diff --git a/.claude/hooks/content-lint.sh b/.claude/hooks/content-lint.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..1c3405ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.claude/hooks/content-lint.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# PostToolUse(Write|Edit): block an edit that ADDS a banned token to a .rs or
+# .md file. Counts are compared against the committed version, so a file that
+# already carries a banned token stays editable and only a net increase blocks.
+set -u
+f=$(jq -r '.tool_input.file_path // .tool_response.filePath // empty' 2>/dev/null) || exit 0
+case "$f" in *.rs|*.md) ;; *) exit 0 ;; esac
+[ -f "$f" ] || exit 0
+
+block() { printf '{"decision":"block","reason":%s}\n' "$(jq -Rn --arg r "$1" '$r')"; exit 0; }
+
+# $1 = rg flags, $2 = pattern, $3 = message
+check() {
+  local now head root rel
+  now=$(rg -o $1 -- "$2" "$f" 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' '); now=${now:-0}
+  [ "$now" -eq 0 ] && return 0
+  head=0
+  if root=$(git -C "$(dirname "$f")" rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null); then
+    rel=${f#"$root"/}
+    head=$(git -C "$root" show "HEAD:$rel" 2>/dev/null | rg -o $1 -- "$2" 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
+    head=${head:-0}
+  fi
+  [ "$now" -gt "$head" ] && block "$3 File: $f (was $head, now $now)."
+  return 0
+}
+
+check -F $'\xe2\x80\x94' "This edit adds an em-dash. House style bans em-dashes: use an ASCII hyphen, a colon, or split the sentence."
+exit 0
diff --git a/.claude/hooks/nextest-on-stop.sh b/.claude/hooks/nextest-on-stop.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..33837e78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.claude/hooks/nextest-on-stop.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Stop hook: run `cargo nextest run` for the workspace crates that have
+# uncommitted .rs changes. Non-blocking; reports a pass/fail summary. No-op when
+# nothing relevant changed or cargo/nextest are unavailable.
+set -u
+root=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null) || exit 0
+cd "$root" || exit 0
+command -v cargo >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 0
+cargo nextest --version >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 0
+
+changed=$(git status --porcelain=v1 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $NF}' | rg '\.rs$' || true)
+[ -z "$changed" ] && exit 0
+
+meta=$(cargo metadata --no-deps --format-version 1 2>/dev/null) || exit 0
+pkgs=$(printf '%s\n' "$changed" | while IFS= read -r f; do
+  [ -n "$f" ] || continue
+  printf '%s' "$meta" | jq -r --arg f "$root/$f" \
+    '.packages[] | (.manifest_path | rtrimstr("Cargo.toml")) as $d | select($f | startswith($d)) | .name'
+done | sort -u)
+[ -z "$pkgs" ] && exit 0
+
+args=(); while IFS= read -r p; do [ -n "$p" ] && args+=(-p "$p"); done <<< "$pkgs"
+list=$(printf '%s' "$pkgs" | tr '\n' ' ')
+if out=$(cargo nextest run --no-tests=warn "${args[@]}" 2>&1); then
+  printf '{"systemMessage":%s,"suppressOutput":true}\n' "$(jq -Rn --arg m "nextest OK for touched crates: $list" '$m')"
+else
+  fails=$(printf '%s' "$out" | rg -N 'FAIL|error\[|test result: FAILED|panicked' | tail -15)
+  printf '{"systemMessage":%s}\n' "$(jq -Rn --arg m "nextest FAILED for touched crates ($list):
+$fails" '$m')"
+fi
+exit 0
diff --git a/.claude/hooks/rustfmt-on-edit.sh b/.claude/hooks/rustfmt-on-edit.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..15927037
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.claude/hooks/rustfmt-on-edit.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# PostToolUse(Write|Edit): format the edited Rust file with rustfmt (edition 2024).
+# Fast per-file format; no-op for non-.rs paths or when rustfmt is unavailable.
