diff --git a/.agents/skills/build-cogmap/scripts/v3_prep.py b/.agents/skills/build-cogmap/scripts/v3_prep.py
index b78d724..b497026 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/build-cogmap/scripts/v3_prep.py
+++ b/.agents/skills/build-cogmap/scripts/v3_prep.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def sha(prefix, text):
 MONTH_ABBR = {'jan':1,'feb':2,'mar':3,'apr':4,'may':5,'jun':6,'jul':7,'aug':8,'sep':9,'sept':9,'oct':10,'nov':11,'dec':12}
 def infer_year(month): return DEFAULT_YEAR
 def safe_date(y, m, d):
-    try: return datetime.date(y, m, min(d, 28))
+    try: return datetime.date(y, m, d)
     except Exception: return None
 def parse_dates(text):
     found=[]; t=text
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b4b8dd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+name: CI
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.12"
+
+      - name: Compile Python
+        run: python -m compileall -q .
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: python -m unittest discover -s tests -v
+
+      - name: Verify skill mirror is in sync
+        run: python cogmap-app/tools/sync_skill.py --check
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfa0768
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Changelog
+
+All notable changes to CogMap will be documented in this file.
+
+The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
+and this project uses semantic versioning for public releases.
+
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Added
+
+- MIT license for public use and redistribution.
+- Contribution guide with validation and skill-sync instructions.
+- GitHub Actions CI that compiles Python, runs tests, and verifies the mirrored
+  agent skill is synchronized.
+- Regression tests for date parsing and bundled demo refresh.
+
+### Fixed
+
+- Preserved valid 29th, 30th, and 31st day-of-month values during date parsing
+  instead of silently truncating them to the 28th.
+
+### Changed
+
+- Improved the public README with clearer prerequisites, demo guidance, install
+  paths, and release-readiness notes.
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cc3109d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# Contributing to CogMap
+
+Thanks for helping improve CogMap. The project is a self-contained coding-agent
+skill plus a deterministic Python pipeline, so most changes should keep the
+agent instructions, Python scripts, demo assets, and mirrored skill copy aligned.
+
+## Development setup
+
+Requirements:
+
+- Python 3.10 or newer
+- No required third-party packages for Markdown/text notes
+- `olefile` only if you are testing `.onex` conversion:
+
+```bash
+python -m pip install -r cogmap-app/requirements.txt
+```
+
+## Validation before opening a pull request
+
+Run these checks from the repository root:
+
+```bash
+python -m compileall -q .
+python -m unittest discover -s tests -v
+python cogmap-app/tools/sync_skill.py --check
+```
+
+If `sync_skill.py --check` reports drift, regenerate the Codex mirror:
+
+```bash
+python cogmap-app/tools/sync_skill.py
+```
+
+Then rerun the checks.
+
+## Skill source of truth
+
+The canonical skill lives at:
+
+```text
+cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap/
+```
+
+The OpenAI Codex discovery copy lives at:
+
+```text
+.agents/skills/build-cogmap/
+```
+
+Do not edit the `.agents` copy directly. Edit the canonical skill, run
+`python cogmap-app/tools/sync_skill.py`, and commit both the canonical change and
+the regenerated mirror.
+
+## Pull request guidance
+
+- Keep changes focused and small enough to review.
+- Add or update tests for behavior changes.
+- Preserve the runtime separation between the immutable skill engine and the
+  user workspace (`./cogmap` by default).
+- Do not commit personal notes, generated workspaces, `.onex` exports, or
+  generated `knowledge-base-viz.html` files outside the bundled synthetic demo.
+- Prefer clear failure messages over silent fallbacks when user action is needed.
+
+## Demo refresh
+
+The bundled synthetic demo should render from a fresh workspace with:
+
+```bash
+COGMAP_NO_OPEN=1 python cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap/scripts/refresh.py --no-open
+```
+
+The automated test suite runs this path in a temporary workspace.
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f596cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2026 Ryan Nadel
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0c38dd2..1340df4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 # CogMap
 
-CogMap is a tool for navigating the tsunami of information that agents and people
-produce. As agents generate more content, we need new tools for thought that help
-us understand what a knowledge base contains, how ideas relate, what changed, what
-matters, what conflicts, what is missing, and where attention should go next.
+CogMap is an agent-assisted tool for navigating the tsunami of information that
+agents and people produce. As agents generate more content, we need new tools for
+thought that help us understand what a knowledge base contains, how ideas relate,
+what changed, what matters, what conflicts, what is missing, and where attention
+should go next.
 
 CogMap treats a knowledge base not as a folder of documents, but as an evolving
 external memory system with time as a key organizing construct. It extracts
@@ -15,6 +16,13 @@ The goal is to make accumulated knowledge navigable for both people and agents:
 map the concepts, trace relationships across sources, surface conflicts and gaps,
 notice drift or convergence, and decide where to focus next.
 
