch.sh works without git (outputs branch name, skips branch creation)."""
+        """create-new-feature.sh works without git (outputs branch name, skips branch creation)."""
        project = _setup_project(tmp_path, git=False)
        result = _run_bash(
-            "create-new-feature-branch.sh", project,
+            "create-new-feature.sh", project,
            "--json", "--short-name", "no-git", "No git feature",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ class TestCreateFeatureBash:
        """--dry-run computes branch name without creating anything."""
        project = _setup_project(tmp_path)
        result = _run_bash(
-            "create-new-feature-branch.sh", project,
+            "create-new-feature.sh", project,
            "--json", "--dry-run", "--short-name", "dry", "Dry run test",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
@@ -341,10 +341,10 @@ class TestCreateFeatureBash:
@pytest.mark.skipif(not HAS_PWSH, reason="pwsh not available")
 class TestCreateFeaturePowerShell:
    def test_creates_branch_sequential(self, tmp_path: Path):
-        """Extension create-new-feature-branch.ps1 creates sequential branch."""
+        """Extension create-new-feature.ps1 creates sequential branch."""
        project = _setup_project(tmp_path)
        result = _run_pwsh(
-            "create-new-feature-branch.ps1", project,
+            "create-new-feature.ps1", project,
            "-Json", "-ShortName", "user-auth", "Add user authentication",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
@@ -352,10 +352,10 @@ class TestCreateFeaturePowerShell:
        assert data["BRANCH_NAME"] == "001-user-auth"

    def test_creates_branch_timestamp(self, tmp_path: Path):
-        """Extension create-new-feature-branch.ps1 creates timestamp branch."""
+        """Extension create-new-feature.ps1 creates timestamp branch."""
        project = _setup_project(tmp_path)
        result = _run_pwsh(
-            "create-new-feature-branch.ps1", project,
+            "create-new-feature.ps1", project,
            "-Json", "-Timestamp", "-ShortName", "feat", "Feature",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
@@ -363,10 +363,10 @@ class TestCreateFeaturePowerShell:
        assert re.match(r"^\d{8}-\d{6}-feat$", data["BRANCH_NAME"])

    def test_no_git_graceful_degradation(self, tmp_path: Path):
-        """create-new-feature-branch.ps1 works without git."""
+        """create-new-feature.ps1 works without git."""
        project = _setup_project(tmp_path, git=False)
        result = _run_pwsh(
-            "create-new-feature-branch.ps1", project,
+            "create-new-feature.ps1", project,
            "-Json", "-ShortName", "no-git", "No git feature",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
--- a/tests/integrations/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_cli.py
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ class TestInitIntegrationFlag:
        try:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot", "--script", "sh",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot", "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ class TestInitIntegrationFlag:
        runner = CliRunner()
        project = tmp_path / "noninteractive"
        result = runner.invoke(app, [
-            "init", str(project), "--script", "sh", "--ignore-agent-tools",
+            "init", str(project), "--script", "sh", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
        ], catch_exceptions=False)

        assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ class TestInitIntegrationFlag:
            os.chdir(project)
            runner = CliRunner()
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot", "--script", "sh",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot", "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ class TestInitIntegrationFlag:
                "copilot",
                "--script",
                "sh",
+                "--no-git",
                "--preset",
                "lean",
            ],
@@ -191,7 +192,7 @@ class TestInitIntegrationFlag:
            os.chdir(project)
            runner = CliRunner()
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--force", "--integration", "claude", "--script", "sh", "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "init", "--here", "--force", "--integration", "claude", "--script", "sh", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -632,6 +633,7 @@ class TestInitIntegrationFlag:
                "init", "--here", "--force",
                "--integration", "copilot",
                "--script", "sh",
+                "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -661,6 +663,7 @@ class TestInitIntegrationFlag:
                "init", "--here",
                "--integration", "copilot",
                "--script", "sh",
+                "--no-git",
            ], input="y\n", catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -689,7 +692,7 @@ class TestForceExistingDirectory:
        runner = CliRunner()
        result = runner.invoke(app, [
            "init", str(target), "--integration", "copilot", "--force",
-            "--script", "sh",
+            "--no-git", "--script", "sh",
        ], catch_exceptions=False)

        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init --force failed: {result.output}"
@@ -712,22 +715,22 @@ class TestForceExistingDirectory:
        runner = CliRunner()
        result = runner.invoke(app, [
            "init", str(target), "--integration", "copilot",
-            "--script", "sh",
+            "--no-git", "--script", "sh",
        ], catch_exceptions=False)

        assert result.exit_code == 1
        assert "already exists" in _normalize_cli_output(result.output)


-class TestGitExtensionOptIn:
-    """Tests verifying that the git extension is opt-in (not auto-installed) during specify init."""
+class TestGitExtensionAutoInstall:
+    """Tests for auto-installation of the git extension during specify init."""

-    def test_git_extension_not_auto_installed(self, tmp_path):
-        """Git extension is NOT installed automatically during init."""
+    def test_git_extension_auto_installed(self, tmp_path):
+        """Without --no-git, the git extension is installed during init."""
        from typer.testing import CliRunner
        from specify_cli import app

-        project = tmp_path / "git-opt-in"
+        project = tmp_path / "git-auto"
        project.mkdir()
        old_cwd = os.getcwd()
        try:
@@ -742,16 +745,30 @@ class TestGitExtensionOptIn:

        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"

-        # Git extension directory should NOT be present after init
-        ext_dir = project / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git"
-        assert not ext_dir.exists(), "git extension should not be auto-installed"
+        # Check that the tracker didn't report a git error
+        assert "install failed" not in result.output, f"git extension install failed: {result.output}"

-    def test_no_git_flag_is_rejected(self, tmp_path):
-        """--no-git flag has been removed; passing it should fail."""
+        # Git extension files should be installed
+        ext_dir = project / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git"
+        assert ext_dir.exists(), "git extension directory not installed"
+        assert (ext_dir / "extension.yml").exists()
+        assert (ext_dir / "scripts" / "bash" / "create-new-feature.sh").exists()
+        assert (ext_dir / "scripts" / "bash" / "initialize-repo.sh").exists()
+
+        # Hooks should be registered
+        extensions_yml = project / ".specify" / "extensions.yml"
+        assert extensions_yml.exists(), "extensions.yml not created"
+        hooks_data = yaml.safe_load(extensions_yml.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+        assert "hooks" in hooks_data
+        assert "before_specify" in hooks_data["hooks"]
+        assert "before_constitution" in hooks_data["hooks"]
+
+    def test_no_git_skips_extension(self, tmp_path):
+        """With --no-git, the git extension is NOT installed."""
        from typer.testing import CliRunner
        from specify_cli import app

-        project = tmp_path / "no-git-rejected"
+        project = tmp_path / "no-git"
        project.mkdir()
        old_cwd = os.getcwd()
        try:
@@ -760,19 +777,75 @@ class TestGitExtensionOptIn:
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", "claude", "--script", "sh",
                "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
-            ])
+            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)

-        assert result.exit_code != 0, "--no-git should be rejected as an unknown option"
-        assert "No such option" in result.output or "no such option" in result.output.lower()
+        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"

-    def test_git_extension_commands_not_registered_by_default(self, tmp_path):
-        """Git extension commands are NOT registered with the agent during default init."""
+        # Git extension should NOT be installed
+        ext_dir = project / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git"
+        assert not ext_dir.exists(), "git extension should not be installed with --no-git"
+
+    def test_no_git_emits_deprecation_warning(self, tmp_path):
+        """Using --no-git emits a visible deprecation warning."""
        from typer.testing import CliRunner
        from specify_cli import app

-        project = tmp_path / "git-cmds-absent"
+        project = tmp_path / "no-git-warn"
+        project.mkdir()
+        old_cwd = os.getcwd()
+        try:
+            os.chdir(project)
+            runner = CliRunner()
+            result = runner.invoke(app, [
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", "claude", "--script", "sh",
+                "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
+            ], catch_exceptions=False)
+        finally:
+            os.chdir(old_cwd)
+
+        normalized_output = _normalize_cli_output(result.output)
+        assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
+        assert "--no-git" in normalized_output
+        assert "deprecated" in normalized_output
+        assert "0.10.0" in normalized_output
+        assert "specify extension" in normalized_output
+        assert "will be removed" in normalized_output
+        assert "git extension will no longer be enabled by default" in normalized_output
+
+    def test_default_git_auto_enable_emits_notice(self, tmp_path):
+        """Default git auto-enable emits notice about the v0.10.0 opt-in change."""
+        from typer.testing import CliRunner
+        from specify_cli import app
+
+        project = tmp_path / "git-default-notice"
+        project.mkdir()
+        old_cwd = os.getcwd()
+        try:
+            os.chdir(project)
+            runner = CliRunner()
+            result = runner.invoke(app, [
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", "claude", "--script", "sh",
+                "--ignore-agent-tools",
+            ], catch_exceptions=False)
+        finally:
+            os.chdir(old_cwd)
+
+        normalized_output = _normalize_cli_output(result.output)
+        assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
+        # Check for key message components (notice may have box-drawing chars)
+        assert "git extension is currently enabled by default" in normalized_output
+        assert "v0.10.0" in normalized_output
+        assert "explicit opt-in" in normalized_output
+        assert "specify extension add git" in normalized_output
+
+    def test_git_extension_commands_registered(self, tmp_path):
+        """Git extension commands are registered with the agent during init."""
+        from typer.testing import CliRunner
+        from specify_cli import app
+
+        project = tmp_path / "git-cmds"
        project.mkdir()
        old_cwd = os.getcwd()
        try:
@@ -787,11 +860,11 @@ class TestGitExtensionOptIn:

        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"

-        # Git extension skill commands should NOT be present
+        # Git extension commands should be registered with the agent
        claude_skills = project / ".claude" / "skills"
        assert claude_skills.exists(), "Claude skills directory was not created"
        git_skills = [f for f in claude_skills.iterdir() if f.name.startswith("speckit-git-")]
-        assert len(git_skills) == 0, "git extension commands should not be registered by default"
+        assert len(git_skills) > 0, "no git extension commands registered"


 class TestSharedInfraCommandRefs:
@@ -910,6 +983,7 @@ class TestSharedInfraCommandRefs:
                "init", str(project),
                "--integration", "claude",
                "--script", "sh",
+                "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
@@ -940,6 +1014,7 @@ class TestSharedInfraCommandRefs:
                "init", str(project),
                "--integration", "copilot",
                "--script", "sh",
+                "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
@@ -971,6 +1046,7 @@ class TestSharedInfraCommandRefs:
                "--integration", "copilot",
                "--integration-options", "--skills",
                "--script", "sh",
+                "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_agy.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_agy.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class TestAgyInitFlow:

        runner = CliRunner()
        target = tmp_path / "test-proj"
-        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(target), "--integration", "agy", "--script", "sh", "--ignore-agent-tools"])
+        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(target), "--integration", "agy", "--no-git", "--script", "sh", "--ignore-agent-tools"])

        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init --integration agy failed: {result.output}"
        assert (target / ".agents" / "skills" / "speckit-plan" / "SKILL.md").exists()
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ class TestAgyInitFlow:
        # Click >= 8.2 separates stdout and stderr natively
        runner = CliRunner()
        target = tmp_path / "test-proj2"
-        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(target), "--integration", "agy", "--script", "sh", "--ignore-agent-tools"])
+        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(target), "--integration", "agy", "--no-git", "--script", "sh", "--ignore-agent-tools"])

        assert result.exit_code == 0
        assert "Warning: The .agents/ layout requires Antigravity v1.20.5 or newer" in result.stderr
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_base_markdown.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_base_markdown.py
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ class MarkdownIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            runner = CliRunner()
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ class MarkdownIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            runner = CliRunner()
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ class MarkdownIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
-                "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -321,13 +321,13 @@ class MarkdownIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
-                "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(p.relative_to(project).as_posix()
-                        for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts)
+                        for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file())
        expected = self._expected_files("sh")
        assert actual == expected, (
            f"Missing: {sorted(set(expected) - set(actual))}\n"
@@ -346,13 +346,13 @@ class MarkdownIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "ps",
-                "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(p.relative_to(project).as_posix()
-                        for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts)
+                        for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file())
        expected = self._expected_files("ps")
        assert actual == expected, (
            f"Missing: {sorted(set(expected) - set(actual))}\n"
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_base_skills.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_base_skills.py
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@ class SkillsIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            runner = CliRunner()
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ class SkillsIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            runner = CliRunner()
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ class SkillsIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
-                "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -471,15 +471,15 @@ class SkillsIntegrationTests:
        try:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
-                "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY,
+                "--script", "sh", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(
            p.relative_to(project).as_posix()
-            for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts
+            for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file()
        )
        expected = self._expected_files("sh")
        assert actual == expected, (
@@ -498,15 +498,15 @@ class SkillsIntegrationTests:
        try:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "ps",
-                "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY,
+                "--script", "ps", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(
            p.relative_to(project).as_posix()
-            for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts
+            for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file()
        )
        expected = self._expected_files("ps")
        assert actual == expected, (
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_base_toml.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_base_toml.py
@@ -409,6 +409,7 @@ class TomlIntegrationTests:
                    self.KEY,
                    "--script",
                    "sh",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -439,6 +440,7 @@ class TomlIntegrationTests:
                    self.KEY,
                    "--script",
                    "sh",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -467,7 +469,7 @@ class TomlIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
-                "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -578,6 +580,7 @@ class TomlIntegrationTests:
                    self.KEY,
                    "--script",
                    "sh",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -586,7 +589,7 @@ class TomlIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(
-            p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts
+            p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file()
        )
        expected = self._expected_files("sh")
        assert actual == expected, (
@@ -613,6 +616,7 @@ class TomlIntegrationTests:
                    self.KEY,
                    "--script",
                    "ps",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -621,7 +625,7 @@ class TomlIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(
-            p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts
+            p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file()
        )
        expected = self._expected_files("ps")
        assert actual == expected, (
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_base_yaml.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_base_yaml.py
@@ -288,6 +288,7 @@ class YamlIntegrationTests:
                    self.KEY,
                    "--script",
                    "sh",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -318,6 +319,7 @@ class YamlIntegrationTests:
                    self.KEY,
                    "--script",
                    "sh",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -346,7 +348,7 @@ class YamlIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY, "--script", "sh",
-                "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -457,6 +459,7 @@ class YamlIntegrationTests:
                    self.KEY,
                    "--script",
                    "sh",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -465,7 +468,7 @@ class YamlIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(
-            p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts
+            p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file()
        )
        expected = self._expected_files("sh")
        assert actual == expected, (
@@ -492,6 +495,7 @@ class YamlIntegrationTests:
                    self.KEY,
                    "--script",
                    "ps",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -500,7 +504,7 @@ class YamlIntegrationTests:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(
-            p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts
+            p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file()
        )
        expected = self._expected_files("ps")
        assert actual == expected, (
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_catalog.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_catalog.py
@@ -458,6 +458,7 @@ class TestIntegrationListCatalog:
                "init", "--here",
                "--integration", "copilot",
                "--script", "sh",
+                "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
@@ -555,6 +556,7 @@ class TestIntegrationUpgrade:
                "init", "--here",
                "--integration", integration,
                "--script", "sh",
+                "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_claude.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_claude.py
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ class TestClaudeIntegration:
                    "claude",
                    "--script",
                    "sh",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -174,6 +175,7 @@ class TestClaudeIntegration:
                    "claude",
                    "--script",
                    "sh",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -206,6 +208,7 @@ class TestClaudeIntegration:
                        "--here",
                        "--script",
                        "sh",
+                        "--no-git",
                        "--ignore-agent-tools",
                    ],
                    catch_exceptions=False,
@@ -240,7 +243,7 @@ class TestClaudeIntegration:

        result = runner.invoke(
            app,
-            ["init", str(target), "--integration", "claude", "--script", "sh", "--ignore-agent-tools"],
+            ["init", str(target), "--integration", "claude", "--script", "sh", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools"],
        )

        assert result.exit_code == 0
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_cline.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_cline.py
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ class TestClineIntegration(MarkdownIntegrationTests):
                    self.KEY,
                    "--script",
                    "sh",
+                    "--no-git",
                    "--ignore-agent-tools",
                ],
                catch_exceptions=False,
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_codex.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_codex.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class TestCodexInitFlow:

        runner = CliRunner()
        target = tmp_path / "test-proj"
-        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(target), "--integration", "codex", "--ignore-agent-tools", "--script", "sh"])
+        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(target), "--integration", "codex", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools", "--script", "sh"])

