diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d59e603
--- /dev/null
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+# Agent rules for the `linker` repo (reddit → spotify/bandcamp)
+
+A Firefox extension + a tiny Node resolver that turn artist/band names in reddit
+comments into Spotify/Bandcamp links. This file is the repo-local doctrine; the work
+is tracked in the **towl** work-item store under project **`reddit-spotify-linker`**.
+
+## Stack & layout
+
+- `service/` — zero-dependency Node resolver (Node 18+, built-in `fetch`/`http`).
+  `resolver.js` = the HTTP server; `lib.js` = pure, side-effect-free logic (the
+  artist-match precision lever) so it's unit-testable; `lib.test.js` = `node:test`.
+- `extension/` — Firefox **MV2** content script (`content.js` + `manifest.json` +
+  `styles.css`). No build step.
+- `scripts/check.sh` — the local check gate.
+
+## How work lands (IMPORTANT — this is NOT the towl repo)
+
+`linker` is hosted at **git.yapplesauce.com/paul/linker**, a **plain repo**: there is
+**no PR pipeline and no branch protection**. You **push to `main` directly** (via the
+user's PAT). Do **not** use `towl-orchestrate` / worktree+PR here.
+
+1. Make a small, reversible change.
+2. Run the gate: `bash scripts/check.sh` (must print `ALL CHECKS PASSED`).
+3. Commit citing the towl ref (e.g. `(task/odesli-direct-links)`), push `main`.
+4. Stamp the SHA on the towl item: `stamp_commit { ref, sha, repo: "linker" }`.
+5. Close the towl item.
+
+**NEVER touch the `towl` or `stickball` repos from work scoped to this project.**
+
+## Testing (zero-dep)
+
+`node --test` over `service/*.test.js` exercises `lib.js` (norm + the exact-name match
++ link builders). Keep pure logic in `lib.js` (not `resolver.js`, which has the
+server side effect) so it stays testable without opening a port. **Add/extend a test
+with every logic change.** The extension's in-browser behavior is **not** headlessly
+testable in this environment — validate `content.js` with `node --check` and a
+documented manual check on a real reddit thread (`about:debugging` → load temporary
+add-on).
+
+## Code stewards (towl plans under objective/linker-stewardship)
+
+Standing, language-appropriate stewards (adapted from towl's SCOUT→FILE doctrine; run
+them like any other steward — e.g. via a `/loop`). Each files findings into towl and
+fixes small things directly.
+
+- **quality** (`plan/steward-linker-quality`) — correctness + regressions; **owns and
+  maintains `scripts/check.sh` and the `node:test` suite**.
+- **design** (`plan/steward-linker-design`) — detection precision/recall, the
+  injected-link UX, README accuracy, reddit-DOM drift.
+- **security** (`plan/steward-linker-security`) — DOM injection (build nodes via
+  `createElement`/`textContent`, **never `innerHTML`**; http(s) hrefs only), minimal
+  extension permissions, bounded external API calls (no SSRF), secrets never
+  logged/committed (`.env` is gitignored).
+
+## Standing decisions
+
+- Firefox **MV2** stays — Mozilla has no deprecation timeline; do not migrate to MV3
+  speculatively.
+- **No ML/NER** in the resolver — keep it zero-dep; improve detection with cheap
+  heuristics + the API exact-match filter.
+- Detection precision lever: a candidate links **only** when a music API returns an
+  artist whose name matches it case-insensitively.
diff --git a/scripts/check.sh b/scripts/check.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..021b675
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Local check gate for the linker (owned by the quality steward — plan/steward-linker-quality).
+# Zero-dep: only `node` is required. Run before every push.
+set -euo pipefail
+cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
+
+echo "== node --check (syntax) =="
+for f in $(find service extension -name '*.js'); do
+  node --check "$f"
+  echo "  ok $f"
+done
+
+echo "== JSON validity =="
+node -e "JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('extension/manifest.json','utf8')); JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('service/package.json','utf8'))"
+echo "  ok extension/manifest.json + service/package.json"
+
+echo "== node --test (unit) =="
+( cd service && node --test )
+
+echo "ALL CHECKS PASSED"
diff --git a/service/lib.js b/service/lib.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8c9fc6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/service/lib.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+// Pure, side-effect-free helpers for the resolver. Kept separate from resolver.js
+// (which has the HTTP-server side effect) so they can be unit-tested with `node --test`
+// without starting a server. The artist-match precision lever lives here.
+
+export const norm = (s) => String(s).normalize("NFKC").trim().toLowerCase();
