diff --git a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/data/prd-purpose.md b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/data/prd-purpose.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..755230be7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/data/prd-purpose.md
@@ -0,0 +1,197 @@
+# BMAD PRD Purpose
+
+**The PRD is the top of the required funnel that feeds all subsequent product development work in rhw BMad Method.**
+
+---
+
+## What is a BMAD PRD?
+
+A dual-audience document serving:
+1. **Human Product Managers and builders** - Vision, strategy, stakeholder communication
+2. **LLM Downstream Consumption** - UX Design → Architecture → Epics → Development AI Agents
+
+Each successive document becomes more AI-tailored and granular.
+
+---
+
+## Core Philosophy: Information Density
+
+**High Signal-to-Noise Ratio**
+
+Every sentence must carry information weight. LLMs consume precise, dense content efficiently.
+
+**Anti-Patterns (Eliminate These):**
+- ❌ "The system will allow users to..." → ✅ "Users can..."
+- ❌ "It is important to note that..." → ✅ State the fact directly
+- ❌ "In order to..." → ✅ "To..."
+- ❌ Conversational filler and padding → ✅ Direct, concise statements
+
+**Goal:** Maximum information per word. Zero fluff.
+
+---
+
+## The Traceability Chain
+
+**PRD starts the chain:**
+```
+Vision → Success Criteria → User Journeys → Functional Requirements → (future: User Stories)
+```
+
+**In the PRD, establish:**
+- Vision → Success Criteria alignment
+- Success Criteria → User Journey coverage
+- User Journey → Functional Requirement mapping
+- All requirements traceable to user needs
+
+**Why:** Each downstream artifact (UX, Architecture, Epics, Stories) must trace back to documented user needs and business objectives. This chain ensures we build the right thing.
+
+---
+
+## What Makes Great Functional Requirements?
+
+### FRs are Capabilities, Not Implementation
+
+**Good FR:** "Users can reset their password via email link"
+**Bad FR:** "System sends JWT via email and validates with database" (implementation leakage)
+
+**Good FR:** "Dashboard loads in under 2 seconds for 95th percentile"
+**Bad FR:** "Fast loading time" (subjective, unmeasurable)
+
+### SMART Quality Criteria
+
+**Specific:** Clear, precisely defined capability
+**Measurable:** Quantifiable with test criteria
+**Attainable:** Realistic within constraints
+**Relevant:** Aligns with business objectives
+**Traceable:** Links to source (executive summary or user journey)
+
+### FR Anti-Patterns
+
+**Subjective Adjectives:**
+- ❌ "easy to use", "intuitive", "user-friendly", "fast", "responsive"
+- ✅ Use metrics: "completes task in under 3 clicks", "loads in under 2 seconds"
+
+**Implementation Leakage:**
+- ❌ Technology names, specific libraries, implementation details
+- ✅ Focus on capability and measurable outcomes
+
+**Vague Quantifiers:**
+- ❌ "multiple users", "several options", "various formats"
+- ✅ "up to 100 concurrent users", "3-5 options", "PDF, DOCX, TXT formats"
+
+**Missing Test Criteria:**
+- ❌ "The system shall provide notifications"
+- ✅ "The system shall send email notifications within 30 seconds of trigger event"
+
+---
+
+## What Makes Great Non-Functional Requirements?
+
+### NFRs Must Be Measurable
+
+**Template:**
+```
+"The system shall [metric] [condition] [measurement method]"
+```
+
+**Examples:**
+- ✅ "The system shall respond to API requests in under 200ms for 95th percentile as measured by APM monitoring"
+- ✅ "The system shall maintain 99.9% uptime during business hours as measured by cloud provider SLA"
+- ✅ "The system shall support 10,000 concurrent users as measured by load testing"
+
+### NFR Anti-Patterns
+
+**Unmeasurable Claims:**
+- ❌ "The system shall be scalable" → ✅ "The system shall handle 10x load growth through horizontal scaling"
+- ❌ "High availability required" → ✅ "99.9% uptime as measured by cloud provider SLA"
+
+**Missing Context:**
+- ❌ "Response time under 1 second" → ✅ "API response time under 1 second for 95th percentile under normal load"
+
+---
+
+## Domain-Specific Requirements
+
