feat(docs-hygiene): rename-references auto-applies the Certain bucket and reports it

.changes/docs-hygiene/work-resolve-issue-issue-12592-41586966486-1-affe032d.md

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+bump: minor
+---
+
+### Changed
+
+- `/docs-hygiene:rename-references` apply mode no longer asks before applying the Certain bucket.
+  It applies those matches by default and reports the count, one or two example matches, and how
+  to review the bucket one match at a time instead. The proceed/abort gate, the Chain-context
+  prompt and the per-match Ambiguous prompts are unchanged. (#12592)

plugins/docs-hygiene/skills/rename-references/SKILL.md

@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ Multi-word old/new is fine. Separator is the only delimiter. Quote characters (`
    - **Certain**. Slash-token, path, frontmatter glob (high precision, auto-apply candidate)
    - **Chain-context**. Preceded/followed by other known skill names; numbered table rows; chain prose with multiple skill tokens
    - **Ambiguous**. Bare-token matches where token is in English-verb blocklist (`confirm`/`test`/`review`/`fix`/`clean`/`build`/`lint`/`verify`/`plan`/etc.)
-4. **Confirm**. Present buckets via `AskUserQuestion`:
-   - Certain → "auto-apply N matches?". Yes/no
+4. **Confirm**. Present bucket counts and gate proceed/abort via `AskUserQuestion`; then per bucket:
+   - Certain → no question: auto-applied, reported with count, 1-2 examples and how to review one-by-one instead
    - Chain-context → "review N matches one-by-one?". Yes/skip-bucket/auto-apply-all
    - Ambiguous → per-match yes/no with surrounding context
 5. **Apply**, Edit each accepted match. Idempotent, running twice is safe.

plugins/docs-hygiene/skills/rename-references/context/apply.md

@@ -47,13 +47,16 @@ Classify per [triage.md](triage.md) into Certain / Chain-context / Ambiguous / E
 
 Present bucket counts via the report template from [triage.md](triage.md) "Reporting bucket counts." Then gate the proceed/abort decision via `AskUserQuestion`.
 
-Per-bucket confirmation flow:
+Per-bucket flow:
 
 **Certain bucket:**
 
-- Show count + 1-2 example matches
-- `AskUserQuestion`: "Auto-apply N matches?" with options "auto-apply", "review one-by-one"
-- Default: auto-apply (these forms have empirically near-zero false-positive rate)
+- Mark every match accepted for Phase 5 without asking (these forms have empirically near-zero false-positive rate)
+- Report the count and 1-2 example matches with the bucket counts, before the proceed/abort gate,
+  and say how to review the bucket one by one instead: answer "review Certain one by one" in the
+  reply to the gate or to any later Phase 4 prompt. The Certain matches are then presented per
+  match with 3 lines of context and the options "rename this", "skip this", "skip remaining
+  Certain"
 
 **Chain-context bucket:**
 
@@ -68,15 +71,15 @@ Per-bucket confirmation flow:
 - ALWAYS one-by-one, because batched confirmation defeats the safety purpose
 
 **Record every decline as a confirmed skip, keyed by `(file, line, start, end)`.** "skip bucket",
-"skip this" and "skip remaining ambiguous" each produce skip records for the matches they cover.
+"skip this", "skip remaining ambiguous" and "skip remaining Certain" each produce skip records for the matches they cover.
 Phase 6 subtracts those spans from the actionable count. Without the record the same declined
 match re-enters Outcome B on every re-sweep and the loop cannot terminate. See Phase 6.
 
 If user picks "abort" at any prompt, halt and report partial state (no matches edited yet, since the Edit phase has not started).
 
 ### Phase 5: Apply
 
-For each accepted match (from Phase 4 user confirmations):
+For each accepted match (every Certain match not moved to one-by-one review, plus the matches accepted at the Phase 4 prompts):
 
 - Use Edit tool with exact old/new substitution
 - For matches where the form requires partial replacement (e.g., chain prose `→ confirm →` becomes `→ verify →`), construct precise old_string and new_string

plugins/docs-hygiene/skills/rename-references/context/triage.md

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Match patterns where the rename intent is unambiguous regardless of surrounding
   Form 15 where the token is not a common noun. The demoted alternatives land in Bucket 2 or
   Bucket 3 below; `patterns.md` "Phase 0" carries the per-alternative table
 
-**User flow:** present count and 1-2 example matches via `AskUserQuestion`. Two options: "auto-apply N matches" or "review one-by-one." Default: auto-apply.
+**User flow:** auto-apply without asking. Report the count, 1-2 example matches, and how to review the bucket one by one instead: answer "review Certain one by one" in the reply to the proceed/abort gate (`apply.md` Phase 4).
 
 **Why default-apply:** these forms have near-zero false-positive rate empirically, so treating them as ambiguous burdens the user without value.
 
@@ -160,6 +160,9 @@ Sweep results across <N> tracked files:
 | Ambiguous       | <Z>   | Per-match confirm    |
 | Excluded        | <W>   | Skipped (plan-docs/historical/memory) |
 
+Certain examples: <1-2 matches>. To review them one by one instead, answer
+"review Certain one by one".
+
 Proceed?
 ```
 

plugins/docs-hygiene/skills/rename-references/evals/evals.json

@@ -596,6 +596,18 @@
         "`/confirm-changes` is named as what a trailing `\\b` wrongly matches",
         "The always-loaded surface is identified as the reason a stale directive there is worse than elsewhere"
       ]
+    },
+    {
+      "id": 49,
+      "name": "certain-bucket-auto-applies-and-reports",
+      "prompt": "Rename the skill /verify to /verify-changes. The sweep finds only slash-token and path references.",
+      "expected_output": "Every match is a Form 1 slash-token or Form 3 path, so all of them land in the Certain bucket. The skill reports the bucket counts with the Certain count and one or two example matches, says the user can answer \"review Certain one by one\" to review them per match instead, and gates only the proceed/abort decision. It asks no separate \"auto-apply N matches?\" question for the Certain bucket; on proceed, Phase 5 edits every Certain match.",
+      "files": [],
+      "expectations": [
+        "No `AskUserQuestion` asks whether to auto-apply the Certain bucket",
+        "The report gives the Certain count, one or two example matches, and how to review the bucket one by one instead",
+        "The proceed/abort gate still runs before any edit"
+      ]
     }
   ]
 }