diff --git a/docs/work/_system/_state.json b/docs/work/_system/_state.json
index 4b9a7ef..f1e51c3 100644
--- a/docs/work/_system/_state.json
+++ b/docs/work/_system/_state.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "updated_at": "2026-07-12T18:36:43.636Z",
+  "updated_at": "2026-07-12T18:55:42.123Z",
   "epics": {
     "platform-retrofit": {
       "status": "in-progress",
@@ -95,10 +95,10 @@
           "blocks": []
         },
         "09-template-snapshot": {
-          "status": "todo",
+          "status": "done",
           "title": "Snapshot the clean slate as an orphan template branch",
           "ac_total": 1,
-          "ac_completed": 0,
+          "ac_completed": 1,
           "depends_on": [],
           "blocks": []
         }
@@ -241,11 +241,6 @@
       "story": "08-rewrite-agent-docs",
       "title": "Rewrite CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md for Veect"
     },
-    {
-      "epic": "platform-retrofit",
-      "story": "09-template-snapshot",
-      "title": "Snapshot the clean slate as an orphan template branch"
-    },
     {
       "epic": "walking-skeleton",
       "story": "01-vite-kitchen-fixture",
diff --git a/docs/work/epics/platform-retrofit/09-template-snapshot/_story.md b/docs/work/epics/platform-retrofit/09-template-snapshot/_story.md
index a41835d..95677a4 100644
--- a/docs/work/epics/platform-retrofit/09-template-snapshot/_story.md
+++ b/docs/work/epics/platform-retrofit/09-template-snapshot/_story.md
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ id: 09-template-snapshot
 epic: platform-retrofit
 title: Snapshot the clean slate as an orphan template branch
 type: technical-story
-status: todo
+status: done
 feature: tooling
 depends-on:
   [00-baseline-repair, 03-delete-demo-apps-and-features, 04-web-next-shell]
 blocks: []
 created: 2026-07-12T14:55:00Z
-updated: 2026-07-12T15:21:32.164Z
+updated: 2026-07-12T18:55:41.850Z
 ---
 
 ## Goal
@@ -42,4 +42,6 @@ The retrofit surfaced defects that were template bugs, not Veect bugs (broken tu
 
 ## Tasks
 
-- [ ] Create orphan branch `template/clean-slate` from the post-story-04 tree: curate out the Veect-specifics listed in Done-when, keep the generic repairs, author `TEMPLATE.md` (provenance, curation list, fixed baseline defects, usage), verify the full gate set passes on a standalone checkout of the branch — one orphan commit; main untouched.
+- [x] Create orphan branch `template/clean-slate` from the post-story-04 tree: curate out the Veect-specifics listed in Done-when, keep the generic repairs, author `TEMPLATE.md` (provenance, curation list, fixed baseline defects, usage), verify the full gate set passes on a standalone checkout of the branch — one orphan commit; main untouched.
+
+_Landed: branch `template/clean-slate` — root f77e6ea (curated snapshot of bb4a0c7, standalone gates verified in fresh clone, grep-veect returns only TEMPLATE.md) + dda9af9 (provenance accuracy fix per review). Reviewer-approved. Also fixed two latent template bugs: work-CLI crash on empty epics dir (.gitkeep + guard), unused var in state-sync-guard.test.mjs._