diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index d624584..02e5e60 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ jobs:
         uv run ruff check .
         uv run ruff format --check .
 
+    - name: Lint Markdown
+      run: npx --yes markdownlint-cli "**/*.md" --ignore ".venv"
+
     - name: Type check with Mypy
       run: uv run mypy .
 
diff --git a/.markdownlint.yaml b/.markdownlint.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb0e94f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.markdownlint.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# .markdownlint.yaml
+
+# Inherit default rules
+default: true
+
+# --- Disabled Rules ---
+
+# MD013: Line length
+# Rationale: Hard-wrapping text disrupts IDE reading flow, breaks URLs, and creates arbitrary diff churn.
+MD013: false
+
+# MD033: Inline HTML
+# Rationale: Required for layout elements unsupported by strict Markdown (e.g., <details> blocks, complex tables).
+MD033: false
+
+# --- Refined Rules ---
+
+# MD024: Multiple headings with the same content
+# Rationale: Allows duplicate subheadings (e.g., "Parameters") under different primary function headings.
+MD024:
+  siblings_only: true
+
+# --- AST/Parser Enforcement ---
+
+# MD031: Fenced code blocks should be surrounded by blank lines
+# Rationale: Prevents strict parsers from rendering backticks as raw text instead of <pre><code> blocks.
+MD031: true
+
+# MD032: Lists should be surrounded by blank lines
+# Rationale: Prevents contiguous text from merging into lists, ensuring correct AST generation.
+MD032: true
+
+# --- Structural Consistency ---
+
+# MD003: Heading style
+# Rationale: Enforces ATX style (# Heading) exclusively.
+MD003:
+  style: "atx"
+
+# MD004: Unordered list style
+# Rationale: Enforces dash markers for consistency across the syntax tree.
+MD004:
+  style: "dash"
+
+# MD009: Trailing spaces
+# Rationale: Allows exactly two spaces for hard line breaks; flags arbitrary whitespace.
+MD009:
+  br_spaces: 2
+  strict: false
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 86532e3..d495eb1 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -22,3 +22,10 @@ repos:
     rev: v1.19.1
     hooks:
       - id: mypy
+
+  # 3. Markdown linting
+  - repo: https://github.com/igorshubovych/markdownlint-cli
+    rev: v0.47.0
+    hooks:
+      - id: markdownlint
+        args: ["--fix"] # Automatically resolves formatting deviations
diff --git a/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md b/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
index 7c4f1e7..512342d 100644
--- a/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
+++ b/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
@@ -17,12 +17,12 @@ diverse, inclusive, and healthy community.
 Examples of behavior that contributes to a positive environment for our
 community include:
 
-* Demonstrating empathy and kindness toward other people
-* Being respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences
-* Giving and gracefully accepting constructive feedback
-* Accepting responsibility and apologizing to those affected by our mistakes,
+- Demonstrating empathy and kindness toward other people
+- Being respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences
+- Giving and gracefully accepting constructive feedback
+- Accepting responsibility and apologizing to those affected by our mistakes,
   and learning from the experience
-* Focusing on what is best not just for us as individuals, but for the
+- Focusing on what is best not just for us as individuals, but for the
   overall community
 
 ## Enforcement
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index f3ac3d7..26d79ce 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ First off, thanks for taking the time to contribute! 🎉
 ## How to Contribute
 
 ### Reporting Bugs
+
 1. Check if the issue has already been reported.
 2. Open a new issue with a clear title and description.
 3. Include relevant logs (`git-pulsar log`) or reproduction steps.
@@ -15,6 +16,7 @@ This project uses [uv](https://github.com/astral-sh/uv) for dependency managemen
 
 1. **Fork & Clone**
    Fork the repo and clone it locally:
+
    ```bash
    git clone https://github.com/jacksonfergusondev/git-pulsar.git
    cd git-pulsar
@@ -22,18 +24,21 @@ This project uses [uv](https://github.com/astral-sh/uv) for dependency managemen
 
 2. **Environment Setup**
    We use `uv` to manage the virtual environment and dependencies.
+
    ```bash
    # Creates .venv and installs dependencies (including dev groups)
    uv sync
    ```
 
