diff --git a/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
index 03b85863d..2ca16dae6 100644
--- a/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "gsd-core",
   "displayName": "GSD Core",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "description": "GSD Core is a meta-prompting, context engineering, and spec-driven development system for AI coding agents.",
   "author": {
     "name": "open-gsd",
diff --git a/capabilities/ai-integration/capability.json b/capabilities/ai-integration/capability.json
index d029fad81..7c56d4ede 100644
--- a/capabilities/ai-integration/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/ai-integration/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "ai-integration",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "AI design contract",
   "description": "AI-SPEC design contract workflow for phases that build AI systems; owns the AI integration command, agents, and workflow.ai_integration_phase activation key.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/antigravity/capability.json b/capabilities/antigravity/capability.json
index a6065c3b4..36586138b 100644
--- a/capabilities/antigravity/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/antigravity/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "antigravity",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Antigravity",
   "description": "Google Antigravity IDE — nested under ~/.gemini/antigravity; probed across 1.x and 2.x layouts; Gemini hook event dialect; nested skill layout; tier-1 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/audit/capability.json b/capabilities/audit/capability.json
index 7a19ee8cf..1e5c27d98 100644
--- a/capabilities/audit/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/audit/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "audit",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Audit",
   "description": "Open-artifact audit and UAT-gap audit for milestone close gates; exposes `gsd-tools audit-uat` (cross-phase UAT outstanding items) and `gsd-tools audit-open` (structured open-artifact scan across debug, tasks, threads, todos, seeds, UAT, verification, context-questions).",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/augment/capability.json b/capabilities/augment/capability.json
index 116f2f8c1..28f0095c3 100644
--- a/capabilities/augment/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/augment/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "augment",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Augment Code",
   "description": "Augment Code CLI — commands + nested-skill artifact layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/claude/capability.json b/capabilities/claude/capability.json
index 30f47f2c3..1416265f7 100644
--- a/capabilities/claude/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/claude/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "claude",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Claude Code",
   "description": "Anthropic Claude Code — primary development runtime; tier-1 support with full hook surface and skills-based global install.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/cline/capability.json b/capabilities/cline/capability.json
index 8116f7d59..1fe0247be 100644
--- a/capabilities/cline/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/cline/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "cline",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Cline",
   "description": "Cline (VS Code extension) — global-only nested-skill layout; cline-rules hook surface (.clinerules); no hook events emitted; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/code-review/capability.json b/capabilities/code-review/capability.json
index 5a558f01c..24109e6b8 100644
--- a/capabilities/code-review/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/code-review/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "code-review",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Code review",
   "description": "Source-file code review and review-fix workflow support for completed execution work.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/codebuddy/capability.json b/capabilities/codebuddy/capability.json
index 930786fe9..987f10305 100644
--- a/capabilities/codebuddy/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/codebuddy/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "codebuddy",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "CodeBuddy",
   "description": "CodeBuddy (Tencent) — converted commands + skills artifact layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/codex/capability.json b/capabilities/codex/capability.json
index 46fe4ebbb..d8b092899 100644
--- a/capabilities/codex/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/codex/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "codex",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "OpenAI Codex CLI",
   "description": "OpenAI Codex CLI — shell-var command style; per-agent sandbox tiers; config.toml + hooks.json hook surface; tier-1 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/copilot/capability.json b/capabilities/copilot/capability.json
index 5b42a3464..b28307ac4 100644
--- a/capabilities/copilot/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/copilot/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "copilot",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "GitHub Copilot",
   "description": "GitHub Copilot (VS Code) — markdown config format; copilot-inline hook surface; no hook events emitted; flat skill nesting (unconfirmed recursive loader); tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/cursor/capability.json b/capabilities/cursor/capability.json
index b08d547df..044c46674 100644
--- a/capabilities/cursor/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/cursor/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "cursor",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Cursor",
   "description": "Cursor IDE — skills + converted commands artifact layout; hooks.json surface; Claude hook event dialect; recursive skill loader (flat nesting); tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/drift/capability.json b/capabilities/drift/capability.json
