@@ -568,19 +568,19 @@ rows repaired. No password, token or private path.
 **Once the project is delivered** (`{workspace}/result.json` says `status:
 "delivered"`), every change the owner asks for — "make that heading italic",
 "swap the footer text", "tighten the hero's spacing" — is made in the
-installed theme and applied to the running preview. It is never a new build:
-no prerender, no Astro build, no service conversion, no stage, no
-`progress.sh mode`. `progress.sh` refuses a stage start and a `mode` without
-`--new` on a delivered project (exit 3) — that refusal is the rule. A rebuild
-from the source is the owner's **Rebuild** button, never a chat change.
+installed theme and applied to the running preview. The owner may knowingly
+make the site differ from the original; that is their site now. It is never a
+new build: no prerender, no Astro build, no service conversion, no stage, no
+`progress.sh mode`. `progress.sh` refuses a stage start and a `mode` on a
+delivered project (exit 3) — that refusal is the rule.
 
 1. **Edit only the theme's own files**, under `{workspace}/theme/<slug>/`:
    `templates/*.html` and `parts/*.html` (the layout, the header and footer),
    the site's CSS, scripts and images in its assets, and
    `clara-content/sources/<key>.html` (a page's content as the importer stores
    it). Never `source/`, `static-src/`, `astro-project/` or the manifest —
-   those are the build's, and the next Rebuild regenerates the theme from
-   them. Keep the change to what was asked.
+   those are the conversion's inputs, and a change there reaches nothing the
+   owner sees. Keep the change to what was asked.
 2. **Apply it:**
 
    ```
@@ -606,10 +606,10 @@ from the source is the owner's **Rebuild** button, never a chat change.
 importer never overwrites an owner's edit — so a change to that page's source
 does not reach it. Say so; the owner makes it in Visual Edit Lite.
 
-**A request the live theme cannot take** — a new page or route, behaviour that
-lives in the source app's code, content only the source's data has — needs a
-Rebuild from the source. Say exactly that, and that a Rebuild regenerates the
-theme and drops the changes made after delivery. Do not rebuild yourself.
+**What the theme files cannot change**, say plainly — which part of the
+request, and why (for example: the posts' own text lives in WordPress, where
+the owner edits it in Visual Edit Lite) — and make every part they can. Never
+offer starting over or another build as a way to apply a change.
 
 ## Stage -3 — can this machine run it at all?
 
@@ -2833,9 +2833,9 @@ hunting for a deleted `static-src`.
 
 ## Post-handover repairs — run only what the fix touches
 
-*A change the owner asks for after delivery is "Changes after delivery"
-(above), in the live theme. What follows is for a repair only a rebuild can
-make, and only when the owner asked for the Rebuild.*
+*After delivery, every change the owner asks for is made in the live theme
+("Changes after delivery", above). What follows belongs to a run that has not
+been delivered, or to a new run the owner started over from the original.*
 
 **The theme is yours to change. The editor plugin is not. Ever.**
 
 
@@ -165,6 +165,9 @@ def main(argv=None):
     log["changes"].append(entry)
     last = ts.zip_tree(zipped) if zipped else {}
     log["changedSinceZip"] = bool(ts.differ(last, current))
+    # How many applied changes the last ZIP does not have yet.
+    since = (log.get("lastZip") or {}).get("at") or ""
+    log["sinceZip"] = sum(1 for c in log["changes"] if c.get("applied") and c.get("at", "") > since)
     ts.write_json(ws / "changes.json", log)
     print(json.dumps({k: entry[k] for k in ("id", "applied", "files", "pages", "screenshots", "seconds") if k in entry}))
     return 0 if entry["applied"] else 1
 
@@ -111,5 +111,5 @@ def make_zip(theme, out, manifest_path):
 def load_changes(ws):
     doc = read(Path(ws) / "changes.json")
     if not isinstance(doc, dict) or doc.get("schema") != CHANGES_SCHEMA:
-        doc = {"schema": CHANGES_SCHEMA, "changedSinceZip": False, "lastZip": None, "changes": []}
+        doc = {"schema": CHANGES_SCHEMA, "changedSinceZip": False, "sinceZip": 0, "lastZip": None, "changes": []}
     return doc
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ def main(argv=None):
                   file=sys.stderr)
             return 1
         if previous and ts.zip_tree(previous) == ts.zip_tree(candidate):
-            log["changedSinceZip"] = False
+            log.update(changedSinceZip=False, sinceZip=0)
             ts.write_json(ws / "changes.json", log)
             theme_row = result.get("theme") or {}
             print(json.dumps({"file": theme_row.get("file"), "sha256": theme_row.get("sha256"),
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ def main(argv=None):
     result.update(theme=theme_row, revision=revision, packagedAt=ts.now(),
                   checkedRevision=int(result.get("checkedRevision") or 1),
                   changesSinceChecks=len([c for c in log["changes"] if c.get("applied")]))
-    log.update(changedSinceZip=False, lastZip={"file": name, "revision": revision, "at": result["packagedAt"]})
+    log.update(changedSinceZip=False, sinceZip=0,
+               lastZip={"file": name, "revision": revision, "at": result["packagedAt"]})
     ts.write_json(ws / "changes.json", log)
     # The workspace copy first, the output's last: its presence is what a UI reads.
     ts.write_json(ws / "result.json", result)
 