        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init --integration codex failed: {result.output}"
        assert (target / ".agents" / "skills" / "speckit-plan" / "SKILL.md").exists()
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_copilot.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_copilot.py
@@ -186,12 +186,12 @@ class TestCopilotIntegration:
        try:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot", "--script", "sh",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot", "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        actual = sorted(p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts)
+        actual = sorted(p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file())
        expected = sorted([
            ".github/agents/speckit.agent-context.update.agent.md",
            ".github/agents/speckit.analyze.agent.md",
@@ -256,12 +256,12 @@ class TestCopilotIntegration:
        try:
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot", "--script", "ps",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot", "--script", "ps", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        actual = sorted(p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts)
+        actual = sorted(p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file())
        expected = sorted([
            ".github/agents/speckit.agent-context.update.agent.md",
            ".github/agents/speckit.analyze.agent.md",
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@ class TestCopilotSkillsMode:
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot",
                "--integration-options", "--skills",
-                "--script", "sh",
+                "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -648,12 +648,12 @@ class TestCopilotSkillsMode:
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot",
                "--integration-options", "--skills",
-                "--script", "sh",
+                "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
-        actual = sorted(p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts)
+        actual = sorted(p.relative_to(project).as_posix() for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file())
        expected = sorted([
            # Skill files (core + extension-installed agent-context command)
            *[f".github/skills/speckit-{cmd}/SKILL.md" for cmd in self._SKILL_COMMANDS],
@@ -775,6 +775,7 @@ class TestCopilotSkillsMode:
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", "copilot",
                "--integration-options", "--skills",
+                "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_cursor_agent.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_cursor_agent.py
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class TestCursorAgentInitFlow:

        runner = CliRunner()
        target = tmp_path / "test-proj"
-        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(target), "--integration", "cursor-agent", "--ignore-agent-tools", "--script", "sh"])
+        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(target), "--integration", "cursor-agent", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools", "--script", "sh"])

        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init --integration cursor-agent failed: {result.output}"
        assert (target / ".cursor" / "skills" / "speckit-plan" / "SKILL.md").exists()
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_devin.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_devin.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ class TestDevinInitFlow:
        target = tmp_path / "test-proj"
        result = runner.invoke(
            app,
-            ["init", str(target), "--integration", "devin", "--ignore-agent-tools", "--script", "sh"],
+            ["init", str(target), "--integration", "devin", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools", "--script", "sh"],
        )

        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init --integration devin failed: {result.output}"
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_generic.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_generic.py
@@ -251,6 +251,7 @@ class TestGenericIntegration:
        runner = CliRunner()
        result = runner.invoke(app, [
            "init", str(tmp_path / "test-generic"), "--integration", "generic",
+            "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
        ])
        # Generic requires --commands-dir via --integration-options
        assert result.exit_code != 0
@@ -269,7 +270,7 @@ class TestGenericIntegration:
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", "generic",
                "--integration-options=--commands-dir .myagent/commands",
-                "--script", "sh",
+                "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -291,14 +292,14 @@ class TestGenericIntegration:
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", "generic",
                "--integration-options=--commands-dir .myagent/commands",
-                "--script", "sh",
+                "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(
            p.relative_to(project).as_posix()
-            for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts
+            for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file()
        )
        expected = sorted([
            "AGENTS.md",
@@ -355,14 +356,14 @@ class TestGenericIntegration:
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", "generic",
                "--integration-options=--commands-dir .myagent/commands",
-                "--script", "ps",
+                "--script", "ps", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
        assert result.exit_code == 0, f"init failed: {result.output}"
        actual = sorted(
            p.relative_to(project).as_posix()
-            for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file() and ".git" not in p.parts
+            for p in project.rglob("*") if p.is_file()
        )
        expected = sorted([
            "AGENTS.md",
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_hermes.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_hermes.py
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ class TestHermesIntegration(SkillsIntegrationTests):
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY,
-                "--script", "sh", "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "--script", "sh", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ class TestHermesIntegration(SkillsIntegrationTests):
            os.chdir(project)
            result = CliRunner().invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", self.KEY,
-                "--script", "ps", "--ignore-agent-tools",
+                "--script", "ps", "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
@@ -342,6 +342,7 @@ class TestHermesInitFlow:
        result = runner.invoke(app, [
            "init", str(target),
            "--integration", "hermes",
+            "--no-git",
            "--ignore-agent-tools",
            "--script", "sh",
        ])
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_kimi.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_kimi.py
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ class TestKimiNextSteps:
            os.chdir(project)
            runner = CliRunner()
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
-                "init", "--here", "--integration", "kimi",
+                "init", "--here", "--integration", "kimi", "--no-git",
                "--ignore-agent-tools", "--script", "sh",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_kiro_cli.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_kiro_cli.py
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ class TestKiroIntegration:
            runner = CliRunner()
            result = runner.invoke(app, [
                "init", "--here", "--integration", "kiro-cli",
-                "--ignore-agent-tools", "--script", "sh",
+                "--ignore-agent-tools", "--script", "sh", "--no-git",
            ], catch_exceptions=False)
        finally:
            os.chdir(old_cwd)
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_rovodev.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_rovodev.py
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ def _run_init(project, *flags: str) -> Result:
        os.chdir(project)
        return CliRunner().invoke(
            app,
-            ["init", "--here", *flags, "--script", "sh", "--ignore-agent-tools"],
+            ["init", "--here", *flags, "--script", "sh",
+             "--no-git", "--ignore-agent-tools"],
            catch_exceptions=False,
        )
    finally:
--- a/tests/integrations/test_integration_subcommand.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_integration_subcommand.py
@@ -2,10 +2,7 @@

 import json
 import os
-import shutil
-from pathlib import Path

-import pytest
 from typer.testing import CliRunner

 from specify_cli import app
@@ -26,6 +23,7 @@ def _init_project(tmp_path, integration="copilot"):
            "init", "--here",
            "--integration", integration,
            "--script", "sh",
+            "--no-git",
            "--ignore-agent-tools",
        ], catch_exceptions=False)
    finally:
@@ -50,32 +48,6 @@ def _write_invalid_manifest(project, key):
    return manifest


-def _copy_project_template(tmp_path, template):
-    project = tmp_path / "proj"
-    shutil.copytree(template, project)
-    return project
-
-
-@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
-def status_copilot_template(tmp_path_factory):
-    return _init_project(tmp_path_factory.mktemp("status-copilot"), "copilot")
-
-
-@pytest.fixture(scope="module")
-def status_claude_template(tmp_path_factory):
-    return _init_project(tmp_path_factory.mktemp("status-claude"), "claude")
-
-
-@pytest.fixture
-def copilot_project(tmp_path, status_copilot_template):
-    return _copy_project_template(tmp_path, status_copilot_template)
-
-
-@pytest.fixture
-def claude_project(tmp_path, status_claude_template):
-    return _copy_project_template(tmp_path, status_claude_template)
-
-
 def _integration_list_row_cells(output: str, key: str) -> list[str]:
    plain = strip_ansi(output)
    row = next(line for line in plain.splitlines() if line.startswith(f"│ {key}"))
@@ -155,823 +127,6 @@ class TestIntegrationList:
        assert "only supports schema 1" in normalized