index 01b31bc88..23af8acc8 100644
--- a/capabilities/drift/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/drift/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "drift",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Drift detection gates",
   "description": "Post-execution drift detection gates that run after each wave completes. Provides two gates at execute:wave:post: a blocking schema drift gate (detects schema files changed without a database push) and a non-blocking codebase drift gate (detects structural additions not reflected in STRUCTURE.md).",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/gap-analysis/capability.json b/capabilities/gap-analysis/capability.json
index 6534113c8..63bbaf3f6 100644
--- a/capabilities/gap-analysis/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/gap-analysis/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "gap-analysis",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Post-planning gap analysis",
   "description": "Proactive, non-blocking post-planning coverage report. After all PLAN.md files are generated, cross-references every REQ-ID and D-ID from REQUIREMENTS.md and CONTEXT.md against plan bodies. Emits a Source | Item | Status table. Does not block phase advancement.",
   "tier": "standard",
diff --git a/capabilities/gemini/capability.json b/capabilities/gemini/capability.json
index 4aa3a9af6..699e23404 100644
--- a/capabilities/gemini/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/gemini/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "gemini",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Gemini CLI",
   "description": "Google Gemini CLI — commands-only artifact layout (TOML); Gemini hook event dialect; settings-json hook surface; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/graphify/capability.json b/capabilities/graphify/capability.json
index 1b3830c48..41a7c65d4 100644
--- a/capabilities/graphify/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/graphify/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "graphify",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Knowledge graph",
   "description": "Build, query, and inspect the project knowledge graph in `.planning/graphs/`; exposes graphify CLI subcommands (build, query, status, diff) and the /gsd-graphify skill.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/hermes/capability.json b/capabilities/hermes/capability.json
index cd195cdac..6e705fc5e 100644
--- a/capabilities/hermes/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/hermes/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "hermes",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Hermes Agent",
   "description": "Hermes Agent (NousResearch) — skills nest under skills/gsd/ category bucket; nested skill layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/intel/capability.json b/capabilities/intel/capability.json
index 0a5b9d3fc..cc7362dce 100644
--- a/capabilities/intel/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/intel/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "intel",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Codebase intelligence",
   "description": "Code-intelligence store for codebase querying, diff, snapshot, and API-surface extraction; exposes `gsd-tools intel` subcommands (query, status, update, diff, snapshot, patch-meta, validate, extract-exports, api-surface) and backs `/gsd-map-codebase` and `gsd-intel-updater`.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/kilo/capability.json b/capabilities/kilo/capability.json
index 3c3f0020a..9fa90243d 100644
--- a/capabilities/kilo/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/kilo/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "kilo",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Kilo Code",
   "description": "Kilo Code — XDG-based config dir; global skills at ~/.kilo/skills (separate from XDG config); flat command/ + skills artifact layout; no lifecycle hook registration; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/kimi/capability.json b/capabilities/kimi/capability.json
index 705c6bc5a..84447404c 100644
--- a/capabilities/kimi/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/kimi/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "kimi",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Kimi CLI",
   "description": "Kimi CLI (Moonshot AI) — generic agents root at ~/.config/agents; skills + kimi-agents artifact layout; no hook surface; no hook events; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/mempalace/capability.json b/capabilities/mempalace/capability.json
index 8e434a5f7..7bbf50e79 100644
--- a/capabilities/mempalace/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/mempalace/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "mempalace",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "MemPalace memory",
   "description": "Cross-session, cross-project memory: deliberate recall before discuss/plan and verbatim capture + temporal-KG sync at phase boundaries, via the MemPalace MCP server and CLI.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/nyquist/capability.json b/capabilities/nyquist/capability.json
index f04f51176..0d1b9f609 100644
--- a/capabilities/nyquist/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/nyquist/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "nyquist",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Nyquist validation",
   "description": "Validation coverage audit that maps executed work back to tests and manual-only evidence.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/opencode/capability.json b/capabilities/opencode/capability.json
index 0ccfebaeb..12468558b 100644
--- a/capabilities/opencode/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/opencode/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "opencode",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "OpenCode",
   "description": "OpenCode — XDG-based config dir; flat command/ + skills artifact layout; settings-json config format; no lifecycle hook registration; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/pattern-mapper/capability.json b/capabilities/pattern-mapper/capability.json