+
+export const bandcampSearch = (n) => `https://bandcamp.com/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(n)}&item_type=b`;
+export const spotifySearch = (n) => `https://open.spotify.com/search/${encodeURIComponent(n)}`;
+
+// The precision lever: return the result whose name matches the candidate
+// case-insensitively, else null. `minScore` (MusicBrainz) additionally requires a
+// confidence score. Tolerates null/garbage items.
+export function pickArtist(name, items, { minScore = null } = {}) {
+  const want = norm(name);
+  return (
+    (items ?? []).find(
+      (a) => a && norm(a.name) === want && (minScore == null || (a.score ?? 0) >= minScore),
+    ) ?? null
+  );
+}
+
+// Link object for a confirmed Spotify hit (direct artist url when present, else search).
+export const spotifyResult = (hit) => ({
+  name: hit.name,
+  spotify: hit.external_urls?.spotify ?? spotifySearch(hit.name),
+  bandcamp: bandcampSearch(hit.name),
+});
+
+// Link object for a confirmed MusicBrainz hit (search urls — MB gives no platform ids).
+export const searchResult = (hit) => ({
+  name: hit.name,
+  spotify: spotifySearch(hit.name),
+  bandcamp: bandcampSearch(hit.name),
+});
diff --git a/service/lib.test.js b/service/lib.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbad08d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/service/lib.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+// Unit tests for the resolver's pure logic (run with `node --test`). Zero-dep.
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { norm, bandcampSearch, spotifySearch, pickArtist, spotifyResult, searchResult } from "./lib.js";
+
+test("norm lowercases, trims, NFKC-normalizes", () => {
+  assert.equal(norm("  Cerebral Bore "), "cerebral bore");
+  assert.equal(norm("DEVOURMENT"), "devourment");
+});
+
+test("pickArtist matches case-insensitively, rejects non-matches", () => {
+  const items = [{ name: "Cattle Decapitation" }, { name: "Cerebral Bore" }];
+  assert.equal(pickArtist("cerebral bore", items)?.name, "Cerebral Bore");
+  assert.equal(pickArtist("CATTLE DECAPITATION", items)?.name, "Cattle Decapitation");
+  assert.equal(pickArtist("Notarealband", items), null);
+});
+
+test("pickArtist enforces minScore when given (MusicBrainz path)", () => {
+  const items = [{ name: "Devourment", score: 100 }, { name: "Devourment", score: 50 }];
+  assert.equal(pickArtist("Devourment", items, { minScore: 90 })?.score, 100);
+  assert.equal(pickArtist("Devourment", [{ name: "Devourment", score: 50 }], { minScore: 90 }), null);
+});
+
+test("pickArtist tolerates empty / garbage input", () => {
+  assert.equal(pickArtist("x", null), null);
+  assert.equal(pickArtist("x", []), null);
+  assert.equal(pickArtist("x", [null, { name: "y" }]), null);
+});
+
+test("spotifyResult prefers the direct url, falls back to search", () => {
+  const direct = spotifyResult({
+    name: "Devourment",
+    external_urls: { spotify: "https://open.spotify.com/artist/abc" },
+  });
+  assert.equal(direct.spotify, "https://open.spotify.com/artist/abc");
+  assert.match(direct.bandcamp, /^https:\/\/bandcamp\.com\/search\?q=Devourment/);
+
+  const noUrl = spotifyResult({ name: "Devourment" });
+  assert.equal(noUrl.spotify, "https://open.spotify.com/search/Devourment");
+});
+
+test("searchResult builds spotify + bandcamp search urls", () => {
+  const r = searchResult({ name: "Cerebral Bore" });
+  assert.equal(r.spotify, "https://open.spotify.com/search/Cerebral%20Bore");
+  assert.equal(r.bandcamp, "https://bandcamp.com/search?q=Cerebral%20Bore&item_type=b");
+});
+
+test("link builders url-encode", () => {
+  assert.equal(spotifySearch("A B"), "https://open.spotify.com/search/A%20B");
+  assert.ok(bandcampSearch("A&B").includes("A%26B"));
+});
diff --git a/service/package.json b/service/package.json
index 8e4f73c..463da09 100644
--- a/service/package.json
+++ b/service/package.json
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
   "description": "Tiny resolver service: candidate names -> confirmed-artist links (Spotify/Bandcamp).",
   "engines": { "node": ">=18" },
   "scripts": {
-    "start": "node resolver.js"
+    "start": "node resolver.js",
+    "test": "node --test"
   }
 }
diff --git a/service/resolver.js b/service/resolver.js
index 1f937cc..c928ede 100644
--- a/service/resolver.js
+++ b/service/resolver.js
@@ -6,10 +6,11 @@
 //     DIRECT artist links;
 //   * without creds -> MusicBrainz validation + Spotify/Bandcamp SEARCH links (zero setup).
 // Either way a candidate only resolves when an artist's name matches it case-insensitively
-// (the precision lever that keeps random capitalized words from being linked).
+// (the precision lever). The pure matching/link logic lives in lib.js (unit-tested).
 