    *Optional: If you use `direnv`, allow the automatically generated configuration:*
+
    ```bash
    direnv allow
    ```
 
 3. **Install Hooks**
    Set up pre-commit hooks to handle linting (Ruff) and type checking (Mypy) automatically.
+
    ```bash
    pre-commit install
    ```
@@ -49,6 +54,7 @@ uv run pytest
 ### Pull Requests
 
 1. **Create a Branch**
+
    ```bash
    git checkout -b feature/my-amazing-feature
    ```
@@ -58,13 +64,16 @@ uv run pytest
 
 3. **Verify**
    Ensure your code passes the linter and tests locally.
+
    ```bash
    uv run pytest
    ```
+
    (Pre-commit will also run `ruff` and `mypy` when you commit).
 
 4. **Commit & Push**
    Please use clear commit messages.
+
    ```bash
    git commit -m "feat: add support for solar flares"
    git push origin feature/my-amazing-feature
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3133e94..c51ba98 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -36,35 +36,37 @@ This system is designed to operate safely alongside standard Git commands withou
 ### 1. Out-of-Band Indexing (The "Shadow" Index)
 
 Most autosave tools aggressively run `git add .`, which destroys the user's carefully staged partial commits.
-* **The Invariant:** The user's `.git/index` must never be touched by the daemon.
-* **The Implementation:** Pulsar sets the `GIT_INDEX_FILE` environment variable to a temporary location (`.git/pulsar_index`). It constructs the tree object using low-level plumbing commands (`git write-tree`), bypassing the porcelain entirely. This ensures **Zero-Interference** with your active workflow.
+
+- **The Invariant:** The user's `.git/index` must never be touched by the daemon.
+- **The Implementation:** Pulsar sets the `GIT_INDEX_FILE` environment variable to a temporary location (`.git/pulsar_index`). It constructs the tree object using low-level plumbing commands (`git write-tree`), bypassing the porcelain entirely. This ensures **Zero-Interference** with your active workflow.
 
 ### 2. Distributed State Reconciliation (The "Zipper" Graph)
 
 In a distributed environment (Laptop ↔ Desktop), state drift is inevitable.
-* **The Mechanism:** Pulsar maintains a separate refspec for each machine ID.
-* **The Topology:** When you run `git pulsar finalize`, the engine performs an **Octopus Merge**, traversing the DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) of all machine streams and squashing them into a single, clean commit on `main`.
+
+- **The Mechanism:** Pulsar maintains a separate refspec for each machine ID.
+- **The Topology:** When you run `git pulsar finalize`, the engine performs an **Octopus Merge**, traversing the DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) of all machine streams and squashing them into a single, clean commit on `main`.
 
 ### 3. Fault Tolerance
 
-* **The Problem:** Laptops die. SSH connections drop.
-* **The Solution:** By decoupling commits from pushes, Pulsar can capture local state every few minutes while conserving battery by pushing to the remote at a lower frequency (e.g., hourly). This guarantees that the **Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR)** is minimized regardless of network availability or hardware failure.
+- **The Problem:** Laptops die. SSH connections drop.
+- **The Solution:** By decoupling commits from pushes, Pulsar can capture local state every few minutes while conserving battery by pushing to the remote at a lower frequency (e.g., hourly). This guarantees that the **Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR)** is minimized regardless of network availability or hardware failure.
 
 ---
 
 ## ⚡ Features
 
-* **Decoupled Cycles:** Independent intervals for local commits and remote pushes. Save your battery while staying protected.
-* **Smart Identity:** Automatically detects naming collisions with other devices on the remote, ensuring unique backup streams for every machine.
-* **Roaming Radar:** The background daemon actively polls for topological drift, firing a cross-platform OS notification if another machine leapfrogs your local session so you can `sync` before conflicts arise.
-* **Out-of-Band Indexing:** Backups are stored in a configured namespace (default: `refs/heads/wip/pulsar/...`). Your `git status`, `git branch`, and `git log` remain completely clean.
-* **Distributed Sessions:** Hop between machines. Pulsar tracks sessions per device and lets you `sync` to pick up exactly where you left off.
-* **State-Aware Diagnostics:** The `doctor` command correlates transient log events with active system health to prevent alert fatigue, and proactively scans for pipeline blockers like strict git hooks or broken `systemd` configurations.
-* **Zero-Interference:**
-  * Uses a temporary index so it never messes up your partial `git add`.
-  * Detects if you are rebasing or merging and waits for you to finish.
-  * Prevents accidental upload of large binaries (configurable threshold).
-* **Cascading Config:** Settings are merged from global defaults, `~/.config/git-pulsar/config.toml`, and local `pulsar.toml` or `pyproject.toml` files.
+- **Decoupled Cycles:** Independent intervals for local commits and remote pushes. Save your battery while staying protected.
+- **Smart Identity:** Automatically detects naming collisions with other devices on the remote, ensuring unique backup streams for every machine.
+- **Roaming Radar:** The background daemon actively polls for topological drift, firing a cross-platform OS notification if another machine leapfrogs your local session so you can `sync` before conflicts arise.
+- **Out-of-Band Indexing:** Backups are stored in a configured namespace (default: `refs/heads/wip/pulsar/...`). Your `git status`, `git branch`, and `git log` remain completely clean.
+- **Distributed Sessions:** Hop between machines. Pulsar tracks sessions per device and lets you `sync` to pick up exactly where you left off.
+- **State-Aware Diagnostics:** The `doctor` command correlates transient log events with active system health to prevent alert fatigue, and proactively scans for pipeline blockers like strict git hooks or broken `systemd` configurations.
+- **Zero-Interference:**
+  - Uses a temporary index so it never messes up your partial `git add`.
+  - Detects if you are rebasing or merging and waits for you to finish.
+  - Prevents accidental upload of large binaries (configurable threshold).
+- **Cascading Config:** Settings are merged from global defaults, `~/.config/git-pulsar/config.toml`, and local `pulsar.toml` or `pyproject.toml` files.
 
 ---
 
@@ -104,6 +106,7 @@ Navigate to your project. The first time you run Pulsar, it will register the re
 cd ~/University/Astro401
 git pulsar
 ```
+
 *The daemon will now silently snapshot your work based on your configured intervals.*
 