-# ── status ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
-
-
-class TestIntegrationStatus:
-    def test_status_requires_speckit_project(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-        monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
-        result = runner.invoke(app, ["integration", "status"])
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert "Not a spec-kit project" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_reports_healthy_project(self, copilot_project):
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        assert "Integration status: OK" in result.output
-        assert "Default integration: copilot" in result.output
-        assert "Installed integrations: copilot" in result.output
-        assert "Shared templates target alignment: copilot" in result.output
-        assert "Modified managed files: 0" in result.output
-        assert "Missing managed files: 0" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_json_reports_healthy_project(self, copilot_project):
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "ok"
-        assert payload["default_integration"] == "copilot"
-        assert payload["installed_integrations"] == ["copilot"]
-        assert payload["recorded_installed_integrations"] == ["copilot"]
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == ["copilot", "speckit"]
-        assert payload["multi_install_safe"] is True
-        assert payload["shared_templates_target_alignment"] == "copilot"
-        assert "shared_templates_aligned_to" not in payload
-        assert payload["findings"] == []
-
-    def test_status_reports_invalid_integration_json(self, copilot_project):
-        (copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json").write_text("{", encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert "integration-state-unreadable" in result.output
-        assert "invalid JSON" in result.output
-        assert "Detail:" in result.output
-        assert "Multi-install safe: unknown" in result.output
-        assert "Traceback" not in result.output
-
-    def test_status_json_reports_unknown_multi_install_safety_when_state_unreadable(
-        self,
-        copilot_project,
-    ):
-        (copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json").write_text("{", encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "error"
-        assert payload["multi_install_safe"] is None
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == []
-        assert payload["findings"][0]["code"] == "integration-state-unreadable"
-        assert "Detail:" in payload["findings"][0]["message"]
-
-    def test_status_reports_supported_schema_for_newer_integration_state(self, copilot_project):
-        state_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state["integration_state_schema"] = 99
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["findings"][0]["code"] == "integration-state-unreadable"
-        assert "schema 99" in payload["findings"][0]["message"]
-        assert "supported schema: 1" in payload["findings"][0]["message"]
-
-    def test_status_reports_missing_integration_json(self, copilot_project):
-        (copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json").unlink()
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert "integration-state-missing" in result.output
-        assert ".specify/integration.json is missing" in result.output
-        assert "Multi-install safe: unknown" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_json_reports_unknown_multi_install_safety_when_state_missing(
-        self,
-        copilot_project,
-    ):
-        (copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json").unlink()
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "error"
-        assert payload["multi_install_safe"] is None
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == []
-        assert payload["findings"][0]["code"] == "integration-state-missing"
-
-    def test_status_json_reports_no_installed_integrations_as_warning(self, copilot_project):
-        state_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state_path.write_text(
-            json.dumps({
-                "version": "test",
-                "integration_state_schema": 1,
-                "installed_integrations": [],
-            }),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "warning"
-        assert payload["installed_integrations"] == []
-        assert payload["multi_install_safe"] is None
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == ["speckit"]
-        assert payload["findings"][0]["code"] == "no-installed-integrations"
-        assert "speckit" in payload["manifests"]
-        assert payload["manifests"]["speckit"]["readable"] is True
-
-    def test_status_checks_shared_manifest_when_no_integrations_installed(self, copilot_project):
-        state_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state_path.write_text(
-            json.dumps({
-                "version": "test",
-                "integration_state_schema": 1,
-                "installed_integrations": [],
-            }),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-        (copilot_project / ".specify" / "integrations" / "speckit.manifest.json").unlink()
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "error"
-        assert payload["installed_integrations"] == []
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == ["speckit"]
-        assert payload["unchecked_manifests"] == 1
-        assert any(
-            item["code"] == "no-installed-integrations"
-            for item in payload["findings"]
-        )
-        assert any(
-            item["code"] == "manifest-missing"
-            and item["integration"] == "speckit"
-            for item in payload["findings"]
-        )
-
-    def test_status_json_reports_missing_default_integration_as_error(self, claude_project):
-        state_path = claude_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state.pop("default_integration", None)
-        state.pop("integration", None)
-        state["installed_integrations"] = ["claude"]
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(claude_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "error"
-        assert payload["default_integration"] is None
-        assert any(
-            item["code"] == "default-integration-missing"
-            for item in payload["findings"]
-        )
-
-    def test_status_ignores_non_list_raw_installed_integrations(self, copilot_project):
-        state_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state.pop("default_integration", None)
-        state.pop("integration", None)
-        state["installed_integrations"] = "copilot"
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "warning"
-        assert payload["installed_integrations"] == []
-        assert payload["recorded_installed_integrations"] == []
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == ["speckit"]
-        assert payload["multi_install_safe"] is None
-        assert [item["code"] for item in payload["findings"]] == [
-            "installed-integrations-invalid",
-            "no-installed-integrations",
-        ]
-
-    def test_status_reports_non_list_raw_installed_integrations_with_default(self, copilot_project):
-        state_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state["default_integration"] = "copilot"
-        state["integration"] = "copilot"
-        state["installed_integrations"] = "copilot"
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "warning"
-        assert payload["installed_integrations"] == ["copilot"]
-        assert payload["recorded_installed_integrations"] == []
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == ["copilot", "speckit"]
-        assert payload["multi_install_safe"] is None
-        assert [item["code"] for item in payload["findings"]] == [
-            "installed-integrations-invalid",
-        ]
-
-    def test_status_reports_default_integration_not_installed(self, claude_project):
-        state_path = claude_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state["default_integration"] = "codex"
-        state["integration"] = "codex"
-        state["installed_integrations"] = ["claude"]
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(claude_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["default_integration"] == "codex"
-        assert payload["installed_integrations"] == ["codex", "claude"]
-        assert payload["recorded_installed_integrations"] == ["claude"]
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == ["claude", "speckit"]
-        assert any(
-            item["code"] == "default-integration-not-installed"
-            and "Default integration 'codex' is not listed" in item["message"]
-            for item in payload["findings"]
-        )
-        assert "codex" not in payload["manifests"]
-        assert not any(
-            item["code"] == "manifest-missing" and item.get("integration") == "codex"
-            for item in payload["findings"]
-        )
-
-    def test_status_checks_effective_default_manifest_when_raw_installed_is_empty(self, claude_project):
-        state_path = claude_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state["installed_integrations"] = []
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(claude_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["installed_integrations"] == ["claude"]
-        assert payload["recorded_installed_integrations"] == []
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == ["claude", "speckit"]
-        assert payload["multi_install_safe"] is None
-        assert payload["manifests"]["claude"]["readable"] is True
-        assert any(
-            item["code"] == "default-integration-not-installed"
-            for item in payload["findings"]
-        )
-
-    def test_status_reports_missing_manifest(self, copilot_project):
-        (copilot_project / ".specify" / "integrations" / "copilot.manifest.json").unlink()
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert "manifest-missing" in result.output
-        assert "Manifest for integration 'copilot' is missing" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_reports_unreadable_manifest_in_json_summary(self, copilot_project):
-        _write_invalid_manifest(copilot_project, "copilot")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["unchecked_manifests"] == 1
-        assert payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["readable"] is False
-        assert payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["missing_files"] == []
-        assert payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["modified_files"] == []
-
-    def test_status_reports_modified_managed_files_without_failing(self, copilot_project):
-        manifest_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integrations" / "copilot.manifest.json"
-        tracked_files = json.loads(manifest_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))["files"]
-        first_rel = next(iter(tracked_files))
-        (copilot_project / first_rel).write_text("MODIFIED CONTENT\n", encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        assert "Integration status: WARNING" in result.output
-        assert "managed-files-modified" in result.output
-        assert "Modified managed files: 1" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_reports_missing_managed_files(self, copilot_project):
-        manifest_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integrations" / "copilot.manifest.json"
-        tracked_files = json.loads(manifest_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))["files"]
-        first_rel = next(iter(tracked_files))
-        (copilot_project / first_rel).unlink()
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert "managed-files-missing" in result.output
-        assert "Missing managed files: 1" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_reports_missing_shared_managed_files(self, copilot_project):
-        shared_file = copilot_project / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "common.sh"
-        assert shared_file.exists()
-        shared_file.unlink()
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert "managed-files-missing" in result.output
-        assert "shared Spec Kit infrastructure" in result.output
-        assert "Missing managed files: 1" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_does_not_use_exists_precheck_for_managed_files(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-        from specify_cli.integration_status import _manifest_file_status
-        from specify_cli.integrations.manifest import IntegrationManifest
-
-        project = tmp_path / "proj"
-        project.mkdir()
-        tracked = project / "tracked.md"
-        tracked.write_text("content\n", encoding="utf-8")
-        manifest = IntegrationManifest("test", project, version="test")
-        manifest.record_existing("tracked.md")
-
-        def fail_exists(self):
-            raise AssertionError(f"Path.exists() should not be used for {self}")
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "exists", fail_exists)
-
-        missing, modified, invalid, valid = _manifest_file_status(
-            manifest,
-            project.resolve(),
-        )
-
-        assert missing == []
-        assert modified == []
-        assert invalid == []
-        assert valid == ["tracked.md"]
-
-    def test_status_does_not_use_exists_precheck_for_manifest_load(self, copilot_project, monkeypatch):
-        def fail_exists(self):
-            raise AssertionError(f"Path.exists() should not be used for {self}")
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "exists", fail_exists)
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "ok"
-        assert payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["readable"] is True
-
-    def test_status_reports_unresolved_project_root_without_crashing(self, copilot_project, monkeypatch):
-        original_resolve = Path.resolve
-        failed = {"done": False}
-
-        def fail_first_project_root_resolve(self, *args, **kwargs):
-            if self == copilot_project and not failed["done"]:
-                failed["done"] = True
-                raise RuntimeError("symlink loop")
-            return original_resolve(self, *args, **kwargs)
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "resolve", fail_first_project_root_resolve)
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "warning"
-        assert any(item["code"] == "project-root-unresolved" for item in payload["findings"])
-
-    def test_status_loads_manifests_when_project_root_resolution_keeps_failing(
-        self,
-        copilot_project,
-        monkeypatch,
-    ):
-        original_resolve = Path.resolve
-
-        def fail_project_root_resolve(self, *args, **kwargs):
-            if self == copilot_project:
-                raise RuntimeError("symlink loop")
-            return original_resolve(self, *args, **kwargs)
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "resolve", fail_project_root_resolve)
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["status"] == "warning"
-        assert payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["readable"] is True
-        assert payload["manifests"]["speckit"]["readable"] is True
-        assert any(item["code"] == "project-root-unresolved" for item in payload["findings"])
-
-    def test_status_uses_lexical_manifest_paths_when_project_root_resolution_falls_back(self, tmp_path):
-        from specify_cli.integration_status import _manifest_file_status
-        from specify_cli.integrations.manifest import IntegrationManifest
-
-        real_project = tmp_path / "real-project"
-        real_project.mkdir()
-        tracked = real_project / "tracked.md"
-        tracked.write_text("content\n", encoding="utf-8")
-        symlinked_project = tmp_path / "symlinked-project"
-        try:
-            symlinked_project.symlink_to(real_project, target_is_directory=True)
-        except OSError as exc:
-            pytest.skip(f"symlinks unavailable: {exc}")
-
-        manifest = IntegrationManifest("test", real_project, version="test")
-        manifest.record_existing("tracked.md")
-        manifest.project_root = symlinked_project.absolute()
-
-        missing, modified, invalid, valid = _manifest_file_status(
-            manifest,
-            symlinked_project.absolute(),
-            project_root_is_resolved=False,
-        )
-
-        assert missing == []
-        assert modified == []
-        assert invalid == []
-        assert valid == ["tracked.md"]
-
-    def test_status_treats_resolve_runtime_error_as_invalid_path(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-        from specify_cli.integration_status import _manifest_file_status
-        from specify_cli.integrations.manifest import IntegrationManifest
-
-        project = tmp_path / "proj"
-        project.mkdir()
-        tracked = project / "tracked.md"
-        tracked.write_text("content\n", encoding="utf-8")
-        manifest = IntegrationManifest("test", project, version="test")
-        manifest.record_existing("tracked.md")
-        project_root_resolved = project.resolve()
-        original_resolve = Path.resolve
-
-        def fail_project_parent_resolve(self, *args, **kwargs):
-            if self == project:
-                raise RuntimeError("symlink loop")
-            return original_resolve(self, *args, **kwargs)
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "resolve", fail_project_parent_resolve)
-
-        missing, modified, invalid, valid = _manifest_file_status(
-            manifest,
-            project_root_resolved,
-        )
-
-        assert missing == []
-        assert modified == []
-        assert invalid == ["tracked.md"]
-        assert valid == []
-
-    def test_status_does_not_mask_runtime_errors_from_manifest_load(self, copilot_project, monkeypatch):
-        from specify_cli import integration_status as status_module
-
-        def fail_load(key, project_root, **kwargs):
-            raise RuntimeError(f"unexpected manifest loader bug for {key}")
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(status_module.IntegrationManifest, "load", fail_load)
-
-        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="unexpected manifest loader bug"):
-            status_module.build_integration_status_report(copilot_project)
-
-    def test_status_treats_dangling_symlink_as_missing(self, copilot_project):
-        manifest_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integrations" / "copilot.manifest.json"
-        tracked_files = json.loads(manifest_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))["files"]
-        first_rel = next(iter(tracked_files))
-        target = copilot_project / first_rel
-        target.unlink()
-        try:
-            target.symlink_to(copilot_project / "missing-target")
-        except OSError as exc:
-            pytest.skip(f"symlinks unavailable: {exc}")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert first_rel in payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["missing_files"]
-        assert first_rel not in payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["modified_files"]
-
-    def test_status_treats_windows_style_dangling_symlink_as_missing(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-        from specify_cli.integration_status import _manifest_file_status
-        from specify_cli.integrations.manifest import IntegrationManifest
-
-        project = tmp_path / "proj"
-        project.mkdir()
-        tracked = project / "tracked.md"
-        tracked.write_text("content\n", encoding="utf-8")
-        regular_stat = tracked.lstat()
-
-        manifest = IntegrationManifest("test", project, version="test")
-        manifest.record_existing("tracked.md")
-
-        tracked.unlink()
-        try:
-            tracked.symlink_to(project / "missing-target")
-        except OSError as exc:
-            pytest.skip(f"symlinks unavailable: {exc}")
-
-        original_lstat = Path.lstat
-        original_is_symlink = Path.is_symlink
-
-        def windows_style_lstat(self):
-            if self == tracked:
-                return regular_stat
-            return original_lstat(self)
-
-        def windows_style_is_symlink(self):
-            if self == tracked:
-                return True
-            return original_is_symlink(self)
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "lstat", windows_style_lstat)
-        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "is_symlink", windows_style_is_symlink)
-
-        missing, modified, invalid, valid = _manifest_file_status(
-            manifest,
-            project.resolve(),
-        )
-
-        assert missing == ["tracked.md"]
-        assert modified == []
-        assert invalid == []
-        assert valid == ["tracked.md"]
-
-    def test_strip_extended_length_prefix_normalizes_windows_paths(self):
-        from specify_cli.integration_status import _strip_extended_length_prefix
-
-        # Build the prefixed strings explicitly so the test is meaningful on
-        # every platform (POSIX won't parse backslash separators, but the
-        # helper operates on the string form). Compare Path objects rather than
-        # their str() form: on Windows pathlib renders a UNC root with a
-        # trailing separator (``\\server\share\``), so an exact string match is
-        # brittle, whereas Path equality captures the intended semantics on
-        # both POSIX and Windows.
-        bs = "\\"
-        assert _strip_extended_length_prefix(
-            Path(f"{bs}{bs}?{bs}C:{bs}proj")
-        ) == Path(f"C:{bs}proj")
-        assert _strip_extended_length_prefix(
-            Path(f"{bs}{bs}?{bs}UNC{bs}server{bs}share")
-        ) == Path(f"{bs}{bs}server{bs}share")
-        # Paths without the prefix are returned unchanged.
-        assert _strip_extended_length_prefix(Path("relative/path")) == Path("relative/path")
-
-    def test_is_within_project_tolerates_extended_length_prefix(self):
-        from specify_cli.integration_status import _is_within_project
-
-        # A readlink result on POSIX never carries the prefix, so an in-project
-        # child is contained and an outside path is not. The Windows
-        # prefix-stripping branch is exercised by the dangling-symlink tests on
-        # Windows CI; here we lock in the cross-platform containment contract.
-        root = Path("/tmp/project").resolve()
-        assert _is_within_project(root, root / "child")
-        assert not _is_within_project(root, Path("/tmp/other").resolve())
-
-    def test_status_reports_unsafe_manifest_paths_without_hashing_them(self, tmp_path, copilot_project):
-        outside = tmp_path / "outside"
-        outside.mkdir()
-        (outside / "secret.txt").write_text("outside project\n", encoding="utf-8")
-        link = copilot_project / "outside-link"
-        try:
-            link.symlink_to(outside, target_is_directory=True)
-        except OSError as exc:
-            pytest.skip(f"symlinks unavailable: {exc}")
-
-        manifest_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integrations" / "copilot.manifest.json"
-        manifest_data = json.loads(manifest_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        manifest_data["files"]["outside-link/secret.txt"] = "wrong"
-        manifest_path.write_text(json.dumps(manifest_data), encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["invalid_manifest_paths"] == 1
-        assert "outside-link/secret.txt" in payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["invalid_files"]
-        assert "outside-link/secret.txt" not in payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["modified_files"]
-
-    def test_status_reports_tracked_symlink_target_escape_as_invalid(self, tmp_path, copilot_project, monkeypatch):
-        outside = tmp_path / "outside"
-        outside.mkdir()
-        outside_file = outside / "secret.txt"
-        outside_file.write_text("outside project\n", encoding="utf-8")
-
-        manifest_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integrations" / "copilot.manifest.json"
-        tracked_files = json.loads(manifest_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))["files"]
-        first_rel = next(iter(tracked_files))
-        tracked_path = copilot_project / first_rel
-        tracked_path.unlink()
-        try:
-            tracked_path.symlink_to(outside_file)
-        except OSError as exc:
-            pytest.skip(f"symlinks unavailable: {exc}")
-
-        original_stat = Path.stat
-
-        def fail_tracked_symlink_stat(self, *args, **kwargs):
-            follows_symlinks = kwargs.get("follow_symlinks", True)
-            if self == tracked_path and follows_symlinks:
-                raise AssertionError("Path.stat() should not follow tracked symlinks")
-            return original_stat(self, *args, **kwargs)
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "stat", fail_tracked_symlink_stat)
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["invalid_manifest_paths"] == 1
-        assert first_rel in payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["invalid_files"]
-        assert first_rel not in payload["manifests"]["copilot"]["modified_files"]
-
-    def test_status_reports_unsafe_multi_install_combination(self, copilot_project):
-        from specify_cli.integrations.manifest import IntegrationManifest
-
-        state_path = copilot_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state["installed_integrations"] = ["copilot", "claude"]
-        state["default_integration"] = "copilot"
-        state["integration"] = "copilot"
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-        IntegrationManifest("claude", copilot_project, version="test").save()
-
-        result = _run_in_project(copilot_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert "unsafe-multi-install" in result.output
-        assert "Multi-install safe: no" in result.output
-        assert "specify integration switch <key>" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_treats_unknown_multi_install_as_unsafe(self, claude_project):
-        from specify_cli.integrations.manifest import IntegrationManifest
-
-        state_path = claude_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state["installed_integrations"] = ["claude", "mystery"]
-        state["default_integration"] = "claude"
-        state["integration"] = "claude"
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-        IntegrationManifest("mystery", claude_project, version="test").save()
-
-        result = _run_in_project(claude_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert "unknown-integration" in result.output
-        assert "unsafe-multi-install" in result.output
-        assert "remove the stale integration entry" in result.output
-        assert "Multi-install safe: no" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_gives_actionable_suggestion_for_unknown_manifest(self, claude_project):
-        state_path = claude_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state["installed_integrations"] = ["mystery"]
-        state["default_integration"] = "mystery"
-        state["integration"] = "mystery"
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-
-        result = _run_in_project(claude_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        manifest_finding = next(
-            item for item in payload["findings"]
-            if item["code"] == "manifest-missing" and item["integration"] == "mystery"
-        )
-        assert "remove the stale integration entry" in manifest_finding["suggestion"]
-        assert "integration upgrade mystery" not in manifest_finding["suggestion"]
-
-    def test_status_rejects_unsafe_integration_keys_before_manifest_lookup(self, tmp_path, claude_project):
-        state_path = claude_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        unsafe_key = "../../../escape"
-        state_path.write_text(
-            json.dumps({
-                "integration": unsafe_key,
-                "default_integration": unsafe_key,
-                "installed_integrations": [unsafe_key],
-            }),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-        outside_manifest = tmp_path / "escape.manifest.json"
-        outside_manifest.write_text(
-            json.dumps({"integration": unsafe_key, "files": {}}),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-
-        result = _run_in_project(claude_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert unsafe_key not in payload["manifests"]
-        assert payload["manifest_checked_integrations"] == ["speckit"]
-        assert any(
-            item["code"] == "integration-key-invalid"
-            and item["integration"] == unsafe_key
-            for item in payload["findings"]
-        )
-
-    def test_status_rejects_filename_invalid_integration_keys(self, claude_project):
-        state_path = claude_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        unsafe_key = "bad:key"
-        state_path.write_text(
-            json.dumps({
-                "integration": unsafe_key,
-                "default_integration": unsafe_key,
-                "installed_integrations": [unsafe_key],
-            }),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-
-        result = _run_in_project(claude_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert any(
-            item["code"] == "integration-key-invalid"
-            and item["integration"] == unsafe_key
-            for item in payload["findings"]
-        )
-
-    def test_status_rejects_windows_reserved_integration_keys(self, claude_project):
-        state_path = claude_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        unsafe_key = "CON"
-        state_path.write_text(
-            json.dumps({
-                "integration": unsafe_key,
-                "default_integration": unsafe_key,
-                "installed_integrations": [unsafe_key],
-            }),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-
-        result = _run_in_project(claude_project, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert any(
-            item["code"] == "integration-key-invalid"
-            and item["integration"] == unsafe_key
-            for item in payload["findings"]
-        )
-
-    def test_status_reports_managed_file_collisions(self, claude_project):
-        from specify_cli.integrations.manifest import IntegrationManifest
-
-        state_path = claude_project / ".specify" / "integration.json"
-        state = json.loads(state_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        state["installed_integrations"] = ["claude", "codex"]
-        state["default_integration"] = "claude"
-        state["integration"] = "claude"
-        state_path.write_text(json.dumps(state), encoding="utf-8")
-
-        claude_manifest = claude_project / ".specify" / "integrations" / "claude.manifest.json"
-        tracked_files = json.loads(claude_manifest.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))["files"]
-        shared_rel = next(iter(tracked_files))
-        codex_manifest = IntegrationManifest("codex", claude_project, version="test")
-        codex_manifest.record_existing(shared_rel)
-        codex_manifest.save()
-
-        result = _run_in_project(claude_project, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code == 0
-        assert "managed-file-collision" in result.output
-        assert "Integration status: WARNING" in result.output
-
-    def test_status_json_is_not_rich_rendered(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-        project = tmp_path / "proj"
-        project.mkdir()
-        (project / ".specify").mkdir()
-        (project / ".specify" / "integration.json").write_text(
-            json.dumps({
-                "integration": "[red]x[/red]",
-                "installed_integrations": ["[red]x[/red]"],
-            }),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-        monkeypatch.chdir(project)
-
-        result = runner.invoke(app, ["integration", "status", "--json"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        payload = json.loads(result.output)
-        assert payload["default_integration"] == "[red]x[/red]"
-        assert payload["installed_integrations"] == ["[red]x[/red]"]
-
-    def test_status_text_escapes_rich_markup_from_project_state(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-        project = tmp_path / "proj"
-        project.mkdir()
-        (project / ".specify").mkdir()
-        (project / ".specify" / "integration.json").write_text(
-            json.dumps({
-                "integration": "[red]x[/red]",
-                "installed_integrations": ["[red]x[/red]"],
-            }),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-        monkeypatch.chdir(project)
-
-        result = runner.invoke(app, ["integration", "status"])
-
-        assert result.exit_code != 0
-        assert "Default integration: [red]x[/red]" in result.output
-        assert "Installed integrations: [red]x[/red]" in result.output
-
-
 # ── install ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────


@@ -1806,7 +961,7 @@ class TestIntegrationSwitch:
    def test_switch_refreshes_managed_shared_script_refs(self, tmp_path):
        """Switching refreshes managed shared scripts to the target command style."""
        project = _init_project(tmp_path, "claude")
-        shared_script = project / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "setup-tasks.sh"
+        shared_script = project / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "common.sh"
        assert shared_script.exists()
        shared_content = shared_script.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
        assert "/speckit-plan" in shared_content
@@ -1832,7 +987,7 @@ class TestIntegrationSwitch:
        import hashlib

        project = _init_project(tmp_path, "claude")
-        shared_script = project / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "setup-tasks.sh"
+        shared_script = project / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "common.sh"
        assert "/speckit-plan" in shared_script.read_text(encoding="utf-8")

        # Simulate a stale vendored script: write truncated content as bytes
@@ -1844,7 +999,7 @@ class TestIntegrationSwitch:

        manifest_path = project / ".specify" / "integrations" / "speckit.manifest.json"
        manifest_data = json.loads(manifest_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-        manifest_data["files"][".specify/scripts/bash/setup-tasks.sh"] = (
+        manifest_data["files"][".specify/scripts/bash/common.sh"] = (
            hashlib.sha256(stale_bytes).hexdigest()
        )
        manifest_path.write_text(json.dumps(manifest_data), encoding="utf-8")
@@ -1893,7 +1048,7 @@ class TestIntegrationSwitch:
    def test_switch_refresh_shared_infra_overwrites_customizations(self, tmp_path):
        """--refresh-shared-infra explicitly overwrites user customizations on switch."""
        project = _init_project(tmp_path, "claude")
-        shared_script = project / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "setup-tasks.sh"
+        shared_script = project / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "common.sh"
        assert "/speckit-plan" in shared_script.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
        rendered_bytes = shared_script.read_bytes()

--- a/tests/integrations/test_registry.py
+++ b/tests/integrations/test_registry.py
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@ class TestMultiInstallSafeContracts:
                        initial,
                        "--script",
                        "sh",
+                        "--no-git",
                        "--ignore-agent-tools",
                    ],
                    catch_exceptions=False,
--- a/tests/test_branch_numbering.py
+++ b/tests/test_branch_numbering.py
@@ -1,24 +1,74 @@
 """
-Unit tests verifying --branch-numbering removal (v0.10.0).
+Unit tests for branch numbering options (sequential vs timestamp).