index ce3fda24e..4311f5c2a 100644
--- a/capabilities/pattern-mapper/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/pattern-mapper/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "pattern-mapper",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Pattern mapping",
   "description": "Optional codebase-pattern mapping before planning; owns the pattern mapper agent and workflow.pattern_mapper activation key.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/profile-pipeline/capability.json b/capabilities/profile-pipeline/capability.json
index 7861e6e4b..4bd45b0ca 100644
--- a/capabilities/profile-pipeline/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/profile-pipeline/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "profile-pipeline",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Developer profiling pipeline",
   "description": "Developer behavioral profiling from Claude Code session history; scans session JSONL files, extracts and samples user messages, and generates profile artifacts (USER-PROFILE.md, dev-preferences.md, CLAUDE.md sections). Exposes eight `gsd-tools` commands: scan-sessions, extract-messages, profile-sample (pipeline phase) and write-profile, profile-questionnaire, generate-dev-preferences, generate-claude-profile, generate-claude-md (output phase). Backs the /gsd-profile-user skill and gsd-user-profiler agent.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/qwen/capability.json b/capabilities/qwen/capability.json
index dd0fbaabb..9727ffb89 100644
--- a/capabilities/qwen/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/qwen/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "qwen",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Qwen Code",
   "description": "Qwen Code (Alibaba) — nested-skill artifact layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/research/capability.json b/capabilities/research/capability.json
index f1c3909da..17a168295 100644
--- a/capabilities/research/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/research/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "research",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Phase research",
   "description": "Optional phase research before planning; owns the phase researcher agent and workflow.research activation key.",
   "tier": "standard",
diff --git a/capabilities/schema-gate/capability.json b/capabilities/schema-gate/capability.json
index 0a3a638b8..650edc568 100644
--- a/capabilities/schema-gate/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/schema-gate/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "schema-gate",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Schema push detection gate",
   "description": "Detects ORM schema-relevant files in the phase scope during planning and injects a mandatory [BLOCKING] schema push task into the plan. Prevents false-positive verification where build/types pass because TypeScript types come from config, not the live database.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/security/capability.json b/capabilities/security/capability.json
index 2d17a5a06..7a100f506 100644
--- a/capabilities/security/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/security/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "security",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Security enforcement",
   "description": "Threat mitigation verification and ship-time security blocking for phases with security enforcement enabled.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/tdd/capability.json b/capabilities/tdd/capability.json
index 4e6c15b22..645f31300 100644
--- a/capabilities/tdd/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/tdd/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "tdd",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Test-driven development",
   "description": "Injects TDD heuristics into the planner and enforces RED/GREEN gate compliance on type:tdd plans after execution. Owns workflow.tdd_mode; the --tdd CLI flag is the ephemeral override.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/trae/capability.json b/capabilities/trae/capability.json
index 4015c7d5f..3cd9f043d 100644
--- a/capabilities/trae/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/trae/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "trae",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Trae IDE",
   "description": "Trae IDE — nested-skill artifact layout; no hook surface (profile-marker-only config); tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/capabilities/ui/capability.json b/capabilities/ui/capability.json
index 75dc81922..bf90dd8c3 100644
--- a/capabilities/ui/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/ui/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "ui",
   "role": "feature",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "UI design contracts",
   "description": "UI-SPEC design contract + retrospective UI audit for frontend phases.",
   "tier": "full",
diff --git a/capabilities/windsurf/capability.json b/capabilities/windsurf/capability.json
index 1c95f874c..3b8d0e86a 100644
--- a/capabilities/windsurf/capability.json
+++ b/capabilities/windsurf/capability.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "windsurf",
   "role": "runtime",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "title": "Windsurf",
   "description": "Windsurf (Codeium) — nested under ~/.codeium/windsurf; skills-only artifact layout; no hook surface; no hook events; tier-2 support.",
   "tier": "core",
diff --git a/gemini-extension.json b/gemini-extension.json
index e6fe4c760..fc904a07e 100644
--- a/gemini-extension.json
+++ b/gemini-extension.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "gsd-core",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "description": "GSD Core — a meta-prompting, context engineering, and spec-driven development system for AI coding agents. Loads gsd's operating context into every Gemini CLI session.",
   "contextFileName": "GEMINI.md"
 }
diff --git a/gsd-core/bin/lib/capability-registry.cjs b/gsd-core/bin/lib/capability-registry.cjs
index e17c237b0..249397540 100644
--- a/gsd-core/bin/lib/capability-registry.cjs
