diff --git a/.changeset/tame-pandas-obey.md b/.changeset/tame-pandas-obey.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 9210bd4c..00000000
--- a/.changeset/tame-pandas-obey.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
----
-"@TODO/starter": none
----
-
-No changes affecting use of the package.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/force-release.yml b/.github/workflows/force-release.yml
index 1279a879..0d3ffc9f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/force-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/force-release.yml
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
+      - name: Guard · refuse a workspace with no publishable package
+        run: |
+          if [ "$(jq -r 'select(.private != true) | .name' packages/*/package.json | grep -c .)" -eq 0 ]; then
+            echo "::error::every packages/*/package.json is private; drop \"private\": true and rename the placeholder before forcing a release"
+            exit 1
+          fi
       - name: Write dummy changeset
         run: |
           cat > ".changeset/force-${{ github.run_id }}-${{ inputs.bump }}.md" <<EOF
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 845753d1..76553515 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,8 +8,13 @@ commitlint + dprint + oxlint + vitest + stryker + OIDC npm release.
 
 1. **Use this template** on GitHub → clone your new repo.
 2. Replace every `TODO` (`packages/starter/package.json` name/author/description,
-   `.github/workflows/force-release.yml`, `.changeset/ledger.yaml`).
-3. Rename `packages/starter` to your package; update `repository.directory`.
+   `.github/workflows/force-release.yml`).
+3. Claim the package: rename `packages/starter` to your package, drop
+   `"private": true` from its `package.json`, and update `repository.directory`.
 4. Register the package as npm trusted publisher (repo + `release.yml` workflow)
    before first publish — see `.changeset/README.md`.
 5. `pnpm install && pnpm gate:tasks && pnpm gate:dist`.
+
+While the package is still `private`, the release pipeline is inert: `Release`
+plans no phase, `Changeset Check` ignores `packages/` edits, and `Force Release`
+refuses the dispatch. Step 3 is what arms it.
diff --git a/docs/solutions/tooling-decisions/template-release-pipeline-inert.md b/docs/solutions/tooling-decisions/template-release-pipeline-inert.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e15d5771
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/solutions/tooling-decisions/template-release-pipeline-inert.md
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+---
+title: A template repository must ship its release pipeline inert
+date: 2026-09-10
+category: tooling-decisions
+module: starter template toolchain
+problem_type: tooling_decision
+component: tooling
+severity: medium
+applies_when:
+  - a repository is distributed as a template, scaffold, or starting point
+  - a CI pipeline derives its work from the state of the workspace it runs in
+  - a placeholder package exists before any real package does
+tags: [template-repo, release-gate, placeholder-package, changeset-intent]
+---
+
+# A template repository must ship its release pipeline inert
+
+## Context
+
+The template repository ran its own release pipeline on every push to the default
+branch. The workspace held one placeholder package, a reserved name and version
+carrying publish metadata but no real content, and the pipeline read it as a real
+release target. The phase planner computed an owed release for the untagged
+placeholder version, selected the publish phase, and the publish job stopped at the
+missing changelog for a version that had never been versioned.
+
+The boundary condition is a workspace whose packages are all placeholders: a
+repository just generated from the template, before the consumer claims a package.
+Released repositories never reach it, because their released versions carry tags.
