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diff --git a/.ai/workflows/task-audit.org b/.ai/workflows/task-audit.org
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--- a/.ai/workflows/task-audit.org
+++ b/.ai/workflows/task-audit.org
@@ -84,6 +84,21 @@ For every STALE task, edit it in the main thread:
 
 Follow =todo-format.md= for completion mechanics (depth-based DONE vs dated-rewrite) and the working-files / link-hygiene rules when moving artifacts.
 
+** Phase C.5 — Consolidate related tasks (interactive)
+
+Phase C's *Consolidate duplicates* bullet folds tasks that track the *same* thing. This step is the broader case: tasks that aren't duplicates but are really *one effort* fragmented across the list. A spread-out effort — several tasks all circling "make the tooling agent-agnostic," say — is harder to see, plan, and finish as a whole than one task, or one parent with the pieces as children.
+
+After the Phase C edits, read the open-task set as a whole and look for *clusters*: tasks that share a goal, a subsystem, or an obvious sequence. Use judgment over the task bodies, not a keyword heuristic — adjacency is a semantic call, and a brittle title-match both misses real clusters and invents false ones.
+
+For each cluster, surface it to Craig (inline numbered options per =interaction.md=, no popup) with a recommendation, offering the two shapes:
+
+- *Merge* — fold the cluster into one task when the members are genuinely the same work split up (near-duplicates, or steps with no independent value). The merged task keeps the strongest priority, unions the type tags, and absorbs each member's body as a dated note or a short list; the absorbed tasks close per =todo-format.md= (a =**= task → =CANCELLED= + =CLOSED:= with a one-line "merged into <task>", or deletion if it carried nothing unique).
+- *Parent with children* — when the members are related but distinct (each ships independently or has its own value), promote a parent task and re-home the members beneath it as sub-tasks, so the list shows the effort as a unit without losing the individual pieces.
+
+Never merge or re-parent autonomously — which tasks belong together, and whether they're one-work or related-distinct, is a judgment only Craig ratifies. Propose, don't apply, until he picks. A cluster he declines stays as separate tasks; don't re-surface it every audit (note the decline in the session log).
+
+When no clear cluster exists, say so in one line and move on — most audits won't find one, and forcing a merge fragments worse than it consolidates.
+
 ** Phase D — Flag the judgment calls (interactive)
 
 Present the NEEDS-USER bucket as a short, scannable list — one line per task, naming the decision or the fact required. Adjudicate with the user one item at a time (inline numbered options per =interaction.md=, no popup). Apply the user's calls as they come (which may itself produce more autonomous updates, or new tasks).