+## Status
+
+CogMap is currently an early public-beta project. The bundled demo renders from a
+fresh checkout, and the Markdown/text pipeline has automated smoke coverage. The
+semantic extraction, resolution, and synthesis stages are intentionally performed
+by your coding agent rather than by a hosted API.
+
 ## Why Minard?
 
 Charles Joseph Minard's 1869 map of Napoleon's Russian campaign is one of the
@@ -50,6 +58,18 @@ evolving landscape of thought.
 - Ships with a GitHub Copilot / Claude Code skill for agent-assisted refreshes.
 - Outputs a portable HTML artifact with embedded data and no server requirement.
 
+## See it in action
+
+A synthetic demo corpus ships inside the skill. On first run, CogMap seeds a
+project-local `cogmap/` workspace from that demo and renders:
+
+```text
+cogmap/output/knowledge-base-viz.html
+```
+
+The generated page is fully local: no server, database, or API key is required.
+Replace the demo notes with your own Markdown or text files when you are ready.
+
 ## How CogMap uses agents
 
 CogMap is built as a deterministic pipeline with agent-powered semantic stages.
@@ -65,10 +85,17 @@ while the pipeline remains the durable system of record.
 
 ## Quick start
 
-CogMap is designed to run **inside a coding agent** such as GitHub Copilot,
-Claude Code, or Codex. The Python pipeline is the engine the agent drives; the
-normal user workflow is to install/open the project in your agent and ask it to
-refresh or rebuild the knowledge base.
+CogMap is a **coding-agent skill**, not a standalone SaaS app. The Python
+pipeline is the engine the agent drives; the normal user workflow is to
+install/open the project in your agent and ask it to refresh or rebuild the
+knowledge base.
+
+### Prerequisites
+
+- Python 3.10 or newer.
+- One of: GitHub Copilot CLI, Claude Code, or OpenAI Codex CLI.
+- No LLM API key. The host coding agent performs the semantic stages.
+- Optional: `olefile` for best-effort OneNote `.onex` conversion.
 
 1. Clone or open this repository in your coding agent workspace.
 2. Install or expose the skill at `cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap`.
@@ -85,6 +112,34 @@ pipeline, gives the coding agent structured actions to perform, and then resumes
 That agent-in-the-loop loop is what lets CogMap rebuild without requiring a
 separate LLM API key.
 
+## Installation paths
+
+### GitHub Copilot CLI
+
+Copy the self-contained skill folder into your Copilot skills directory:
+
+```bash
+cp -r cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap ~/.copilot/skills/
+```
+
+On Windows, copy `cogmap-app\skills\build-cogmap` to
+`%USERPROFILE%\.copilot\skills\`.
+
+### Claude Code
+
+This repository is a Claude Code marketplace. In Claude Code:
+
+```text
+/plugin marketplace add ryannadel/CogMap
+/plugin install cogmap-knowledge-base@cogmap
+```
+
+### OpenAI Codex CLI
+
+Codex discovers agent skills under `.agents/skills`. This repository ships a
+mirrored copy at `.agents/skills/build-cogmap/`, kept in sync with the canonical
+skill under `cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap/`.
+
 ## Repository layout
 
 ```text
@@ -99,3 +154,19 @@ cogmap/                  Project-local workspace created at runtime
 ```
 
 See `cogmap-app/README.md` for the full app guide.
+
+## Development
+
+Run the public-release checks from the repository root:
+
+```bash
+python -m compileall -q .
+python -m unittest discover -s tests -v
+python cogmap-app/tools/sync_skill.py --check
+```
+
+See `CONTRIBUTING.md` for contribution and skill-sync guidance.
+
+## License
+
+CogMap is released under the MIT License. See `LICENSE`.
diff --git a/cogmap-app/README.md b/cogmap-app/README.md
index c2680ec..142aea3 100644
--- a/cogmap-app/README.md
+++ b/cogmap-app/README.md
@@ -68,6 +68,13 @@ cogmap/                              the workspace (created in your working dir)
 Relocate the workspace with `COGMAP_APP` (or the finer `COGMAP_SOURCES` /
 `COGMAP_WORK` / `COGMAP_OUTPUT`; legacy `OSLER_*` names still accepted).
 