 ### 2. Configure Your Intensity
@@ -124,6 +127,7 @@ You worked on your **Desktop** all night but forgot to push manually. You open y
 ```bash
 git pulsar sync
 ```
+
 *Pulsar checks the remote, finds the newer session from `desktop`, and fast-forwards your working directory to match it.*
 
 ### 4. Restore a File
@@ -142,6 +146,7 @@ When you are ready to submit or merge to `main`:
 ```bash
 git pulsar finalize
 ```
+
 *This performs an **Octopus Merge**. It pulls the backup history from your Laptop, Desktop, and Lab PC, squashes them all together, and stages the result on `main`.*
 
 ---
@@ -156,11 +161,11 @@ git pulsar --env
 
 This bootstraps the current directory with:
 
-* **uv:** Initializes a project with fast package management and Python 3.12+ pinning.
+- **uv:** Initializes a project with fast package management and Python 3.12+ pinning.
 
-* **direnv:** Creates an .envrc for auto-activating virtual environments and hooking into the shell.
+- **direnv:** Creates an .envrc for auto-activating virtual environments and hooking into the shell.
 
-* **VS Code:** Generates a .vscode/settings.json pre-configured to exclude build artifacts and use the local venv.
+- **VS Code:** Generates a .vscode/settings.json pre-configured to exclude build artifacts and use the local venv.
 