+++ b/gsd-core/bin/lib/capability-registry.cjs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "ai-integration": {
     "id": "ai-integration",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "AI design contract",
     "description": "AI-SPEC design contract workflow for phases that build AI systems; owns the AI integration command, agents, and workflow.ai_integration_phase activation key.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "antigravity": {
     "id": "antigravity",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Antigravity",
     "description": "Google Antigravity IDE — nested under ~/.gemini/antigravity; probed across 1.x and 2.x layouts; Gemini hook event dialect; nested skill layout; tier-1 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "audit": {
     "id": "audit",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Audit",
     "description": "Open-artifact audit and UAT-gap audit for milestone close gates; exposes `gsd-tools audit-uat` (cross-phase UAT outstanding items) and `gsd-tools audit-open` (structured open-artifact scan across debug, tasks, threads, todos, seeds, UAT, verification, context-questions).",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "augment": {
     "id": "augment",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Augment Code",
     "description": "Augment Code CLI — commands + nested-skill artifact layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "claude": {
     "id": "claude",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Claude Code",
     "description": "Anthropic Claude Code — primary development runtime; tier-1 support with full hook surface and skills-based global install.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "cline": {
     "id": "cline",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Cline",
     "description": "Cline (VS Code extension) — global-only nested-skill layout; cline-rules hook surface (.clinerules); no hook events emitted; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -338,7 +338,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "code-review": {
     "id": "code-review",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Code review",
     "description": "Source-file code review and review-fix workflow support for completed execution work.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -399,7 +399,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "codebuddy": {
     "id": "codebuddy",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "CodeBuddy",
     "description": "CodeBuddy (Tencent) — converted commands + skills artifact layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "codex": {
     "id": "codex",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "OpenAI Codex CLI",
     "description": "OpenAI Codex CLI — shell-var command style; per-agent sandbox tiers; config.toml + hooks.json hook surface; tier-1 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -521,7 +521,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "copilot": {
     "id": "copilot",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "GitHub Copilot",
     "description": "GitHub Copilot (VS Code) — markdown config format; copilot-inline hook surface; no hook events emitted; flat skill nesting (unconfirmed recursive loader); tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "cursor": {
     "id": "cursor",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Cursor",
     "description": "Cursor IDE — skills + converted commands artifact layout; hooks.json surface; Claude hook event dialect; recursive skill loader (flat nesting); tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -643,7 +643,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "drift": {
     "id": "drift",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Drift detection gates",
     "description": "Post-execution drift detection gates that run after each wave completes. Provides two gates at execute:wave:post: a blocking schema drift gate (detects schema files changed without a database push) and a non-blocking codebase drift gate (detects structural additions not reflected in STRUCTURE.md).",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -707,7 +707,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "gap-analysis": {
     "id": "gap-analysis",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Post-planning gap analysis",
     "description": "Proactive, non-blocking post-planning coverage report. After all PLAN.md files are generated, cross-references every REQ-ID and D-ID from REQUIREMENTS.md and CONTEXT.md against plan bodies. Emits a Source | Item | Status table. Does not block phase advancement.",
     "tier": "standard",
@@ -748,7 +748,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "gemini": {
     "id": "gemini",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Gemini CLI",
     "description": "Google Gemini CLI — commands-only artifact layout (TOML); Gemini hook event dialect; settings-json hook surface; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -805,7 +805,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "graphify": {
     "id": "graphify",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Knowledge graph",
     "description": "Build, query, and inspect the project knowledge graph in `.planning/graphs/`; exposes graphify CLI subcommands (build, query, status, diff) and the /gsd-graphify skill.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -846,7 +846,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "hermes": {
     "id": "hermes",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Hermes Agent",
     "description": "Hermes Agent (NousResearch) — skills nest under skills/gsd/ category bucket; nested skill layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -899,7 +899,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "intel": {
     "id": "intel",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Codebase intelligence",
     "description": "Code-intelligence store for codebase querying, diff, snapshot, and API-surface extraction; exposes `gsd-tools intel` subcommands (query, status, update, diff, snapshot, patch-meta, validate, extract-exports, api-surface) and backs `/gsd-map-codebase` and `gsd-intel-updater`.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -951,7 +951,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "kilo": {
