diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e0455811f..65076b975 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@
 
 ### Changed
 - **`bin/gstack-config`**: `proactive` defaults to `core`; `set proactive` accepts `core`, `all`, `off`, `true` and `false` in any case and warns on anything else, storing `core`. The config header documents the three values.
-- **`SKILL.md.tmpl`** (the router): three branches, `off`, `core` and `all`; under `core` only the four core routing rules auto-invoke and a skill the user names is always invoked. The opt-out line writes `off`, and `all` and `core` have their own lines.
+- **`SKILL.md.tmpl`** (the router): three branches, `off`, `core` and `all`; under `core` only the four core routing rules auto-invoke, the browser step and the Failures branches name `/browse` or `/investigate` for the user to type, and a skill the user names is always invoked. The opt-out line writes `off`, and `all` and `core` have their own lines.
 - **Every skill's preamble** (`scripts/resolvers/preamble/generate-upgrade-check.ts`): the steady-state rule names the four core skills under `core`, scopes the setting to unasked suggestions, carves out only the skills the user or a step of the invoked skill names ("Skills the user or this skill's steps name run", so `/ship` dispatching `/document-release` is not a suggestion, while an in-skill offer to run another skill still counts as one under `off`), reads only `core`, `all` and `off` because `gstack-skill-start` now reports the legacy spellings as those, and is exactly as long as before, so the 89 size pins in `test/fixtures/skill-md-size-allowlist.json` are unchanged.
 - **`bin/gstack-skill-start`**: the one-time prompt offers "Keep the core four (recommended)", "Suggest every matching skill" and "Turn it off", writing `core`, `all` or `off`. `scripts/question-registry.ts` lists the same three options.
-- **`bin/gstack-skill-start`**: the `PROACTIVE:` STATUS fallback when `gstack-config` is missing is `core`, not `true` (found by /ship's coverage audit, red at the first head); a stored value gstack does not know reads as `core`, the legacy `true`/`false` read as `all`/`off`, and a hand-edited value is unquoted, lowercased and stripped of a trailing comment first, so STATUS only ever says `core`, `all` or `off` (found by /ship's red team: `proactive: "off"` read as `core`); the first-run and first-loop tips name only core skills and stay quiet under `off`; the one-time offer to add `## Skill routing` to the project's CLAUDE.md is not made under `off` (found by /ship's red team: the routing rules are the auto-invocation the user turned off).
+- **`bin/gstack-skill-start`**: the `PROACTIVE:` STATUS fallback when `gstack-config` is missing is `core`, not `true` (found by /ship's coverage audit, red at the first head); a stored value gstack does not know reads as `core`, the legacy `true`/`false` read as `all`/`off`, and a hand-edited value is unquoted, lowercased and stripped of a trailing comment first, so STATUS only ever says `core`, `all` or `off` (found by /ship's red team: `proactive: "off"` read as `core`); the first-run and first-loop tips name only core skills and stay quiet under `off`; the one-time offer to add `## Skill routing` to the project's CLAUDE.md is not made under `off` (found by /ship's red team: the routing rules are the auto-invocation the user turned off); a user who stored `off` before the one-time proactive prompt is not asked (the prompt marker is written instead).
 - **`office-hours/sections/design-and-handoff.md.tmpl`**: the next-review handoff takes the recommend-only path under `off` as well as the legacy `false` (found by /ship's review); under `core` it still offers the review, because a step inside an invoked skill is part of that skill, which the router now says in so many words.
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/SKILL.md b/SKILL.md
index e69918341..53b8b4394 100644
--- a/SKILL.md
+++ b/SKILL.md
@@ -178,7 +178,9 @@ Only run skills the user explicitly invokes. This preference persists across ses
 If `PROACTIVE` is `core` (default): **invoke the Skill tool** only for the four core
 skills when the user's request matches their rule below: `/office-hours`, `/review`,
 `/qa` and `/ship`. For every other rule, answer directly and do not suggest the skill;
-the user types it. A skill the user names is always invoked, whatever this setting says,
+the user types it. The browser step above and the **Failures** branches below follow the
+same rule: under `core`, name `/browse` or `/investigate` for the user to type instead of
+invoking it. A skill the user names is always invoked, whatever this setting says,
 and a step inside a skill that is already running (a handoff, a review gate, a subagent it
 dispatches) is part of that skill, not a suggestion.
 
diff --git a/SKILL.md.tmpl b/SKILL.md.tmpl
index fa3923c27..f2885faf5 100644
--- a/SKILL.md.tmpl
+++ b/SKILL.md.tmpl
@@ -54,7 +54,9 @@ Only run skills the user explicitly invokes. This preference persists across ses
 If `PROACTIVE` is `core` (default): **invoke the Skill tool** only for the four core
 skills when the user's request matches their rule below: `/office-hours`, `/review`,
 `/qa` and `/ship`. For every other rule, answer directly and do not suggest the skill;
-the user types it. A skill the user names is always invoked, whatever this setting says,
+the user types it. The browser step above and the **Failures** branches below follow the
+same rule: under `core`, name `/browse` or `/investigate` for the user to type instead of
+invoking it. A skill the user names is always invoked, whatever this setting says,
 and a step inside a skill that is already running (a handoff, a review gate, a subagent it
 dispatches) is part of that skill, not a suggestion.
 
diff --git a/bin/gstack-skill-start b/bin/gstack-skill-start
index 77fdc0159..6a33d86c5 100755
--- a/bin/gstack-skill-start
+++ b/bin/gstack-skill-start
@@ -551,7 +551,12 @@ Always run: \`touch "$_GH/.telemetry-prompted"\`.
 EOI
 fi
 