 ---
 
@@ -238,28 +243,29 @@ ignore = ["*.tmp", "node_modules/"]
 
 *Focus: Turning the tool from a blind script into a helpful partner that negotiates with you.*
 
-* [ ] **Smart Restore:** Replace hard failures on "dirty" files with a negotiation menu (Overwrite / View Diff / Cancel).
-* [ ] **Pre-Flight Checklists:** Display a summary table of incoming changes (machines, timestamps, file counts) before running destructive commands like `finalize`.
-* [ ] **Active Doctor:** Upgrade `git pulsar doctor` to not just diagnose issues (like stopped daemons), but offer to auto-fix them interactively.
+- [ ] **Smart Restore:** Replace hard failures on "dirty" files with a negotiation menu (Overwrite / View Diff / Cancel).
+- [ ] **Pre-Flight Checklists:** Display a summary table of incoming changes (machines, timestamps, file counts) before running destructive commands like `finalize`.
+- [ ] **Active Doctor:** Upgrade `git pulsar doctor` to not just diagnose issues (like stopped daemons), but offer to auto-fix them interactively.
 
 ### Phase 2: "Deep Thought" (Context & Intelligence)
 
 *Focus: Leveraging data to make the tool feel alive and aware of your workflow.*
 
-* [ ] **Semantic Shadow Logs:** Replace generic "Shadow backup" messages with auto-generated summaries (e.g., `backup: modified daemon.py (+15 lines)`).
-* [x] **Roaming Radar:** Proactively detect if a different machine has pushed newer work to the same branch and notify the user to `sync`.
-* [ ] **Decaying Retention:** Implement "Grandfather-Father-Son" pruning (keep all hourly backups for 24h, then daily summaries) to balance safety with disk space.
+- [ ] **Semantic Shadow Logs:** Replace generic "Shadow backup" messages with auto-generated summaries (e.g., `backup: modified daemon.py (+15 lines)`).
+- [x] **Roaming Radar:** Proactively detect if a different machine has pushed newer work to the same branch and notify the user to `sync`.
+- [ ] **Decaying Retention:** Implement "Grandfather-Father-Son" pruning (keep all hourly backups for 24h, then daily summaries) to balance safety with disk space.
 
 ### Phase 3: The "TUI" Experience (Visuals)
 
 *Focus: Making the invisible backup history tangible and explorable.*
-* [ ] **Time Machine UI:** A terminal-based visual browser for `git pulsar restore` that lets you scroll through file history and view side-by-side diffs.
-* [ ] **Universal Bootstrap:** Expand `git pulsar --env` to support Linux (apt/dnf) environments alongside macOS.
+
+- [ ] **Time Machine UI:** A terminal-based visual browser for `git pulsar restore` that lets you scroll through file history and view side-by-side diffs.
+- [ ] **Universal Bootstrap:** Expand `git pulsar --env` to support Linux (apt/dnf) environments alongside macOS.
 
 ### Future Horizons
 
-* [ ] **End-to-End Encryption:** Optional GPG encryption for shadow commits.
-* [ ] **Windows Support:** Native support for PowerShell and Task Scheduler.
+- [ ] **End-to-End Encryption:** Optional GPG encryption for shadow commits.
+- [ ] **Windows Support:** Native support for PowerShell and Task Scheduler.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/src/README.md b/src/README.md
index d3c73ef..a325e26 100644
--- a/src/README.md
+++ b/src/README.md
@@ -6,37 +6,37 @@ The `src/` directory contains the package source code. The architecture strictly
 
