refactor: remove dead contributor mode, replace with operational self-improvement slot

Contributor mode never fired in 18 days of heavy use (required manual opt-in
via gstack-config, gated behind _CONTRIB=true, wrote disconnected markdown).

Removes: generateContributorMode(), _CONTRIB bash var, 2 E2E tests, touchfile
entry, doc references. Cleans up skip-lists in plan-ceo-review, autoplan,
review resolver, and document-release templates.

The operational self-improvement system (next commit) replaces this slot with
automatic learning capture that requires no opt-in.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

test/gen-skill-docs.test.ts

@@ -213,11 +213,11 @@ describe('gen-skill-docs', () => {
     expect(browseTmpl).toContain('{{PREAMBLE}}');
   });
 
-  test('generated SKILL.md contains contributor mode check', () => {
+  test('generated SKILL.md contains no contributor mode (removed)', () => {
     const content = fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, 'SKILL.md'), 'utf-8');
-    expect(content).toContain('Contributor Mode');
-    expect(content).toContain('gstack_contributor');
-    expect(content).toContain('contributor-logs');
+    expect(content).not.toContain('Contributor Mode');
+    expect(content).not.toContain('gstack_contributor');
+    expect(content).not.toContain('contributor-logs');
   });
 
   test('generated SKILL.md contains session awareness', () => {

test/helpers/touchfiles.ts

@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ export const E2E_TOUCHFILES: Record<string, string[]> = {
   'skillmd-no-local-binary':  ['SKILL.md', 'SKILL.md.tmpl', 'scripts/gen-skill-docs.ts'],
   'skillmd-outside-git':      ['SKILL.md', 'SKILL.md.tmpl', 'scripts/gen-skill-docs.ts'],
 
-  'contributor-mode':           ['SKILL.md.tmpl', 'scripts/gen-skill-docs.ts'],
   'session-awareness':        ['SKILL.md', 'SKILL.md.tmpl', 'scripts/gen-skill-docs.ts'],
 
   // QA (+ test-server dependency)
@@ -182,7 +181,6 @@ export const E2E_TIERS: Record<string, 'gate' | 'periodic'> = {
   'skillmd-setup-discovery': 'gate',
   'skillmd-no-local-binary': 'gate',
   'skillmd-outside-git': 'gate',
-  'contributor-mode': 'gate',
   'session-awareness': 'gate',
 
   // QA — gate for functional, periodic for quality/benchmarks

test/skill-e2e-bws.test.ts

@@ -177,51 +177,6 @@ Report the exact output — either "READY: <path>" or "NEEDS_SETUP".`,
     try { fs.rmSync(nonGitDir, { recursive: true, force: true }); } catch {}
   }, 60_000);
 
-  testConcurrentIfSelected('contributor-mode', async () => {
-    const contribDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'skill-e2e-contrib-'));
-    const logsDir = path.join(contribDir, 'contributor-logs');
-    fs.mkdirSync(logsDir, { recursive: true });
-
-    const result = await runSkillTest({
-      prompt: `You are in contributor mode (gstack_contributor=true). You just ran this browse command and it failed:
-
-$ /nonexistent/browse goto https://example.com
-/nonexistent/browse: No such file or directory
-
-Per the contributor mode instructions, file a field report to ${logsDir}/browse-missing-binary.md using the Write tool. Include all required sections: title, what you tried, what happened, rating, repro steps, raw output, what would make it a 10, and the date/version footer.`,
-      workingDirectory: contribDir,
-      maxTurns: 5,
-      timeout: 30_000,
-      testName: 'contributor-mode',
-      runId,
-    });
-
-    logCost('contributor mode', result);
-    // Override passed: this test intentionally triggers a browse error (nonexistent binary)
-    // so browseErrors will be non-empty — that's expected, not a failure
-    recordE2E(evalCollector, 'contributor mode report', 'Skill E2E tests', result, {
-      passed: result.exitReason === 'success',
-    });
-
-    // Verify a contributor log was created with expected format
-    const logFiles = fs.readdirSync(logsDir).filter(f => f.endsWith('.md'));
-    expect(logFiles.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-
-    // Verify report has key structural sections (agent may phrase differently)
-    const logContent = fs.readFileSync(path.join(logsDir, logFiles[0]), 'utf-8');
-    // Must have a title (# heading)
-    expect(logContent).toMatch(/^#\s/m);
-    // Must mention the failed command or browse
-    expect(logContent).toMatch(/browse|nonexistent|not found|no such file/i);
-    // Must have some kind of rating
-    expect(logContent).toMatch(/rating|\/10/i);
-    // Must have steps or reproduction info
-    expect(logContent).toMatch(/step|repro|reproduce/i);
-
-    // Clean up
-    try { fs.rmSync(contribDir, { recursive: true, force: true }); } catch {}
-  }, 90_000);
-
   testConcurrentIfSelected('session-awareness', async () => {
     const sessionDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'skill-e2e-session-'));
 