+**Auto-Detect and Enforce Based on Project Context**
+
+Certain industries have mandatory requirements that must be present:
+
+- **Healthcare:** HIPAA Privacy & Security Rules, PHI encryption, audit logging, MFA
+- **Fintech:** PCI-DSS Level 1, AML/KYC compliance, SOX controls, financial audit trails
+- **GovTech:** NIST framework, Section 508 accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA), FedRAMP, data residency
+- **E-Commerce:** PCI-DSS for payments, inventory accuracy, tax calculation by jurisdiction
+
+**Why:** Missing these requirements in the PRD means they'll be missed in architecture and implementation, creating expensive rework. During PRD creation there is a step to cover this - during validation we want to make sure it was covered. For this purpose steps will utilize a domain-complexity.csv and project-types.csv.
+
+---
+
+## Document Structure (Markdown, Human-Readable)
+
+### Required Sections
+1. **Executive Summary** - Vision, differentiator, target users
+2. **Success Criteria** - Measurable outcomes (SMART)
+3. **Product Scope** - MVP, Growth, Vision phases
+4. **User Journeys** - Comprehensive coverage
+5. **Domain Requirements** - Industry-specific compliance (if applicable)
+6. **Innovation Analysis** - Competitive differentiation (if applicable)
+7. **Project-Type Requirements** - Platform-specific needs
+8. **Functional Requirements** - Capability contract (FRs)
+9. **Non-Functional Requirements** - Quality attributes (NFRs)
+
+### Formatting for Dual Consumption
+
+**For Humans:**
+- Clear, professional language
+- Logical flow from vision to requirements
+- Easy for stakeholders to review and approve
+
+**For LLMs:**
+- ## Level 2 headers for all main sections (enables extraction)
+- Consistent structure and patterns
+- Precise, testable language
+- High information density
+
+---
+
+## Downstream Impact
+
+**How the PRD Feeds Next Artifacts:**
+
+**UX Design:**
+- User journeys → interaction flows
+- FRs → design requirements
+- Success criteria → UX metrics
+
+**Architecture:**
+- FRs → system capabilities
+- NFRs → architecture decisions
+- Domain requirements → compliance architecture
+- Project-type requirements → platform choices
+
+**Epics & Stories (created after architecture):**
+- FRs → user stories (1 FR could map to 1-3 stories potentially)
+- Acceptance criteria → story acceptance tests
+- Priority → sprint sequencing
+- Traceability → stories map back to vision
+
+**Development AI Agents:**
+- Precise requirements → implementation clarity
+- Test criteria → automated test generation
+- Domain requirements → compliance enforcement
+- Measurable NFRs → performance targets
+
+---
+
+## Summary: What Makes a Great BMAD PRD?
+
+✅ **High Information Density** - Every sentence carries weight, zero fluff
+✅ **Measurable Requirements** - All FRs and NFRs are testable with specific criteria
+✅ **Clear Traceability** - Each requirement links to user need and business objective
+✅ **Domain Awareness** - Industry-specific requirements auto-detected and included
+✅ **Zero Anti-Patterns** - No subjective adjectives, implementation leakage, or vague quantifiers
+✅ **Dual Audience Optimized** - Human-readable AND LLM-consumable
+✅ **Markdown Format** - Professional, clean, accessible to all stakeholders
+
+---
+
+**Remember:** The PRD is the foundation. Quality here ripples through every subsequent phase. A dense, precise, well-traced PRD makes UX design, architecture, epic breakdown, and AI development dramatically more effective.
diff --git a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-01-discovery.md b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-01-discovery.md
index ed9381338..39e344946 100644
--- a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-01-discovery.md
+++ b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-01-discovery.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 # File references (ONLY variables used in this step)
-prdPurpose: '{project-root}/_bmad/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-create-prd/data/prd-purpose.md'
+prdPurpose: '../data/prd-purpose.md'
 ---
 
