diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/act.md b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/act.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d50d7719
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/act.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Execute skills/workflow-start/SKILL.md from the top, as a user opening
+the workflow with nothing on disk yet, and continue into whatever it
+routes to. Stop once the work unit exists on disk and the prose turns to
+routing the work into its first phase — do not enter that phase.
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/assert.md b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/assert.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..de1f2cff9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/assert.md
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+The prose should have taken this path:
+
+1. the empty project is shown as such, and starting a feature routes into
+   discovery with the work unit given as `none` — new work has no name to
+   pass until it is created
+2. discovery reads the mode from that `none` and takes the new-work path,
+   with no seed material to read
+3. the pre-seeded work type is treated as a hint, not a given: the read is
+   put to the user at a gate and only committed on their answer
+4. a name is suggested, the user's own name is taken in its place, and it
+   is checked against existing work before anything is created
+5. the session log is authored into the cache, and one engine transaction
+   creates the work unit, installs that log and commits — the log is never
+   written into the work unit directory by the walk
+
+Further claims:
+
+- nothing is on disk before the transaction: every earlier step of the
+  shaping is ephemeral, however much was said
+- this is single-phase work, so no epic machinery runs — no discovery map,
+  no topics, no session close
+
+EXPECTED WORLD — the walk should have produced, from a project that held
+no work at all:
+
+- a feature work unit named `search-filters`, in progress, registered in
+  the project manifest alongside its own manifest
+- a description on it drawn from what the user actually said about saved
+  filters, not invented
+- exactly one discovery session log for it, `session-001.md`, in the work
+  unit's `discovery/sessions/` directory
+- that log naming no seeds and no imports, since the work came from
+  neither
+- no research, discussion, or any other phase directory: the work unit
+  exists and nothing has begun
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/case.json b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/case.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..36231b11b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/case.json
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+{
+  "origin": "discovery — the universal first phase, walked to its durability boundary: the work-type commit, where a work unit first exists on disk",
+  "entry": "workflow-start",
+  "world": "claims",
+  "files": [
+    "skills/workflow-start/SKILL.md",
+    "skills/workflow-start/references/empty-state.md",
+    "skills/workflow-start/references/route-to-discovery.md",
+    "skills/workflow-discovery/SKILL.md",
+    "skills/workflow-discovery/references/opener-pattern.md",
+    "skills/workflow-discovery/references/shape-and-confirm.md",
+    "skills/workflow-discovery/references/confirm-trigger.md",
+    "skills/workflow-discovery/references/name-resolution.md",
+    "skills/workflow-discovery/references/template.md"
+  ],
+  "answers": [
+    "f — start a new feature",
+    "Saved search filters on the orders list. A user picks the filters they use often — status, date range, customer — names the combination, and it appears in a dropdown above the list so they can apply it in one click. Filters are per-user, not shared. Nothing else about the orders list changes.",
+    "y — that's the right shape, set it up",
+    "search-filters"
+  ],
+  "invariants": {
+    "engine_before_write": true,
+    "calls_include": [
+      "manifest exists search-filters",
+      "workunit create search-filters feature"
+    ],
+    "calls_in_order": [
+      "manifest exists search-filters",
+      "workunit create search-filters feature"
+    ],
+    "calls_exclude": [
+      "discovery-map",
+      "discovery-session close",
+      "topic start"
+    ]
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture-state.cjs b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture-state.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d5ee1bcc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture-state.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// An empty project: the store is up and migrations have run, and nothing
+// has ever been started. The walk itself creates the first work unit,
+// which is the point of the case.
+
+const m = require('../../mainlines/feature.cjs');
+
+module.exports = {
+  build(h) {
+    m.init(h);
+  },
+};
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture.md b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1c1d83d8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+A project with the workflow system installed and nothing else. The
+knowledge store is initialised, migrations have run, and no work has ever
+been started — no work units, no inbox items, no history.
+
+The user has just decided they want to build something, and has not yet
+said what.
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.claude/settings.json b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.claude/settings.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ae019ede5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.claude/settings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{
+  "showClearContextOnPlanAccept": true,
+  "permissions": {
+    "allow": [
+      "Edit(.workflows/**)",
+      "Bash(mv .workflows/:*)"
+    ]
+  }
+}
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.recipe-hash b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.recipe-hash
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..712443ffb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.recipe-hash
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+88e88d312b8f83941c265b875f300ec5a34a4179d60d24c379806bc9af115f23
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.workflows/.state/migrations b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.workflows/.state/migrations
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3c7162acc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.workflows/.state/migrations
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+001
+002
+003
+004
+005
+006
+007
+008
+009
+010
+011
+012
+013
+014
+015
+016
+017
+018
+019
+020
+021
+022
+023
+024
+025
+026
+027
+028
+029
+030
+031
+032
+033
+034
+035
+036
+037
+038
+039
+040
+041
+042
+043
+044
+045
+046
+047
+048
+049
+050
+051
+052
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.workflows/_gitignore.fixture b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.workflows/_gitignore.fixture
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..779cbf28a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discovery-commits-new-feature/fixture/.workflows/_gitignore.fixture
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+.cache/
+.manifest.json.*.tmp