-Branch numbering is now managed entirely by the git extension's config.
-The --branch-numbering flag was removed from `specify init`.
+Tests cover:
+- Persisting branch_numbering in init-options.json
+- Default value when branch_numbering is None
+- Validation of branch_numbering values
 """

+import json
 from pathlib import Path

+from specify_cli import save_init_options

-class TestBranchNumberingFlagRemoved:
-    """--branch-numbering flag was removed in v0.10.0."""

-    def test_branch_numbering_flag_is_rejected(self, tmp_path: Path):
+class TestSaveBranchNumbering:
+    """Tests for save_init_options with branch_numbering."""
+
+    def test_save_branch_numbering_timestamp(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        opts = {"branch_numbering": "timestamp", "ai": "claude"}
+        save_init_options(tmp_path, opts)
+
+        saved = json.loads((tmp_path / ".specify/init-options.json").read_text())
+        assert saved["branch_numbering"] == "timestamp"
+
+    def test_save_branch_numbering_sequential(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        opts = {"branch_numbering": "sequential", "ai": "claude"}
+        save_init_options(tmp_path, opts)
+
+        saved = json.loads((tmp_path / ".specify/init-options.json").read_text())
+        assert saved["branch_numbering"] == "sequential"
+
+    def test_branch_numbering_defaults_to_sequential(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        from typer.testing import CliRunner
+        from specify_cli import app
+
+        project_dir = tmp_path / "proj"
+        runner = CliRunner()
+        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(project_dir), "--integration", "claude", "--ignore-agent-tools", "--no-git", "--script", "sh"])
+        assert result.exit_code == 0
+
+        saved = json.loads((project_dir / ".specify/init-options.json").read_text())
+        assert saved["branch_numbering"] == "sequential"
+
+
+class TestBranchNumberingValidation:
+    """Tests for branch_numbering CLI validation via CliRunner."""
+
+    def test_invalid_branch_numbering_rejected(self, tmp_path: Path):
        from typer.testing import CliRunner
        from specify_cli import app

        runner = CliRunner()
-        result = runner.invoke(app, [
-            "init", str(tmp_path / "proj"), "--integration", "claude",
-            "--branch-numbering", "sequential", "--ignore-agent-tools",
-        ])
-        assert result.exit_code != 0, "--branch-numbering should be rejected"
-        assert "No such option" in result.output or "no such option" in result.output.lower()
+        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(tmp_path / "proj"), "--integration", "claude", "--branch-numbering", "foobar", "--ignore-agent-tools"])
+        assert result.exit_code == 1
+        assert "Invalid --branch-numbering" in result.output
+
+    def test_valid_branch_numbering_sequential(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        from typer.testing import CliRunner
+        from specify_cli import app
+
+        runner = CliRunner()
+        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(tmp_path / "proj"), "--integration", "claude", "--branch-numbering", "sequential", "--ignore-agent-tools", "--no-git", "--script", "sh"])
+        assert result.exit_code == 0
+        assert "Invalid --branch-numbering" not in (result.output or "")
+
+    def test_valid_branch_numbering_timestamp(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        from typer.testing import CliRunner
+        from specify_cli import app
+
+        runner = CliRunner()
+        result = runner.invoke(app, ["init", str(tmp_path / "proj"), "--integration", "claude", "--branch-numbering", "timestamp", "--ignore-agent-tools", "--no-git", "--script", "sh"])
+        assert result.exit_code == 0
+        assert "Invalid --branch-numbering" not in (result.output or "")
--- a/tests/test_check_prerequisites_paths_only.py
+++ b/tests/test_check_prerequisites_paths_only.py
@@ -34,15 +34,6 @@ def _install_ps_scripts(repo: Path) -> None:
    shutil.copy(CHECK_PREREQS_PS, d / "check-prerequisites.ps1")


-def _write_feature_json(
-    repo: Path, feature_directory: str = "specs/001-my-feature"
-) -> None:
-    (repo / ".specify" / "feature.json").write_text(
-        json.dumps({"feature_directory": feature_directory}),
-        encoding="utf-8",
-    )
-
-
 def _clean_env() -> dict[str, str]:
    env = os.environ.copy()
    for key in list(env):
@@ -78,10 +69,7 @@ def prereq_repo(tmp_path: Path) -> Path:

@requires_bash
 def test_paths_only_succeeds_on_non_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:
-    """--paths-only must return paths when feature.json pins the feature dir."""
-    feat = prereq_repo / "specs" / "001-my-feature"
-    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    _write_feature_json(prereq_repo)
+    """--paths-only must return paths without branch validation (main branch)."""
    script = prereq_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "check-prerequisites.sh"
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bash", str(script), "--json", "--paths-only"],
@@ -100,20 +88,20 @@ def test_paths_only_succeeds_on_non_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:

@requires_bash
 def test_paths_only_succeeds_on_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:
-    """--paths-only must also work when feature.json and SPECIFY_FEATURE agree."""
-    feat = prereq_repo / "specs" / "001-my-feature"
-    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    _write_feature_json(prereq_repo)
+    """--paths-only must also work on a properly named spec branch."""
+    subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "checkout", "-q", "-b", "001-my-feature"],
+        cwd=prereq_repo,
+        check=True,
+    )
    script = prereq_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "check-prerequisites.sh"
-    env = _clean_env()
-    env["SPECIFY_FEATURE"] = "001-my-feature"
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bash", str(script), "--json", "--paths-only"],
        cwd=prereq_repo,
        capture_output=True,
        text=True,
        check=False,
-        env=env,
+        env=_clean_env(),
    )
    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
    data = json.loads(result.stdout)
@@ -123,10 +111,7 @@ def test_paths_only_succeeds_on_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:

@requires_bash
 def test_paths_only_text_mode_on_non_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:
-    """--paths-only without --json must return text paths from feature.json."""
-    feat = prereq_repo / "specs" / "001-my-feature"
-    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    _write_feature_json(prereq_repo)
+    """--paths-only without --json must return text paths on a non-spec branch."""
    script = prereq_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "check-prerequisites.sh"
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bash", str(script), "--paths-only"],
@@ -143,7 +128,7 @@ def test_paths_only_text_mode_on_non_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:

@requires_bash
 def test_normal_mode_still_validates_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:
-    """Without --paths-only, feature directory validation must still fail on main."""
+    """Without --paths-only, branch validation must still fail on main."""
    script = prereq_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "check-prerequisites.sh"
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bash", str(script), "--json"],
@@ -154,7 +139,7 @@ def test_normal_mode_still_validates_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:
        env=_clean_env(),
    )
    assert result.returncode != 0
-    assert "Feature directory not found" in result.stderr
+    assert "Not on a feature branch" in result.stderr


 # ── PowerShell tests ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -162,10 +147,7 @@ def test_normal_mode_still_validates_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:

@pytest.mark.skipif(not (HAS_PWSH or _POWERSHELL), reason="no PowerShell available")
 def test_ps_paths_only_succeeds_on_non_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:
-    """-PathsOnly must return paths when feature.json pins the feature dir."""
-    feat = prereq_repo / "specs" / "001-my-feature"
-    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    _write_feature_json(prereq_repo)
+    """-PathsOnly must return paths without branch validation (main branch)."""
    script = prereq_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "check-prerequisites.ps1"
    exe = "pwsh" if HAS_PWSH else _POWERSHELL
    result = subprocess.run(
@@ -185,26 +167,21 @@ def test_ps_paths_only_succeeds_on_non_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:

@pytest.mark.skipif(not (HAS_PWSH or _POWERSHELL), reason="no PowerShell available")
 def test_ps_paths_only_succeeds_on_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:
-    """-PathsOnly must also work when feature.json and SPECIFY_FEATURE agree."""
+    """-PathsOnly must also work on a properly named spec branch."""
    subprocess.run(
        ["git", "checkout", "-q", "-b", "001-my-feature"],
        cwd=prereq_repo,
        check=True,
    )
-    feat = prereq_repo / "specs" / "001-my-feature"
-    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    _write_feature_json(prereq_repo)
    script = prereq_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "check-prerequisites.ps1"
    exe = "pwsh" if HAS_PWSH else _POWERSHELL
-    env = _clean_env()
-    env["SPECIFY_FEATURE"] = "001-my-feature"
    result = subprocess.run(
        [exe, "-NoProfile", "-File", str(script), "-Json", "-PathsOnly"],
        cwd=prereq_repo,
        capture_output=True,
        text=True,
        check=False,
-        env=env,
+        env=_clean_env(),
    )
    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
    data = json.loads(result.stdout)
@@ -213,7 +190,7 @@ def test_ps_paths_only_succeeds_on_spec_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:

@pytest.mark.skipif(not (HAS_PWSH or _POWERSHELL), reason="no PowerShell available")
 def test_ps_normal_mode_still_validates_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:
-    """Without -PathsOnly, feature directory validation must still fail on main."""
+    """Without -PathsOnly, branch validation must still fail on main."""
    script = prereq_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "check-prerequisites.ps1"
    exe = "pwsh" if HAS_PWSH else _POWERSHELL
    result = subprocess.run(
@@ -225,5 +202,4 @@ def test_ps_normal_mode_still_validates_branch(prereq_repo: Path) -> None:
        env=_clean_env(),
    )
    assert result.returncode != 0
-    combined = result.stdout + result.stderr
-    assert "Feature directory not found" in combined
+    assert "Not on a feature branch" in result.stderr
--- a/tests/test_extensions.py
+++ b/tests/test_extensions.py
@@ -3087,424 +3087,6 @@ class TestExtensionCatalog:

        assert captured["req"].get_header("Authorization") == "Bearer ghp_testtoken"