 # Step E-1: Discovery & Understanding
diff --git a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-01b-legacy-conversion.md b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-01b-legacy-conversion.md
index 55948f378..54f82525b 100644
--- a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-01b-legacy-conversion.md
+++ b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-01b-legacy-conversion.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 # File references (ONLY variables used in this step)
 prdFile: '{prd_file_path}'
-prdPurpose: '{project-root}/_bmad/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-create-prd/data/prd-purpose.md'
+prdPurpose: '../data/prd-purpose.md'
 ---
 
 # Step E-1B: Legacy PRD Conversion Assessment
diff --git a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-02-review.md b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-02-review.md
index 22706b4c7..c01a0adb9 100644
--- a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-02-review.md
+++ b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-02-review.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 # File references (ONLY variables used in this step)
 prdFile: '{prd_file_path}'
 validationReport: '{validation_report_path}'  # If provided
-prdPurpose: '{project-root}/_bmad/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-create-prd/data/prd-purpose.md'
+prdPurpose: '../data/prd-purpose.md'
 ---
 
 # Step E-2: Deep Review & Analysis
diff --git a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-03-edit.md b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-03-edit.md
index 1f7e595a0..5b5e66902 100644
--- a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-03-edit.md
+++ b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-03-edit.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 ---
 # File references (ONLY variables used in this step)
 prdFile: '{prd_file_path}'
-prdPurpose: '{project-root}/_bmad/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-create-prd/data/prd-purpose.md'
+prdPurpose: '../data/prd-purpose.md'
 ---
 
 # Step E-3: Edit & Update
diff --git a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-04-complete.md b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-04-complete.md
index 4ab9d05ea..1406e631c 100644
--- a/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-04-complete.md
+++ b/src/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-edit-prd/steps-e/step-e-04-complete.md
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 ---
 # File references (ONLY variables used in this step)
 prdFile: '{prd_file_path}'
-validationWorkflow: '{project-root}/_bmad/bmm-skills/2-plan-workflows/bmad-validate-prd/steps-v/step-v-01-discovery.md'
 ---
 
 # Step E-4: Complete & Validate
@@ -117,8 +116,7 @@ Display:
   - Display: "This will run all 13 validation checks on the updated PRD."
   - Display: "Preparing to validate: {prd_file_path}"
   - Display: "**Proceeding to validation...**"
-  - Read fully and follow: {validationWorkflow} (steps-v/step-v-01-discovery.md)
-  - Note: This hands off to the validation workflow which will run its complete 13-step process
+  - Invoke the `bmad-validate-prd` skill to run the complete validation workflow
 
