ip-uspto-provisional

name	ip-uspto-provisional
description	Draft, review, and revise USPTO provisional patent applications (specification + drawings, claims optional, enablement-depth-first) through the canonical anvil lifecycle. The conversion seed for a later anvil:ip-uspto non-provisional filing.
domain	ip
type	skill
user-invocable	false

anvil:ip-uspto-provisional — USPTO provisional patent applications

The ip-uspto-provisional skill produces provisional patent applications targeting filing at the United States Patent and Trademark Office under 35 U.S.C. §111(b). A provisional is a different artifact class than the non-provisional utility application anvil:ip-uspto produces: there is no claims requirement, no per-claim inventorship attribution, no 37 CFR 1.77(b) formal-section regime, and no examination — the provisional is never examined on the merits. Its sole legal job is to attach a priority date to what it discloses: under §119(e), a later non-provisional can claim the provisional's filing date only for subject matter the provisional supports at §112(a) written-description-and-enablement depth.

That inversion drives everything in this skill. Where anvil:ip-uspto is claim-centric (flat-weighted rubric, dedicated claims and s101 critics, claim-spec correspondence as dim 9), this skill is enablement-depth-dominant: the dominant risk in a provisional is a thin disclosure that names an inventive feature without enabling it — priority silently fails to attach, and the gap is discovered 12 months later during conversion, when it is too late to fix. The rubric (anvil-ip-provisional-v1, /45, ≥39 — see rubric.md) weights §112(a) enablement depth highest, and the s112 critic is the load-bearing critic.

Relationship to anvil:ip-uspto (per the skill-identity-is-artifact-identity convention — CLAUDE.md): the two are sibling skills sharing substrate through anvil/lib/ (staged-sidecar atomicity, machine-summary scorecard kind, _progress.json conventions, critic discovery/aggregation) and through the ip-uspto skill's assets/ (the anvil-uspto.cls LaTeX class and spec template are reused — see "Install coupling" below). The natural consumer flow is: provisional thread → (≤12 months) → anvil:ip-uspto non-provisional conversion referencing it. The conversion linkage is mechanical (issue #501): this finalizer writes an authoritative <thread>/_filing.json filing-record (the provisional FILING date + application number), and the anvil:ip-uspto consumer reads those into its BRIEF converts_provisional block to emit the §119(e) priority-claim text (spec cross-reference paragraph at draft + ADS domestic-priority data at finalize) and to surface the 12-month conversion deadline in its orchestrator. See "Conversion linkage (mechanical, issue #501)" below.

Claims-optional posture (load-bearing)

A provisional does not require claims, and this skill never penalizes their absence:

• A thread with no claims.tex is a fully valid thread. The absence of claims is never a finding, never a deduction, and never a critical flag — on any dimension, by any critic.
• A claim-seed section is encouraged for conversion readiness: a claims.tex carrying draft claim language (or a claim-seed subsection in the spec) sharpens the articulation of the inventive features and gives the eventual non-provisional drafter a head start. When present, critics MAY read it as positive evidence toward dim 9 (Conversion readiness) — the interaction is opportunistic, not punitive, mirroring the perspective-rubric contract in anvil/lib/snippets/rubric.md: a claim-seed can move dim 9 up, never down, and removing it never raises a score.
• Defects inside a present claim-seed (a seed claim contradicting the spec, a seed limitation with no disclosure) are legitimate findings — they pollute the conversion — but cap at severity major (seed claims are not filed claims) except where the defect evidences a disclosure gap, in which case the finding belongs to the disclosure dimension (1–3) at whatever severity the gap warrants.

