diff --git a/.claude/skills/issue-shape/SKILL.md b/.claude/skills/issue-shape/SKILL.md
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+---
+id: issue-shape
+name: Issue Shape
+description: How to file a gHashTag/t27 issue that the issue-shape gate keeps open -- the four sections it requires (Boundary, User Scenarios, Requirements, Success Criteria), the Boundary path trap, checking a body with the generated check_issue() on the Railway lab before `gh issue create`, and how to recover when the gate has already closed an issue as `shape-refused`. Use before filing or editing any gHashTag/t27 issue, when an issue was closed seconds after filing, or when the user asks why an issue was closed "as not planned".
+---
+
+# Issue Shape
+
+<!-- only-t27-rule -->
+> **Only t27: everything is written in `.t27`.** (Owner hard rule 2026-10-05; budget #7371; restated in every skill per #7588.)
+> - New logic starts as a `.t27` spec with `test` / `invariant` blocks. It reaches Rust, C, Zig, JS or Python only through `t27c gen-*`, and generated files are never hand-edited (L2).
+> - Hand-written code in any other language is denied by the hooks and by CI: `.rs .py .ts .js .sh .zig .c .go .v .yml .toml`, Dockerfile, Makefile; the full list is in `specs/policy/own_language.t27`.
+> - Existing foreign code is debt that only shrinks. Delete it, or replace it with a spec and its generated output.
+> - Thin hand-written glue is capped at 40 added lines per file and 80 per PR. No label lifts the cap. Never split a PR to slip under it.
+> - What gen cannot express yet is a compiler defect. File it on #5980 with a minimal `.t27` repro instead of writing the code by hand.
+> - This rule overrides any step below that says to write a script or code in another language. The full text is in `AGENTS.md`, "Only t27".
+
+## Source of truth
+
+**`specs/policy/issue_shape.t27` is the rule** (owner rule 2026-10-07, #7498). `t27c gen-c`
+lowers it to `gen/c/policy/issue_shape.c`, and `.github/workflows/needs-boundary.yml` feeds every
+new or edited issue body into its `check_issue()`. While any check fails, the workflow closes the
+issue as not planned, labels it `shape-refused` and comments the failing lines. This skill is a
+reading guide to that spec. **Where the two disagree, the spec wins**: fix this file, not the
+issue. The spec's header still names the workflow `issue-shape.yml`; the file in the tree is
+`needs-boundary.yml`.
+
+Issues labelled `epic` or `roadmap` are containers and are skipped.
+
+## What the gate wants
+
+Read the spec's header comment for the exact rule. In practice, a body that passes has, in this
+order, with these English spellings (the gate accepts no other language):
+
+1. Free prose first: summary, repro, tables, anything that names files in passing.
+2. `## Boundary` -- one path per line, `- specs/x.t27`. A line counts when one of its tokens holds
+   a `/` or ends in a dot plus 1 to 10 word characters. To name one region of a file, write
+   `- path :: fn name`. A heading with no path line under it counts as missing.
+3. `## User Scenarios` -- at least one `**Given** ... **when** ... **then** ...` line.
+4. `## Requirements` -- numbered obligations, `- FR-001: ... MUST ...`.
+5. `## Success Criteria` (or `## Acceptance Criteria`, `## Acceptance`, `## Done when`) with at
+   least one outcome a machine can settle: a number with a unit (`0 files`, `200 ms`), a
+   backticked file with a listed extension (`` `x.rs` ``, `` `x.md` ``), `exit 0`, or a backticked
+   `cargo` / `git` / `make` command. Note that `.t27` is not in the extension list, so a
+   backticked `.t27` path alone does not settle it.
+
+## The Boundary trap
+
+The Boundary section runs from `## Boundary` to the next line that starts with `## `. **Every
+path token inside it is a file the Queen reserves for this issue**, prose or not. A sentence
+under the list such as "`bootstrap/src/compiler.rs` is existing Rust" reserves that file again,
+and a remark that mentions some other path ("unlike `specs/foo.t27`") reserves a file the task
+never touches. Put such prose above `## Boundary`, in the summary. Keep the section to path
+lines.
+
+## Check the body before filing
+
+Never file blind. Write the body to a file with the editor tool (a heredoc that contains a
+compiler command trips the Mac load hook), then judge it with the same generated C the workflow
+uses -- on the Railway lab, never on the Mac (AGENTS.md and the lab rule: builds run on the lab):
+
+```bash
+~/t27-lanes/lab-up.sh ./body.md /root/body.md
+```
+
+On the lab, in a t27 checkout at `origin/master`, the harness is the one in
+`.github/workflows/needs-boundary.yml`: include `gen/c/policy/issue_shape.c`, read stdin, call
+`check_issue(buf, n, out, out_cap)`, print `out`, and exit non-zero when the returned count of
+missing checks is above 0. Copy the harness from the workflow at the time you run it rather than
+from here, so the two cannot drift. Exit 0 and an empty report mean the gate will keep the issue
+open. Run it once on a body you know is wrong (drop `## Boundary`) as a negative control, so a
+harness that always prints nothing cannot fool you.