@@ -158,7 +158,8 @@ run_mode() {
 
 # A delivered project ({workspace}/result.json status "delivered"): after
 # delivery a change is made in the live theme (apply-change.py), never as a
-# new build, so no stage starts and `mode` needs --new — the app's Rebuild.
+# new build, so no stage starts. Only a new run the owner starts over from the
+# original (the app's goal says `mode <m> --new`) passes.
 delivered_here() {
   local ws
   ws="$(timing_workspace)"
@@ -173,9 +174,8 @@ PY
 }
 
 refuse_delivered() {
-  printf '\n  This project was delivered: a change is made in the live theme — edit its files, then\n' >&2
-  printf '  apply-change.py (SKILL.md, "Changes after delivery"); no stage starts. A rebuild from the\n' >&2
-  printf '  source is the owner'"'"'s Rebuild, never a chat change: progress.sh mode <flash|full> --new.\n' >&2
+  printf '\n  This project was delivered: every change is made in the live theme — edit its files,\n' >&2
+  printf '  then apply-change.py (SKILL.md, "Changes after delivery"). No stage starts.\n' >&2
   exit 3
 }
 
@@ -315,8 +315,9 @@ PY
     PF="${H2WP_PROGRESS_FILE:-$WS_NOW/progress.json}"
     STAMP="$(date -u +%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ)"
     [ -f "$PF" ] && mv "$PF" "${PF%.json}-$STAMP.json"
-    # A rebuild over a delivered project: its result and its change log are
-    # the last run's — kept beside, never read as this run's.
+    # A new run over a delivered project (the owner started over from the
+    # original): its result and its change log are the last run's — kept
+    # beside, never read as this run's.
     for f in result.json changes.json .theme-applied.json; do
       [ -f "$WS_NOW/$f" ] && mv "$WS_NOW/$f" "$WS_NOW/${f%.json}-$STAMP.json"
     done
 
@@ -87,17 +87,22 @@ def test_a_change_is_made_in_the_theme_and_logged_without_a_stage(self):
         log = json.loads((self.ws / 'changes.json').read_text())
         self.assertEqual(log['schema'], 'h2wp-changes/1')
         self.assertTrue(log['changedSinceZip'])
+        self.assertEqual(log['sinceZip'], 1)
         entry = log['changes'][-1]
         self.assertEqual((entry['what'], entry['files'], entry['applied']),
                          ('make the heading italic', ['clara-content/sources/front-page.html'], True))
         self.assertEqual((self.ws / 'progress.json').read_text(), before, 'no stage started')
         self.assertEqual(self.apply().returncode, 3, 'applied: nothing new to apply')
 
     def test_the_guard_a_delivered_project_starts_no_stage(self):
+        before = (self.ws / 'progress.json').read_text()
         for args in (('start', '-1'), ('start', '0'), ('mode', 'flash'), ('mode', 'full')):
             done = run('bash', HERE / 'progress.sh', *args, env=self.env)
             self.assertEqual(done.returncode, 3, args)
             self.assertIn('apply-change.py', done.stderr)
+            # The owner's rule: a change never points at starting over.
+            self.assertNotRegex(done.stderr.lower(), r'rebuild|--new|start over')
+        self.assertEqual((self.ws / 'progress.json').read_text(), before, 'a refusal writes nothing: still delivered')
         rebuild = run('bash', HERE / 'progress.sh', 'mode', 'flash', '--new', env=self.env)
         self.assertEqual(rebuild.returncode, 0, rebuild.stderr)
         self.assertFalse((self.ws / 'result.json').exists())
@@ -122,10 +127,22 @@ def test_get_zip_packages_the_live_theme_as_the_next_revision(self):
             result = json.loads((folder / 'result.json').read_text())
             self.assertEqual((result['theme']['file'], result['revision'], result['checkedRevision'], result['status']),
                              ('studio-1.0.0-r2.zip', 2, 1, 'delivered'))
-        self.assertFalse(json.loads((self.ws / 'changes.json').read_text())['changedSinceZip'])
+        self.assertEqual({k: json.loads((self.ws / 'changes.json').read_text())[k] for k in ('changedSinceZip', 'sinceZip')},
+                         {'changedSinceZip': False, 'sinceZip': 0})
         again = package()
         self.assertEqual((json.loads(again.stdout)['reused'], json.loads(again.stdout)['file']), (True, 'studio-1.0.0-r2.zip'))
 
+    def test_the_change_brief_never_offers_starting_over(self):
+        # After delivery every change goes into the live theme. What the theme
+        # cannot change is said plainly — never "Rebuild", never a new run.
+        skill = (HERE.parent.parent / 'SKILL.md').read_text()
+        start = skill.index('## Changes after delivery')
+        section = skill[start:skill.index('\n## ', start + 3)]
+        self.assertIn('apply-change.py', section)
+        self.assertNotRegex(section.lower(), r'rebuild|--new|start over|mode <')
+        for script in ('apply-change.py', 'package-theme.py'):
+            self.assertNotRegex((HERE / script).read_text().lower(), r'rebuild|start over', script)
+
     def test_not_a_delivered_project(self):
         (self.ws / 'result.json').write_text(json.dumps({'status': 'stopped'}))
         self.assertEqual(self.apply().returncode, 2)