 ### 1. The Core Loop (State Management)
 
-* **`git_pulsar/daemon.py`**: The background process.
-  * **Role:** The "Heartbeat." It wakes up, checks system constraints (Battery, CPU Load), and triggers the backup logic.
-  * **Logic:** Decouples "Saving" (Commit) from "Publishing" (Push) using independent intervals to optimize for battery life. Incorporates the "Roaming Radar" to poll for remote drift asynchronously.
-  * **Safety:** Implements `GIT_INDEX_FILE` isolation to ensure it never locks or corrupts the user's active git index.
-* **`git_pulsar/ops.py`**: High-level Business Logic.
-  * **Role:** The "Controller." It orchestrates complex multi-step operations like `finalize` (Octopus Merges), `restore`, and drift detection.
-  * **Logic:** Calculates the "Zipper Graph" topology to merge shadow commits back into the main branch, and manages atomic file I/O for cross-process state tracking.
-* **`git_pulsar/config.py`**: Configuration Engine.
-  * **Role:** The "Source of Truth."
-  * **Logic:** Implements a cascading hierarchy (Defaults → Global → Local) to merge settings from `~/.config/git-pulsar/config.toml` and project-level `pulsar.toml` or `pyproject.toml`.
+- **`git_pulsar/daemon.py`**: The background process.
+  - **Role:** The "Heartbeat." It wakes up, checks system constraints (Battery, CPU Load), and triggers the backup logic.
+  - **Logic:** Decouples "Saving" (Commit) from "Publishing" (Push) using independent intervals to optimize for battery life. Incorporates the "Roaming Radar" to poll for remote drift asynchronously.
+  - **Safety:** Implements `GIT_INDEX_FILE` isolation to ensure it never locks or corrupts the user's active git index.
+- **`git_pulsar/ops.py`**: High-level Business Logic.
+  - **Role:** The "Controller." It orchestrates complex multi-step operations like `finalize` (Octopus Merges), `restore`, and drift detection.
+  - **Logic:** Calculates the "Zipper Graph" topology to merge shadow commits back into the main branch, and manages atomic file I/O for cross-process state tracking.
+- **`git_pulsar/config.py`**: Configuration Engine.
+  - **Role:** The "Source of Truth."
+  - **Logic:** Implements a cascading hierarchy (Defaults → Global → Local) to merge settings from `~/.config/git-pulsar/config.toml` and project-level `pulsar.toml` or `pyproject.toml`.
 
 ### 2. The Abstraction Layer (Plumbing)
 
-* **`git_pulsar/git_wrapper.py`**: The Git Interface.
-  * **Role:** A strict wrapper around `subprocess`.
-  * **Philosophy:** **No Porcelain.** This module primarily uses git *plumbing* commands (`write-tree`, `commit-tree`, `update-ref`) rather than user-facing commands (`commit`, `add`) to ensure deterministic behavior.
-* **`git_pulsar/system.py`**: OS Abstraction.
-  * **Role:** Identity & Environment.
-  * **Logic:** Handles the chaos of cross-platform identity (mapping `IOPlatformUUID` on macOS vs `/etc/machine-id` on Linux) to ensure stable "Roaming Profiles."
+- **`git_pulsar/git_wrapper.py`**: The Git Interface.
+  - **Role:** A strict wrapper around `subprocess`.
+  - **Philosophy:** **No Porcelain.** This module primarily uses git *plumbing* commands (`write-tree`, `commit-tree`, `update-ref`) rather than user-facing commands (`commit`, `add`) to ensure deterministic behavior.
+- **`git_pulsar/system.py`**: OS Abstraction.
+  - **Role:** Identity & Environment.
+  - **Logic:** Handles the chaos of cross-platform identity (mapping `IOPlatformUUID` on macOS vs `/etc/machine-id` on Linux) to ensure stable "Roaming Profiles."
 
 ### 3. Service Management (Lifecycle)
 
-* **`git_pulsar/service.py`**: The Installation Engine.
-  * **Role:** Interface with the host init system.
-  * **Logic:** Generates and registers `systemd` user timers (Linux) or instructions for `launchd` (macOS/Homebrew).
+- **`git_pulsar/service.py`**: The Installation Engine.
+  - **Role:** Interface with the host init system.
+  - **Logic:** Generates and registers `systemd` user timers (Linux) or instructions for `launchd` (macOS/Homebrew).
 
