branch.sh, finish.sh, release.sh, runner-image.sh and release-notes.sh
carried multi-paragraph 'how we got here / rejected' essays in comments. They
now live in the matching development/ category file, and each script keeps a
one-line pointer so the rationale is single-homed and cannot drift.
The merge half of the branching model was still prose, so it drifted per
session. create:finish mirrors create:branch: it asserts the merge-side
preconditions, fast-forwards a stale main (divergence is refused), merges
--no-ff, runs npm run verify, and deletes the branch only when green. The
push stays with create:release so the merge is reviewable first.