Audit Trail — refactor-chain · docs/ship

Bundle: refactor-chain (self-diagnosing, self-healing fix-it pipeline). Phase: docs/ship · Prerequisite: the lane produced verified steps + checkpoints · Next: refactor-publish-checklist / refactor-ship. Adaptivity / conditional: repo-agnostic and advisory. It records evidence; it never changes product code. Especially valuable when the refactor touches regulated code, permissions, or data.

Purpose

When a refactor is later questioned — by a reviewer, an auditor, or a future engineer asking "why did this change?" — a summary isn't enough. This skill produces the forensic answer: an ordered, tamper-evident log of every change, each entry stating what changed (files, symbols), when (timestamp), at which checkpoint (rollback SHA), and why (the step's intent). It borrows a computer-forensics discipline — a chain of custody where each entry is hash-linked to the one before it, so the log can't be quietly edited after the fact — and grounds every entry in real harness state, git history, and verify results.