 import { createServer } from "node:http";
 import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { norm, pickArtist, spotifyResult, searchResult } from "./lib.js";
 
 // --- minimal .env loader (no dependency) ------------------------------------
 try {
@@ -27,10 +28,6 @@ const USE_SPOTIFY = Boolean(SPOTIFY_ID && SPOTIFY_SECRET);
 const UA = "reddit-spotify-linker/0.1 (https://git.yapplesauce.com/paul/linker)";
 const MAX_CANDIDATES = 100;
 
-const norm = (s) => String(s).normalize("NFKC").trim().toLowerCase();
-const bandcampSearch = (n) => `https://bandcamp.com/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(n)}&item_type=b`;
-const spotifySearch = (n) => `https://open.spotify.com/search/${encodeURIComponent(n)}`;
-
 const cache = new Map(); // norm(name) -> { spotify, bandcamp, name } | null  (negatives cached too)
 
 // --- Spotify (optional) -----------------------------------------------------
@@ -57,13 +54,8 @@ async function viaSpotify(name) {
   const r = await fetch(url, { headers: { authorization: `Bearer ${token}` } });
   if (!r.ok) throw new Error(`spotify search http ${r.status}`);
   const j = await r.json();
-  const hit = (j.artists?.items ?? []).find((a) => norm(a.name) === norm(name));
-  if (!hit) return null;
-  return {
-    name: hit.name,
-    spotify: hit.external_urls?.spotify ?? spotifySearch(hit.name),
-    bandcamp: bandcampSearch(hit.name),
-  };
+  const hit = pickArtist(name, j.artists?.items);
+  return hit ? spotifyResult(hit) : null;
 }
 
 // --- MusicBrainz (zero-cred fallback) ---------------------------------------
@@ -87,9 +79,8 @@ async function viaMusicBrainz(name) {
   const r = await fetch(url, { headers: { "user-agent": UA, accept: "application/json" } });
   if (!r.ok) throw new Error(`musicbrainz http ${r.status}`);
   const j = await r.json();
-  const hit = (j.artists ?? []).find((a) => norm(a.name) === norm(name) && (a.score ?? 0) >= 90);
-  if (!hit) return null;
-  return { name: hit.name, spotify: spotifySearch(hit.name), bandcamp: bandcampSearch(hit.name) };
+  const hit = pickArtist(name, j.artists, { minScore: 90 });
+  return hit ? searchResult(hit) : null;
 }
 
 // --- resolve one candidate (cached) -----------------------------------------