+
+Residual: a repository that has already been de-templated still owes a release for
+its never-versioned initial version, for the same reason — tag absence alone marks a
+version owed. That bootstrap gap needs its own rule (a release is owed only when its
+changelog artifact exists) and is deliberately not addressed here.
+
+## Mechanism
+
+1. Release-cycle enumeration filtered only on the manifest's `private` flag, so a
+   public placeholder entered the cycle.
+2. Cycle membership was decided by tag absence alone: any workspace version without
+   a matching remote tag counted as owed.
+3. The phase decision short-circuits on owed, so `owed > 0` always beat pending
+   change intents. The version job could never run first, and so could never produce
+   the changelog the publish job asserts.
+4. The changeset gate demanded a change intent for any edit under the package tree,
+   because it used the same `private`-only filter. The repository satisfied it with a
+   standing no-release intent — a gate certifying nothing.
+
+$$\text{released}(p) = \text{publishable}(p) \;\wedge\; \text{tagged}(p)$$
+
+The pipeline evaluated $\text{tagged}$ alone.
+
+## Why This Works
+
+**Invariant: a release target is a package that is publishable by intent.** Template
+placeholders and private tooling packages are not release targets. Every gate that
+selects release work must agree on one predicate, and the manifest's `private` flag
+is that predicate: it is also what the package manager honors, so the pipeline and
+the publish path cannot disagree.
+
+Corollary: the phase decision must never select publish work for a workspace with no
+publishable package, even when change intents are pending. Publishability is checked
+before owed-ness, not after.
+
+Anti-pattern code smell: the package-publishability test written inline in more than
+one workspace query. Two copies drift; the shared predicate is the fix.
+
+## Verification
+
+Verification is behavioral, at the seam the pipeline itself uses: run the phase
+planner and the changeset gate against the workspace and read their verdicts. Both
+directions must be exercised — an all-private workspace yields no phase and no intent
+demand; a single non-private package yields the pending phase. The CI jobs that call
+them are the standing gate.
+
+No unit test is proposed for these scripts. A test that spawns the planner or the
+gate runs them as child processes, which the test-layer admission gate refuses
+outright; the scripts' own runs plus the CI jobs are the observable contract.
+
+## When to Apply
+
+- Authoring or copying a release pipeline into a template, scaffold, or example
+  repository.
+- A placeholder package exists in a workspace whose CI derives work from workspace
+  state.
+- Adding a second gate that selects packages for release.
+
+## Related
+
+- `docs/solutions/tooling-decisions/self-name-imports-type-aware-lint.md`
diff --git a/packages/starter/package.json b/packages/starter/package.json
index a48d1935..f867b620 100644
--- a/packages/starter/package.json
+++ b/packages/starter/package.json
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "name": "@TODO/starter",
   "omp": { "extensions": ["./dist/index.js"] },
+  "private": true,
   "publishConfig": { "exports": { ".": "./dist/index.js", "./package.json": "./package.json" }, "provenance": true },
   "scripts": {
     "build": "rimraf dist && tsdown",
diff --git a/scripts/check-changeset.ts b/scripts/check-changeset.ts
index a69ac2e4..d0290a6c 100755
--- a/scripts/check-changeset.ts
+++ b/scripts/check-changeset.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { withoutAll } from '@std/collections/without-all'
 import { extractYaml, test } from '@std/front-matter'
 import { expandGlob } from '@std/fs/expand-glob'
 import { basename } from '@std/path'
+import { isPublishablePackage, type Pkg } from './lib/packages.ts'
 import { run } from './lib/run.ts'
 