-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        "payload",
-        [
-            # Root is not a JSON object.
-            [],
-            "oops",
-            42,
-            None,
-            # Root is fine but ``extensions`` is the wrong type.
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": []},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": "oops"},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": None},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": 42},
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_fetch_single_catalog_rejects_malformed_payload(self, temp_dir, payload):
-        """Malformed catalog payloads raise ExtensionError, not AttributeError.
-
-        Without this guard, a payload like ``{"extensions": []}`` would pass the
-        key-presence check and then crash with ``AttributeError: 'list' object
-        has no attribute 'items'`` deep inside ``_get_merged_extensions``. The
-        sibling integration catalog reader already validates both the root
-        object and the nested mapping (see ``integrations/catalog.py``); the
-        extension catalog must stay consistent.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = self._make_catalog(temp_dir)
-
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(payload).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        entry = CatalogEntry(
-            url="https://example.com/catalog.json",
-            name="default",
-            priority=1,
-            install_allowed=True,
-        )
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            with pytest.raises(ExtensionError, match="Invalid catalog format"):
-                catalog._fetch_single_catalog(entry, force_refresh=True)
-
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        "cached_payload",
-        [
-            [],
-            "oops",
-            42,
-            None,
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": []},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": "oops"},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": None},
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_fetch_single_catalog_rejects_malformed_cached_payload(
-        self, temp_dir, cached_payload
-    ):
-        """A poisoned cache silently falls back to the network instead of
-        crashing — cached payloads pass through the same shape validation
-        as freshly-fetched ones.
-
-        Without this, a cache poisoned by an older spec-kit version (or a
-        manual edit, or an upstream that briefly served a bad payload
-        before the network guards landed) would re-crash every invocation
-        of ``_get_merged_extensions`` despite the cache being "valid" by
-        age. The recovery contract is: if the cached payload fails
-        validation, drop it and refetch — never propagate
-        ``AttributeError`` to the caller.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = self._make_catalog(temp_dir)
-
-        # Poison the default-URL cache. ``DEFAULT_CATALOG_URL`` is the
-        # branch that goes through ``is_cache_valid()`` (the non-default
-        # branch uses per-URL hashed cache files but the same code path
-        # below).
-        catalog.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        catalog.cache_file.write_text(json.dumps(cached_payload))
-        catalog.cache_metadata_file.write_text(
-            json.dumps(
-                {
-                    "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
-                    "catalog_url": ExtensionCatalog.DEFAULT_CATALOG_URL,
-                }
-            )
-        )
-
-        # Network refetch returns a valid payload so the recovery path
-        # can complete.
-        valid = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "extensions": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(valid).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        entry = CatalogEntry(
-            url=ExtensionCatalog.DEFAULT_CATALOG_URL,
-            name="default",
-            priority=1,
-            install_allowed=True,
-        )
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            result = catalog._fetch_single_catalog(entry, force_refresh=False)
-
-        # The poisoned cache was discarded and the network payload returned.
-        assert result == valid
-
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        "payload",
-        [
-            # Root is not a JSON object.
-            [],
-            "oops",
-            42,
-            None,
-            # Root is fine but ``extensions`` is the wrong type.
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": []},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": "oops"},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "extensions": None},
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_fetch_catalog_rejects_malformed_payload(self, temp_dir, payload):
-        """Legacy ``fetch_catalog`` reuses the same shape-validation helper.
-
-        Before this change ``fetch_catalog`` only checked key presence — so
-        a payload like ``42`` would crash with
-        ``TypeError: argument of type 'int' is not iterable`` during the
-        ``"schema_version" in catalog_data`` check, and an entry mapping
-        of the wrong type would crash downstream. Reusing
-        ``_validate_catalog_payload`` keeps the network-side behaviour of
-        the legacy single-catalog method consistent with the multi-catalog
-        ``_fetch_single_catalog`` path.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = self._make_catalog(temp_dir)
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(payload).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            with pytest.raises(ExtensionError, match="Invalid catalog format"):
-                catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=True)
-
-    def test_fetch_catalog_recovers_from_unreadable_cache(self, temp_dir):
-        """An unreadable / wrong-encoded cache file silently refetches.
-
-        The cache contract is best-effort: a JSON-decode failure, an OS
-        read failure (permissions / disk / handle limit), or an invalid
-        text encoding on a cache file written by an older client must
-        all fall through to the network fetch rather than crash the
-        caller. Covers Copilot's review point that the previous
-        ``except (json.JSONDecodeError,)`` was too narrow.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = self._make_catalog(temp_dir)
-        # Write invalid UTF-8 bytes to the cache file so ``read_text``
-        # raises ``UnicodeDecodeError`` (a subclass of ``UnicodeError``).
-        catalog.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        catalog.cache_file.write_bytes(b"\xff\xfe\x00not-utf-8")
-        catalog.cache_metadata_file.write_text(
-            json.dumps(
-                {
-                    "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
-                    "catalog_url": ExtensionCatalog.DEFAULT_CATALOG_URL,
-                }
-            ),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-
-        valid = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "extensions": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(valid).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            result = catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=False)
-
-        # Recovered via network rather than crashing on the unreadable cache.
-        assert result == valid
-
-    def test_fetch_catalog_recovers_from_unreadable_metadata(self, temp_dir):
-        """A wrongly-encoded metadata file degrades to a cache miss.
-
-        ``is_cache_valid`` is consulted *before* the cache payload is
-        read; if the metadata file itself can't be decoded (e.g. it was
-        written on a Windows host whose default codec isn't UTF-8) the
-        validity check must return ``False`` rather than propagate
-        ``UnicodeDecodeError``. Without that guard, a corrupted metadata
-        file would crash every invocation instead of falling through to
-        a network refetch.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = self._make_catalog(temp_dir)
-        catalog.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        catalog.cache_file.write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
-        # Bytes that are not valid UTF-8 — ``read_text(encoding="utf-8")``
-        # will raise ``UnicodeDecodeError`` (subclass of ``UnicodeError``).
-        catalog.cache_metadata_file.write_bytes(b"\xff\xfe\x00bad")
-
-        # is_cache_valid must absorb the decode failure, not crash.
-        assert catalog.is_cache_valid() is False
-
-        valid = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "extensions": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(valid).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            result = catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=False)
-
-        assert result == valid
-
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        "non_mapping_metadata",
-        [
-            "[]",       # JSON array
-            '"oops"',   # JSON string
-            "42",       # JSON number
-            "true",     # JSON bool
-            "null",     # JSON null
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_is_cache_valid_handles_non_mapping_metadata(
-        self, temp_dir, non_mapping_metadata
-    ):
-        """Metadata that parses to a non-mapping degrades to cache-invalid.
-
-        The cache-validity check calls ``metadata.get("cached_at", "")``
-        immediately after ``json.loads``. If the metadata file is valid
-        JSON but parses to a non-mapping (``[]``, ``"oops"``, ``42``,
-        ``true``, ``null``), ``.get`` raises ``AttributeError`` — which
-        previously slipped past the except tuple and crashed the
-        caller. The contract documented on ``is_cache_valid`` says any
-        decode/shape failure should return ``False`` so ``fetch_catalog``
-        falls through to a network refetch. This test pins that
-        contract across every JSON non-mapping root type so a regression
-        in the except clause can't silently re-introduce the crash.
-        """
-        catalog = self._make_catalog(temp_dir)
-        catalog.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        catalog.cache_file.write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
-        catalog.cache_metadata_file.write_text(
-            non_mapping_metadata, encoding="utf-8"
-        )
-
-        # Must not raise — the contract is "any decode/shape failure → False".
-        assert catalog.is_cache_valid() is False
-
-    def test_fetch_catalog_writes_cache_as_utf8(self, temp_dir, monkeypatch):
-        """Cache + metadata writes pass ``encoding="utf-8"``, observably.
-
-        The earlier version of this test claimed to assert UTF-8 at the
-        byte level but actually only round-tripped a non-ASCII string
-        through ``json.dumps`` and ``read_text(encoding="utf-8")``.
-        Because ``json.dumps`` defaults to ``ensure_ascii=True``, "café"
-        was serialized as the all-ASCII escape ``caf\\u00e9`` before it
-        ever reached ``write_text`` — the bytes on disk were identical
-        regardless of the encoding kwarg, so a locale-encoded write
-        would have round-tripped just fine. The drift Copilot's review
-        flagged wasn't actually being caught.
-
-        Fix: directly observe the ``encoding`` argument passed to every
-        ``write_text`` call made against the cache directory. This is
-        the production code's encoding choice, which is exactly what
-        the regression guard cares about; non-ASCII payload tricks are
-        unnecessary because the assertion is about the kwarg, not the
-        bytes.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-        from pathlib import Path as _PathCls
-
-        catalog = self._make_catalog(temp_dir)
-        payload = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "extensions": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(payload).encode("utf-8")
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        # Record every ``write_text`` call's encoding kwarg so the
-        # assertion observes the production writer's argument directly.
-        recorded: list[dict] = []
-        real_write_text = _PathCls.write_text
-
-        def recording_write_text(self, data, *args, **kwargs):
-            recorded.append(
-                {"path": str(self), "encoding": kwargs.get("encoding")}
-            )
-            return real_write_text(self, data, *args, **kwargs)
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(_PathCls, "write_text", recording_write_text)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=True)
-
-        # Filter to writes inside the catalog's cache directory so
-        # unrelated writes from other machinery don't pollute the
-        # assertion.
-        cache_writes = [
-            r for r in recorded if str(catalog.cache_dir) in r["path"]
-        ]
-        assert cache_writes, "fetch_catalog made no writes to the cache dir"
-        for record in cache_writes:
-            assert record["encoding"] == "utf-8", (
-                f"write_text on {record['path']} used encoding "
-                f"{record['encoding']!r}; expected 'utf-8'"
-            )
-
-    def test_fetch_catalog_survives_unwritable_cache(self, temp_dir, monkeypatch):
-        """An unwritable cache dir doesn't fail a successful fetch.
-
-        Cache writes are best-effort, mirroring the read side and the
-        ``integrations/catalog.py`` precedent: if ``mkdir``/``write_text``
-        raises ``OSError`` (read-only checkout, permissions), the
-        already-fetched-and-validated payload must still be returned
-        rather than surfacing the cache failure to the caller.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-        from pathlib import Path as _PathCls
-
-        catalog = self._make_catalog(temp_dir)
-        valid = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "extensions": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(valid).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        # Simulate an unwritable cache dir: every write_text under the
-        # cache directory raises PermissionError (an OSError subclass).
-        real_write_text = _PathCls.write_text
-
-        def failing_write_text(self, data, *args, **kwargs):
-            if str(catalog.cache_dir) in str(self):
-                raise PermissionError("cache dir is read-only")
-            return real_write_text(self, data, *args, **kwargs)
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(_PathCls, "write_text", failing_write_text)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            # Legacy single-catalog path.
-            assert catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=True) == valid
-
-            # Multi-catalog path.
-            entry = CatalogEntry(
-                url="https://example.com/catalog.json",
-                name="default",
-                priority=1,
-                install_allowed=True,
-            )
-            assert catalog._fetch_single_catalog(entry, force_refresh=True) == valid
-
-    def test_get_merged_extensions_skips_non_mapping_entries(self, temp_dir):
-        """Per-entry guard: one malformed entry shouldn't poison the merge.
-
-        ``_fetch_single_catalog`` validates that ``extensions`` is a mapping,
-        but it doesn't (and shouldn't) validate every entry inside it — a
-        single bad entry in an otherwise-valid catalog should be skipped, not
-        crash the whole resolve path. Mirrors the per-entry skip in
-        ``integrations/catalog.py``: a malformed entry returns no error,
-        valid entries continue to merge normally.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = self._make_catalog(temp_dir)
-        # Mix of valid entry, list-shaped entry, and string-shaped entry.
-        payload = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "extensions": {
-                "good": {"name": "Good", "version": "1.0.0"},
-                "bad-list": [],
-                "bad-str": "oops",
-            },
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(payload).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        entry = CatalogEntry(
-            url="https://example.com/catalog.json",
-            name="default",
-            priority=1,
-            install_allowed=True,
-        )
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response), \
-             patch.object(catalog, "get_active_catalogs", return_value=[entry]):
-            merged = catalog._get_merged_extensions(force_refresh=True)
-
-        # Only the well-formed entry survives; the two malformed entries are
-        # silently dropped rather than raising or crashing.
-        assert [ext["id"] for ext in merged] == ["good"]
-
    def test_download_extension_sends_auth_header(self, temp_dir, monkeypatch):
        """download_extension passes Authorization header when a provider is configured."""
        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
--- a/tests/test_presets.py
+++ b/tests/test_presets.py
@@ -1514,421 +1514,6 @@ class TestPresetCatalog:

        assert captured["req"].get_header("Authorization") == "Bearer ghp_testtoken"

-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        "payload",
-        [
-            # Root is not a JSON object.
-            [],
-            "oops",
-            42,
-            None,
-            # Root is fine but ``presets`` is the wrong type.
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": []},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": "oops"},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": None},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": 42},
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_fetch_single_catalog_rejects_malformed_payload(self, project_dir, payload):
-        """Malformed catalog payloads raise PresetError, not AttributeError.
-
-        Without this guard, a payload like ``{"presets": []}`` would pass the
-        key-presence check and then crash with ``AttributeError: 'list' object
-        has no attribute 'items'`` deep inside ``_get_merged_packs``. The
-        sibling integration catalog reader already validates both the root
-        object and the nested mapping (see ``integrations/catalog.py``); the
-        preset catalog must stay consistent.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = PresetCatalog(project_dir)
-
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(payload).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        entry = PresetCatalogEntry(
-            url="https://example.com/catalog.json",
-            name="default",
-            priority=1,
-            install_allowed=True,
-        )
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            with pytest.raises(PresetError, match="Invalid preset catalog format"):
-                catalog._fetch_single_catalog(entry, force_refresh=True)
-
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        "cached_payload",
-        [
-            [],
-            "oops",
-            42,
-            None,
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": []},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": "oops"},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": None},
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_fetch_single_catalog_rejects_malformed_cached_payload(
-        self, project_dir, cached_payload
-    ):
-        """A poisoned cache silently falls back to the network instead of
-        crashing — cached payloads pass through the same shape validation
-        as freshly-fetched ones.
-
-        Without this, a cache poisoned by an older spec-kit version (or a
-        manual edit, or an upstream that briefly served a bad payload
-        before the network guards landed) would re-crash every invocation
-        of ``_get_merged_packs`` despite the cache being "valid" by age.
-        The recovery contract is: if the cached payload fails validation,
-        drop it and refetch — never propagate ``AttributeError`` to the
-        caller.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = PresetCatalog(project_dir)
-
-        # Poison the default-URL cache. ``DEFAULT_CATALOG_URL`` and
-        # non-default URLs both flow through the same cache-load branch.
-        cache_file, metadata_file = catalog._get_cache_paths(
-            catalog.DEFAULT_CATALOG_URL
-        )
-        cache_file.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        cache_file.write_text(json.dumps(cached_payload))
-        metadata_file.write_text(
-            json.dumps(
-                {
-                    "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
-                    "catalog_url": catalog.DEFAULT_CATALOG_URL,
-                }
-            )
-        )
-
-        # Network refetch returns a valid payload so the recovery path
-        # can complete.
-        valid = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "presets": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(valid).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        entry = PresetCatalogEntry(
-            url=catalog.DEFAULT_CATALOG_URL,
-            name="default",
-            priority=1,
-            install_allowed=True,
-        )
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            result = catalog._fetch_single_catalog(entry, force_refresh=False)
-
-        # The poisoned cache was discarded and the network payload returned.
-        assert result == valid
-
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        "payload",
-        [
-            # Root is not a JSON object.
-            [],
-            "oops",
-            42,
-            None,
-            # Root is fine but ``presets`` is the wrong type.
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": []},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": "oops"},
-            {"schema_version": "1.0", "presets": None},
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_fetch_catalog_rejects_malformed_payload(self, project_dir, payload):
-        """Legacy ``fetch_catalog`` reuses the same shape-validation helper.
-
-        Before this change ``fetch_catalog`` only checked key presence —
-        so a payload like ``42`` would crash with
-        ``TypeError: argument of type 'int' is not iterable`` during the
-        ``"schema_version" in catalog_data`` check, and an entry mapping
-        of the wrong type would crash downstream. Reusing
-        ``_validate_catalog_payload`` keeps the network-side behaviour of
-        the legacy single-catalog method consistent with the multi-catalog
-        ``_fetch_single_catalog`` path.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = PresetCatalog(project_dir)
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(payload).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            with pytest.raises(PresetError, match="Invalid preset catalog format"):
-                catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=True)
-
-    def test_fetch_catalog_recovers_from_unreadable_cache(self, project_dir):
-        """An unreadable / wrong-encoded cache file silently refetches.
-
-        The cache contract is best-effort: a JSON-decode failure, an OS
-        read failure (permissions / disk / handle limit), or an invalid
-        text encoding on a cache file written by an older client must
-        all fall through to the network fetch rather than crash the
-        caller. Covers Copilot's review point that the previous
-        ``except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError)`` was missing
-        ``UnicodeError``.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = PresetCatalog(project_dir)
-        catalog.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        # Invalid UTF-8 bytes so ``read_text`` raises ``UnicodeDecodeError``
-        # (a subclass of ``UnicodeError``).
-        catalog.cache_file.write_bytes(b"\xff\xfe\x00not-utf-8")
-        catalog.cache_metadata_file.write_text(
-            json.dumps(
-                {
-                    "cached_at": datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
-                    "catalog_url": catalog.get_catalog_url(),
-                }
-            ),
-            encoding="utf-8",
-        )
-
-        valid = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "presets": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(valid).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            result = catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=False)
-
-        # Recovered via network rather than crashing on the unreadable cache.
-        assert result == valid
-
-    def test_fetch_catalog_recovers_from_unreadable_metadata(self, project_dir):
-        """A wrongly-encoded metadata file degrades to a cache miss.
-
-        ``is_cache_valid`` is consulted *before* the cache payload is
-        read; if the metadata file itself can't be decoded (e.g. it was
-        written on a host whose default codec isn't UTF-8) the validity
-        check must return ``False`` rather than propagate
-        ``UnicodeDecodeError``. Without that guard, a corrupted metadata
-        file would crash every invocation instead of falling through to
-        a network refetch.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = PresetCatalog(project_dir)
-        catalog.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        catalog.cache_file.write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
-        # Bytes that are not valid UTF-8 — ``read_text(encoding="utf-8")``
-        # will raise ``UnicodeDecodeError`` (subclass of ``UnicodeError``).
-        catalog.cache_metadata_file.write_bytes(b"\xff\xfe\x00bad")
-
-        # is_cache_valid must absorb the decode failure, not crash.
-        assert catalog.is_cache_valid() is False
-
-        valid = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "presets": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(valid).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            result = catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=False)
-
-        assert result == valid
-
-    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-        "non_mapping_metadata",
-        [
-            "[]",       # JSON array
-            '"oops"',   # JSON string
-            "42",       # JSON number
-            "true",     # JSON bool
-            "null",     # JSON null
-        ],
-    )
-    def test_is_cache_valid_handles_non_mapping_metadata(
-        self, project_dir, non_mapping_metadata
-    ):
-        """Metadata that parses to a non-mapping degrades to cache-invalid.
-
-        The cache-validity check calls ``metadata.get("cached_at", "")``
-        immediately after ``json.loads``. If the metadata file is valid
-        JSON but parses to a non-mapping (``[]``, ``"oops"``, ``42``,
-        ``true``, ``null``), ``.get`` raises ``AttributeError`` — which
-        previously slipped past the except tuple and crashed the
-        caller. The contract documented on ``is_cache_valid`` says any
-        decode/shape failure should return ``False`` so ``fetch_catalog``
-        falls through to a network refetch. This test pins that
-        contract across every JSON non-mapping root type.
-        """
-        catalog = PresetCatalog(project_dir)
-        catalog.cache_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-        catalog.cache_file.write_text("{}", encoding="utf-8")
-        catalog.cache_metadata_file.write_text(
-            non_mapping_metadata, encoding="utf-8"
-        )
-
-        # Must not raise — the contract is "any decode/shape failure → False".
-        assert catalog.is_cache_valid() is False
-
-    def test_fetch_catalog_writes_cache_as_utf8(self, project_dir, monkeypatch):
-        """Cache + metadata writes pass ``encoding="utf-8"``, observably.
-
-        The earlier version of this test claimed to assert UTF-8 at the
-        byte level but actually only round-tripped a non-ASCII string
-        through ``json.dumps`` and ``read_text(encoding="utf-8")``.
-        Because ``json.dumps`` defaults to ``ensure_ascii=True``, "café"
-        was serialized as the all-ASCII escape ``caf\\u00e9`` before it
-        ever reached ``write_text`` — the bytes on disk were identical
-        regardless of the encoding kwarg. The drift Copilot's review
-        flagged wasn't actually being caught.
-
-        Fix: directly observe the ``encoding`` argument passed to every
-        ``write_text`` call made against the cache directory. This is
-        the production code's encoding choice, which is exactly what
-        the regression guard cares about.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-        from pathlib import Path as _PathCls
-
-        catalog = PresetCatalog(project_dir)
-        payload = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "presets": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(payload).encode("utf-8")
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        # Record every ``write_text`` call's encoding kwarg so the
-        # assertion observes the production writer's argument directly.
-        recorded: list[dict] = []
-        real_write_text = _PathCls.write_text
-
-        def recording_write_text(self, data, *args, **kwargs):
-            recorded.append(
-                {"path": str(self), "encoding": kwargs.get("encoding")}
-            )
-            return real_write_text(self, data, *args, **kwargs)
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(_PathCls, "write_text", recording_write_text)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=True)
-
-        cache_writes = [
-            r for r in recorded if str(catalog.cache_dir) in r["path"]
-        ]
-        assert cache_writes, "fetch_catalog made no writes to the cache dir"
-        for record in cache_writes:
-            assert record["encoding"] == "utf-8", (
-                f"write_text on {record['path']} used encoding "
-                f"{record['encoding']!r}; expected 'utf-8'"
-            )
-
-    def test_fetch_catalog_survives_unwritable_cache(self, project_dir, monkeypatch):
-        """An unwritable cache dir doesn't fail a successful fetch.
-
-        Cache writes are best-effort, mirroring the read side and the
-        ``integrations/catalog.py`` precedent: if ``mkdir``/``write_text``
-        raises ``OSError`` (read-only checkout, permissions), the
-        already-fetched-and-validated payload must still be returned —
-        not swallowed into the broad except and re-raised as a
-        ``PresetError``.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-        from pathlib import Path as _PathCls
-
-        catalog = PresetCatalog(project_dir)
-        valid = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "presets": {"foo": {"name": "Foo", "version": "1.0.0"}},
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(valid).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        # Simulate an unwritable cache dir: every write_text under the
-        # cache directory raises PermissionError (an OSError subclass).
-        real_write_text = _PathCls.write_text
-
-        def failing_write_text(self, data, *args, **kwargs):
-            if str(catalog.cache_dir) in str(self):
-                raise PermissionError("cache dir is read-only")
-            return real_write_text(self, data, *args, **kwargs)
-
-        monkeypatch.setattr(_PathCls, "write_text", failing_write_text)
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response):
-            # Legacy single-catalog path.
-            assert catalog.fetch_catalog(force_refresh=True) == valid
-
-            # Multi-catalog path.
-            entry = PresetCatalogEntry(
-                url=catalog.DEFAULT_CATALOG_URL,
-                name="default",
-                priority=1,
-                install_allowed=True,
-            )
-            assert (
-                catalog._fetch_single_catalog(entry, force_refresh=True) == valid
-            )
-
-    def test_get_merged_packs_skips_non_mapping_entries(self, project_dir):
-        """Per-entry guard: one malformed entry shouldn't poison the merge.
-
-        ``_fetch_single_catalog`` validates that ``presets`` is a mapping,
-        but it doesn't (and shouldn't) validate every entry inside it — a
-        single bad entry in an otherwise-valid catalog should be skipped,
-        not crash the whole resolve path. Mirrors the per-entry skip in
-        ``integrations/catalog.py``: a malformed entry returns no error,
-        valid entries continue to merge normally.
-        """
-        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
-
-        catalog = PresetCatalog(project_dir)
-        payload = {
-            "schema_version": "1.0",
-            "presets": {
-                "good": {"name": "Good", "version": "1.0.0"},
-                "bad-list": [],
-                "bad-str": "oops",
-            },
-        }
-        mock_response = MagicMock()
-        mock_response.read.return_value = json.dumps(payload).encode()
-        mock_response.__enter__ = lambda s: s
-        mock_response.__exit__ = MagicMock(return_value=False)
-
-        entry = PresetCatalogEntry(
-            url="https://example.com/catalog.json",
-            name="default",
-            priority=1,
-            install_allowed=True,
-        )
-
-        with patch.object(catalog, "_open_url", return_value=mock_response), \
-             patch.object(catalog, "get_active_catalogs", return_value=[entry]):
-            merged = catalog._get_merged_packs(force_refresh=True)
-
-        # Only the well-formed entry survives; the two malformed entries are
-        # silently dropped rather than raising or crashing.
-        assert list(merged.keys()) == ["good"]
-
    def test_download_pack_sends_auth_header(self, project_dir, monkeypatch):
        """download_pack passes Authorization header when configured."""
        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
--- a/tests/test_setup_plan_feature_json.py
+++ b/tests/test_setup_plan_feature_json.py
@@ -41,13 +41,6 @@ def _minimal_templates(repo: Path) -> None:
    shutil.copy(PLAN_TEMPLATE, tdir / "plan-template.md")