Artifact contract

A provisional thread is a single provisional application authored across one or more revisions, identified by a slug (e.g., acme-widget-prov). Each thread occupies a portfolio directory:

<portfolio>/
  <thread>/                       Thread root with brief and reference material
    BRIEF.md                      Structured inventor brief (same shape as ip-uspto intake output)
    refs/                         Optional reference material (transcripts, sketches, lab notebooks)
    prior-art/                    Operator-supplied prior art (PDFs or markdown summaries)
    .anvil.json                   Optional per-thread overrides (max_iterations, critic set)
  <thread>.1/                     First drafted version (immutable once written)
    spec.tex                      Specification (LaTeX, \documentclass{anvil-uspto})
    anvil-uspto.cls               Class file, copied alongside so the version dir compiles standalone
    claims.tex                    OPTIONAL claim-seed block (encouraged, never required)
    drawings/
      drawing-descriptions.md     Stub descriptions for human illustrator (default v0)
      (or fig-1.svg / fig-1.pdf when rendered drawings exist)
    _outline.json                 Section-by-section drafting plan (same schema as ip-uspto; see below)
    _progress.json                Phase state for this version
    _revision-log.md              (revisions only) Maps prior critic findings to changes
  <thread>.1.review/              General reviewer sibling
  <thread>.1.s112/                §112(a) enablement-depth critic (the load-bearing critic)
  <thread>.1.priorart/            Prior-art positioning critic
  <thread>.1.audit/               Final fact-check sibling (ip-uspto-provisional-audit)
  <thread>.2/                     Revised version (after revise consumes ALL critic siblings)
  ...
  <thread>.{N}/                   Terminal version, marked READY (then AUDITED once audit lands)
  <thread>.counsel/               COUNSEL-READY filing package (ip-uspto-provisional-finalize)

There is no abstract.txt (a provisional requires no abstract) and no inventorship.md gate (no per-claim attribution without required claims). An advisory, non-gating inventorship-lite pass (ip-uspto-provisional-inventorship, issue #516) is available — an inventor-LIST consistency check (BRIEF ↔ spec ↔ SB/16 cover sheet), not a per-claim matrix; it never gates the finalizer, and the absence of claims or of an inventor list is never a finding. The terminal filing package is <thread>.counsel/ (the COUNSEL-READY phase — spec.pdf + drawings.pdf + provisional SB/16 cover-sheet placeholder + counsel_memo.md + README + manifest; produced by ip-uspto-provisional-finalize), distinct from anvil:ip-uspto's <thread>.final/.

Versioned dirs (<thread>.{N}/) and critic sibling dirs (<thread>.{N}.<tag>/) are immutable once their _progress.json records the phase as done. Revisions are produced as a new version dir, never by editing in place.

_outline.json

The drafter uses the same outline control surface as anvil:ip-uspto (see that skill's SKILL.md §"Outline control surface" for the full schema and field semantics — schema reuse, not duplication). Differences for the provisional shape:

• Required section ids: field, background, summary, brief-description-of-drawings, detailed-description. (No abstract section.)
• claim-seed is an optional section id (file: claims.tex, claim_tree shape) — present only when the operator or drafter opts into a claim-seed.
• detailed-description subsections carry the same feature_ref / ranges / alternatives / refnums slots — these are the enablement-depth surface the s112 critic scores, and they matter MORE here than in the non-provisional (every disclosed alternative and range is conversion scope; every omitted one is scope the conversion cannot claim with priority).

State machine

Per-thread state, derived from on-disk evidence (not flags):

EMPTY → INTAKE_DONE → DRAFTED → REVIEWED → REVISED → … → READY → AUDITED → COUNSEL-READY

State	Evidence
EMPTY	No <thread>.{N}/ directories exist; brief may or may not exist
INTAKE_DONE	<thread>/BRIEF.md exists and is structured (intake frontmatter keys)
DRAFTED	Latest <thread>.{N}/ exists with spec.tex, drawings/drawing-descriptions.md, and _progress.json.draft == done; no sibling critic at the same N
REVIEWED	All configured critic siblings (<thread>.{N}.<tag>/) at the latest N are done
REVISED	A <thread>.{N+1}/ exists after prior critic siblings at <thread>.{N}
READY	Aggregate score from critic siblings ≥39/45 AND no critical flag at latest N
AUDITED	<thread>.{N}.audit/_summary.md records passed: true alongside a READY version
COUNSEL-READY	<thread>.counsel/_progress.json records phases.finalize.state == done (with _manifest.json present) — the assembled counsel filing package from an AUDITED version

Thresholds: ≥39/45 advances (legal artifact → the high threshold band per anvil/lib/snippets/rubric.md). Any s112 critical flag short-circuits regardless of total score — a provisional whose disclosure fails to enable a named inventive feature is not worth filing. Other critic critical flags follow the same short-circuit rule.