+set -u
+f=$(jq -r '.tool_input.file_path // .tool_response.filePath // empty' 2>/dev/null) || exit 0
+case "$f" in *.rs) ;; *) exit 0 ;; esac
+[ -f "$f" ] || exit 0
+command -v rustfmt >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 0
+rustfmt --edition 2024 "$f" 2>/dev/null || true
+exit 0
diff --git a/.claude/settings.json b/.claude/settings.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c2574063
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.claude/settings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+{
+  "hooks": {
+    "PostToolUse": [
+      {
+        "matcher": "Write|Edit",
+        "hooks": [
+          {
+            "type": "command",
+            "command": "\"$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR\"/.claude/hooks/rustfmt-on-edit.sh",
+            "timeout": 30
+          },
+          {
+            "type": "command",
+            "command": "\"$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR\"/.claude/hooks/content-lint.sh",
+            "timeout": 15
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+    ],
+    "Stop": [
+      {
+        "hooks": [
+          {
+            "type": "command",
+            "command": "\"$CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR\"/.claude/hooks/nextest-on-stop.sh",
+            "timeout": 600
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+    ]
+  }
+}
diff --git a/.config/nextest.toml b/.config/nextest.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6c3dbf42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.config/nextest.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Fail a hung test fast instead of blocking CI: warn at 60s, kill after 5 periods.
+[profile.default]
+slow-timeout = { period = "60s", terminate-after = 5 }
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 35532e08..e34478db 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -25,9 +25,14 @@ Thumbs.db
 # which is then caught by the rule above).
 !.env.example
 
-# Agent skills / AI tooling — installed locally, never committed.
+# Agent skills / AI tooling. The shared Claude Code config (settings.json
+# plus the repo hooks) is tracked; personal and per-session state is not.
 .agents/
-.claude/
+.claude/*
+!.claude/settings.json
+!.claude/hooks/
+.claude/settings.local.json
+.claude/worktrees/
 skills-lock.json
 
 # Engine runtime state (default state_dir from engine.toml).
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2683071b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+# AGENTS.md
+
+`CLAUDE.md` is a symlink to this file.
+
+## What shepherd is
+
+shepherd is the CoW Protocol composition root over the nexum WASM Component Model runtime and the videre intent and venue layer.
+nexum-runtime supplies the venue-agnostic host: the Component Model runtime, the module supervisor, and the capability tables.
+videre-nexum-module supplies the intent and venue platform on top of it.
+This repository adds the CoW-specific parts: the `shepherd` engine binary, the CoW venue adapter, the ComposableCoW keeper machinery, and the production keeper modules.
+Every module is a wasm32-wasip2 component, and the host grants each one only the capabilities its manifest declares.
+
+## Layout
+
+- `crates/shepherd-engine` builds the `shepherd` binary: the nexum runtime and the videre host wired as the CoW composition root.
+- `crates/cow-venue` holds the CoW venue slices, and it is orderbook-only.
+  The default `body` slice carries the venue-neutral order intent body types and their borsh codec; the `client`, `assembly`, and `adapter` features layer the typed client, the chain-edge order assembly, and the wasm32-wasip2 venue adapter component on top.
+- `crates/composable-cow` holds the ComposableCoW keeper machinery: the conditional-order body, the structured poll `Verdict`, and the `run` composition over the venue client.
+- `modules/twap-monitor` and `modules/ethflow-watcher` are the production keeper modules.
+- `tools/orderbook-mock` is the orderbook REST mock for load tests, and `tools/baseline-latency` is the Python latency baseline tooling.
+- `wit/shepherd-cow` is this repository's WIT package.
+  `wit/deps/` vendors the cross-repo WIT packages, and `wit/deps.toml` pins their sources.
+- `extensions.toml` is the client-capability registry that the module world synthesis reads.
+  It names the WIT import each `[capabilities]` declaration becomes, so it must stay next to `Cargo.toml`.
+- The `engine*.toml` files are engine-side runtime configs, one per scenario.
+  `engine.example.toml` is the annotated template, `engine.m2.toml` and `engine.m3.toml` drive the smoke runbooks, `engine.e2e.toml` and `engine.load.toml` drive the e2e and load scenarios, `engine.soak.toml` and `engine.soak.docker.toml` drive the soak run, and `engine.docker.toml` matches the layout the `Dockerfile` bakes.