 - **IF E (Edit More):**
   - Display: "**Additional Edits**"
diff --git a/test/test-install-to-bmad.js b/test/test-install-to-bmad.js
deleted file mode 100644
index d33218eb8..000000000
--- a/test/test-install-to-bmad.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,154 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * install_to_bmad Flag — Design Contract Tests
- *
- * Unit tests against the functions that implement the install_to_bmad flag.
- * These nail down the 4 core design decisions:
- *
- * 1. true/omitted → skill stays in _bmad/ (default behavior)
- * 2. false → skill removed from _bmad/ after IDE install
- * 3. No platform → no cleanup runs (cleanup lives in installVerbatimSkills)
- * 4. Mixed flags → each skill evaluated independently
- *
- * Usage: node test/test-install-to-bmad.js
- */
-
-const path = require('node:path');
-const os = require('node:os');
-const fs = require('fs-extra');
-const { loadSkillManifest, getInstallToBmad } = require('../tools/installer/ide/shared/skill-manifest');
-
-// ANSI colors
-const colors = {
-  reset: '\u001B[0m',
-  green: '\u001B[32m',
-  red: '\u001B[31m',
-  yellow: '\u001B[33m',
-  cyan: '\u001B[36m',
-  dim: '\u001B[2m',
-};
-
-let passed = 0;
-let failed = 0;
-
-function assert(condition, testName, errorMessage = '') {
-  if (condition) {
-    console.log(`${colors.green}✓${colors.reset} ${testName}`);
-    passed++;
-  } else {
-    console.log(`${colors.red}✗${colors.reset} ${testName}`);
-    if (errorMessage) {
-      console.log(`  ${colors.dim}${errorMessage}${colors.reset}`);
-    }
-    failed++;
-  }
-}
-
-async function runTests() {
-  console.log(`${colors.cyan}========================================`);
-  console.log('install_to_bmad — Design Contract Tests');
-  console.log(`========================================${colors.reset}\n`);
-
-  // ============================================================
-  // 1. true/omitted → getInstallToBmad returns true (keep in _bmad/)
-  // ============================================================
-  console.log(`${colors.yellow}Design decision 1: true or omitted → skill stays in _bmad/${colors.reset}\n`);
-
-  // Null manifest (no bmad-skill-manifest.yaml) → true
-  assert(getInstallToBmad(null, 'workflow.md') === true, 'null manifest defaults to true');
-
-  // Single-entry, flag omitted → true
-  assert(
-    getInstallToBmad({ __single: { type: 'skill' } }, 'workflow.md') === true,
-    'single-entry manifest with flag omitted defaults to true',
-  );
-
-  // Single-entry, explicit true → true
-  assert(
-    getInstallToBmad({ __single: { type: 'skill', install_to_bmad: true } }, 'workflow.md') === true,
-    'single-entry manifest with explicit true returns true',
-  );
-
-  console.log('');
-
-  // ============================================================
-  // 2. false → getInstallToBmad returns false (remove from _bmad/)
-  // ============================================================
-  console.log(`${colors.yellow}Design decision 2: false → skill removed from _bmad/${colors.reset}\n`);
-
-  // Single-entry, explicit false → false
-  assert(
-    getInstallToBmad({ __single: { type: 'skill', install_to_bmad: false } }, 'workflow.md') === false,
-    'single-entry manifest with explicit false returns false',
-  );
-
-  // loadSkillManifest round-trip: YAML with false is preserved through load
-  {
-    const tmpDir = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'bmad-itb-'));
-    await fs.writeFile(path.join(tmpDir, 'bmad-skill-manifest.yaml'), 'type: skill\ninstall_to_bmad: false\n');
-    const loaded = await loadSkillManifest(tmpDir);
-    assert(getInstallToBmad(loaded, 'workflow.md') === false, 'loadSkillManifest preserves install_to_bmad: false through round-trip');
-    await fs.remove(tmpDir);
-  }
-
-  console.log('');
-
-  // ============================================================
-  // 3. No platform → cleanup only runs inside installVerbatimSkills
-  //    (This is a design invariant: getInstallToBmad is only consulted
-  //     during IDE install. Without a platform, the flag has no effect.)
-  // ============================================================
-  console.log(`${colors.yellow}Design decision 3: flag is a per-skill property, not a pipeline gate${colors.reset}\n`);