 const BUMP: Record<string, true> = { none: true, patch: true, minor: true, major: true }
@@ -18,12 +19,8 @@ const intentPackages = (markdown: string) => {
 const publicPackages = async () => {
   const names: string[] = []
   for await (const file of expandGlob('packages/*/package.json')) {
-    const pkg = JSON.parse(await Deno.readTextFile(file.path)) as {
-      name?: string
-      version?: string
-      private?: boolean
-    }
-    if (pkg.name && pkg.version && !pkg.private) names.push(pkg.name)
+    const pkg = JSON.parse(await Deno.readTextFile(file.path)) as Pkg
+    if (isPublishablePackage(pkg)) names.push(pkg.name)
   }
   return names
 }
diff --git a/scripts/lib/cycle.ts b/scripts/lib/cycle.ts
index f043bcfb..7e36d0cb 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/cycle.ts
+++ b/scripts/lib/cycle.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { join } from '@std/path'
+import { isPublishablePackage, loadWorkspacePackages, type Pkg } from './packages.ts'
 import { run } from './run.ts'
 
 export type CycleEntry = {
@@ -8,23 +9,18 @@ export type CycleEntry = {
   changelog: string
 }
 
-type Pkg = {
-  name?: string
-  version?: string
-  private?: boolean
-}
-
-export const loadWorkspaceCycle = async (): Promise<CycleEntry[]> => {
-  const pkgs = JSON.parse(await run('pnpm', ['ls', '-r', '--json', '--depth=-1'])) as Pkg[]
-  const remote = new Set(
+export const remoteTags = async (): Promise<Set<string>> =>
+  new Set(
     (await run('git', ['ls-remote', '--tags', 'origin']))
       .split('\n')
       .filter(Boolean)
       .map((line) => line.replace(/.*refs\/tags\//, '').replace(/\^\{\}$/, '')),
   )
+
+export const cycleOf = (pkgs: Pkg[], remote: Set<string>): CycleEntry[] => {
   const cycle: CycleEntry[] = []
   for (const pkg of pkgs) {
-    if (!pkg.name || !pkg.version || pkg.private) continue
+    if (!isPublishablePackage(pkg)) continue
     const tag = `${pkg.name}@v${pkg.version}`
     if (remote.has(tag)) continue
     cycle.push({
@@ -37,6 +33,11 @@ export const loadWorkspaceCycle = async (): Promise<CycleEntry[]> => {
   return cycle
 }
 
+export const loadWorkspaceCycle = async (): Promise<CycleEntry[]> => {
+  const [pkgs, remote] = await Promise.all([loadWorkspacePackages(), remoteTags()])
+  return cycleOf(pkgs, remote)
+}
+
 export const loadCaptured = async (path: string): Promise<CycleEntry[]> => {
   const raw: unknown = JSON.parse(await Deno.readTextFile(path))
   if (!Array.isArray(raw)) throw new Error('captured file must be a JSON array')
diff --git a/scripts/lib/packages.ts b/scripts/lib/packages.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3159c0c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/lib/packages.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import { run } from './run.ts'
+
+export type Pkg = {
+  name?: string
+  version?: string
+  private?: boolean
+}
+
+export const isPublishablePackage = (pkg: Pkg): pkg is { name: string; version: string } =>
+  Boolean(pkg.name && pkg.version && !pkg.private)
+
+export const loadWorkspacePackages = async (): Promise<Pkg[]> =>
+  JSON.parse(await run('pnpm', ['ls', '-r', '--json', '--depth=-1'])) as Pkg[]
diff --git a/scripts/plan-release.ts b/scripts/plan-release.ts
index ecf83ecd..7f61323a 100755
--- a/scripts/plan-release.ts
+++ b/scripts/plan-release.ts
@@ -3,18 +3,30 @@
 import { parseArgs } from '@std/cli/parse-args'
 import { expandGlob } from '@std/fs/expand-glob'
 import { basename } from '@std/path'
-import { loadWorkspaceCycle } from './lib/cycle.ts'
+import { cycleOf, remoteTags } from './lib/cycle.ts'
+import { isPublishablePackage, loadWorkspacePackages } from './lib/packages.ts'
 
 let pending = 0
 for await (const entry of expandGlob('.changeset/*.md')) {
   if (basename(entry.path) !== 'README.md') pending++
 }
 
-const owed = (await loadWorkspaceCycle()).length
-const phase = owed > 0 ? 'publish' : pending > 0 ? 'version' : 'none'
-const outputs = [`phase=${phase}`, `pending_intents=${pending}`, `this_cycle=${owed}`].join('\n')
+const packages = await loadWorkspacePackages()
+const publishable = packages.filter(isPublishablePackage).length
+const owed = publishable === 0 ? 0 : cycleOf(packages, await remoteTags()).length
 
-console.error(`plan-release: pending_intents=${pending} this_cycle=${owed} -> phase=${phase}`)
+let phase = 'none'
+if (publishable > 0 && owed > 0) phase = 'publish'
+else if (publishable > 0 && pending > 0) phase = 'version'
+
+const outputs = [`phase=${phase}`, `pending_intents=${pending}`, `this_cycle=${owed}`, `publishable=${publishable}`]
+  .join('\n')
+
+console.error(
+  publishable === 0
+    ? 'plan-release: no publishable package in the workspace -> phase=none'
+    : `plan-release: publishable=${publishable} pending_intents=${pending} this_cycle=${owed} -> phase=${phase}`,
+)
 
 const { output } = parseArgs(Deno.args, { string: ['output'] })
 if (output) await Deno.writeTextFile(output, `${outputs}\n`, { append: true })