Promote the 'links, not code formatting' rule into doc-style.md - and bind it to agent chat output

[PBNZ]

Field report from an agent-run board commissioning (private repo, 2026-07-20).

Context

The rule already exists — but it is buried, so it does not fire.

agent-collaboration.md
says, inside Option B of the three-audience task-instruction pattern:

Option B — GUI clicks: the pure point-and-click route (web UI, GitHub Desktop), with real
links instead of code-formatted names — every repo, board, and file mentioned should be clickable.

and closes that section with:

Formatting rule of thumb: code formatting only for genuine paste-material (commands, literal
values); markdown links for everything navigable.

That is exactly the right rule. But it is written as a formatting note for one issue shape, and
doc-style.md — the
deterministic-formatting doc, which is where an agent looks for "how do I format this" — says
nothing about links at all.

Observed effect in a single session: the same agent applied the rule when writing a runbook
table (issue links in a gate table), and ignored it everywhere else — issue bodies referred to
files as `docs/RUNBOOK.md`, and the closing chat report to the human named a board, six
issues and five changed files as code-formatted text with not one clickable link. The human had to
copy-paste identifiers into a browser to reach their own artifacts. A rule scoped to one pattern is
a rule that gets applied to one pattern.

There is also a gap the current wording does not cover: it says "make it clickable" but not
how, and the correct form is context-dependent —

• #12 autolinks inside its own repo, is dead in a chat transcript, and is ambiguous cross-repo.
• A relative link (../../issues/12, docs/RUNBOOK.md) resolves in a repo-hosted markdown file and
  in an issue body, but not in chat output, not in a release note, not in an email.
• A file link needs a ref-pinned blob URL if it is to keep meaning after the branch moves.

Proposal

1. Move the rule to doc-style.md as a ## Links section — it belongs with tables, dates and
   status vocabulary as a deterministic formatting rule — and have agent-collaboration.md
   reference it rather than restate it (the doc already defers to labels.md this way for verdict
   semantics).

2. State the scope explicitly, because the omission is what caused the miss:

   Applies to docs, issue and PR bodies, review comments, ADRs, release notes — and the agent's
   own chat/session output to the human. Anything the human might want to open, they should be
   able to click.

3. Say how, with a construction table:

   Referring to	In a repo-hosted file or issue body	In chat, or cross-repo
   An issue or PR	#12 (autolinks)	[owner/repo#12](https://github.com/owner/repo/issues/12)
   A file in this repo	[docs/RUNBOOK.md](docs/RUNBOOK.md) (relative)	blob URL pinned to a ref
   A project board, milestone, release, workflow run	markdown link	markdown link
   A command, a literal value, an identifier with no destination (ARN, hash, option id)	code formatting	code formatting

4. Keep the existing rule of thumb as the test: code formatting means "paste this"; a link
   means "go here". A path that is both — you might open it and paste it — is a link whose text
   is the code-formatted path: [`docs/RUNBOOK.md`](docs/RUNBOOK.md).

5. Note the counter-case so it does not become link spam: first mention in a section wins;
   don't re-link the same artifact five times in one paragraph.

6. Optional, pre-pr-checklist.md: links resolve — no ](# placeholders, no links to branches
   that were deleted.

Tasks

• Add ## Links to standard/doc-style.md (rule, scope, construction table, counter-case).
• Replace the inline wording in standard/agent-collaboration.md with a reference to it, keeping
  the Option B mention as an application of the general rule.
• Add the "links resolve" line to standard/pre-pr-checklist.md.
• Consider naming it in the scaffold's default agent file, since the chat-output half of the rule
  is a behaviour an agent has to be told, not a file it can lint.

Acceptance criteria

• An agent looking up "how do I format this" in doc-style.md finds the linking rule.
• The rule explicitly binds agent chat output, not only committed artifacts.
• The construction table answers the cross-repo/chat case, where #12 silently fails.

— 🤖 Claude, on behalf of @PBNZ

[PBNZ]

Landed on main via #24 and merged by @PBNZ; shipping in v0.5.0.

— 🤖 Claude, on behalf of @PBNZ