diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index b88d9d3b..a47d22b4 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -38,9 +38,10 @@ hand-maintained per-file tree drifts out of sync with the code.
   and the axum operator dashboard (`dashboard.rs`). Largest crate.
 - **`hivectl/`** — standalone operator CLI (`hivectl` binary). Talks to
   the `hive-c0re` daemon over the host admin socket (`hive-host-sock`
-  wire types) — does NOT link `hive-c0re`. Full, always-current verb
-  reference (CI-enforced against the clap tree, see `docs/conventions.md`):
-  [`docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md`](docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md).
+  wire types) — does NOT link `hive-c0re`. Verbs: `list-agents`,
+  `agent <name> <spawn|kill|destroy|rebuild|restart|set-parent|choom|
+  watch|…>`, `approvals <pending|approve|deny>`, `forge`/`matrix`/
+  `github`/`gateway` provisioning, `stop`/`start`, `wg`/`peer-config`.
 - **`hive-agent/`**, **`hive-agent-mcp/`** —
   in-container harness, two sibling crates for every agent (not a
   single `hive-ag3nt/` dir — that's the runtime/binary-family nickname,
diff --git a/docs/approvals.md b/docs/approvals.md
index 0dacc7c4..e5305769 100644
--- a/docs/approvals.md
+++ b/docs/approvals.md
@@ -119,10 +119,10 @@ kind-specific payload carrier.
 - `Spawn` — direct container creation from the agent's config repo.
   `commit_ref` is empty. Submitted via `HostRequest::RequestSpawn`
   (operator-gated, the `◆ R3QU3ST SP4WN` dashboard button +
-  `hivectl agent <name> request-create` CLI). The host-level `HostRequest::Spawn`
+  `hivectl agent <name> request-spawn` CLI). The host-level `HostRequest::Spawn`
   variant bypasses the approval queue entirely — privileged-context use
-  only (operator on the host shell, test scripts, one-off recoveries;
-  `hivectl agent <name> create`). This is the **canonical first-spawn**: a new agent's `InitConfig`
+  only (operator on the host shell, test scripts, one-off recoveries).
+  This is the **canonical first-spawn**: a new agent's `InitConfig`
   seeds its config repo, the submitting agent customises it, then the
   operator spawns to create the container. Subsequent config changes go
   through a `MergeConfigPr` PR.
diff --git a/docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md b/docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md
index 4b48d834..26a407bf 100644
--- a/docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md
+++ b/docs/tools/hivectl-cli.md
@@ -24,10 +24,8 @@ This document contains the help content for the `hivectl` command-line program.
 * [`hivectl agent restart`↴](#hivectl-agent-restart)
 * [`hivectl agent pause`↴](#hivectl-agent-pause)
 * [`hivectl agent resume`↴](#hivectl-agent-resume)
-* [`hivectl agent start`↴](#hivectl-agent-start)
-* [`hivectl agent create`↴](#hivectl-agent-create)
-* [`hivectl agent request-create`↴](#hivectl-agent-request-create)
-* [`hivectl agent stop`↴](#hivectl-agent-stop)
+* [`hivectl agent spawn`↴](#hivectl-agent-spawn)
+* [`hivectl agent request-spawn`↴](#hivectl-agent-request-spawn)
 * [`hivectl agent kill`↴](#hivectl-agent-kill)
 * [`hivectl agent destroy`↴](#hivectl-agent-destroy)
 * [`hivectl agent rebuild`↴](#hivectl-agent-rebuild)
@@ -344,11 +342,9 @@ Everything here targets a single named agent (`hivectl agent foo restart`, `hive
 * `restart` — Stop and start this agent container without rebuilding config
 * `pause` — Park this agent's turn loop, leaving the container running
 * `resume` — Resume this paused agent — it drains whatever queued up while parked
-* `start` — Start this EXISTING agent container. Fails immediately if `name` has no config/topology entry at all — it never attempts first-time creation. Use `create` for that
-* `create` — Create this agent container from scratch (full first-time provisioning), bypassing the approval queue
-* `request-create` — Queue a first-creation request for operator approval
-* `stop` — Gracefully stop this agent container: signal → drain → reconcile. Never escalates to a hard kill — use `kill` for that
-* `kill` — Hard-stop this managed container
+* `spawn` — Spawn this agent container directly, bypassing the approval queue
+* `request-spawn` — Queue a spawn request for operator approval
+* `kill` — Stop this managed container (graceful)
 * `destroy` — Tear down this sub-agent container, keeping its state by default. No undo
 * `rebuild` — Apply pending config to this managed container
 * `set-parent` — Move this agent in the topology tree — under a new parent, or to root
@@ -394,43 +390,27 @@ Resume this paused agent — it drains whatever queued up while parked
 
 
 
-## `hivectl agent start`
+## `hivectl agent spawn`
 
-Start this EXISTING agent container. Fails immediately if `name` has no config/topology entry at all — it never attempts first-time creation. Use `create` for that
+Spawn this agent container directly, bypassing the approval queue.
 