-# Proactive-suggestions opt-in (interactive).
+# Proactive-suggestions opt-in (interactive). A user who already stored off
+# has answered; record that instead of asking.
+if [ "$_PROACTIVE_PROMPTED" = "no" ] && [ "$_PROACTIVE_OFF" = "yes" ]; then
+  touch "$_GH/.proactive-prompted" 2>/dev/null || true
+  _PROACTIVE_PROMPTED="yes"
+fi
 if [ "$_PROACTIVE_PROMPTED" = "no" ] && [ "$_TEL_PROMPTED" = "yes" ]; then
   _emit_block proactive-prompt <<EOI
 Ask once:
diff --git a/docs/proactive.md b/docs/proactive.md
index 5830a85cd..e3bc2d076 100644
--- a/docs/proactive.md
+++ b/docs/proactive.md
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ matching skill. If you accepted it before the `core` default, trim that section
 to the four core rules (or delete it and let gstack offer it again); making the
 offered section follow `core` is tracked in #3446.
 
-gstack asks once, after the telemetry question, which of the three you want.
+gstack asks once, after the telemetry question, which of the three you want;
+if you stored `off` before that, it takes the answer as given and does not ask.
 "Say stop suggesting" in a session runs `gstack-config set proactive off` for you.
 
 If collisions with other skill packs keep coming up under `core`, the fallback
diff --git a/test/proactive-core-set.test.ts b/test/proactive-core-set.test.ts
index 8f49558ce..5db5db0d3 100644
--- a/test/proactive-core-set.test.ts
+++ b/test/proactive-core-set.test.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ import { generateUpgradeCheck } from '../scripts/resolvers/preamble/generate-upg
 const ROOT = path.resolve(import.meta.dir, '..');
 const CORE = ['/office-hours', '/review', '/qa', '/ship'];
 const NON_CORE_SAMPLE = ['/investigate', '/plan-ceo-review', '/design-review', '/retro'];
+// The one place the core block may name non-core skills: the rule that says to name them for the user to type.
+const TYPE_IT_RULE = 'under `core`, name `/browse` or `/investigate` for the user to type instead of\ninvoking it.';
 
 const routerTmpl = fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, 'SKILL.md.tmpl'), 'utf-8');
 const routerOut = fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, 'SKILL.md'), 'utf-8');
@@ -25,7 +27,8 @@ describe('proactive core set: the router', () => {
     const block = routerTmpl.slice(routerTmpl.indexOf('If `PROACTIVE` is `core` (default)'), routerTmpl.indexOf('If `PROACTIVE` is `all`'));
     expect(block.length).toBeGreaterThan(50);
     for (const skill of CORE) expect(block).toContain(`\`${skill}\``);
-    for (const skill of NON_CORE_SAMPLE) expect(block).not.toContain(`\`${skill}\``);
+    expect(block).toContain(TYPE_IT_RULE);
+    for (const skill of NON_CORE_SAMPLE) expect(block.replace(TYPE_IT_RULE, '')).not.toContain(`\`${skill}\``);
     expect(block).toContain('A skill the user names is always invoked');
   });
 
@@ -126,7 +129,7 @@ describe('proactive core set: every surface names the same four skills and three
   const surfaces: Record<string, string> = {
     'bin/gstack-config header': configSrc.slice(configSrc.indexOf('# proactive:'), configSrc.indexOf('# routing_declined:')),
     'bin/gstack-config lookup_default': configSrc.slice(configSrc.indexOf('lookup_default()')).match(/^\s*proactive\).*$/m)?.[0] ?? '',
-    'SKILL.md.tmpl core block': routerTmpl.slice(routerTmpl.indexOf('If `PROACTIVE` is `core` (default)'), routerTmpl.indexOf('If `PROACTIVE` is `all`')),
+    'SKILL.md.tmpl core block': routerTmpl.slice(routerTmpl.indexOf('If `PROACTIVE` is `core` (default)'), routerTmpl.indexOf('If `PROACTIVE` is `all`')).replace(TYPE_IT_RULE, ''),
     'preamble rule': generateUpgradeCheck({ paths: { skillRoot: '~/.claude/skills/gstack' } } as never),
     'gstack-skill-start prompt': skillStart.slice(promptAt, skillStart.indexOf('.proactive-prompted"\\`', promptAt)),
     'docs/proactive.md': fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, 'docs', 'proactive.md'), 'utf-8'),
diff --git a/test/proactive-skill-start.test.ts b/test/proactive-skill-start.test.ts
index f1b59502e..b36399c58 100644
--- a/test/proactive-skill-start.test.ts
+++ b/test/proactive-skill-start.test.ts
@@ -107,6 +107,24 @@ describe('gstack-skill-start PROACTIVE status line', () => {
     }
   });
 
+  test('a stored off answers the one-time proactive prompt: no prompt block, marker written; core still asks once telemetry was answered', () => {
+    const cases: Array<[string, boolean]> = [
+      ['update_check: false\ntelemetry: off\n', true],
+      ['update_check: false\ntelemetry: off\nproactive: off\n', false],
+    ];
+    for (const [config, asked] of cases) {
+      const state = freshState(config);
+      fs.writeFileSync(path.join(state, '.telemetry-prompted'), '');
+      try {
+        const out = runStart(path.join(BIN, 'gstack-skill-start'), state);
+        expect(out.includes('GSTACK_INSTRUCTION_BEGIN: proactive-prompt'), config).toBe(asked);
+        expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(state, '.proactive-prompted')), config).toBe(!asked);
+      } finally {
+        fs.rmSync(state, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
   test('the first-run and first-loop tips are shown under core and suppressed under off/false (the marker is not written either)', () => {
     const cases: Array<[string, boolean]> = [
       ['update_check: false\n', true],