fix: enforce storage and tooling invariants

README.md

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+# The Steward
+
+The Steward is a Godot 4.7 simulation prototype about readable autonomous
+village life in a magical Jajce-inspired valley. The project is built as a
+living systems garden: simulation state is authoritative, while scenes provide
+presentation, navigation, and interaction geometry.
+
+## Quick start
+
+Requirements:
+
+- Godot 4.7.x;
+- Python 3;
+- the pinned development tools from `requirements-dev.txt`.
+
+Set up the local tools with `uv`:
+
+```bash
+uv venv .venv
+uv pip install --python .venv/bin/python -r requirements-dev.txt
+```
+
+Open `project.godot` in Godot 4.7 and run the main scene.
+
+## Quality gate
+
+Run the complete local gate before committing:
+
+```bash
+./tools/quality.sh
+```
+
+On Windows:
+
+```powershell
+powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\tools\quality.ps1
+```
+
+For a faster changed-GDScript formatting and lint pass, while still running
+the Godot checks and scenarios:
+
+```bash
+./tools/quality.sh --changed
+```
+
+The gate enforces Godot 4.7, the pinned formatter and linter, headless project
+scenarios, and the vendored GUT suite. See
+[`docs/local_quality_gate.md`](docs/local_quality_gate.md) for setup and
+troubleshooting.
+
+## Project guide
+
+- [`AGENTS.md`](AGENTS.md) — development loop, architecture rules, validation,
+  documentation, and Git expectations;
+- [`docs/PROJECT_CONTEXT.md`](docs/PROJECT_CONTEXT.md) — vision, current
+  implementation, and constraints;
+- [`docs/ARCHITECTURE_OVERVIEW.md`](docs/ARCHITECTURE_OVERVIEW.md) — runtime
+  ownership and dependency map;
+- [`docs/LEARNING_ROADMAP.md`](docs/LEARNING_ROADMAP.md) — milestone order and
+  the current next slice;
+- [`docs/README.md`](docs/README.md) — complete documentation map.
+
+Start with the current code and tests when they disagree with a plan, preserve
+in-progress work, and prefer one complete gameplay proof over a broad
+abstraction.