Iteration cap: default max_iterations: 5, overridable via <thread>/.anvil.json. Exceeding the cap marks the thread BLOCKED (human review). Stable-score termination (STALLED) follows anvil/lib/snippets/rubric.md §"Termination resolution order".

The AUDITED state is reached by ip-uspto-provisional-audit (the post-convergence fact-check on a READY version), and the terminal COUNSEL-READY state by ip-uspto-provisional-finalize (which assembles the <thread>.counsel/ filing package from an AUDITED version). The finalizer's only gate is audit-passed — there is no inventorship-lock gate. The advisory ip-uspto-provisional-inventorship inventor-LIST consistency check (issue #516) is available as a counsel aid but never gates the finalizer.

A mechanical pre-flight gate (ip-uspto-provisional-pre-flight, issue #502) now gates the REVISED → REVIEWED loop edge: after each revise, before the next critic cycle, the pre-flight runs deterministic provisional-shape checks (paragraph numbering, reference-numeral coherence, required-section presence, documentclass, render-gate compile/overfull/placeholder, plus an advisory §112 enablement-stub scan) so the critics don't spend attention budget on mechanical defects. It is a loop-edge gate, not a finalizer gate. It drops the non-provisional abstract / claim-numbering / claim-count / 37 CFR 1.77(b) checks (the claims-optional, no-abstract, no-1.77(b) posture) and replaces 1.77(b) with the five-id required-section presence check. See commands/ip-uspto-provisional-pre-flight.md.

Render-gate threshold calibration + audit/finalize backstop (issue #572)

The pre-flight render-gate (Check 9) and the audit render-gate backstop (Check 8 in ip-uspto-provisional-audit.md, added by issue #572) both call anvil/lib/render_gate.py::compile_and_gate(...) with overfull_threshold_pt=2.0, tighter than the framework default of 5.0pt in anvil/lib/render_gate.py. Rationale: a filed provisional shipped with a 83.6pt overfull (~16× the framework default; >40× the ip-skill override) because the entire review pipeline was text-content-based and the load-bearing gap was at audit/finalize — no backstop reinvoked the gate after the last pre-flight pass. The Phase-1 fix is the audit-time backstop (writes <thread>.{N}.audit/_gate.json) + the finalize pre-gate (reads it and refuses to assemble <thread>.counsel/ when overfull-box findings are present), plus the 2.0pt call-site tighten — the framework default in render_gate.py remains 5.0pt to avoid disturbing the installation, proposal, datasheet, paper, report consumers. See commands/ip-uspto-provisional-pre-flight.md Check 9, commands/ip-uspto-provisional-audit.md Check 8, and commands/ip-uspto-provisional-finalize.md step 4b.

