Stop quoting the Node version in prose, and correct the bare-vp claim

[wormeyman]

Post-merge cleanup after #402 (Node 26.8.1), plus a pre-existing README error found alongside it.

Why de-quote rather than update

Renovate edits .node-version and nothing else, so three places named a Node version that no bot maintains: README.md, CLAUDE.md, and the comment above setup-node in verify.yml.

Updating the number would only reset the clock. That file has moved four times since 2026-07-01 - 26.5.1, 26.7.0, 26.8.1 - and 26.8.2 is already queued on the dependency dashboard, so a number written in prose can only ever lag it.

This repo already documents the fix for exactly this class, twice:

Do not quote that pin here, read it with grep channel rust-toolchain.toml. This line named 1.97.1 from #219 until #316 moved the pin, and then stayed wrong.

Do not quote a byte count for engine.wasm from this file. Every ported op changes it and it has gone stale twice.

.node-version is the same class and never got the same treatment. These three lines now point at the file instead of naming a version.

docs/bun-deno-evaluation.md:4 keeps its 26.7.0 on purpose. It records the conditions a past measurement ran under (26.7.0, 229 spec files, 2020 tests), so changing it would falsify the record rather than update it.

The bare-vp claim

The same README paragraph said a bare vp "or npx vp from the project root fails with EBADDEVENGINES". Measured:

$ vp check          # vp v0.3.1
pass: All 281 files are correctly formatted (565ms, 12 threads)
pass: Found no warnings, lint errors, or type errors in 253 files
exit 0

Only npx vp fails - the project pins pnpm via devEngines, and the global vp binary is not npm. CLAUDE.md already carries this correction (re-measured 2026-08-04) and explicitly warns against "fixing" a working command on the strength of the old claim. The README never got it. The operative advice is unchanged: prefer pnpm vp, because that is the form package.json and CI use and so the one that stays verified.

Checks run

• pnpm run verify:lint - vp check (281 files formatted, 253 files clean) and check:vue, exit 0.
• Before merging Update Node.js to v26.8.1 #402, a full pnpm run verify on Node 26.8.1: exit 0, with vp cache clean run first so the content-cached test phase could not replay a 26.7.0 result. Since verify chains its phases, verify:rust completing last is itself evidence the earlier phases passed.

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The change updates Node version references from 26.7.0 to 26.8.1. The README also updates the documented vp and npx vp behavior.

Changes

Node version documentation alignment

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Align Node version and pnpm guidance .github/workflows/verify.yml, CLAUDE.md, README.md	Workflow comments and development documentation now reference Node 26.8.1. The README documents that vp runs successfully and npx vp fails with EBADDEVENGINES.

Priority: ⬇️ Low

Estimated code review effort: 1 (Trivial) | ~3 minutes

Change: Other

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 68ff1

The PR updates version documentation and corrects the documented command behavior without introducing runtime changes.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 0 functions across 0…
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately identifies both main documentation changes: the Node.js version wording update and the correction to the bare vp claim. It is concise and specific.

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch docs/node-26.8.1-and-vp-claim

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