-**Usage:** `hivectl agent start`
+Operator-on-the-host only; use `request-spawn` for an approval-gated spawn.
+
+**Usage:** `hivectl agent spawn`
 
 
 
-## `hivectl agent create`
+## `hivectl agent request-spawn`
 
-Create this agent container from scratch (full first-time provisioning), bypassing the approval queue.
+Queue a spawn request for operator approval
 
-Operator-on-the-host only; use `request-create` for an approval-gated creation.
-
-**Usage:** `hivectl agent create`
-
-
-
-## `hivectl agent request-create`
-
-Queue a first-creation request for operator approval
-
-**Usage:** `hivectl agent request-create`
-
-
-
-## `hivectl agent stop`
-
-Gracefully stop this agent container: signal → drain → reconcile. Never escalates to a hard kill — use `kill` for that
-
-**Usage:** `hivectl agent stop`
+**Usage:** `hivectl agent request-spawn`
 
 
 
 ## `hivectl agent kill`
 
-Hard-stop this managed container
+Stop this managed container (graceful)
 
 **Usage:** `hivectl agent kill`
 
diff --git a/hive-host-sock/src/lib.rs b/hive-host-sock/src/lib.rs
index 5eb9419b..5a28902a 100644
--- a/hive-host-sock/src/lib.rs
+++ b/hive-host-sock/src/lib.rs
@@ -99,26 +99,14 @@ pub enum ReconcileDirection {
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 #[serde(tag = "cmd", rename_all = "snake_case")]
 pub enum HostRequest {
-    /// Create and start a brand-new sub-agent container directly (full
-    /// first-time provisioning: proposed/applied repos, state subvolume,
-    /// meta-flake sync, `nixos-container create`), bypassing the approval
-    /// queue. Privileged-context only. Exposed on the CLI as `hivectl
-    /// agent <name> create`. See `docs/approvals.md::Approval kinds
-    /// (wire shapes)`. Wire name kept as `Spawn` (unrenamed underneath
-    /// the CLI-verb rename — `hivectl agent <name> start` reuses the
-    /// existing scope-based [`HostRequest::Start`] below instead of a
-    /// new per-agent variant, see its doc comment).
+    /// Create and start a sub-agent container directly, bypassing the
+    /// approval queue. Privileged-context only. See
+    /// `docs/approvals.md::Approval kinds (wire shapes)`.
     Spawn { name: Ident },
-    /// Submit a first-creation request for the operator to approve. See
+    /// Submit a spawn request for the operator to approve. See
     /// `docs/approvals.md::Approval kinds (wire shapes)` (`Spawn`).
-    /// Exposed on the CLI as `hivectl agent <name> request-create`.
     RequestSpawn { name: Ident },
-    /// Hard stop a managed container. Exposed on the CLI as `hivectl
-    /// agent <name> kill` — kept distinct from the new graceful-only
-    /// `hivectl agent <name> stop` (which reuses the scope-based
-    /// [`HostRequest::Stop`] below with `graceful: true`); `Kill`
-    /// escalates to a hard stop, `Stop` never does. Wire name kept as
-    /// `Kill`.
+    /// Stop a managed container (graceful).
     Kill { name: Ident },
     /// Tear down a sub-agent container, optionally purging state.
     /// See `docs/approvals.md::Destroy semantics`.
diff --git a/hivectl/README.md b/hivectl/README.md
index 2668e6ab..afbbde0e 100644
--- a/hivectl/README.md
+++ b/hivectl/README.md
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ talk to the daemon over their own MCP tool surface
 One module per subcommand family; `main.rs` is just the clap parse +
 dispatch:
 
-- **`agents.rs`** — container lifecycle (start/stop/create/kill/rebuild/restart/…).
+- **`agents.rs`** — container lifecycle (spawn/kill/rebuild/restart/…).
 - **`approvals.rs`** — the config/init-config/meta-input approval queue.
 - **`dag_progress.rs`** — rebuild-queue progress rendering.
 - **`power.rs`** — restart/start/stop at the container level.
diff --git a/hivectl/src/agents.rs b/hivectl/src/agents.rs
index e37f33b9..d4fd9943 100644
--- a/hivectl/src/agents.rs
+++ b/hivectl/src/agents.rs
@@ -36,55 +36,6 @@ async fn agents_restart(socket: &Path, name: &str, no_wait: bool) -> Result<()>
     }
 }
 