-
-  // The flag value is stored but doesn't trigger any side effects by itself.
-  // Cleanup is driven by reading the CSV column inside installVerbatimSkills.
-  // We verify the flag is just data — getInstallToBmad doesn't touch the filesystem.
-  {
-    const manifest = { __single: { type: 'skill', install_to_bmad: false } };
-    const result = getInstallToBmad(manifest, 'workflow.md');
-    assert(typeof result === 'boolean', 'getInstallToBmad returns a boolean (pure data, no side effects)');
-    assert(result === false, 'false value is faithfully returned for consumer to act on');
-  }
-
-  console.log('');
-
-  // ============================================================
-  // 4. Mixed flags → each skill evaluated independently
-  // ============================================================
-  console.log(`${colors.yellow}Design decision 4: mixed flags — each skill independent${colors.reset}\n`);
-
-  // Multi-entry manifest: different files can have different flags
-  {
-    const manifest = {
-      'workflow.md': { type: 'skill', install_to_bmad: false },
-      'other.md': { type: 'skill', install_to_bmad: true },
-    };
-    assert(getInstallToBmad(manifest, 'workflow.md') === false, 'multi-entry: workflow.md with false returns false');
-    assert(getInstallToBmad(manifest, 'other.md') === true, 'multi-entry: other.md with true returns true');
-    assert(getInstallToBmad(manifest, 'unknown.md') === true, 'multi-entry: unknown file defaults to true');
-  }
-
-  console.log('');
-
-  // ============================================================
-  // Summary
-  // ============================================================
-  console.log(`${colors.cyan}========================================`);
-  console.log('Results:');
-  console.log(`  Passed: ${colors.green}${passed}${colors.reset}`);
-  console.log(`  Failed: ${colors.red}${failed}${colors.reset}`);
-  console.log(`========================================${colors.reset}\n`);
-
-  if (failed === 0) {
-    console.log(`${colors.green}All install_to_bmad contract tests passed!${colors.reset}\n`);
-    process.exit(0);
-  } else {
-    console.log(`${colors.red}Some install_to_bmad contract tests failed${colors.reset}\n`);
-    process.exit(1);
-  }
-}
-
-runTests().catch((error) => {
-  console.error(`${colors.red}Test runner failed:${colors.reset}`, error.message);
-  console.error(error.stack);
-  process.exit(1);
-});
diff --git a/test/test-installation-components.js b/test/test-installation-components.js
index 1ac4b386d..6913a6bf5 100644
--- a/test/test-installation-components.js
+++ b/test/test-installation-components.js
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ async function createTestBmadFixture() {
   await fs.writeFile(
     path.join(fixtureDir, '_config', 'skill-manifest.csv'),
     [
-      'canonicalId,name,description,module,path,install_to_bmad',
-      '"bmad-master","bmad-master","Minimal test agent fixture","core","_bmad/core/bmad-master/SKILL.md","true"',
+      'canonicalId,name,description,module,path',
+      '"bmad-master","bmad-master","Minimal test agent fixture","core","_bmad/core/bmad-master/SKILL.md"',
       '',
     ].join('\n'),
   );
@@ -103,8 +103,8 @@ async function createSkillCollisionFixture() {
   await fs.writeFile(
     path.join(configDir, 'skill-manifest.csv'),
     [
-      'canonicalId,name,description,module,path,install_to_bmad',
-      '"bmad-help","bmad-help","Native help skill","core","_bmad/core/tasks/bmad-help/SKILL.md","true"',
+      'canonicalId,name,description,module,path',
+      '"bmad-help","bmad-help","Native help skill","core","_bmad/core/tasks/bmad-help/SKILL.md"',
       '',
     ].join('\n'),
   );
@@ -1306,7 +1306,7 @@ async function runTests() {
     const existingCsv27 = await fs.readFile(path.join(configDir27, 'skill-manifest.csv'), 'utf8');
     await fs.writeFile(
       path.join(configDir27, 'skill-manifest.csv'),
-      existingCsv27.trimEnd() + '\n"bmad-architect","bmad-architect","Architect","bmm","_bmad/bmm/agents/bmad-architect/SKILL.md","true"\n',
+      existingCsv27.trimEnd() + '\n"bmad-architect","bmad-architect","Architect","bmm","_bmad/bmm/agents/bmad-architect/SKILL.md"\n',
     );
 
