diff --git a/references/changelog.md b/references/changelog.md
index 703e391..dae4dbb 100644
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@@ -2,6 +2,14 @@
 
 Record each change to the skill together with the evidence that motivated it.
 
+## 2026-10-08: tool-call relief
+
+Self dispatch `hands-toolcall-relief`. Operator, 2026-10-08: "I think Eureka needs some love. We have the forge set up but we're not using it to save tool calls yet. I think we can cut the number by a lot." Then, on the plan: "Dispatch all of those".
+
+Evidence (Eyes, `eureka-toolcall-patterns-2026-10-08.md`, 211 Hands and Soul runs, 25,784 calls): 11% of all calls were waiting. 1,181 were `ygg-verify.sh wait`, 974 idle `true`/`echo waiting` calls, 324 `sleep` calls (49 refused by the harness), 287 process checks and 83 Monitor calls; 198 wait calls timed out. The idle streaks mostly followed waits that `ygg-verify.sh` does not cover: local processes, Unity batchmode, logs. 65 `python` calls hit the Windows Store stub. The 2026-10-07 runs also showed three brief gaps (shared scratch files clobbered, an abbreviated wait protocol, Stryker character offsets) and a Self ruling text that put words in the operator's mouth.
+
+What changed. `tools/wait-on.sh` is one waiter (`pid`, `log` with a done regex, `file`) with `ygg-verify.sh wait`'s contract: at most 270 s, exit 0 with a bounded tail, exit 99 `RUNNING`, exit 98 for a thing gone with no completion evidence; `tools/test-tools.sh` has fixtures for it. `references/briefs.md` sends every non-Yggdrasil wait through it and forbids bare `true`/`echo`/`sleep` polling; names `py -3` as the Python that works from Git Bash and PowerShell; and carries the 2026-10-07 lessons (own scratchpad subdirectory, wait protocol pasted verbatim, Stryker offsets from LF content, Aetheria `DOCKER_ARGS` mounts, rulings quote only the operator). `SKILL.md` records the semantic-merge scar. `agents/life.md` gains the read-only mind tools (`whoami`, `view`, `query`) so Life can rehydrate; it still cannot admit.
+
 ## 2026-10-01: dispatches load the faculty charters
 
 Campaign `eureka-substrate`, prose-map step 5 (map `references/faculty-philosophy-cut.md`, sections 5 and 8). Operator go: "go with 2 and 3; we're spending tokens to save tokens."