 ### 4. The Interface
 
-* **`git_pulsar/cli.py`**: The User Entry Point & Diagnostic Engine.
-  * **Role:** Argument parsing, UI rendering, and system health evaluation.
-  * **Logic:** Uses `rich` for terminal visualization. Beyond routing subcommands to `ops.py` and `daemon.py`, it presents the `doctor` diagnostics. It correlates repository state against transient event logs, and relies on `ops.py` to evaluate topological drift across distributed sessions and scan for host-environment pipeline blockers (e.g., strict git hooks, missing `systemd` linger).
+- **`git_pulsar/cli.py`**: The User Entry Point & Diagnostic Engine.
+  - **Role:** Argument parsing, UI rendering, and system health evaluation.
+  - **Logic:** Uses `rich` for terminal visualization. Beyond routing subcommands to `ops.py` and `daemon.py`, it presents the `doctor` diagnostics. It correlates repository state against transient event logs, and relies on `ops.py` to evaluate topological drift across distributed sessions and scan for host-environment pipeline blockers (e.g., strict git hooks, missing `systemd` linger).
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index 06e4bbe..aaa5ef6 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -7,53 +7,61 @@ Because Git Pulsar operates on the user's active working directory, our testing
 ### 1. Property-Based Fuzzing (`test_properties.py`)
 
 Standard unit tests often miss edge cases in file handling. We use [Hypothesis](https://hypothesis.readthedocs.io/) to "fuzz" our critical registry logic.
-* **The Invariant:** The registry pruning algorithm must *never* delete a path that wasn't explicitly targeted, regardless of whitespace, encoding, or list size.
-* **The Mechanism:** Hypothesis generates thousands of semi-random file paths and registry states to attempt to break the `prune_registry` function.
+
+- **The Invariant:** The registry pruning algorithm must *never* delete a path that wasn't explicitly targeted, regardless of whitespace, encoding, or list size.
+- **The Mechanism:** Hypothesis generates thousands of semi-random file paths and registry states to attempt to break the `prune_registry` function.
 
 ### 2. Plumbing & Isolation Verification (`test_daemon.py`)
 
 This suite verifies the **Zero-Interference** architecture and **Decoupled Cycles**.
-* **Mocking the Environment:** We strictly enforce that the daemon cannot run unless `GIT_INDEX_FILE` is set to a temporary path.
-* **Plumbing Assertions:** We spy on the `subprocess` calls to ensure that *only* low-level plumbing commands (`git write-tree`, `git commit-tree`) are used. This proves that the user's high-level state (`git status`) remains untouched.
-* **Cycle Independence:** Verifies that local commits and remote pushes occur on independent intervals, ensuring high-frequency snapshots without battery-draining network calls.
-* **Roaming Radar:** Tests the background event loop's network polling throttle (15-minute intervals) and verifies that cross-platform OS interrupts (`SYSTEM.notify`) fire correctly when unacknowledged remote drift is detected.
+
+- **Mocking the Environment:** We strictly enforce that the daemon cannot run unless `GIT_INDEX_FILE` is set to a temporary path.
+- **Plumbing Assertions:** We spy on the `subprocess` calls to ensure that *only* low-level plumbing commands (`git write-tree`, `git commit-tree`) are used. This proves that the user's high-level state (`git status`) remains untouched.
+- **Cycle Independence:** Verifies that local commits and remote pushes occur on independent intervals, ensuring high-frequency snapshots without battery-draining network calls.
+- **Roaming Radar:** Tests the background event loop's network polling throttle (15-minute intervals) and verifies that cross-platform OS interrupts (`SYSTEM.notify`) fire correctly when unacknowledged remote drift is detected.
 