+  A real `engine.toml` carries paid RPC keys and is git-ignored; the committed files are placeholder templates that read secrets from `${VAR_NAME}` environment tokens.
+
+## Dependency pins
+
+This repository was carved out of the runtime monorepo, so the siblings are now external dependencies.
+Each crate manifest pins `nexum-*` to a git rev of nullislabs/nexum-runtime and `videre-*` to a git rev of nullislabs/videre-nexum-module.
+`wit/deps.toml` pins the same two revs for the vendored WIT packages.
+To move to a newer sibling rev, change every occurrence of the old rev together: the crate manifests, `wit/deps.toml`, and the vendored `wit/deps/` copies.
+A partial bump splits the graph and breaks the WIT resolve.
+`Cargo.toml` also patches `cowprotocol` to a git rev of nullislabs/cow-rs until an upstream release carries the hash-only constructor.
+
+## Build, test, lint
+
+The workspace is edition 2024 on a pinned Rust 1.94 toolchain.
+The flake devshell, the CI setup action, and the `Dockerfile` all pin 1.94; bump them in lockstep.
+Enter the devshell with `nix develop`, or let `direnv allow` do it.
+Every external dependency is hoisted into the `[workspace.dependencies]` table, and the core crates inherit with `dep.workspace = true`.
+Guest modules under `modules/` do not inherit that table: they declare their own external dependencies, because a real module author has no access to it.
+
+Use the justfile recipes:
+
+```
+just build      # build-modules + build-cow-venue + build-engine
+just test       # cargo nextest run, then cargo test --doc
+just fmt        # cargo fmt --all
+just lint       # cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
+just ci         # the full CI series locally
+```
+
+Run tests with `cargo nextest run` and doctests with `cargo test --doc`, because nextest does not run doctests.
+Run `just ci` before you push: it mirrors `.github/workflows/ci.yml` one-to-one.
+`cargo fmt --all --check` and the clippy `-D warnings` gate are the pre-commit gate, and both are blocking CI jobs.
+CI also runs `cargo doc --workspace --no-deps` under `-D warnings` and the blocking `scripts/check-cow-orderbook-only.sh` gate, which holds `crates/cow-venue` to orderbook-only.
+`just docker-build` builds the image, and `.github/workflows/docker.yml` publishes it to ghcr.io.
+
+The `.claude/hooks/` scripts support this loop.
+`rustfmt-on-edit.sh` formats each edited `.rs` file with rustfmt.
+`nextest-on-stop.sh` runs nextest for the crates with uncommitted `.rs` changes at the end of a turn.
+Each hook exits without an error when its tool is absent, so nothing runs outside the dev shell.
+
+## House rules
+
+Do not use em-dashes (U+2014) anywhere.
+Use ASCII hyphens, a colon, or split the sentence.
+`.claude/hooks/content-lint.sh` blocks an edit that adds one to a `.rs` or `.md` file.
+Write commit messages as Conventional Commits with an imperative subject.
+Disclose AI assistance with an honest `AI Assistance: <tool> used for <what>` line in the commit message and the PR body.
+Never add the `Co-Authored-By: Claude Code` or `Generated with Claude Code` boilerplate.
+In a PR or issue body, keep one logical line per paragraph.
+
+## Documentation
+
+Write all documentation in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English.
+Use short sentences, the active voice, and one idea per sentence.
+In markdown files, put each sentence on its own line and do not wrap within a sentence; GitHub reflows the file when it displays it.
+This keeps a diff to one changed line per changed sentence.
+In PR and issue bodies, keep one line per paragraph, because GitHub renders a single newline in a comment as a line break.
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..47dc3e3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+AGENTS.md
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index a861afc7..e6ef053e 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@
             wasm-tools
             wabt
             just
+            # Search tooling the agent hooks and CI gate scripts use:
+            # ripgrep for plain-text search, ast-grep for syntax-aware queries.
+            ripgrep
+            ast-grep
             pkg-config
             openssl
           ] ++ lib.optionals stdenv.isLinux [ mold ];