diff --git a/.claude/skills/elfuse-conventions/SKILL.md b/.claude/skills/elfuse-conventions/SKILL.md
index 08228a69..efe12395 100644
--- a/.claude/skills/elfuse-conventions/SKILL.md
+++ b/.claude/skills/elfuse-conventions/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 name: elfuse-conventions
-description: elfuse conventions outside CONTRIBUTING.md. Use when adding, reviewing, or reducing prose in source comments, docstrings, README.md, or docs/*.md; drafting a commit message, PR description, or review reply; adding a file or type; touching an atomic or lock-free access; handling untracked working docs; or wiring the build to a tool absent from a fresh clone.
+description: elfuse conventions outside CONTRIBUTING.md. Use when adding, reviewing, or reducing prose in source comments, docstrings, README.md, or docs/*.md; drafting a commit message, PR description, or PR or issue comment; adding a file or type; touching an atomic or lock-free access; handling untracked working docs; or wiring the build to a tool absent from a fresh clone.
 ---
 
 # elfuse conventions
@@ -380,6 +380,12 @@ reflow is the precedent.
 
 ## Pull requests
 
+Remove all mannered prose. This binds every comment posted on a PR or
+issue, by a person or an agent. A reply is a few plain sentences, no
+longer than the comment it answers unless it carries a measurement or a
+reproduction. Use a list only when the reply answers several separate
+review points.
+
 A PR thread is human collaboration, and agent-shaped artifacts are rejected
 on sight: no pasted walkthroughs or summaries ("We are humans. Don't copy
 agent-specific reply here.", PR#116), no severity or status tables ("We're
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..71e2b578
--- /dev/null
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Agent instructions
+
+Mannered prose substitutes metaphor and flourish for direct statement.
+Instead of "a parameter worth varying," the mannered writer produces "a dial
+worth turning." Instead of "this point still matters," they write "this point
+earns its keep." The phrases exist to display the writer, not to convey the
+idea, and readers can tell. That is why mannered prose irritates: it makes the
+reader work harder so the writer can perform. It is also imprecise. Metaphors
+drag in connotations the writer did not choose and cannot control. The fix is
+to say what you mean. When a literal phrase is available, use it.
+
+This covers code comments, commit messages, and every comment posted on a
+PR or issue. Read `.claude/skills/elfuse-conventions/SKILL.md`, sections
+"Comments", "Commit messages", and "Pull requests", before writing any of
+them.