Require a blank destination instead of using nodes.enc as a first-run sentinel. Recheck before writes, retain unknown or unreadable state, and leave deliberate authenticated transfer unchanged. Keep deployment .env provisioning and encrypted file precedence; explain the separate archive path in canonical and served help.
Change-source: pulse-maintainer
Document the existing nodes.enc gate, replacement scope, file precedence and non-fatal import errors. Preserve agent identity and excluded state, isolate provisioning from live traffic, and keep one-shot inputs private rather than forcing a reset.
Contract-Neutral: Existing bootstrap and encrypted-import behaviour is unchanged; this corrects canonical and served help, with documentation regression controls.
Change-source: pulse-maintainer