Command dispatch

Command	Role	Reads	Writes
ip-uspto-provisional	portfolio orchestrator	all <thread>.* dirs under cwd	(none; reports state per thread + recommends next command)
ip-uspto-provisional-draft <thread>	drafter	<thread>/BRIEF.md, <thread>/refs/, <thread>/prior-art/; for revisions also prior version + critic siblings	<thread>.{N}/ with spec/drawings (+ optional claim-seed)
ip-uspto-provisional-review <thread>	general reviewer	latest <thread>.{N}/	<thread>.{N}.review/
ip-uspto-provisional-112 <thread>	§112(a) enablement-depth critic	latest <thread>.{N}/	<thread>.{N}.s112/
ip-uspto-provisional-prior-art <thread>	prior-art critic	latest <thread>.{N}/ + <thread>/prior-art/**	<thread>.{N}.priorart/
ip-uspto-provisional-pre-flight <thread>	pre-flight checker (mechanical gate, REVISED → REVIEWED edge)	latest <thread>.{N}/ (spec.tex, optional claims.tex, drawings/, _outline.json)	<thread>.{N}.preflight/ (_summary.md records passed)
ip-uspto-provisional-claims-seed <thread>	claim-seed critic (opt-in, not in default set)	latest <thread>.{N}/ (claims.tex IFF present, spec.tex) + optional <thread>/BRIEF.md	<thread>.{N}.claimseed/ (dim 9 contribution; null when no seed)
ip-uspto-provisional-figures <thread>	figurer (deterministic; stub-default, opt-in --mode tikz)	latest <thread>.{N}/ (spec.tex, drawings/drawing-descriptions.md)	into <thread>.{N}/drawings/ (stubs + illustrator brief; fig-*.tex/fig-*.pdf in TikZ mode)
ip-uspto-provisional-vision <thread>	drawings VLM critic (opt-in, non-gating, gracefully-degrading)	rendered drawings under latest <thread>.{N}/drawings/ (fig-*)	<thread>.{N}.vision/ (pixels-side half of Dim 4; skipped, no _review.json when stub-only)
ip-uspto-provisional-revise <thread>	reviser	latest <thread>.{N}/ + ALL <thread>.{N}.<tag>/ critic siblings	<thread>.{N+1}/ with _revision-log.md, or a READY marker
ip-uspto-provisional-audit <thread>	auditor	READY <thread>.{N}/ + <thread>/BRIEF.md + <thread>/prior-art/**	<thread>.{N}.audit/ (_summary.md records passed)
ip-uspto-provisional-finalize <thread>	finalizer	AUDITED <thread>.{N}/ + <thread>.{N}.audit/_summary.md + <thread>/BRIEF.md	<thread>.counsel/ filing package (spec.pdf, drawings.pdf, SB/16 cover-sheet placeholder, counsel_memo.md, README, manifest)
ip-uspto-provisional-inventorship <thread> [--evidence [<repo>]]	inventorship-lite (advisory, non-gating)	<thread>/BRIEF.md (inventors: list), latest <thread>.{N}/spec.tex, <thread>.counsel/cover-sheet-placeholder.txt if present; with --evidence also the implementation repo's git history (via the promoted anvil/lib/inventorship_evidence.py)	<thread>/inventorship-lite.md (inventor-LIST consistency report); with --evidence also <thread>/inventorship-evidence/evidence.jsonl (Notes-only RTP citations)

Intake: there is no ip-uspto-provisional-intake command in Phase 1. The brief shape is identical to the non-provisional's; run ip-uspto-intake <thread> (from anvil:ip-uspto) to convert a raw inventor disclosure into <thread>/BRIEF.md, or hand-author one to the same shape. The orchestrator recommends exactly that for EMPTY threads.

No s101 critic, no required claims critic: a provisional is never examined, so Alice/Mayo screening of claims that don't exist is not a useful review pass; statutory-subject-matter posture is better assessed at conversion time against real claims. The deliberately-lighter, conversion-readiness-oriented analog — ip-uspto-provisional-claims-seed (issue #502) — now ships as an opt-in critic: it scores defects inside a present claim-seed (capped at major; disclosure-gap defects routed to s112) and contributes positive evidence to dim 9 (Conversion readiness), but it never penalizes the absence of a claim-seed and is not in the default critic set (review + s112 + priorart). See commands/ip-uspto-provisional-claims-seed.md.

Multi-critic primitive — sibling directory convention

The standard N-parallel-critics-one-reviser shape, with the default critic set review + s112 + priorart:

<thread>.{N}/                   ← the artifact (immutable once review starts)
<thread>.{N}.review/            ← general reviewer (dims 4, 6, 7, 8; joint 9)
<thread>.{N}.s112/              ← §112(a) enablement-depth critic (dims 1, 2, 3; joint 9)
<thread>.{N}.priorart/          ← prior-art positioning critic (dim 5)
<thread>.{N+1}/                 ← reviser output (consumes ALL siblings above)

Operators can subset via { "critics": ["review", "s112"] } in <thread>/.anvil.json (e.g., skip priorart when no prior art was supplied — though that critic also degrades gracefully to a null score). The reviser refuses to advance without all configured critics present. s112 may not be subsetted out — it owns the dominant dimension; a configuration removing it is an error the reviser reports.