     // Run Claude Code setup (which triggers cleanup then install)
diff --git a/tools/installer/core/installer.js b/tools/installer/core/installer.js
index d75355d72..bc3b3ec20 100644
--- a/tools/installer/core/installer.js
+++ b/tools/installer/core/installer.js
@@ -132,6 +132,10 @@ class Installer {
 
       await this._setupIdes(config, allModules, paths, addResult, previousSkillIds);
 
+      // Skills are now in IDE directories — remove redundant copies from _bmad/.
+      // Also cleans up skill dirs left by older installer versions.
+      await this._cleanupSkillDirs(paths.bmadDir);
+
       const restoreResult = await this._restoreUserFiles(paths, updateState);
 
       // Render consolidated summary
@@ -413,6 +417,33 @@ class Installer {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Remove skill directories from _bmad/ after IDE installation.
+   * Skills are self-contained in IDE directories, so _bmad/ only needs
+   * module-level files (config.yaml, _config/, etc.).
+   * Also cleans up skill dirs left by older installer versions.
+   * @param {string} bmadDir - BMAD installation directory
+   */
+  async _cleanupSkillDirs(bmadDir) {
+    const csv = require('csv-parse/sync');
+    const csvPath = path.join(bmadDir, '_config', 'skill-manifest.csv');
+    if (!(await fs.pathExists(csvPath))) return;
+
+    const csvContent = await fs.readFile(csvPath, 'utf8');
+    const records = csv.parse(csvContent, { columns: true, skip_empty_lines: true });
+    const bmadFolderName = path.basename(bmadDir);
+    const bmadPrefix = bmadFolderName + '/';
+
+    for (const record of records) {
+      if (!record.path) continue;
+      const relativePath = record.path.startsWith(bmadPrefix) ? record.path.slice(bmadPrefix.length) : record.path;
+      const sourceDir = path.dirname(path.join(bmadDir, relativePath));
+      if (await fs.pathExists(sourceDir)) {
+        await fs.remove(sourceDir);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   /**
    * Restore custom and modified files that were backed up before the update.
    * No-op for fresh installs (updateState is null).
diff --git a/tools/installer/core/manifest-generator.js b/tools/installer/core/manifest-generator.js
index bef6f2d23..74972d36e 100644
--- a/tools/installer/core/manifest-generator.js
+++ b/tools/installer/core/manifest-generator.js
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ const {
   loadSkillManifest: loadSkillManifestShared,
   getCanonicalId: getCanonicalIdShared,
   getArtifactType: getArtifactTypeShared,
-  getInstallToBmad: getInstallToBmadShared,
 } = require('../ide/shared/skill-manifest');
 
 // Load package.json for version info
@@ -42,11 +41,6 @@ class ManifestGenerator {
     return getArtifactTypeShared(manifest, filename);
   }
 
-  /** Delegate to shared skill-manifest module */
-  getInstallToBmad(manifest, filename) {
-    return getInstallToBmadShared(manifest, filename);
-  }
-
   /**
    * Clean text for CSV output by normalizing whitespace.
    * Note: Quote escaping is handled by escapeCsv() at write time.
@@ -127,7 +121,7 @@ class ManifestGenerator {
    * Recursively walk a module directory tree, collecting native SKILL.md entrypoints.
    * A directory is discovered as a skill when it contains a SKILL.md file with
    * valid name/description frontmatter (name must match directory name).
-   * Manifest YAML is loaded only when present — for install_to_bmad and agent metadata.
+   * Manifest YAML is loaded only when present — for agent metadata.
    * Populates this.skills[] and this.skillClaimedDirs (Set of absolute paths).
    */
   async collectSkills() {
@@ -156,7 +150,7 @@ class ManifestGenerator {
         const skillMeta = await this.parseSkillMd(skillMdPath, dir, dirName, debug);
 
         if (skillMeta) {
-          // Load manifest when present (for install_to_bmad and agent metadata)
+          // Load manifest when present (for agent metadata)
           const manifest = await this.loadSkillManifest(dir);
           const artifactType = this.getArtifactType(manifest, skillFile);
 
@@ -182,7 +176,6 @@ class ManifestGenerator {
             module: moduleName,
             path: installPath,
             canonicalId,
-            install_to_bmad: this.getInstallToBmad(manifest, skillFile),
           });
 
           // Add to files list
@@ -472,7 +465,7 @@ class ManifestGenerator {
     const csvPath = path.join(cfgDir, 'skill-manifest.csv');
     const escapeCsv = (value) => `"${String(value ?? '').replaceAll('"', '""')}"`;
 
