AER v6.0.1: focused resources, compatible upgrades
A compatible patch cuts copied references from 170 to 38, clarifies task guidance, and safely retires obsolete files from existing v6.0.0 installations.
The useful part of the audit was concrete: standalone skills copied the transitive closure of links between shared references. A skill naming three documents could carry many more. V6.0.1 makes the named resources self-contained and ships only the 38 references directly named by skill bodies, down from 170. The 13 skills keep their inline safety context and work without another installed skill or the project contract.
Improve the existing contract
This is a patch release within v6. The commands, ownership model, profiles, Node.js 24.11.1 minimum, native manual invocation, and Claude's Read/Grep/Glob reviewer remain compatible. Clearer descriptions distinguish ordinary feature work, structural refactoring, architectural decisions, and touched security boundaries. Runtime formatting and plain kernel wording make the implementation easier to inspect; they do not establish that a model follows the guidance better.
Remove old files without adopting user edits
The new package carries the exact unchanged v6.0.0 inventory. An upgrade can retire an obsolete file only when the package recognizes its ownership and its current bytes still match. Actual upgrades exercised all three assurance profiles with portable, Codex, and Claude Code representations together. Each scenario removed 396 obsolete reference copies, left 114 required copies, refused an edited reference before mutation, and preserved consumer text through uninstall.
The journal, run lock and filesystem guards stay because a clean git diff cannot establish deletion authority or restore every ignored or untracked consumer file. Existing v6 consumers install the newer CLI and rerun aer install; omitted selections retain their recorded values. V5 still has its separate pinned exit. An interrupted v6 operation first resumes with the package and request that created it.
Prepare checks that can find a defect
The behavioral preparation now uses 13 distinct development fixtures instead of copies of one notes module. Cases cover file-backed data conversion and retry, checkpointed work, workspace authorization, real loopback HTTP and partner contracts, and browser editing and focus. Eighteen selected acceptance checks detect their seed's known defect. Baselines establish fixture setup; calibration does not measure model performance, and browser focus and artifact quality still require observation or rubric grading. Production-repository validity, routing accuracy and kernel ablations remain unmeasured.
Choose a delivery path deliberately
The project CLI supplies the contract and explicit native representations. A Claude-only project can use --instructions-file .claude/rules/aer.md alongside its existing CLAUDE.md. Generic skill installers can copy the committed portable skill directories, but do not run AER's native renderer or install its contract and restricted reviewer. The documentation now explains these choices before the research qualifications.
A ten-minute upgrade check
With Node.js 24.11.1 or newer, create a disposable directory and use the pinned packages below. Inspect the removal plan, apply it, check integrity, and preview uninstall. Changing one owned reference before the upgrade should cause refusal rather than an overwrite. This checks package delivery and consumer preservation, not model behavior.
mkdir aer-601-check && cd aer-601-check
npm exec --yes --package=@aaarslan/aer@6.0.0 -- aer install --destination codex:.agents/skills --destination claude-code:.claude/skills
npm exec --yes --package=@aaarslan/aer@6.0.1 -- aer install --dry-run
npm exec --yes --package=@aaarslan/aer@6.0.1 -- aer install
npm exec --yes --package=@aaarslan/aer@6.0.1 -- aer check --json
npm exec --yes --package=@aaarslan/aer@6.0.1 -- aer uninstall --dry-run
npm exec --yes --package=@aaarslan/aer@6.0.1 -- aer uninstall