 ### 3. Platform Identity Matrix (`test_system.py`)
 
 Pulsar relies on stable machine identity to manage distributed sessions.
-* **The Problem:** macOS uses `IOPlatformUUID`, Linux uses `/etc/machine-id`, and fallback behavior is flaky.
-* **The Solution:** We mock low-level system calls (`ioreg`, file reads) to simulate specific OS environments, ensuring that a "Session Handoff" works correctly regardless of the OS topology.
+
+- **The Problem:** macOS uses `IOPlatformUUID`, Linux uses `/etc/machine-id`, and fallback behavior is flaky.
+- **The Solution:** We mock low-level system calls (`ioreg`, file reads) to simulate specific OS environments, ensuring that a "Session Handoff" works correctly regardless of the OS topology.
 
 ### 4. Topology Logic (`test_ops.py`)
 
 Verifies the "State Reconciliation" engine and primitive operations.
-* **Octopus Merges:** Simulates complex multi-head merge scenarios (e.g., merging 3 different machine streams into `main`) to ensure the DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) is constructed correctly without conflicts.
-* **State Management:** Verifies atomic file I/O operations (`set_drift_state`) to ensure cross-process thread safety between the background daemon and foreground CLI.
-* **Drift Detection:** Tests the core logic for identifying when remote sessions leapfrog local ones, simulating various network failures and detached HEAD states.
+
+- **Octopus Merges:** Simulates complex multi-head merge scenarios (e.g., merging 3 different machine streams into `main`) to ensure the DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) is constructed correctly without conflicts.
+- **State Management:** Verifies atomic file I/O operations (`set_drift_state`) to ensure cross-process thread safety between the background daemon and foreground CLI.
+- **Drift Detection:** Tests the core logic for identifying when remote sessions leapfrog local ones, simulating various network failures and detached HEAD states.
 
 ### 5. Configuration Hierarchy (`test_config.py`)
 
 Ensures the **Cascading Configuration** system behaves deterministically.
-* **Priority Resolution:** Verifies that Local config (`pulsar.toml`) overrides Global config (`config.toml`), and list values (like `ignore`) are appended rather than replaced.
-* **Preset Logic:** Tests that abstract presets (e.g., `paranoid`, `lazy`) correctly expand into concrete integer intervals for the daemon.
+
+- **Priority Resolution:** Verifies that Local config (`pulsar.toml`) overrides Global config (`config.toml`), and list values (like `ignore`) are appended rather than replaced.
+- **Preset Logic:** Tests that abstract presets (e.g., `paranoid`, `lazy`) correctly expand into concrete integer intervals for the daemon.
 
 ### 6. Diagnostics & CLI Interaction (`test_cli.py`)
 
 Validates the state-aware diagnostic engine and user-facing CLI commands.
-* **State vs. Event Correlation:** Tests the `doctor` command by decoupling repository health (state) from daemon logs (events). We mock dynamic lookback windows to verify that naturally resolved transient anomalies are suppressed, while active correlated failures trigger alerts.
-* **Environment Simulation:** Uses `tmp_path` and `mocker` to synthesize restrictive `.git/hooks`, offline networks, and Linux `systemd` configurations (`loginctl`) without executing side effects on the host.
-* **UI Determinism:** Ensures commands like `status` and `config` parse timestamps and route to standard system editors (`$EDITOR`, `nano`) correctly.
+
+- **State vs. Event Correlation:** Tests the `doctor` command by decoupling repository health (state) from daemon logs (events). We mock dynamic lookback windows to verify that naturally resolved transient anomalies are suppressed, while active correlated failures trigger alerts.
+- **Environment Simulation:** Uses `tmp_path` and `mocker` to synthesize restrictive `.git/hooks`, offline networks, and Linux `systemd` configurations (`loginctl`) without executing side effects on the host.
+- **UI Determinism:** Ensures commands like `status` and `config` parse timestamps and route to standard system editors (`$EDITOR`, `nano`) correctly.
 
 ---
 
 ## Running Tests
 
 **Run the full suite:**
+
 ```bash
 uv run pytest
 ```
 
 **Run only the Fuzzing engine:**
+
 ```bash
 uv run pytest tests/test_properties.py
 ```