+
+## When the gate already closed it
+
+An issue closed with `shape-refused` is not lost and does not need a new number. Fix the body,
+check it as above, then:
+
+```bash
+gh issue edit <N> -R gHashTag/t27 --body-file body.md
+```
+
+The edit re-runs the workflow (it listens on `opened`, `edited` and `reopened`); a passing body
+removes `shape-refused` and reopens the issue. Do not reopen it by hand while the body still
+fails: the `reopened` event runs the check and closes it again. Do not file a duplicate.
+
+## Checklist before `gh issue create`
+
+- English, ASCII headings exactly as above.
+- Prose with file paths sits above `## Boundary`.
+- Every file the task may touch is a path line under `## Boundary`, and nothing else is.
+- Scenarios use Given/when/then; requirements use FR-NNN and MUST.
+- The criteria section has a machine-settled outcome.
+- `check_issue()` on the lab exits 0, and the negative control fails.
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 3dc5b90a22..e027bdfcf8 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ Use **domain directories**, not “one folder per agent.” Primary contact for
 3. **English + ASCII** — first-party Markdown and source comments per **LANG-EN** and **ADR-004**; grandfathered paths only in [`docs/.legacy-non-english-docs`](docs/.legacy-non-english-docs).
 4. **No new Python on the verification critical path** — see **SSOT-MATH** and [`docs/nona-02-organism/TZ-T27-001-NO-PYTHON-CRITICAL-PATH.md`](docs/nona-02-organism/TZ-T27-001-NO-PYTHON-CRITICAL-PATH.md).
 5. **Issue gate** — PRs should link issues (`Closes #N`) where project policy requires it.
+   **Issue shape** -- a new issue stays open only if [`specs/policy/issue_shape.t27`](specs/policy/issue_shape.t27) (#7498) passes; otherwise `needs-boundary.yml` closes it seconds after filing, labelled `shape-refused`. That spec is the rule. Before `gh issue create`, load the skill [`.claude/skills/issue-shape/SKILL.md`](.claude/skills/issue-shape/SKILL.md): it explains the sections, the Boundary path trap, checking a body on the Railway lab, and recovery with `gh issue edit`.
 6. **Ring / gold work** — follow [`docs/nona-01-foundation/GOLDEN-RINGS-CANON.md`](docs/nona-01-foundation/GOLDEN-RINGS-CANON.md) for parser/compiler/spec changes; compiler seal path: `bootstrap/stage0/FROZEN_HASH`.
 
 ---
diff --git a/specs/skills/t27-issue-shape.t27 b/specs/skills/t27-issue-shape.t27
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6e2a1e3505
--- /dev/null
+++ b/specs/skills/t27-issue-shape.t27
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+; specs/skills/t27-issue-shape.t27 -- skill t27/issue-shape
+; Source of truth for the skill card on t27.ai (#/skills?skill=t27/issue-shape).
+; The skill body lives in gHashTag/t27 at .claude/skills/issue-shape/SKILL.md. It is a reading guide
+; to specs/policy/issue_shape.t27, which stays the rule (#7498); where the two disagree, the spec wins.
+; The JSON the site serves is generated from this file by the real compiler;
+; nothing below is parsed with a regex.
+; phi^2 + 1/phi^2 = 3 | TRINITY
+
+module skill_t27_issue_shape;
+
+pub const KIND : str = "skill";
+pub const ID : str = "t27/issue-shape";
+pub const NAME : str = "Issue Shape";
+pub const REPO : str = "t27";
+pub const SOURCE : str = "SKILL.md";
+pub const SUMMARY_EN : str = "How to file a gHashTag/t27 issue that the issue-shape gate keeps open: the four sections specs/policy/issue_shape.t27 requires (Boundary, User Scenarios, Requirements, Success Criteria), the trap that every path inside Boundary is reserved, checking a body with the generated check_issue() on the Railway lab before filing, and recovering from shape-refused with gh issue edit.";
+; The frontmatter id is the slash command.
+pub const COMMAND : str = "/issue-shape";
+pub const SPECS : [1]str = ["specs/policy/issue_shape.t27"];
+pub const TAGS : [3]str = ["issues", "policy", "queen"];
+pub const ENABLED : bool = true;
+; Default budget; SKILL.md declares no timeout of its own.
+pub const TIMEOUT_MIN : u16 = 30;
+
+test basic_constants {
+    assert KIND == "skill";
+    assert ID == "t27/issue-shape";
+    assert NAME == "Issue Shape";
+    assert REPO == "t27";
+    assert SOURCE == "SKILL.md";
+    assert COMMAND == "/issue-shape";
+    assert ENABLED == true;
+    assert TIMEOUT_MIN == 30;
+    assert TAGS[0] == "issues";
+    assert TAGS[1] == "policy";
+    assert TAGS[2] == "queen";
+    assert SPECS.len == 1;
+    assert SPECS[0] == "specs/policy/issue_shape.t27";
+}