diff --git a/src/Workflow/GenerateIssueWorkflow.php b/src/Workflow/GenerateIssueWorkflow.php
index d6ee98a..6cb315d 100644
--- a/src/Workflow/GenerateIssueWorkflow.php
+++ b/src/Workflow/GenerateIssueWorkflow.php
@@ -193,6 +193,12 @@ protected function criticRules(): array
                 . "- Few steps. One step that implements and verifies is the intended shape for a small task.\n"
                 . "- Boilerplate: namespace, strict_types, the class declaration. Rejected at save if wrong.\n\n"
                 . "REJECT when any of these hold — and say which:\n"
+                . '- a step is too SIMPLE to earn its own existence. This is a judgement, not a count: read '
+                . 'each step and ask "if it does this little, is it a step at all, or ceremony?". A step '
+                . 'whose prompt carves out only a sliver — a lookup, a restatement, one trivial action a '
+                . 'neighbour would absorb without noticing — should be FOLDED into that neighbour. A step '
+                . 'must justify its own fresh context; a workflow that spends one on a triviality is badly '
+                . "split. (Having FEW steps is not the fault — a lone meaty step is ideal; a thin step is);\n"
                 . "- a step is a true placeholder: no ai()/tool() call at all;\n"
                 . '- the class builds the change as a PHP string and writes it (str_replace/preg_replace '
                 . 'surgery on source, a heredoc of the new file). It cannot see or fix its own mistakes '
diff --git a/tests/Workflow/GenerateIssueWorkflowTest.php b/tests/Workflow/GenerateIssueWorkflowTest.php
index 84a19c7..5d3b464 100644
--- a/tests/Workflow/GenerateIssueWorkflowTest.php
+++ b/tests/Workflow/GenerateIssueWorkflowTest.php
@@ -163,6 +163,29 @@ public function theSolverReviewCanRejectOnSubstanceAndSeesWhatTheAuthorSaw(): vo
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * A too-simple step is a decomposition defect the reviewer must catch — the "make meaty steps"
+     * rule lives in the generator prompt, which the model can ignore; the gate is the critic. It is an
+     * EVALUATION, not a turn count: read each step and ask whether one this small earns being a step.
+     */
+    #[Test]
+    public function theSolverReviewRejectsAStepTooSimpleToJustifyItself(): void
+    {
+        $dir = self::tempDir();
+
+        try {
+            $agent = self::generate($dir, 'Issue13Solver', 'simple');
+            $review = self::textOf($agent, 5);   // the critic's prompt
+
+            Assert::true(str_contains($review, 'too SIMPLE to earn its own existence'));
+            Assert::true(str_contains($review, 'is it a step at all, or ceremony?'));
+            // and the judgement is not mistaken for "too few steps" — a lone meaty step stays ideal
+            Assert::true(str_contains($review, 'a lone meaty step is ideal'));
+        } finally {
+            self::rmrf($dir);
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * A chosen approach reaches the model that writes the solver, and sits BESIDE the general recipe
      * rather than replacing it.