-def _write_feature_json(repo: Path, feature_directory: str) -> None:
-    (repo / ".specify" / "feature.json").write_text(
-        json.dumps({"feature_directory": feature_directory}),
-        encoding="utf-8",
-    )
-
-
 def _clean_env() -> dict[str, str]:
    """Return a copy of the current environment with any SPECIFY_* vars removed.

@@ -96,7 +89,10 @@ def test_setup_plan_passes_custom_branch_when_feature_json_valid(plan_repo: Path
    feat = plan_repo / "specs" / "001-tiny-notes-app"
    feat.mkdir(parents=True)
    (feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    _write_feature_json(plan_repo, "specs/001-tiny-notes-app")
+    (plan_repo / ".specify" / "feature.json").write_text(
+        json.dumps({"feature_directory": "specs/001-tiny-notes-app"}),
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
    script = plan_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "setup-plan.sh"
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bash", str(script)],
@@ -111,8 +107,12 @@ def test_setup_plan_passes_custom_branch_when_feature_json_valid(plan_repo: Path


@requires_bash
-def test_setup_plan_errors_without_feature_context(plan_repo: Path) -> None:
-    """Without feature.json or SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY, setup-plan must error."""
+def test_setup_plan_fails_custom_branch_without_feature_json(plan_repo: Path) -> None:
+    subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "checkout", "-q", "-b", "feature/my-feature-branch"],
+        cwd=plan_repo,
+        check=True,
+    )
    script = plan_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "setup-plan.sh"
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bash", str(script)],
@@ -123,14 +123,13 @@ def test_setup_plan_errors_without_feature_context(plan_repo: Path) -> None:
        env=_clean_env(),
    )
    assert result.returncode != 0
-    assert "Feature directory not found" in result.stderr
+    assert "Not on a feature branch" in result.stderr


@requires_bash
-def test_setup_plan_numbered_branch_works_with_feature_json(
+def test_setup_plan_numbered_branch_unchanged_without_feature_json(
    plan_repo: Path,
 ) -> None:
-    """A numbered branch still works when feature.json explicitly pins the spec dir."""
    subprocess.run(
        ["git", "checkout", "-q", "-b", "001-tiny-notes-app"],
        cwd=plan_repo,
@@ -139,7 +138,6 @@ def test_setup_plan_numbered_branch_works_with_feature_json(
    feat = plan_repo / "specs" / "001-tiny-notes-app"
    feat.mkdir(parents=True)
    (feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    _write_feature_json(plan_repo, "specs/001-tiny-notes-app")
    script = plan_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "setup-plan.sh"
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bash", str(script)],
@@ -163,7 +161,10 @@ def test_setup_plan_ps_passes_custom_branch_when_feature_json_valid(plan_repo: P
    feat = plan_repo / "specs" / "001-tiny-notes-app"
    feat.mkdir(parents=True)
    (feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    _write_feature_json(plan_repo, "specs/001-tiny-notes-app")
+    (plan_repo / ".specify" / "feature.json").write_text(
+        json.dumps({"feature_directory": "specs/001-tiny-notes-app"}),
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
    script = plan_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "setup-plan.ps1"
    exe = "pwsh" if HAS_PWSH else _POWERSHELL
    result = subprocess.run(
@@ -179,9 +180,14 @@ def test_setup_plan_ps_passes_custom_branch_when_feature_json_valid(plan_repo: P


@pytest.mark.skipif(not (HAS_PWSH or _POWERSHELL), reason="no PowerShell available")
-def test_setup_plan_ps_errors_without_feature_context(
+def test_setup_plan_ps_fails_custom_branch_without_feature_json(
    plan_repo: Path,
 ) -> None:
+    subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "checkout", "-q", "-b", "feature/my-feature-branch"],
+        cwd=plan_repo,
+        check=True,
+    )
    script = plan_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "setup-plan.ps1"
    exe = "pwsh" if HAS_PWSH else _POWERSHELL
    result = subprocess.run(
@@ -192,6 +198,5 @@ def test_setup_plan_ps_errors_without_feature_context(
        check=False,
        env=_clean_env(),
    )
-    combined = result.stderr + result.stdout
    assert result.returncode != 0
-    assert "Feature directory not found" in combined
+    assert "Not on a feature branch" in result.stderr
--- a/tests/test_setup_plan_no_overwrite.py
+++ b/tests/test_setup_plan_no_overwrite.py
@@ -41,15 +41,6 @@ def _minimal_templates(repo: Path) -> None:
    shutil.copy(PLAN_TEMPLATE, tdir / "plan-template.md")


-def _write_feature_json(
-    repo: Path, feature_directory: str = "specs/001-my-feature"
-) -> None:
-    (repo / ".specify" / "feature.json").write_text(
-        json.dumps({"feature_directory": feature_directory}),
-        encoding="utf-8",
-    )
-
-
 def _clean_env() -> dict[str, str]:
    env = os.environ.copy()
    for key in list(env):
@@ -83,7 +74,6 @@ def plan_repo(tmp_path: Path) -> Path:
    _minimal_templates(repo)
    _install_bash_scripts(repo)
    _install_ps_scripts(repo)
-    _write_feature_json(repo)
    return repo


--- a/tests/test_setup_tasks.py
+++ b/tests/test_setup_tasks.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-"""Tests for setup-tasks.{sh,ps1} template resolution and feature resolution."""
+"""Tests for setup-tasks.{sh,ps1} template resolution and branch validation."""
 
 import json
 import os
@@ -50,15 +50,6 @@ def _install_core_tasks_template(repo: Path) -> None:
    shutil.copy(TASKS_TEMPLATE, tdir / "tasks-template.md")
 
 
-def _write_feature_json(
-    repo: Path, feature_directory: str = "specs/001-my-feature"
-) -> None:
-    (repo / ".specify" / "feature.json").write_text(
-        json.dumps({"feature_directory": feature_directory}),
-        encoding="utf-8",
-    )
-
-
 def _minimal_feature(repo: Path) -> Path:
    """
    Create a numbered branch-style feature directory with spec.md and plan.md
@@ -69,7 +60,6 @@ def _minimal_feature(repo: Path) -> Path:
    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    (feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
    (feat / "plan.md").write_text("# plan\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    _write_feature_json(repo)
    return feat


@@ -95,7 +85,7 @@ def _write_integration_state(repo: Path, integration: str = "claude", separator:
 def _clean_env() -> dict[str, str]:
    """
    Return os.environ with all SPECIFY_* variables stripped so the scripts
-    rely purely on feature.json and on-disk feature directories set up by each fixture.
+    rely purely on git branch + feature.json state set up by each fixture.
    """
    env = os.environ.copy()
    for key in list(env):
@@ -163,8 +153,7 @@ def tasks_repo(tmp_path: Path) -> Path:
    repo.mkdir()
    _git_init(repo)
 
-    # Keep a numbered branch name in this repo fixture; setup-tasks now resolves
-    # feature directories from repository state rather than validating git branches.
+    # Switch to a numbered branch so branch validation passes without feature.json
    subprocess.run(
        ["git", "checkout", "-q", "-b", "001-my-feature"],
        cwd=repo,
@@ -503,7 +492,6 @@ def test_setup_tasks_bash_uses_invoke_separator_in_plan_hint(tasks_repo: Path) -
    feat = tasks_repo / "specs" / "001-my-feature"
    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    (feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    _write_feature_json(tasks_repo)

    script = tasks_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "setup-tasks.sh"

@@ -562,7 +550,11 @@ def test_setup_tasks_bash_passes_custom_branch_when_feature_json_valid(
    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    (feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
    (feat / "plan.md").write_text("# plan\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    _write_feature_json(tasks_repo)
+ 
+    (tasks_repo / ".specify" / "feature.json").write_text(
+        json.dumps({"feature_directory": "specs/001-my-feature"}),
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
 
    script = tasks_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "setup-tasks.sh"
 
@@ -579,17 +571,21 @@ def test_setup_tasks_bash_passes_custom_branch_when_feature_json_valid(
 
 
@requires_bash
-def test_setup_tasks_bash_errors_without_feature_context(
+def test_setup_tasks_bash_fails_custom_branch_without_feature_json(
    tasks_repo: Path,
 ) -> None:
-    """Without feature.json or SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY, setup-tasks.sh must error."""
-    main_feat = tasks_repo / "specs" / "main"
-    main_feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    (main_feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    (main_feat / "plan.md").write_text("# plan\n", encoding="utf-8")
-
+    """
+    On a non-standard branch with no feature.json, setup-tasks.sh must fail
+    and report that we are not on a feature branch.
+    """
+    subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "checkout", "-q", "-b", "feature/custom-branch"],
+        cwd=tasks_repo,
+        check=True,
+    )
+ 
    script = tasks_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "bash" / "setup-tasks.sh"
-
+ 
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bash", str(script), "--json"],
        cwd=tasks_repo,
@@ -600,7 +596,7 @@ def test_setup_tasks_bash_errors_without_feature_context(
    )

    assert result.returncode != 0
-    assert "Feature directory not found" in result.stderr
+    assert "Not on a feature branch" in result.stderr
 
 # ===========================================================================
 # POWERSHELL TESTS
@@ -735,7 +731,6 @@ def test_setup_tasks_ps_uses_invoke_separator_in_plan_hint(tasks_repo: Path) ->
    feat = tasks_repo / "specs" / "001-my-feature"
    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    (feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    _write_feature_json(tasks_repo)

    script = tasks_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "setup-tasks.ps1"
    exe = "pwsh" if HAS_PWSH else _POWERSHELL
@@ -798,7 +793,11 @@ def test_setup_tasks_ps_passes_custom_branch_when_feature_json_valid(
    feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    (feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
    (feat / "plan.md").write_text("# plan\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    _write_feature_json(tasks_repo)
+ 
+    (tasks_repo / ".specify" / "feature.json").write_text(
+        json.dumps({"feature_directory": "specs/001-my-feature"}),
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
 
    script = tasks_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "setup-tasks.ps1"
    exe = "pwsh" if HAS_PWSH else _POWERSHELL
@@ -816,18 +815,22 @@ def test_setup_tasks_ps_passes_custom_branch_when_feature_json_valid(
 
 
@pytest.mark.skipif(not (HAS_PWSH or _POWERSHELL), reason="no PowerShell available")
-def test_setup_tasks_ps_errors_without_feature_context(
+def test_setup_tasks_ps_fails_custom_branch_without_feature_json(
    tasks_repo: Path,
 ) -> None:
-    """Without feature.json or SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY, setup-tasks.ps1 must error."""
-    main_feat = tasks_repo / "specs" / "main"
-    main_feat.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
-    (main_feat / "spec.md").write_text("# spec\n", encoding="utf-8")
-    (main_feat / "plan.md").write_text("# plan\n", encoding="utf-8")
-
+    """
+    On a non-standard branch with no feature.json, setup-tasks.ps1 must fail
+    and report that we are not on a feature branch.
+    """
+    subprocess.run(
+        ["git", "checkout", "-q", "-b", "feature/custom-branch"],
+        cwd=tasks_repo,
+        check=True,
+    )
+ 
    script = tasks_repo / ".specify" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "setup-tasks.ps1"
    exe = "pwsh" if HAS_PWSH else _POWERSHELL
-
+ 
    result = subprocess.run(
        [exe, "-NoProfile", "-File", str(script), "-Json"],
        cwd=tasks_repo,
@@ -836,7 +839,6 @@ def test_setup_tasks_ps_errors_without_feature_context(
        check=False,
        env=_clean_env(),
    )
-
-    output = result.stderr + result.stdout
+ 
    assert result.returncode != 0
-    assert "Feature directory not found" in output
+    assert "Not on a feature branch" in result.stderr
--- a/tests/test_timestamp_branches.py
+++ b/tests/test_timestamp_branches.py
@@ -19,12 +19,14 @@ PROJECT_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
 CREATE_FEATURE = PROJECT_ROOT / "scripts" / "bash" / "create-new-feature.sh"
 CREATE_FEATURE_PS = PROJECT_ROOT / "scripts" / "powershell" / "create-new-feature.ps1"
 EXT_CREATE_FEATURE = (
-    PROJECT_ROOT / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "bash" / "create-new-feature-branch.sh"
+    PROJECT_ROOT / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "bash" / "create-new-feature.sh"
 )
 EXT_CREATE_FEATURE_PS = (
-    PROJECT_ROOT / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "create-new-feature-branch.ps1"
+    PROJECT_ROOT / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "create-new-feature.ps1"
 )
 COMMON_SH = PROJECT_ROOT / "scripts" / "bash" / "common.sh"
+EXT_CREATE_FEATURE = PROJECT_ROOT / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "bash" / "create-new-feature.sh"
+EXT_CREATE_FEATURE_PS = PROJECT_ROOT / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "create-new-feature.ps1"

