diff --git a/scripts/gen-skill-docs.ts b/scripts/gen-skill-docs.ts
index 6028ea4ea..f5dd794b2 100644
--- a/scripts/gen-skill-docs.ts
+++ b/scripts/gen-skill-docs.ts
@@ -962,6 +962,20 @@ function findTemplates(): string[] {
 }
 
 const ALL_HOSTS: Host[] = ALL_HOST_NAMES as Host[];
+
+/**
+ * The generator's whole executable body. Import-purity contract: importing
+ * this module must NEVER touch the tree — test/gen-skill-docs.test.ts pulls
+ * assertSinglePreamble via require(), test/catalog-trim.test.ts imports
+ * helpers, and before this guard existed every such import regenerated all
+ * 71 SKILL.md in place at module-load time (the root cause of half the
+ * TREE_MUTATING serial shard; hazard class #2532). Pinned by
+ * test/gen-skill-docs-import-purity.test.ts.
+ *
+ * Returns the process exit code. Kept synchronous so the module stays
+ * require()-able (see the llms.txt IIFE note below).
+ */
+export function main(): number {
 const hostsToRun: Host[] = HOST_ARG_VAL === 'all' ? ALL_HOSTS : [HOST];
 const failures: { host: string; error: Error }[] = [];
 
@@ -1077,7 +1091,7 @@ for (const currentHost of hostsToRun) {
 
     if (DRY_RUN && hasChanges) {
       console.error(`\nGenerated SKILL.md files are stale (${currentHost} host). Run: bun run gen:skill-docs --host ${currentHost}`);
-      if (HOST_ARG_VAL !== 'all') process.exit(1);
+      if (HOST_ARG_VAL !== 'all') return 1;
       failures.push({ host: currentHost, error: new Error('Stale files detected') });
     }
 
@@ -1112,7 +1126,7 @@ for (const currentHost of hostsToRun) {
 // in the same commit" is only a real gate if every host failure is fatal here.
 if (failures.length > 0 && HOST_ARG_VAL === 'all') {
   console.error(`\n${failures.length} host(s) failed: ${failures.map(f => f.host).join(', ')}`);
-  process.exit(1);
+  return 1;
 }
 // Single host dry-run failure already handled above
 
@@ -1150,3 +1164,14 @@ if (!DRY_RUN) {
     }
   })();
 }
+
+return 0;
+}
+
+if (import.meta.main) {
+  // Failure exits are immediate (matching the old top-level process.exit
+  // behavior); success leaves the event loop to drain so the llms.txt
+  // fire-and-forget IIFE inside main() finishes its write.
+  const code = main();
+  if (code !== 0) process.exit(code);
+}
diff --git a/test/gen-skill-docs-import-purity.test.ts b/test/gen-skill-docs-import-purity.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e109b73ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/gen-skill-docs-import-purity.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/**
+ * Importing scripts/gen-skill-docs.ts must not touch the tree.
+ *
+ * Before the main() guard, the generator's whole body executed at module
+ * load: any `import`/`require` of it (test/gen-skill-docs.test.ts pulls
+ * assertSinglePreamble; test/catalog-trim.test.ts imports helpers)
+ * regenerated all 71 SKILL.md in place — the root cause of half the
+ * TREE_MUTATING serial-shard entries (hazard class #2532). A regression
+ * here silently re-poisons parallel shards with mid-window tree rewrites.
+ *
+ * The probe runs in a subprocess so a regression can't contaminate THIS
+ * process, and asserts on mtimes rather than git status — the working tree
+ * may legitimately carry uncommitted SKILL.md edits while this runs; what
+ * must not happen is the import WRITING files.
+ */
+import { describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test';
+import * as path from 'node:path';
+
+const ROOT = path.resolve(__dirname, '..');
+
+describe('gen-skill-docs import purity', () => {
+  test('importing the module neither writes SKILL.md nor runs main()', () => {
+    const probe = `
+      const fs = require('node:fs');
+      const path = require('node:path');
+      const ROOT = ${JSON.stringify(ROOT)};
+      const targets = [
+        path.join(ROOT, 'ship', 'SKILL.md'),
+        path.join(ROOT, 'review', 'SKILL.md'),
+        path.join(ROOT, 'gstack', 'llms.txt'),
+      ].filter((p) => fs.existsSync(p));
+      if (targets.length === 0) throw new Error('probe rot: no generated targets found');
+      const before = targets.map((p) => fs.statSync(p).mtimeMs);
+      const mod = require(path.join(ROOT, 'scripts', 'gen-skill-docs.ts'));
+      if (typeof mod.main !== 'function') throw new Error('main() export missing');
+      const after = targets.map((p) => fs.statSync(p).mtimeMs);
+      for (let i = 0; i < targets.length; i++) {
+        if (before[i] !== after[i]) throw new Error('import mutated ' + targets[i]);
+      }
+      console.log('IMPORT_PURE');
+    `;
+    const out = Bun.spawnSync(['bun', '-e', probe], { cwd: ROOT });
+    const stdout = out.stdout.toString();
+    const stderr = out.stderr.toString();
+    expect(stderr, stderr).not.toContain('import mutated');
+    expect(stdout).toContain('IMPORT_PURE');
+    // The import must also not have run generation output (the "GENERATED:"
+    // lines main() prints) — load-time execution is the exact regression.
+    expect(stdout).not.toContain('GENERATED:');
+    expect(out.exitCode).toBe(0);
+  });
+});