diff --git a/src/core/templates/skill-templates.ts b/src/core/templates/skill-templates.ts
index 06cf37b7..3008b82f 100644
--- a/src/core/templates/skill-templates.ts
+++ b/src/core/templates/skill-templates.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ export function getExploreSkillTemplate(): SkillTemplate {
     description: 'Enter explore mode - a thinking partner for exploring ideas, investigating problems, and clarifying requirements. Use when the user wants to think through something before or during a change.',
     instructions: `Enter explore mode. Think deeply. Visualize freely. Follow the conversation wherever it goes.
 
+**IMPORTANT: Explore mode is for thinking, not implementing.** You may read files, search code, and investigate the codebase, but you must NEVER write code or implement features. If the user asks you to implement something, remind them to exit explore mode first (e.g., start a change with \`/opsx:new\` or \`/opsx:ff\`). You MAY create OpenSpec artifacts (proposals, designs, specs) if the user asks—that's capturing thinking, not implementing.
+
 **This is a stance, not a workflow.** There are no fixed steps, no required sequence, no mandatory outputs. You're a thinking partner helping the user explore.
 
 ---
@@ -31,6 +33,7 @@ export function getExploreSkillTemplate(): SkillTemplate {
 ## The Stance
 
 - **Curious, not prescriptive** - Ask questions that emerge naturally, don't follow a script
+- **Open threads, not interrogations** - Surface multiple interesting directions and let the user follow what resonates. Don't funnel them through a single path of questions.
 - **Visual** - Use ASCII diagrams liberally when they'd help clarify thinking
 - **Adaptive** - Follow interesting threads, pivot when new information emerges
 - **Patient** - Don't rush to conclusions, let the shape of the problem emerge
@@ -290,6 +293,7 @@ But this summary is optional. Sometimes the thinking IS the value.
 
 ## Guardrails
 
+- **Don't implement** - Never write code or implement features. Creating OpenSpec artifacts is fine, writing application code is not.
 - **Don't fake understanding** - If something is unclear, dig deeper
 - **Don't rush** - Discovery is thinking time, not task time
 - **Don't force structure** - Let patterns emerge naturally
@@ -903,6 +907,8 @@ export function getOpsxExploreCommandTemplate(): CommandTemplate {
     tags: ['workflow', 'explore', 'experimental', 'thinking'],
     content: `Enter explore mode. Think deeply. Visualize freely. Follow the conversation wherever it goes.
 
+**IMPORTANT: Explore mode is for thinking, not implementing.** You may read files, search code, and investigate the codebase, but you must NEVER write code or implement features. If the user asks you to implement something, remind them to exit explore mode first (e.g., start a change with \`/opsx:new\` or \`/opsx:ff\`). You MAY create OpenSpec artifacts (proposals, designs, specs) if the user asks—that's capturing thinking, not implementing.
+
 **This is a stance, not a workflow.** There are no fixed steps, no required sequence, no mandatory outputs. You're a thinking partner helping the user explore.
 
 **Input**: The argument after \`/opsx:explore\` is whatever the user wants to think about. Could be:
@@ -917,6 +923,7 @@ export function getOpsxExploreCommandTemplate(): CommandTemplate {
 ## The Stance
 
 - **Curious, not prescriptive** - Ask questions that emerge naturally, don't follow a script
+- **Open threads, not interrogations** - Surface multiple interesting directions and let the user follow what resonates. Don't funnel them through a single path of questions.
 - **Visual** - Use ASCII diagrams liberally when they'd help clarify thinking
 - **Adaptive** - Follow interesting threads, pivot when new information emerges
 - **Patient** - Don't rush to conclusions, let the shape of the problem emerge
@@ -1057,6 +1064,7 @@ When things crystallize, you might offer a summary - but it's optional. Sometime
 
 ## Guardrails
 
+- **Don't implement** - Never write code or implement features. Creating OpenSpec artifacts is fine, writing application code is not.
 - **Don't fake understanding** - If something is unclear, dig deeper
 - **Don't rush** - Discovery is thinking time, not task time
 - **Don't force structure** - Let patterns emerge naturally