The claimseed tag (the opt-in ip-uspto-provisional-claims-seed critic, issue #502) is NOT in the default set and is added explicitly: { "critics": ["review", "s112", "priorart", "claimseed"] }. Its sibling is <thread>.{N}.claimseed/. Because it is opt-in, the reviser must NOT refuse to advance when claimseed is absent — only the configured critics gate advancement, and claimseed is never in the configured set by default. When opted in on a thread with no claim-seed at version N, the critic still writes a valid sibling scoring nothing (dim 9 null, no finding, no flag) — the absence of a claim-seed is never penalized.

The vision tag (the opt-in ip-uspto-provisional-vision critic, issue #515) is likewise NOT in the default set and is added explicitly: { "critics": ["review", "s112", "priorart", "vision"] }. Its sibling is <thread>.{N}.vision/. It is the rendered-drawings VLM critic — it owns the pixels-side half of rubric Dim 4 (reference-numeral legibility, scope-relevant label placement, cross-reference accuracy on drawings that render); the source-side review critic keeps the text-source half. Like claimseed, it is opt-in and the reviser must NOT refuse to advance when vision is absent. It degrades gracefully: on a stub-only thread (drawings-as-stubs, no rendered fig-*) it records phases.vision.state = "skipped", writes NO _review.json, and produces NO Dim-4 deduction and NO finding — so the aggregator never sees a vision scorecard and a valid stub-only provisional is never penalized. It reuses the framework rendered_overflow_unrecoverable critical flag (framed as §119(e) priority-scope loss) and never double-flags the rubric-line-70 s112 missing-drawing gap (absence of a drawing is the source-side critic's finding, not a vision finding). The corresponding ip-uspto-provisional-figures figurer (deterministic; stub-default, opt-in --mode tikz) writes into <thread>.{N}/drawings/ and produces the rendered drawings the vision critic consumes. See commands/ip-uspto-provisional-figures.md and commands/ip-uspto-provisional-vision.md.

A mechanical pre-flight gate sits on the loop's REVISED → REVIEWED edge: after each revise produces <thread>.{N+1}/, run ip-uspto-provisional-pre-flight <thread> (writing <thread>.{N+1}.preflight/) before running the critics on the new version. On pass, run the critics; on fail, the orchestrator reports PRE_FLIGHT_FAILED — revise required and the operator re-runs ip-uspto-provisional-revise with the pre-flight findings as input. The pre-flight is a machine-summary sibling (like the critics) but scores no rubric dimension — it is a deterministic gate, not a scored perspective.

Uniform critic output schema

Every critic sibling carries the machine-summary scorecard kind per anvil/lib/snippets/scorecard_kind.md (same kind as anvil:ip-uspto — the two ip skills are the machine-summary pair in the suite):

<thread>.{N}.<tag>/
  _summary.md         Scorecard (9-dim /45 partial — critic fills only owned dimensions) + critical flag + rubric block
  findings.md         Itemized findings: severity, location (file:section), rationale, suggested fix
  _meta.json          { critic, role, started, finished, model, schema_version,
                        scorecard_kind: "machine-summary",
                        rubric_id: "anvil-ip-provisional-v1", rubric_total: 45, advance_threshold: 39 }
  _progress.json      Phase state for this critic

All three rubric-stamping fields (rubric_id / rubric_total / advance_threshold) are mandatory in every critic _meta.json per the per-review version stamping contract (issue #346; anvil/lib/snippets/scorecard_kind.md §"Rubric version stamping fields") — every critic-writing command in this skill stamps them, uniformly. Critics leave non-owned dimensions null (never zero); the reviser aggregates non-null scores by mean per anvil/lib/snippets/critics.md.

Atomicity: every critic sibling is written atomically via the staged-sidecar primitive (anvil/lib/sidecar.py::staged_sidecar + the per-critic cleanup_one_staging sweep, issues #350/#376). Files are staged under a leading-dot .<thread>.{N}.<tag>.tmp/ and renamed in one atomic Path.rename on clean completion; the final-named dir never exists in partial form.