     "id": "kilo",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Kilo Code",
     "description": "Kilo Code — XDG-based config dir; global skills at ~/.kilo/skills (separate from XDG config); flat command/ + skills artifact layout; no lifecycle hook registration; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -1026,7 +1026,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "kimi": {
     "id": "kimi",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Kimi CLI",
     "description": "Kimi CLI (Moonshot AI) — generic agents root at ~/.config/agents; skills + kimi-agents artifact layout; no hook surface; no hook events; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -1082,7 +1082,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "mempalace": {
     "id": "mempalace",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "MemPalace memory",
     "description": "Cross-session, cross-project memory: deliberate recall before discuss/plan and verbatim capture + temporal-KG sync at phase boundaries, via the MemPalace MCP server and CLI.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -1256,7 +1256,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "nyquist": {
     "id": "nyquist",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Nyquist validation",
     "description": "Validation coverage audit that maps executed work back to tests and manual-only evidence.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -1306,7 +1306,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "opencode": {
     "id": "opencode",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "OpenCode",
     "description": "OpenCode — XDG-based config dir; flat command/ + skills artifact layout; settings-json config format; no lifecycle hook registration; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -1376,7 +1376,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "pattern-mapper": {
     "id": "pattern-mapper",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Pattern mapping",
     "description": "Optional codebase-pattern mapping before planning; owns the pattern mapper agent and workflow.pattern_mapper activation key.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -1430,7 +1430,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "profile-pipeline": {
     "id": "profile-pipeline",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Developer profiling pipeline",
     "description": "Developer behavioral profiling from Claude Code session history; scans session JSONL files, extracts and samples user messages, and generates profile artifacts (USER-PROFILE.md, dev-preferences.md, CLAUDE.md sections). Exposes eight `gsd-tools` commands: scan-sessions, extract-messages, profile-sample (pipeline phase) and write-profile, profile-questionnaire, generate-dev-preferences, generate-claude-profile, generate-claude-md (output phase). Backs the /gsd-profile-user skill and gsd-user-profiler agent.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -1507,7 +1507,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "qwen": {
     "id": "qwen",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Qwen Code",
     "description": "Qwen Code (Alibaba) — nested-skill artifact layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -1564,7 +1564,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "research": {
     "id": "research",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Phase research",
     "description": "Optional phase research before planning; owns the phase researcher agent and workflow.research activation key.",
     "tier": "standard",
@@ -1616,7 +1616,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "schema-gate": {
     "id": "schema-gate",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Schema push detection gate",
     "description": "Detects ORM schema-relevant files in the phase scope during planning and injects a mandatory [BLOCKING] schema push task into the plan. Prevents false-positive verification where build/types pass because TypeScript types come from config, not the live database.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -1662,7 +1662,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "security": {
     "id": "security",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Security enforcement",
     "description": "Threat mitigation verification and ship-time security blocking for phases with security enforcement enabled.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -1761,7 +1761,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "tdd": {
     "id": "tdd",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Test-driven development",
     "description": "Injects TDD heuristics into the planner and enforces RED/GREEN gate compliance on type:tdd plans after execution. Owns workflow.tdd_mode; the --tdd CLI flag is the ephemeral override.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -1814,7 +1814,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "trae": {
     "id": "trae",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Trae IDE",
     "description": "Trae IDE — nested-skill artifact layout; no hook surface (profile-marker-only config); tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -1866,7 +1866,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "ui": {
     "id": "ui",
     "role": "feature",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "UI design contracts",
     "description": "UI-SPEC design contract + retrospective UI audit for frontend phases.",
     "tier": "full",
@@ -1961,7 +1961,7 @@ const capabilities = {
   "windsurf": {
     "id": "windsurf",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Windsurf",
     "description": "Windsurf (Codeium) — nested under ~/.codeium/windsurf; skills-only artifact layout; no hook surface; no hook events; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -2721,7 +2721,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "antigravity": {
     "id": "antigravity",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Antigravity",
