Merge branch 'master' into docs/issue-260-forbid-commit-fallbacks

docs/llm-workflow-runbooks.md

@@ -316,6 +316,30 @@ may edit another issue's branch folder unless explicitly assigned to that issue.
 No LLM may clean another issue's branch folder unless the PR is merged or closed
 and cleanup is explicitly part of the task.
 
+## Agent temp artifact cleanup (#261)
+
+Failed or aborted MCP commit attempts sometimes leave throwaway helper scripts in
+the **repository root**. These are not part of any issue scope and pollute
+`git status`, which can break `gitea_lock_issue` and preflight checks.
+
+**Patterns (repo root only, untracked):**
+
+- `_encode_*.py` — base64 payload encoders
+- `_emit_*.py` — commit payload emitters
+- `_inline_*.py` — inline encoding helpers
+
+**Required cleanup (after MCP commit completes or aborts):**
+
+1. Delete any matching files at the repo root (`rm ./_encode_*.py` etc.).
+2. Confirm `git status` is clean on the orchestration checkout before
+   `gitea_lock_issue`.
+3. Prefer native `gitea_commit_files` / gated commit paths — do not leave shell
+   encoding fallbacks behind.
+
+Root-level matches are listed in `.gitignore` so they never get committed.
+`gitea_get_runtime_context` and `gitea_lock_issue` surface **warnings** (not
+hard blocks) when these artifacts are still present.
+
 Implementation work and review work must use separate branch folders. For
 example, an implementation branch might live under
 `branches/fix-issue-123-example`, while a review branch for the resulting PR