Progress tracking

Each <thread>.{N}/ carries _progress.json per the canonical schema, read-merge-write recipe, and crash-recovery contract in anvil/lib/snippets/progress.md (consumer repo: .anvil/anvil/lib/snippets/progress.md). Validation is by file existence, not flag. metadata.score_history rows carry the per-row rubric_id stamp: { "iteration": <N>, "total": <total>, "threshold": 39, "rubric_id": "anvil-ip-provisional-v1" }.

Rubric

See rubric.md for the 9-dimension /45 schema (anvil-ip-provisional-v1), the ≥39 advance threshold, the enablement-depth-dominant weighting (dim 1 at weight 8 — the inverse of ip-uspto's flat design), and the critical-flag policy. Dim 9 is Conversion readiness — replacing ip-uspto's Claim-spec correspondence, which cannot apply when claims are optional.

Project BRIEF artifact type

ip-uspto-provisional is registered as a skill-identity artifact_type value in the shared project-BRIEF registry (anvil/lib/project_brief.py::REGISTERED_ARTIFACT_TYPES / SKILL_IDENTITY_ARTIFACT_TYPES; issue #440, following the #386/#408/#432 pattern for deck/slides/proposal/paper/report). In a shared project BRIEF, a documents: entry with artifact_type: ip-uspto-provisional declares that this skill owns the thread. It is NOT a memo subtype: it selects no memo rubric overlay, and memo commands fail loudly when pointed at a thread declaring it. anvil:project-migrate's letter-family adoption mode (--adopt-family) writes this value (with a # TODO(operator) confirmation marker) when the operator passes the REQUIRED --artifact-type ip-uspto-provisional — there is no inference between a provisional and a full application (ip-uspto), so the choice is always explicit.

anvil:project-migrate also enrolls native provisional threads (issue #503) — directories whose version-dir body is provisional.tex (the COUNSEL-READY companion is counsel_memo.tex, #480). Recognition is FILENAME-driven, never \documentclass content: anvil's own provisional body is spec.tex with \documentclass{anvil-uspto} — the same class the full ip-uspto spec uses — so a content scan cannot disambiguate a provisional from a full application (this section's "no inference" invariant). The operator's body filename provisional.tex is the declaration; it maps to artifact_type: ip-uspto-provisional (TODO-marked) on both the single-file --enroll surface and the whole-project bare-thread surface. The provisional.tex body is recorded, never renamed (the #382/#408 carve-out — anvil's canonical body is spec.tex, but renaming a consumer's externally-compiled provisional.tex would break their xelatex/build tooling). A counsel_memo.tex is recognized as a preserved companion — never selected as the body, never renamed; a version dir carrying counsel_memo.tex with no provisional.tex is a plan-time refusal (a counsel memo is not a fileable body).

Conversion linkage (mechanical, issue #501)

The provisional's reason to exist is the eventual anvil:ip-uspto non-provisional conversion under 35 U.S.C. §119(e). That linkage is mechanical, not manual:

• Producer side (this skill): ip-uspto-provisional-finalize writes <thread>/_filing.json — the authoritative, machine-readable filing-record { thread, artifact_type, filing_date, application_number, generated_at, from_version, note }. At finalize the provisional has not yet been filed, so filing_date and application_number are templated as null; counsel fills them from the USPTO Filing Receipt after the provisional is filed (the finalizer never guesses a filing date — a guessed date silently corrupts the §119(e) clock). This replaces the prior "save these in the thread root" prose with a real file the consumer parses.
• Consumer side (anvil:ip-uspto): the non-provisional <thread>/BRIEF.md declares the linkage with a converts_provisional block (thread / filing_date / application_number / optional portfolio_path) whose filing_date is copied from this skill's _filing.json. From that block the ip-uspto skill emits the §119(e) priority-claim text (a "CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS" spec paragraph at draft + ADS domestic-priority data at finalize) and surfaces the filing_date + 12 months conversion deadline in its orchestrator (warn within 60 days / past).
• Fail loud: a converts_provisional block present with a missing/empty filing_date is an error on the consumer side — never a silently blank priority claim. This is the same silent-priority-failure guard the enablement-depth rubric enforces, applied to the date plumbing.
• Out of scope (split to a follow-up): the §112(a) disclosure-coverage check — whether the converted subject matter exceeds what the provisional enabled. That is a cross-spec critic pass, not date-and-boilerplate linkage.

