diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index b658de7..f261d16 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ name: CI
 
 on:
   push:
-    branches: [main]
+    branches: [dev]
   pull_request:
 
 concurrency:
@@ -38,6 +38,16 @@ jobs:
       - name: Assert no derived data is tracked
         run: npm run check-data-tracking
 
+      # `npm ci` above ran the postinstall linker, so this asserts the projection actually happened
+      # rather than re-doing it: both skill surfaces point at the installed package, and no skill
+      # byte is tracked here. An `--ignore-scripts` install resolves the dependency without linking
+      # anything, and this is what makes that state red instead of silently fine.
+      #
+      # No path filter, and no workflow of its own: a path-filtered workflow reports *pending* on
+      # PRs that miss the filter, which can never satisfy a required check.
+      - name: Assert the skill substrate is projected, not copied
+        run: npx --no-install neo-agent-skills-materialize --check
+
       # `--project=unit` excludes `unit-profiling`. Those two specs read the real `users.jsonl`, which
       # is gitignored and whose fetch skips under CI, and they assert wall-clock budgets that a shared
       # runner can double — a regression report for something that did not regress.
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a938d02..08099d8 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -45,4 +45,9 @@ chroma-neo-memory-core/
 # Playwright test results
 test/playwright/test-results/
 # Single-file Playwright runs via npx
-test-results/
\ No newline at end of file
+test-results/
+# Skill substrate arrives as the neo-agent-skills npm dependency and is materialized by its
+# postinstall linker as symlinks into node_modules. Both paths are projection, never committed
+# bytes (neomjs/neo#17798).
+.agents/skills
+.claude/skills/
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 2252d17..695261c 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
                 "marked": "^18.0.5",
                 "mermaid": "^11.16.0",
                 "monaco-editor": "0.50.0",
+                "neo-agent-skills": "^0.1.1",
                 "parse5": "^8.0.1",
                 "postcss": "^8.5.16",
                 "sass": "^1.101.0",
@@ -6130,6 +6131,19 @@
                 "node": ">= 0.6"
             }
         },
+        "node_modules/neo-agent-skills": {
+            "version": "0.1.1",
+            "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/neo-agent-skills/-/neo-agent-skills-0.1.1.tgz",
+            "integrity": "sha512-y6cgogGzPwdhxj32FyjLae3Ld/qeiX48UZeIgEazLGSH2YQLwS6YoZV236Wu9hWhPrcAFP9AmA+rB4YMKBummA==",
+            "dev": true,
+            "license": "MIT",
+            "bin": {
+                "neo-agent-skills-materialize": "scripts/materialize-harness-skills.mjs"
+            },
+            "engines": {
+                "node": ">=24.0.0"
+            }
+        },
         "node_modules/neo-async": {
             "version": "2.6.2",
             "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/neo-async/-/neo-async-2.6.2.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6d21984..4475e3c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     "private": true,
     "type": "module",
     "scripts": {
-        "postinstall"                          : "node ./buildScripts/linkMarkedForWorkerScope.mjs && node ./buildScripts/pullDevIndexData.mjs",
+        "postinstall"                          : "node ./buildScripts/linkMarkedForWorkerScope.mjs && node ./buildScripts/pullDevIndexData.mjs && neo-agent-skills-materialize",
         "add-config"                           : "node ./node_modules/neo.mjs/buildScripts/create/addConfig.mjs",
         "build-all"                            : "node ./node_modules/neo.mjs/buildScripts/build/all.mjs -f -n",
         "build-all-questions"                  : "node ./node_modules/neo.mjs/buildScripts/build/all.mjs -f",
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@
         "marked"                       : "^18.0.5",
         "mermaid"                      : "^11.16.0",
         "monaco-editor"                : "0.50.0",
+        "neo-agent-skills"             : "^0.1.1",
         "parse5"                       : "^8.0.1",
         "postcss"                      : "^8.5.16",
         "sass"                         : "^1.101.0",