## β Close-out — Cycle #149

### Review context

**Issue:** #149 — UIE must include skill loading as part of Understand before Execute
**Scope:** Small-change path (§1.2). Single-file prose addition to `src/packages/cnos.core/templates/SOUL.md` §2.1 Observation.
**Review rounds:** 1. No RC issued. First-pass approval.
**Tier 3 skills required:** `cnos.core/skills/skill`, `cnos.core/skills/write`.

The branch was clean on intake. All three ACs had direct verbatim evidence. No contract-level, mechanical, or judgment findings surfaced across Phase 1 (contract integrity), Phase 2 (issue contract walk + diff inspection + architecture check).

Notable: α used incremental write discipline (8 commits on the branch — one for the SOUL.md change, seven for self-coherence sections written one at a time). The self-coherence evidence was precise and required no disambiguation.

### Merge evidence

**Merge commit:** `ae39c13f7451878c6df0f505c925e78deff80b4d`
**Merge author:** `beta@cdd.cnos`
**Base (origin/main at merge):** `3cef674ff0b640f331cf7f2b817ca2dc9596fd2d`
**cycle/149 head at merge:** `6d0bfa68` (β verdict commit)
**Pushed to origin/main:** yes (`ae39c13f`)

Pre-merge gate:
- Row 1 (identity): `beta@cdd.cnos` confirmed before and after merge
- Row 2 (canonical-skill freshness): origin/main was `3cef674f` at β intake and at merge time — no mid-cycle main advance; no skill re-load required
- Row 3 (merge-test): Zero unmerged paths. `scripts/check-version-consistency.sh` passed on merge tree. `tools/validate-skill-frontmatter.sh` requires `cue` (not installed) — not applicable for this cycle (SOUL.md has no frontmatter; no new SKILL.md files modified).

### β-side findings

No findings from review (see `beta-review.md` §Findings — empty table).

One observation: the four ❌/✅ bullets at the end of §2.1 now span two topics (general observation principle + skill-loading gate). This was the pre-existing structure; the change is consistent with it. No action required — noted for γ's PRA in case the pattern is relevant.

CI state on merge: provisional. CI runs on main push; no branch-push CI. Post-merge CI is the verification path for this cycle.