-/// `hivectl agent <name> start` — start an EXISTING agent container.
-/// Fails immediately (no request even sent) if `name` has no state dir
-/// at all, rather than silently resolving to an empty scope. Reuses the
-/// exact hive-wide `hivectl start` DAG (`HostRequest::Start`'s
-/// scope-based path), just scoped to this one name — a separate
-/// per-agent wire request would have duplicated logic this scope-based
-/// one already covers.
-async fn agents_start(socket: &Path, name: &str) -> Result<()> {
-    if !crate::util::agent_exists(socket, name).await? {
-        bail!(
-            "no such agent: '{name}' (no state dir under {}/) — use 'hivectl agent {name} create' to provision a brand-new agent",
-            hive_host_sock::AGENTS_ROOT
-        );
-    }
-    render(
-        crate::client::request(
-            socket,
-            HostRequest::Start {
-                scope: hive_host_sock::LifecycleScope {
-                    agent_names: vec![name.to_owned()],
-                    ..Default::default()
-                },
-            },
-        )
-        .await?,
-    )
-}
-
-/// `hivectl agent <name> stop` — graceful-only stop (signal → drain →
-/// reconcile), never escalating to a hard kill. Reuses the hive-wide
-/// `hivectl stop --graceful` DAG (`HostRequest::Stop`'s scope-based
-/// path), scoped to this one name. Distinct from `AgentCmd::Kill`, which
-/// hard-stops via a separate DAG that does escalate.
-async fn agents_stop(socket: &Path, name: &str) -> Result<()> {
-    render(
-        crate::client::request(
-            socket,
-            HostRequest::Stop {
-                scope: hive_host_sock::LifecycleScope {
-                    agent_names: vec![name.to_owned()],
-                    ..Default::default()
-                },
-                graceful: true,
-            },
-        )
-        .await?,
-    )
-}
-
 /// `hivectl list-agents` — fetch the per-agent status roster from the
 /// daemon (`HostRequest::AgentStatus`) and render it as a padded table,
 /// or the raw JSON rows with `--json`. Reuses the dashboard's
@@ -198,16 +149,14 @@ pub(crate) async fn run_agent(socket: &Path, name: &str, cmd: AgentCmd) -> Resul
         AgentCmd::Restart { no_wait } => agents_restart(socket, name, no_wait).await,
         AgentCmd::Pause => set_paused(socket, name, true).await,
         AgentCmd::Resume => set_paused(socket, name, false).await,
-        AgentCmd::Start => agents_start(socket, name).await,
-        AgentCmd::Create => {
+        AgentCmd::Spawn => {
             let name = crate::util::parse_ident(name)?;
             render(crate::client::request(socket, HostRequest::Spawn { name }).await?)
         }
-        AgentCmd::RequestCreate => {
+        AgentCmd::RequestSpawn => {
             let name = crate::util::parse_ident(name)?;
             render(crate::client::request(socket, HostRequest::RequestSpawn { name }).await?)
         }
-        AgentCmd::Stop => agents_stop(socket, name).await,
         AgentCmd::Kill => {
             let name = crate::util::parse_ident(name)?;
             render(crate::client::request(socket, HostRequest::Kill { name }).await?)
diff --git a/hivectl/src/cli.rs b/hivectl/src/cli.rs
index 5bed6734..6a619b7d 100644
--- a/hivectl/src/cli.rs
+++ b/hivectl/src/cli.rs
@@ -468,22 +468,14 @@ pub enum AgentCmd {
     Pause,
     /// Resume this paused agent — it drains whatever queued up while parked.
     Resume,
-    /// Start this EXISTING agent container. Fails immediately if `name`
-    /// has no config/topology entry at all — it never attempts
-    /// first-time creation. Use `create` for that.
-    Start,
-    /// Create this agent container from scratch (full first-time
-    /// provisioning), bypassing the approval queue.
+    /// Spawn this agent container directly, bypassing the approval queue.
     ///
-    /// Operator-on-the-host only; use `request-create` for an
-    /// approval-gated creation.
-    Create,
-    /// Queue a first-creation request for operator approval.
-    RequestCreate,
-    /// Gracefully stop this agent container: signal → drain → reconcile.
-    /// Never escalates to a hard kill — use `kill` for that.
-    Stop,
-    /// Hard-stop this managed container.
+    /// Operator-on-the-host only; use `request-spawn` for an approval-gated
+    /// spawn.
+    Spawn,
+    /// Queue a spawn request for operator approval.
+    RequestSpawn,
+    /// Stop this managed container (graceful).
     Kill,
     /// Tear down this sub-agent container, keeping its state by default.
     /// No undo.