 HAS_PWSH = shutil.which("pwsh") is not None

@@ -75,7 +77,7 @@ def ext_git_repo(tmp_path: Path) -> Path:
    # Copy extension script
    ext_dir = tmp_path / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "bash"
    ext_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
-    shutil.copy(EXT_CREATE_FEATURE, ext_dir / "create-new-feature-branch.sh")
+    shutil.copy(EXT_CREATE_FEATURE, ext_dir / "create-new-feature.sh")
    # Also copy git-common.sh if it exists
    git_common = PROJECT_ROOT / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "bash" / "git-common.sh"
    if git_common.exists():
@@ -104,7 +106,7 @@ def ext_ps_git_repo(tmp_path: Path) -> Path:
    # Copy extension script
    ext_ps = tmp_path / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "powershell"
    ext_ps.mkdir(parents=True)
-    shutil.copy(EXT_CREATE_FEATURE_PS, ext_ps / "create-new-feature-branch.ps1")
+    shutil.copy(EXT_CREATE_FEATURE_PS, ext_ps / "create-new-feature.ps1")
    git_common_ps = PROJECT_ROOT / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "git-common.ps1"
    if git_common_ps.exists():
        shutil.copy(git_common_ps, ext_ps / "git-common.ps1")
@@ -277,13 +279,64 @@ class TestSequentialBranchPowerShell:


@requires_bash
-class TestCoreCommonRemovesGitHelpers:
-    def test_check_feature_branch_removed(self):
-        result = source_and_call('declare -F check_feature_branch >/dev/null')
+class TestCheckFeatureBranch:
+    def test_accepts_timestamp_branch(self):
+        """Test 6: check_feature_branch accepts timestamp branch."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "20260319-143022-feat" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+
+    def test_accepts_sequential_branch(self):
+        """Test 7: check_feature_branch accepts sequential branch."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "004-feat" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+
+    def test_rejects_main(self):
+        """Test 8: check_feature_branch rejects main."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "main" "true"')
        assert result.returncode != 0

-    def test_has_git_removed(self):
-        result = source_and_call('declare -F has_git >/dev/null')
+    def test_accepts_four_digit_sequential_branch(self):
+        """check_feature_branch accepts 4+ digit sequential branch."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "1234-feat" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+
+    def test_rejects_partial_timestamp(self):
+        """Test 9: check_feature_branch rejects 7-digit date."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "2026031-143022-feat" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode != 0
+
+    def test_rejects_timestamp_without_slug(self):
+        """check_feature_branch rejects timestamp-like branch missing trailing slug."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "20260319-143022" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode != 0
+
+    def test_rejects_7digit_timestamp_without_slug(self):
+        """check_feature_branch rejects 7-digit date + 6-digit time without slug."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "2026031-143022" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode != 0
+
+    def test_accepts_single_prefix_sequential(self):
+        """Optional gitflow-style prefix: one segment + sequential feature name."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "feat/004-my-feature" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+
+    def test_accepts_single_prefix_timestamp(self):
+        """Optional prefix + timestamp-style feature name."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "release/20260319-143022-feat" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+
+    def test_rejects_invalid_suffix_with_single_prefix(self):
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "feat/main" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode != 0
+        assert "feat/main" in result.stderr
+
+    def test_rejects_two_level_prefix_before_feature(self):
+        """More than one slash: no stripping; whole name must match (fails)."""
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "feat/fix/004-feat" "true"')
+        assert result.returncode != 0
+
+    def test_rejects_malformed_timestamp_with_prefix(self):
+        result = source_and_call('check_feature_branch "feat/2026031-143022-feat" "true"')
        assert result.returncode != 0


@@ -291,11 +344,50 @@ class TestCoreCommonRemovesGitHelpers:


@requires_bash
-class TestFindFeatureDirByPrefixRemoved:
-    def test_find_feature_dir_by_prefix_removed(self):
-        """Directory scanning helper is removed from core common.sh."""
-        result = source_and_call('declare -F find_feature_dir_by_prefix >/dev/null')
-        assert result.returncode != 0
+class TestFindFeatureDirByPrefix:
+    def test_timestamp_branch(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        """Test 10: find_feature_dir_by_prefix with timestamp branch."""
+        (tmp_path / "specs" / "20260319-143022-user-auth").mkdir(parents=True)
+        result = source_and_call(
+            f'find_feature_dir_by_prefix "{tmp_path}" "20260319-143022-user-auth"'
+        )
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+        assert result.stdout.strip() == f"{tmp_path}/specs/20260319-143022-user-auth"
+
+    def test_cross_branch_prefix(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        """Test 11: find_feature_dir_by_prefix cross-branch (different suffix, same timestamp)."""
+        (tmp_path / "specs" / "20260319-143022-original-feat").mkdir(parents=True)
+        result = source_and_call(
+            f'find_feature_dir_by_prefix "{tmp_path}" "20260319-143022-different-name"'
+        )
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+        assert result.stdout.strip() == f"{tmp_path}/specs/20260319-143022-original-feat"
+
+    def test_four_digit_sequential_prefix(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        """find_feature_dir_by_prefix resolves 4+ digit sequential prefix."""
+        (tmp_path / "specs" / "1000-original-feat").mkdir(parents=True)
+        result = source_and_call(
+            f'find_feature_dir_by_prefix "{tmp_path}" "1000-different-name"'
+        )
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+        assert result.stdout.strip() == f"{tmp_path}/specs/1000-original-feat"
+
+    def test_sequential_with_single_path_prefix(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        """Strip one optional prefix segment before prefix directory lookup."""
+        (tmp_path / "specs" / "004-only-dir").mkdir(parents=True)
+        result = source_and_call(
+            f'find_feature_dir_by_prefix "{tmp_path}" "feat/004-other-suffix"'
+        )
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+        assert result.stdout.strip() == f"{tmp_path}/specs/004-only-dir"
+
+    def test_timestamp_with_single_path_prefix_cross_branch(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        (tmp_path / "specs" / "20260319-143022-canonical").mkdir(parents=True)
+        result = source_and_call(
+            f'find_feature_dir_by_prefix "{tmp_path}" "hotfix/20260319-143022-alias"'
+        )
+        assert result.returncode == 0
+        assert result.stdout.strip() == f"{tmp_path}/specs/20260319-143022-canonical"


 # ── get_feature_paths + single-prefix integration ───────────────────────────
@@ -303,29 +395,26 @@ class TestFindFeatureDirByPrefixRemoved:

 class TestGetFeaturePathsSinglePrefix:
    @requires_bash
-    def test_bash_specify_feature_prefixed_requires_explicit_feature_context(
-        self, tmp_path: Path
-    ):
-        """SPECIFY_FEATURE alone no longer triggers path lookup in bash."""
+    def test_bash_specify_feature_prefixed_resolves_by_prefix(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        """get_feature_paths: SPECIFY_FEATURE with one optional prefix uses effective name for lookup."""
        (tmp_path / ".specify").mkdir()
        (tmp_path / "specs" / "001-target-spec").mkdir(parents=True)
        cmd = (
            f'cd "{tmp_path}" && export SPECIFY_FEATURE="feat/001-other" && '
-            f'source "{COMMON_SH}" && get_feature_paths'
+            f'source "{COMMON_SH}" && eval "$(get_feature_paths)" && printf "%s" "$FEATURE_DIR"'
        )
        result = subprocess.run(
            ["bash", "-c", cmd],
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
        )
-        assert result.returncode != 0
-        assert "Feature directory not found" in result.stderr
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert result.stdout.strip() == str(tmp_path / "specs" / "001-target-spec")
+

    @pytest.mark.skipif(not _has_pwsh(), reason="pwsh not installed")
-    def test_ps_specify_feature_prefixed_requires_explicit_feature_context(
-        self, git_repo: Path
-    ):
-        """PowerShell also requires feature.json or SPECIFY_FEATURE_DIRECTORY."""
+    def test_ps_specify_feature_prefixed_resolves_by_prefix(self, git_repo: Path):
+        """PowerShell Get-FeaturePathsEnv: same prefix stripping as bash."""
        common_ps = PROJECT_ROOT / "scripts" / "powershell" / "common.ps1"
        spec_dir = git_repo / "specs" / "001-ps-prefix-spec"
        spec_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
@@ -337,8 +426,14 @@ class TestGetFeaturePathsSinglePrefix:
            text=True,
            env={**os.environ, "SPECIFY_FEATURE": "feat/001-other"},
        )
-        assert result.returncode != 0
-        assert "Feature directory not found" in (result.stderr + result.stdout)
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        for line in result.stdout.splitlines():
+            if line.startswith("FEATURE_DIR="):
+                val = line.split("=", 1)[1].strip()
+                assert val == str(spec_dir)
+                break
+        else:
+            pytest.fail("FEATURE_DIR not found in PowerShell output")


 # ── get_current_branch Tests ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -358,11 +453,12 @@ class TestGetCurrentBranch:
@requires_bash
 class TestNoGitTimestamp:
    def test_no_git_timestamp(self, no_git_dir: Path):
-        """Test 13: Timestamp mode works without git and creates a spec dir."""
+        """Test 13: No-git repo + timestamp creates spec dir with warning."""
        result = run_script(no_git_dir, "--timestamp", "--short-name", "no-git-feat", "No git feature")
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
        spec_dirs = list((no_git_dir / "specs").iterdir()) if (no_git_dir / "specs").exists() else []
        assert len(spec_dirs) > 0, "spec dir not created"
+        assert "git" in result.stderr.lower() or "warning" in result.stderr.lower()


 # ── E2E Flow Tests ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -371,65 +467,32 @@ class TestNoGitTimestamp:
@requires_bash
 class TestE2EFlow:
    def test_e2e_timestamp(self, git_repo: Path):
-        """Test 14: E2E timestamp flow creates only a feature directory."""
-        before = subprocess.run(
+        """Test 14: E2E timestamp flow — branch, dir, validation."""
+        run_script(git_repo, "--timestamp", "--short-name", "e2e-ts", "E2E timestamp test")
+        branch = subprocess.run(
            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
            cwd=git_repo,
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
-            check=True,
        ).stdout.strip()
-        result = run_script(git_repo, "--timestamp", "--short-name", "e2e-ts", "E2E timestamp test")
-        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
-
-        branch_name = None
-        for line in result.stdout.splitlines():
-            if line.startswith("BRANCH_NAME:"):
-                branch_name = line.split(":", 1)[1].strip()
-                break
-
-        assert branch_name is not None
-        assert re.match(r"^\d{8}-\d{6}-e2e-ts$", branch_name), f"branch: {branch_name}"
-        assert (git_repo / "specs" / branch_name).is_dir()
-
-        after = subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
-            cwd=git_repo,
-            capture_output=True,
-            text=True,
-            check=True,
-        ).stdout.strip()
-        assert after == before
+        assert re.match(r"^\d{8}-\d{6}-e2e-ts$", branch), f"branch: {branch}"
+        assert (git_repo / "specs" / branch).is_dir()
+        val = source_and_call(f'check_feature_branch "{branch}" "true"')
+        assert val.returncode == 0

    def test_e2e_sequential(self, git_repo: Path):
-        """Test 15: E2E sequential flow creates only a feature directory."""
-        before = subprocess.run(
+        """Test 15: E2E sequential flow (regression guard)."""
+        run_script(git_repo, "--short-name", "seq-feat", "Sequential feature")
+        branch = subprocess.run(
            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
            cwd=git_repo,
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
-            check=True,
        ).stdout.strip()
-        result = run_script(git_repo, "--short-name", "seq-feat", "Sequential feature")
-        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
-
-        branch_name = None
-        for line in result.stdout.splitlines():
-            if line.startswith("BRANCH_NAME:"):
-                branch_name = line.split(":", 1)[1].strip()
-                break
-
-        assert branch_name == "001-seq-feat"
-        assert (git_repo / "specs" / branch_name).is_dir()
-
-        after = subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
-            cwd=git_repo,
-            capture_output=True,
-            text=True,
-            check=True,
-        ).stdout.strip()
-        assert after == before
+        assert re.match(r"^\d{3,}-seq-feat$", branch), f"branch: {branch}"
+        assert (git_repo / "specs" / branch).is_dir()
+        val = source_and_call(f'check_feature_branch "{branch}" "true"')
+        assert val.returncode == 0


 # ── Allow Existing Branch Tests ──────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -437,22 +500,67 @@ class TestE2EFlow:

@requires_bash
 class TestAllowExistingBranch:
-    def test_allow_existing_reuses_existing_feature_dir(self, git_repo: Path):
-        """T006: Existing feature directory can be reused when the flag is set."""
-        feature_dir = git_repo / "specs" / "004-pre-exist"
-        feature_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
-
+    def test_allow_existing_switches_to_branch(self, git_repo: Path):
+        """T006: Pre-create branch, verify script switches to it."""
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-b", "004-pre-exist"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
        result = run_script(
            git_repo, "--allow-existing-branch", "--short-name", "pre-exist",
            "--number", "4", "Pre-existing feature",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
-        assert feature_dir.is_dir()
-        assert (feature_dir / "spec.md").exists()
+        current = subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
+            cwd=git_repo, capture_output=True, text=True,
+        ).stdout.strip()
+        assert current == "004-pre-exist", f"expected 004-pre-exist, got {current}"
+
+    def test_allow_existing_already_on_branch(self, git_repo: Path):
+        """T007: Verify success when already on the target branch."""
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-b", "005-already-on"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        result = run_script(
+            git_repo, "--allow-existing-branch", "--short-name", "already-on",
+            "--number", "5", "Already on branch",
+        )
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+
+    def test_allow_existing_creates_spec_dir(self, git_repo: Path):
+        """T008: Verify spec directory created on existing branch."""
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-b", "006-spec-dir"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        result = run_script(
+            git_repo, "--allow-existing-branch", "--short-name", "spec-dir",
+            "--number", "6", "Spec dir feature",
+        )
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        assert (git_repo / "specs" / "006-spec-dir").is_dir()
+        assert (git_repo / "specs" / "006-spec-dir" / "spec.md").exists()

    def test_without_flag_still_errors(self, git_repo: Path):
-        """T009: Existing feature directories still fail without the flag."""
-        (git_repo / "specs" / "007-no-flag").mkdir(parents=True)
+        """T009: Verify backwards compatibility (error without flag)."""
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-b", "007-no-flag"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
        result = run_script(
            git_repo, "--short-name", "no-flag", "--number", "7", "No flag feature",
        )
@@ -461,11 +569,18 @@ class TestAllowExistingBranch:

    def test_allow_existing_no_overwrite_spec(self, git_repo: Path):
        """T010: Pre-create spec.md with content, verify it is preserved."""
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-b", "008-no-overwrite"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
        spec_dir = git_repo / "specs" / "008-no-overwrite"
        spec_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
        spec_file = spec_dir / "spec.md"
        spec_file.write_text("# My custom spec content\n")
-
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
        result = run_script(
            git_repo, "--allow-existing-branch", "--short-name", "no-overwrite",
            "--number", "8", "No overwrite feature",
@@ -473,20 +588,31 @@ class TestAllowExistingBranch:
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
        assert spec_file.read_text() == "# My custom spec content\n"

-    def test_allow_existing_creates_feature_dir_when_missing(self, git_repo: Path):
-        """T011: Verify normal directory creation when the feature dir does not exist."""
+    def test_allow_existing_creates_branch_if_not_exists(self, git_repo: Path):
+        """T011: Verify normal creation when branch doesn't exist."""
        result = run_script(
            git_repo, "--allow-existing-branch", "--short-name", "new-branch",
            "New branch feature",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
-        assert (git_repo / "specs" / "001-new-branch").is_dir()
+        current = subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
+            cwd=git_repo, capture_output=True, text=True,
+        ).stdout.strip()
+        assert "new-branch" in current

    def test_allow_existing_with_json(self, git_repo: Path):
        """T012: Verify JSON output is correct."""
        import json

-        (git_repo / "specs" / "009-json-test").mkdir(parents=True)
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-b", "009-json-test"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
        result = run_script(
            git_repo, "--allow-existing-branch", "--json", "--short-name", "json-test",
            "--number", "9", "JSON test",
@@ -496,26 +622,64 @@ class TestAllowExistingBranch:
        assert data["BRANCH_NAME"] == "009-json-test"

    def test_allow_existing_no_git(self, no_git_dir: Path):
-        """T013: Verify flag also works in non-git repos."""
+        """T013: Verify flag is silently ignored in non-git repos."""
        result = run_script(
            no_git_dir, "--allow-existing-branch", "--short-name", "no-git",
            "No git feature",
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr

+    def test_allow_existing_surfaces_checkout_error(self, git_repo: Path):
+        """Checkout failures on an existing branch should include Git's stderr."""
+        shared_file = git_repo / "shared.txt"
+        shared_file.write_text("base\n")
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "add", "shared.txt"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "commit", "-m", "add shared file", "-q"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-b", "010-checkout-failure"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        shared_file.write_text("branch version\n")
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "commit", "-am", "branch change", "-q"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-"],
+            cwd=git_repo, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        shared_file.write_text("uncommitted main change\n")
+
+        result = run_script(
+            git_repo, "--allow-existing-branch", "--short-name", "checkout-failure",
+            "--number", "10", "Checkout failure",
+        )
+
+        assert result.returncode != 0, "checkout should fail with conflicting local changes"
+        assert "Failed to switch to existing branch '010-checkout-failure'" in result.stderr
+        assert "would be overwritten by checkout" in result.stderr
+        assert "shared.txt" in result.stderr
+

 class TestAllowExistingBranchPowerShell:
    def test_powershell_supports_allow_existing_branch_flag(self):
        """Static guard: PS script exposes and uses -AllowExistingBranch."""
        contents = CREATE_FEATURE_PS.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
        assert "-AllowExistingBranch" in contents
+        # Ensure the flag is referenced in script logic, not just declared
        assert "AllowExistingBranch" in contents.replace("-AllowExistingBranch", "")

-    def test_powershell_reuses_existing_feature_dir(self):
-        """Static guard: PS script handles existing feature directories without git."""
+    def test_powershell_surfaces_checkout_errors(self):
+        """Static guard: PS script preserves checkout stderr on existing-branch failures."""
        contents = CREATE_FEATURE_PS.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
-        assert "Feature directory '$featureDir' already exists" in contents
-        assert "-not $AllowExistingBranch" in contents
+        assert "$switchBranchError = git checkout -q $branchName 2>&1 | Out-String" in contents
+        assert "exists but could not be checked out.`n$($switchBranchError.Trim())" in contents

    @pytest.mark.skipif(not _has_pwsh(), reason="pwsh not installed")
    @pytest.mark.skipif(
@@ -590,27 +754,20 @@ class TestDryRun:
                branch = line.split(":", 1)[1].strip()
        assert branch == "003-new-feat", f"expected 003-new-feat, got: {branch}"

-    def test_dry_run_does_not_change_git_branch(self, git_repo: Path):
-        """T010: Dry-run leaves the current git branch untouched."""
-        before = subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
-            cwd=git_repo,
-            capture_output=True,
-            text=True,
-            check=True,
-        ).stdout.strip()
+    def test_dry_run_no_branch_created(self, git_repo: Path):
+        """T010: Dry-run does not create a git branch."""
        result = run_script(
            git_repo, "--dry-run", "--short-name", "no-branch", "No branch feature"
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
-        after = subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
+        branches = subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "branch", "--list", "*no-branch*"],
            cwd=git_repo,
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
-            check=True,
-        ).stdout.strip()
-        assert after == before
+        )
+        assert branches.returncode == 0, f"'git branch --list' failed: {branches.stderr}"
+        assert branches.stdout.strip() == "", "branch should not exist after dry-run"

    def test_dry_run_no_spec_dir_created(self, git_repo: Path):
        """T011: Dry-run does not create any directories (including root specs/)."""
@@ -675,22 +832,50 @@ class TestDryRun:
                real_branch = line.split(":", 1)[1].strip()
        assert dry_branch == real_branch, f"dry={dry_branch} != real={real_branch}"

-    def test_dry_run_ignores_git_branches(self, git_repo: Path):
-        """Dry-run uses only spec directories for numbering."""
+    def test_dry_run_accounts_for_remote_branches(self, git_repo: Path):
+        """Dry-run queries remote refs via ls-remote (no fetch) for accurate numbering."""
        (git_repo / "specs" / "001-existing").mkdir(parents=True)
+
+        # Set up a bare remote and push (use subdirs of git_repo for isolation)
+        remote_dir = git_repo / "test-remote.git"
        subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "checkout", "-b", "005-git-only"],
-            cwd=git_repo,
-            check=True,
-            capture_output=True,
+            ["git", "init", "--bare", str(remote_dir)],
+            check=True, capture_output=True,
        )
        subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "checkout", "-"],
-            cwd=git_repo,
-            check=True,
-            capture_output=True,
+            ["git", "remote", "add", "origin", str(remote_dir)],
+            check=True, cwd=git_repo, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "push", "-u", "origin", "HEAD"],
+            check=True, cwd=git_repo, capture_output=True,
        )

+        # Clone into a second copy, create a higher-numbered branch, push it
+        second_clone = git_repo / "test-second-clone"
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "clone", str(remote_dir), str(second_clone)],
+            check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "config", "user.email", "test@example.com"],
+            cwd=second_clone, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "config", "user.name", "Test User"],
+            cwd=second_clone, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        # Create branch 005 on the remote (higher than local 001)
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "checkout", "-b", "005-remote-only"],
+            cwd=second_clone, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+        subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "push", "origin", "005-remote-only"],
+            cwd=second_clone, check=True, capture_output=True,
+        )
+
+        # Primary repo: dry-run should see 005 via ls-remote and return 006
        dry_result = run_script(
            git_repo, "--dry-run", "--short-name", "remote-test", "Remote test"
        )
@@ -699,7 +884,7 @@ class TestDryRun:
        for line in dry_result.stdout.splitlines():
            if line.startswith("BRANCH_NAME:"):
                dry_branch = line.split(":", 1)[1].strip()
-        assert dry_branch == "002-remote-test", f"expected 002-remote-test, got: {dry_branch}"
+        assert dry_branch == "006-remote-test", f"expected 006-remote-test, got: {dry_branch}"

    def test_dry_run_json_includes_field(self, git_repo: Path):
        """T015: JSON output includes DRY_RUN field when --dry-run is active."""
@@ -725,14 +910,7 @@ class TestDryRun:
        assert "DRY_RUN" not in data, f"DRY_RUN should not be in normal JSON: {data}"

    def test_dry_run_with_timestamp(self, git_repo: Path):
-        """T017: Dry-run works with --timestamp flag without mutating git state."""
-        before = subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
-            cwd=git_repo,
-            capture_output=True,
-            text=True,
-            check=True,
-        ).stdout.strip()
+        """T017: Dry-run works with --timestamp flag."""
        result = run_script(
            git_repo, "--dry-run", "--timestamp", "--short-name", "ts-feat", "Timestamp feature"
        )
@@ -743,14 +921,15 @@ class TestDryRun:
                branch = line.split(":", 1)[1].strip()
        assert branch is not None, "no BRANCH_NAME in output"
        assert re.match(r"^\d{8}-\d{6}-ts-feat$", branch), f"unexpected: {branch}"
-        after = subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
+        # Verify no side effects
+        branches = subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "branch", "--list", "*ts-feat*"],
            cwd=git_repo,
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
-            check=True,
-        ).stdout.strip()
-        assert after == before
+        )
+        assert branches.returncode == 0, f"'git branch --list' failed: {branches.stderr}"
+        assert branches.stdout.strip() == ""

    def test_dry_run_with_number(self, git_repo: Path):
        """T018: Dry-run works with --number flag."""
@@ -810,27 +989,20 @@ class TestPowerShellDryRun:
                branch = line.split(":", 1)[1].strip()
        assert branch == "002-ps-feat", f"expected 002-ps-feat, got: {branch}"

-    def test_ps_dry_run_does_not_change_git_branch(self, ps_git_repo: Path):
-        """PowerShell -DryRun leaves the current git branch untouched."""
-        before = subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
-            cwd=ps_git_repo,
-            capture_output=True,
-            text=True,
-            check=True,
-        ).stdout.strip()
+    def test_ps_dry_run_no_branch_created(self, ps_git_repo: Path):
+        """PowerShell -DryRun does not create a git branch."""
        result = run_ps_script(
            ps_git_repo, "-DryRun", "-ShortName", "no-ps-branch", "No branch"
        )
        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
-        after = subprocess.run(
-            ["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"],
+        branches = subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "branch", "--list", "*no-ps-branch*"],
            cwd=ps_git_repo,
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
-            check=True,
-        ).stdout.strip()
-        assert after == before
+        )
+        assert branches.returncode == 0, f"'git branch --list' failed: {branches.stderr}"
+        assert branches.stdout.strip() == "", "branch should not exist after dry-run"

    def test_ps_dry_run_no_spec_dir_created(self, ps_git_repo: Path):
        """PowerShell -DryRun does not create specs/ directory."""
@@ -874,10 +1046,10 @@ class TestPowerShellDryRun:

@requires_bash
 class TestGitBranchNameOverrideBash:
-    """Tests for GIT_BRANCH_NAME env var override in extension create-new-feature-branch.sh."""
+    """Tests for GIT_BRANCH_NAME env var override in extension create-new-feature.sh."""

    def _run_ext(self, ext_git_repo: Path, env_extras: dict, *extra_args: str):
-        script = ext_git_repo / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "bash" / "create-new-feature-branch.sh"
+        script = ext_git_repo / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "bash" / "create-new-feature.sh"
        cmd = ["bash", str(script), "--json", *extra_args, "ignored"]
        return subprocess.run(cmd, cwd=ext_git_repo, capture_output=True, text=True,
                              env={**os.environ, **env_extras})
@@ -929,10 +1101,10 @@ class TestGitBranchNameOverrideBash:

@pytest.mark.skipif(not _has_pwsh(), reason="pwsh not installed")
 class TestGitBranchNameOverridePowerShell:
-    """Tests for GIT_BRANCH_NAME env var override in extension create-new-feature-branch.ps1."""
+    """Tests for GIT_BRANCH_NAME env var override in extension create-new-feature.ps1."""

    def _run_ext(self, ext_ps_git_repo: Path, env_extras: dict):
-        script = ext_ps_git_repo / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "create-new-feature-branch.ps1"
+        script = ext_ps_git_repo / ".specify" / "extensions" / "git" / "scripts" / "powershell" / "create-new-feature.ps1"
        return subprocess.run(
            ["pwsh", "-NoProfile", "-File", str(script), "-Json", "ignored"],
            cwd=ext_ps_git_repo, capture_output=True, text=True,
@@ -1058,8 +1230,9 @@ class TestFeatureDirectoryResolution:
            pytest.fail("FEATURE_DIR not found in output")

    @requires_bash
-    def test_errors_without_env_var_or_feature_json(self, git_repo: Path):
-        """Without env var or feature.json, get_feature_paths now errors."""
+    def test_fallback_to_branch_lookup(self, git_repo: Path):
+        """Without env var or feature.json, falls back to branch-based lookup."""
+        subprocess.run(["git", "checkout", "-q", "-b", "001-test-feat"], cwd=git_repo, check=True)
        spec_dir = git_repo / "specs" / "001-test-feat"
        spec_dir.mkdir(parents=True)

@@ -1069,8 +1242,14 @@ class TestFeatureDirectoryResolution:
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
        )
-        assert result.returncode != 0
-        assert "Feature directory not found" in result.stderr
+        assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr
+        for line in result.stdout.splitlines():
+            if line.startswith("FEATURE_DIR="):
+                val = line.split("=", 1)[1].strip("'\"")
+                assert val == str(spec_dir)
+                break
+        else:
+            pytest.fail("FEATURE_DIR not found in output")

    @pytest.mark.skipif(not _has_pwsh(), reason="pwsh not installed")
    def test_ps_env_var_overrides_branch_lookup(self, git_repo: Path):
@@ -1164,7 +1343,7 @@ class TestDescriptionQuoting:
        ids=["apostrophe", "double-quotes", "backslashes", "mixed"],
    )
    def test_ext_script_handles_special_chars(self, ext_git_repo: Path, description: str):
-        """Extension create-new-feature-branch.sh succeeds with special characters in description."""
+        """Extension create-new-feature.sh succeeds with special characters in description."""
        script = (
            ext_git_repo
            / ".specify"
@@ -1172,7 +1351,7 @@ class TestDescriptionQuoting:
            / "git"
            / "scripts"
            / "bash"
-            / "create-new-feature-branch.sh"
+            / "create-new-feature.sh"
        )
        result = subprocess.run(
            ["bash", str(script), "--dry-run", "--short-name", "feat", description],
--- a/tests/test_utils_assets_imports.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils_assets_imports.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 """Regression guard: utility and asset symbols importable from specify_cli."""
 from specify_cli import (
-    check_tool, merge_json_files,
+    check_tool, is_git_repo, merge_json_files,
    get_speckit_version,
    CLAUDE_LOCAL_PATH, CLAUDE_NPM_LOCAL_PATH,
 )
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 def test_utils_symbols_importable():
    assert callable(check_tool)
    assert callable(merge_json_files)
+    assert callable(is_git_repo)

 def test_get_speckit_version_returns_string():
    version = get_speckit_version()
--- a/tests/test_workflows.py
+++ b/tests/test_workflows.py
@@ -658,47 +658,6 @@ class TestCommandStep:
        # Claude is a SkillsIntegration so uses /speckit-specify
        assert "/speckit-specify login" in call_args[0][0][2]

-    def test_dispatch_uses_executable_override_for_fallback_preflight(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-        """Command preflight falls back to build_exec_args() argv[0]."""
-        from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
-        from specify_cli.workflows.steps.command import CommandStep
-        from specify_cli.workflows.base import StepContext, StepStatus
-
-        monkeypatch.setenv("SPECKIT_INTEGRATION_CLAUDE_EXECUTABLE", "/opt/claude")
-        seen_which: list[str] = []
-
-        def fake_which(name: str) -> str | None:
-            seen_which.append(name)
-            return name if name == "/opt/claude" else None
-
-        step = CommandStep()
-        ctx = StepContext(
-            inputs={"name": "login"},
-            default_integration="claude",
-            project_root=str(tmp_path),
-        )
-        config = {
-            "id": "test",
-            "command": "speckit.specify",
-            "input": {"args": "{{ inputs.name }}"},
-        }
-
-        mock_result = MagicMock()
-        mock_result.returncode = 0
-        mock_result.stdout = '{"result": "done"}'
-        mock_result.stderr = ""
-
-        with patch("specify_cli.workflows.steps.command.shutil.which", side_effect=fake_which), \
-             patch("subprocess.run", return_value=mock_result) as mock_run:
-            result = step.execute(config, ctx)
-
-        assert result.status == StepStatus.COMPLETED
-        assert result.output["dispatched"] is True
-        assert seen_which[:2] == ["claude", "/opt/claude"]
-        call_args = mock_run.call_args
-        assert call_args[0][0][0] == "/opt/claude"
-        assert "/speckit-specify login" in call_args[0][0][2]
-
    def test_dispatch_failure_returns_failed_status(self, tmp_path):
        """When the CLI exits non-zero, the step should fail."""
        from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
@@ -851,46 +810,6 @@ class TestPromptStep:
        assert result.output["dispatched"] is True
        assert result.output["exit_code"] == 0

-    def test_dispatch_uses_executable_override_for_fallback_preflight(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-        """Prompt preflight falls back to build_exec_args() argv[0]."""
-        from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
-        from specify_cli.workflows.steps.prompt import PromptStep
-        from specify_cli.workflows.base import StepContext, StepStatus
-
-        monkeypatch.setenv("SPECKIT_INTEGRATION_CLAUDE_EXECUTABLE", "/opt/claude")
-        seen_which: list[str] = []
-
-        def fake_which(name: str) -> str | None:
-            seen_which.append(name)
-            return name if name == "/opt/claude" else None
-
-        step = PromptStep()
-        ctx = StepContext(
-            default_integration="claude",
-            project_root=str(tmp_path),
-        )
-        config = {
-            "id": "ask",
-            "type": "prompt",
-            "prompt": "Explain this code",
-        }
-
-        mock_result = MagicMock()
-        mock_result.returncode = 0
-        mock_result.stdout = "Here is the explanation"
-        mock_result.stderr = ""
-
-        with patch("specify_cli.workflows.steps.prompt.shutil.which", side_effect=fake_which), \
-             patch("subprocess.run", return_value=mock_result) as mock_run:
-            result = step.execute(config, ctx)
-
-        assert result.status == StepStatus.COMPLETED
-        assert result.output["dispatched"] is True
-        assert seen_which[:2] == ["claude", "/opt/claude"]
-        call_args = mock_run.call_args
-        assert call_args[0][0][0] == "/opt/claude"
-        assert call_args[0][0][2] == "Explain this code"
-
    def test_validate_missing_prompt(self):
        from specify_cli.workflows.steps.prompt import PromptStep