+## Prerequisites
+
+- Python 3.10 or newer.
+- GitHub Copilot CLI, Claude Code, or OpenAI Codex CLI.
+- No separate LLM API key. The host coding agent performs the semantic stages.
+- Optional: `olefile` for `.onex` conversion.
+
 ## Quick start (run it with a coding agent)
 
 CogMap is a **coding agent skill**, not a standalone app you run by hand:
@@ -101,10 +108,10 @@ higher-reasoning passes handle concept resolution and synthesis.
 Copy the self-contained skill folder into your Copilot skills directory:
 
 ```bash
-cp -r skills/build-cogmap ~/.copilot/skills/
+cp -r cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap ~/.copilot/skills/
 ```
 
-(On Windows: copy `skills\build-cogmap` to `%USERPROFILE%\.copilot\skills\`.)
+(On Windows: copy `cogmap-app\skills\build-cogmap` to `%USERPROFILE%\.copilot\skills\`.)
 Then say *"build the knowledge base"*.
 
 ## Install as a Claude Code plugin
@@ -113,7 +120,7 @@ This repo is a Claude Code marketplace (`.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` at the
 repo root) exposing the `cogmap-app` plugin. In Claude Code:
 
 ```
-/plugin marketplace add <your-github-org>/CogMap
+/plugin marketplace add ryannadel/CogMap
 /plugin install cogmap-knowledge-base@cogmap
 ```
 
diff --git a/cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap/scripts/v3_prep.py b/cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap/scripts/v3_prep.py
index b78d724..b497026 100644
--- a/cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap/scripts/v3_prep.py
+++ b/cogmap-app/skills/build-cogmap/scripts/v3_prep.py
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ def sha(prefix, text):
 MONTH_ABBR = {'jan':1,'feb':2,'mar':3,'apr':4,'may':5,'jun':6,'jul':7,'aug':8,'sep':9,'sept':9,'oct':10,'nov':11,'dec':12}
 def infer_year(month): return DEFAULT_YEAR
 def safe_date(y, m, d):
-    try: return datetime.date(y, m, min(d, 28))
+    try: return datetime.date(y, m, d)
     except Exception: return None
 def parse_dates(text):
     found=[]; t=text
diff --git a/tests/test_cogmap_pipeline.py b/tests/test_cogmap_pipeline.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..65c8ade
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cogmap_pipeline.py
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+import json
+import os
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+SKILL_DIR = REPO_ROOT / "cogmap-app" / "skills" / "build-cogmap"
+SCRIPTS_DIR = SKILL_DIR / "scripts"
+
+
+def run_script(script, workspace, cwd=None, *args):
+    env = dict(os.environ)
+    if workspace is not None:
+        env["COGMAP_APP"] = str(workspace)
+    env["COGMAP_NO_OPEN"] = "1"
+    env["PYTHONIOENCODING"] = "utf-8"
+    return subprocess.run(
+        [sys.executable, str(SCRIPTS_DIR / script), *args],
+        cwd=str(cwd or REPO_ROOT),
+        env=env,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+
+
+class CogMapPipelineTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_date_parsing_preserves_valid_month_days(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+            workspace = Path(td) / "cogmap"
+            sources = workspace / "sources"
+            sources.mkdir(parents=True)
+            (sources / "dated-notes.txt").write_text(
+                "On January 31, 2025 the team made a concrete decision about "
+                "the platform roadmap and recorded several follow-up questions. "
+                "On 2025-12-31 there was another substantial roadmap update. "
+                "The February 29, 2024 leap-day note remains valid. "
+                "April 31, 2025 is intentionally invalid and should be ignored.",
+                encoding="utf-8",
+            )
+
+            result = run_script("v3_prep.py", workspace)
+
+            self.assertEqual(result.returncode, 0, result.stdout + result.stderr)
+            master = json.loads((workspace / "work" / "v3_chunks_master.json").read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+            self.assertEqual(len(master["chunks"]), 1)
+            dates = set(master["chunks"][0]["dates"])
+            self.assertIn("2025-01-31", dates)
+            self.assertIn("2025-12-31", dates)
+            self.assertIn("2024-02-29", dates)
+            self.assertNotIn("2025-01-28", dates)
+            self.assertNotIn("2025-12-28", dates)
+            self.assertNotIn("2025-04-30", dates)
+            self.assertNotIn("2025-04-31", dates)
+
+    def test_demo_refresh_renders_html(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as td:
+            workspace = Path(td) / "cogmap"
+
+            result = run_script("refresh.py", None, Path(td), "--no-open")
+
+            self.assertEqual(result.returncode, 0, result.stdout + result.stderr)
+            self.assertIn("DONE.", result.stdout)
+            html = workspace / "output" / "knowledge-base-viz.html"
+            data_path = workspace / "output" / "knowledge-base-viz-data.json"
+            self.assertTrue(html.exists(), result.stdout)
+            self.assertTrue(data_path.exists(), result.stdout)
+            data = json.loads(data_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+            self.assertGreater(data["metadata"]["counts"]["sources"], 0)
+            self.assertGreater(data["metadata"]["counts"]["chunks"], 0)
+            self.assertIn("CogMap", html.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    unittest.main()