-    let csvContent = 'canonicalId,name,description,module,path,install_to_bmad\n';
+    let csvContent = 'canonicalId,name,description,module,path\n';
 
     for (const skill of this.skills) {
       const row = [
@@ -481,7 +474,6 @@ class ManifestGenerator {
         escapeCsv(skill.description),
         escapeCsv(skill.module),
         escapeCsv(skill.path),
-        escapeCsv(skill.install_to_bmad),
       ].join(',');
       csvContent += row + '\n';
     }
diff --git a/tools/installer/ide/_config-driven.js b/tools/installer/ide/_config-driven.js
index ec7dcaad6..15791e112 100644
--- a/tools/installer/ide/_config-driven.js
+++ b/tools/installer/ide/_config-driven.js
@@ -183,18 +183,6 @@ class ConfigDrivenIdeSetup {
       count++;
     }
 
-    // Post-install cleanup: remove _bmad/ directories for skills with install_to_bmad === "false"
-    for (const record of records) {
-      if (record.install_to_bmad === 'false') {
-        const relativePath = record.path.startsWith(bmadPrefix) ? record.path.slice(bmadPrefix.length) : record.path;
-        const sourceFile = path.join(bmadDir, relativePath);
-        const sourceDir = path.dirname(sourceFile);
-        if (await fs.pathExists(sourceDir)) {
-          await fs.remove(sourceDir);
-        }
-      }
-    }
-
     return count;
   }
 
diff --git a/tools/installer/ide/shared/skill-manifest.js b/tools/installer/ide/shared/skill-manifest.js
index c5ae4aed8..746d5d16f 100644
--- a/tools/installer/ide/shared/skill-manifest.js
+++ b/tools/installer/ide/shared/skill-manifest.js
@@ -54,19 +54,4 @@ function getArtifactType(manifest, filename) {
   return null;
 }
 
-/**
- * Get the install_to_bmad flag for a specific file from a loaded skill manifest.
- * @param {Object|null} manifest - Loaded manifest (from loadSkillManifest)
- * @param {string} filename - Source filename to look up
- * @returns {boolean} install_to_bmad value (defaults to true)
- */
-function getInstallToBmad(manifest, filename) {
-  if (!manifest) return true;
-  // Single-entry manifest applies to all files in the directory
-  if (manifest.__single) return manifest.__single.install_to_bmad !== false;
-  // Multi-entry: look up by filename directly
-  if (manifest[filename]) return manifest[filename].install_to_bmad !== false;
-  return true;
-}
-
-module.exports = { loadSkillManifest, getCanonicalId, getArtifactType, getInstallToBmad };
+module.exports = { loadSkillManifest, getCanonicalId, getArtifactType };
diff --git a/tools/validate-file-refs.js b/tools/validate-file-refs.js
index 5f412eb88..75a802967 100644
--- a/tools/validate-file-refs.js
+++ b/tools/validate-file-refs.js
@@ -156,8 +156,15 @@ function mapInstalledToSource(refPath) {
   // Skip install-only paths (generated at install time, not in source)
   if (isInstallOnly(cleaned)) return null;
 
-  // core/, bmm/, and utility/ are directly under src/
-  if (cleaned.startsWith('core/') || cleaned.startsWith('bmm/') || cleaned.startsWith('utility/')) {
+  // Map installed module names to their source directory names
+  // _bmad/core/ → src/core-skills/, _bmad/bmm/ → src/bmm-skills/
+  if (cleaned.startsWith('core/')) {
+    return path.join(SRC_DIR, 'core-skills', cleaned.slice('core/'.length));
+  }
+  if (cleaned.startsWith('bmm/')) {
+    return path.join(SRC_DIR, 'bmm-skills', cleaned.slice('bmm/'.length));
+  }
+  if (cleaned.startsWith('utility/')) {
     return path.join(SRC_DIR, cleaned);
   }