test/skill-e2e.test.ts

@@ -325,62 +325,6 @@ Report the exact output — either "READY: <path>" or "NEEDS_SETUP".`,
     try { fs.rmSync(nonGitDir, { recursive: true, force: true }); } catch {}
   }, 60_000);
 
-  testIfSelected('contributor-mode', async () => {
-    const contribDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'skill-e2e-contrib-'));
-    const logsDir = path.join(contribDir, 'contributor-logs');
-    fs.mkdirSync(logsDir, { recursive: true });
-
-    // Extract contributor mode instructions from generated SKILL.md
-    const skillMd = fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, 'SKILL.md'), 'utf-8');
-    const contribStart = skillMd.indexOf('## Contributor Mode');
-    const contribEnd = skillMd.indexOf('\n## ', contribStart + 1);
-    const contribBlock = skillMd.slice(contribStart, contribEnd > 0 ? contribEnd : undefined);
-
-    const result = await runSkillTest({
-      prompt: `You are in contributor mode (_CONTRIB=true).
-
-${contribBlock}
-
-OVERRIDE: Write contributor logs to ${logsDir}/ instead of ~/.gstack/contributor-logs/
-
-Now try this browse command (it will fail — there is no binary at this path):
-/nonexistent/path/browse goto https://example.com
-
-This is a gstack issue (the browse binary is missing/misconfigured).
-File a contributor report about this issue. Then tell me what you filed.`,
-      workingDirectory: contribDir,
-      maxTurns: 8,
-      timeout: 60_000,
-      testName: 'contributor-mode',
-      runId,
-    });
-
-    logCost('contributor mode', result);
-    // Override passed: this test intentionally triggers a browse error (nonexistent binary)
-    // so browseErrors will be non-empty — that's expected, not a failure
-    recordE2E('contributor mode report', 'Skill E2E tests', result, {
-      passed: result.exitReason === 'success',
-    });
-
-    // Verify a contributor log was created with expected format
-    const logFiles = fs.readdirSync(logsDir).filter(f => f.endsWith('.md'));
-    expect(logFiles.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
-
-    // Verify new reflection-based format
-    const logContent = fs.readFileSync(path.join(logsDir, logFiles[0]), 'utf-8');
-    expect(logContent).toContain('Hey gstack team');
-    expect(logContent).toContain('What I was trying to do');
-    expect(logContent).toContain('What happened instead');
-    expect(logContent).toMatch(/rating/i);
-    // Verify report has repro steps (agent may use "Steps to reproduce", "Repro Steps", etc.)
-    expect(logContent).toMatch(/repro|steps to reproduce|how to reproduce/i);
-    // Verify report has date/version footer (agent may format differently)
-    expect(logContent).toMatch(/date.*2026|2026.*date/i);
-
-    // Clean up
-    try { fs.rmSync(contribDir, { recursive: true, force: true }); } catch {}
-  }, 90_000);
-
   testIfSelected('session-awareness', async () => {
     const sessionDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'skill-e2e-session-'));