diff --git a/.custodian-brief.md b/.custodian-brief.md
deleted file mode 100644
index b54e295..0000000
--- a/.custodian-brief.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-<!-- custodian-brief: generated by fix-consistency — do not edit manually -->
-# Custodian Brief — railiance-enablement
-
-**Domain:** financials  
-**Last synced:** 2026-09-24 07:57 UTC  
-**State Hub:** http://127.0.0.1:8000 *(adjust if running on a remote machine)*
-
-## Active Workstreams
-
-*(none — repo may need first-session setup)*
-
-## Inbox Hygiene
-
-**Stale unread:** 1 message(s) older than 3 day(s) — triage at session start.
-**Missing thread_id:** 2 unread message(s) lack supersession chains.
-- ! state-hub: [BREAKING] Task status canon: wait/todo/progress/done/cancel  `ef7a2f96`
-
----
-## MCP Orientation (when available)
-
-If the state-hub MCP server is reachable, call:
-`get_domain_summary("financials")`
-This provides richer cross-domain context.
-If the MCP call fails, use this file as your orientation source.
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f50721e..9cff062 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
 deploy/argocd/*/upstream/
 __pycache__/
+
+# Local State Hub orientation snapshot; authored work records remain tracked.
+/.custodian-brief.md
diff --git a/SCOPE.md b/SCOPE.md
index 8e3ffb3..b6700bd 100644
--- a/SCOPE.md
+++ b/SCOPE.md
@@ -152,3 +152,9 @@ keywords: [template, sdk, helm, deployment, developer, buildpack]
 - Start with: `CLAUDE.md` (session protocol, OAS boundary rules)
 - Key files / directories: `workflows/`, `docs/`, `workplans/`, `Makefile`
 - Pre-conditions: railiance-platform (S3) must be operational
+
+## Local orientation brief policy — 2026-10-21
+
+`.custodian-brief.md` is a local, ignored State Hub orientation snapshot. Refreshing
+it does not require a Git commit. Authored workplans and the generated
+WORK-RECORDS index keep their existing source and staged-generation contracts.