Install coupling

This skill reuses anvil:ip-uspto's assets: the anvil-uspto.cls LaTeX class and the template-spec.tex.j2 spec scaffold at anvil/skills/ip-uspto/assets/ (consumer repo: .anvil/skills/ip-uspto/assets/). The drafter copies anvil-uspto.cls into each version dir so versions compile standalone. Install the two skills together:

./scripts/install-anvil.sh --skills=ip-uspto,ip-uspto-provisional /path/to/consumer

A consumer installing ip-uspto-provisional without ip-uspto will hit a missing-class error at draft time (the drafter reports the remediation). Intake reuse (ip-uspto-intake) has the same coupling. Promoting the shared class/template into anvil/lib/ is the natural follow-up once this second consumer has proven the duplication (the "wait for the second consumer" lib-extraction pattern — this IS the second consumer; see ROADMAP).

Defaults and overrides

Consumers extend via .anvil/skills/ip-uspto-provisional/ in their own repo:

• voice.md (optional) — firm or attorney drafting-voice guidance.
• rubric.overrides.md (optional) — additive critical-flag examples; cannot reduce the base rubric.
• critics/ (optional) — custom critic command files, picked up by the orchestrator's sibling glob.

Important caveats

• This skill does NOT file a provisional application. ip-uspto-provisional-finalize assembles the COUNSEL-READY <thread>.counsel/ package (spec.pdf + drawings.pdf + provisional SB/16 cover-sheet placeholder + counsel_memo.md), but actual filing (completing the SB/16, paying the flat basic filing fee, Patent Center submission) requires human + attorney action.
• This skill does NOT replace a licensed patent attorney. It is a drafting and review aid.
• The prior-art critic does NOT do its own patent search. Operator supplies prior art in <thread>/prior-art/.
• A provisional is not a placeholder for a thin disclosure. The entire value of this skill is refusing to bless an under-enabled spec. If the rubric blocks on enablement depth, the correct fix is more disclosure from the inventors — not a lower bar.
• The 12-month conversion clock starts at filing. This finalizer records the FILING date in <thread>/_filing.json, and the anvil:ip-uspto non-provisional side surfaces the filing_date + 12 months deadline (warning within 60 days / past) — see "Conversion linkage (mechanical, issue #501)" above. The clock starts at the provisional's actual FILING date (filled by counsel into _filing.json from the USPTO Filing Receipt), NOT at finalize.

Git sync hook (opt-in, off by default)

Consumers running anvil under an external orchestrator (a sphere channel-agent, a Loom-style daemon) can opt in to a per-phase git commit hook so every lifecycle phase leaves the working tree clean: a repo-level .anvil/config.json with git.commit_per_phase: true (and optionally git.push: true) has each write-bearing ip-uspto-provisional command end its phase by staging only the dirs it wrote and committing as anvil(ip-uspto-provisional/<phase>): <thread>.{N} [<state>]. The full contract — knob shape, defaults-off rule, commit-message format, staging scope, warn-and-continue failure semantics, and ordering after the _progress.json done write and the #350 sidecar atomic rename — lives in anvil/lib/snippets/git_sync.md (.anvil/anvil/lib/snippets/git_sync.md in an installed consumer repo). All write-bearing ip-uspto-provisional commands (draft, review, 112, prior-art, pre-flight, claims-seed, figures, vision, revise, audit, finalize) adopt it; the read-only ip-uspto-provisional portfolio orchestrator is exempt by definition. (The audit commits <thread>.{N} and the finalize commits the literal terminal <thread>.counsel package dir per git_sync.md §"Non-thread commit shapes".) The opt-in vision critic's git-sync step is a no-op on its graceful-degradation skip path — a stub-only thread writes no sibling dir, so there is nothing to commit. When .anvil/config.json is absent or the knob is false, behavior is byte-identical to a pre-#426 install — the hook is default off.