     "description": "Google Antigravity IDE — nested under ~/.gemini/antigravity; probed across 1.x and 2.x layouts; Gemini hook event dialect; nested skill layout; tier-1 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -2781,7 +2781,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "augment": {
     "id": "augment",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Augment Code",
     "description": "Augment Code CLI — commands + nested-skill artifact layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -2850,7 +2850,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "claude": {
     "id": "claude",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Claude Code",
     "description": "Anthropic Claude Code — primary development runtime; tier-1 support with full hook surface and skills-based global install.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -2916,7 +2916,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "cline": {
     "id": "cline",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Cline",
     "description": "Cline (VS Code extension) — global-only nested-skill layout; cline-rules hook surface (.clinerules); no hook events emitted; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -2959,7 +2959,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "codebuddy": {
     "id": "codebuddy",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "CodeBuddy",
     "description": "CodeBuddy (Tencent) — converted commands + skills artifact layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3028,7 +3028,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "codex": {
     "id": "codex",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "OpenAI Codex CLI",
     "description": "OpenAI Codex CLI — shell-var command style; per-agent sandbox tiers; config.toml + hooks.json hook surface; tier-1 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3081,7 +3081,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "copilot": {
     "id": "copilot",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "GitHub Copilot",
     "description": "GitHub Copilot (VS Code) — markdown config format; copilot-inline hook surface; no hook events emitted; flat skill nesting (unconfirmed recursive loader); tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3134,7 +3134,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "cursor": {
     "id": "cursor",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Cursor",
     "description": "Cursor IDE — skills + converted commands artifact layout; hooks.json surface; Claude hook event dialect; recursive skill loader (flat nesting); tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3203,7 +3203,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "gemini": {
     "id": "gemini",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Gemini CLI",
     "description": "Google Gemini CLI — commands-only artifact layout (TOML); Gemini hook event dialect; settings-json hook surface; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3260,7 +3260,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "hermes": {
     "id": "hermes",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Hermes Agent",
     "description": "Hermes Agent (NousResearch) — skills nest under skills/gsd/ category bucket; nested skill layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3313,7 +3313,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "kilo": {
     "id": "kilo",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Kilo Code",
     "description": "Kilo Code — XDG-based config dir; global skills at ~/.kilo/skills (separate from XDG config); flat command/ + skills artifact layout; no lifecycle hook registration; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3388,7 +3388,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "kimi": {
     "id": "kimi",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Kimi CLI",
     "description": "Kimi CLI (Moonshot AI) — generic agents root at ~/.config/agents; skills + kimi-agents artifact layout; no hook surface; no hook events; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3444,7 +3444,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "opencode": {
     "id": "opencode",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "OpenCode",
     "description": "OpenCode — XDG-based config dir; flat command/ + skills artifact layout; settings-json config format; no lifecycle hook registration; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3514,7 +3514,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "qwen": {
     "id": "qwen",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Qwen Code",
     "description": "Qwen Code (Alibaba) — nested-skill artifact layout; settings-json hook surface; Claude hook event dialect; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3571,7 +3571,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "trae": {
     "id": "trae",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Trae IDE",
     "description": "Trae IDE — nested-skill artifact layout; no hook surface (profile-marker-only config); tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
@@ -3623,7 +3623,7 @@ const runtimes = {
   "windsurf": {
     "id": "windsurf",
     "role": "runtime",
-    "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+    "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
     "title": "Windsurf",
     "description": "Windsurf (Codeium) — nested under ~/.codeium/windsurf; skills-only artifact layout; no hook surface; no hook events; tier-2 support.",
     "tier": "core",
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 368dc982e..5a88720d1 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@opengsd/gsd-core",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@opengsd/gsd-core",
-      "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+      "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk": "^0.2.84",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 59be7afb6..27614385a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@opengsd/gsd-core",
-  "version": "1.5.1-dev.0",
+  "version": "1.6.0-rc.1",
   "description": "GSD Core is a meta-prompting, context engineering, and spec-driven development system for AI coding agents.",
   "bin": {
     "gsd-core": "bin/install.js",