[AetherAI3]

Why

Newcomers had to find installation below the demo and feature table, infer what browser login does, and distinguish interactive chat from tasks that operate on their checkout. The authentication reference still described the old token-paste flow.

What changed

• Put install → browser approval → first coding task at the top, with copyable commands, Node download links, version checks, and SSH/login recovery.
• Explain the npm package/command names and the pipx launcher's prerequisites and aether-agent entrypoint.
• Clarify hosted chat versus local checkout tasks; order Ollama setup after downloading and selecting a model.
• Coordinate live badges, add direct onboarding navigation, and group advanced controls in expandable sections.
• Label source features separately from published packages and correct the handwritten authentication reference.

Verification

• Full npm test: 3,466 passed, 16 skipped, 0 failed (3,482 total).
• npm run lint / typecheck, documentation generation check, production/package verification, and npm pack --dry-run passed.
• Release truth: 12/12 passed, including live npm registry evidence.
• Checked 54 relative links/anchors and image paths; inspected GitHub's rendered README, navigation, and loaded badges/assets.
• Cross-checked onboarding against source and the published npm tarball. Generated catalogue contents are preserved.

Scope and limits

Only README.md and the handwritten auth section of COMMANDS.md change.

npm run smoke remains unsuccessful in this executor: public example.com DNS resolution fails (2 passed, 4 skipped, 1 failed). Hosted-model and Ollama checks were skipped because those services were not configured. No live login approval or model task was performed.

Hosted checks on a94a0c3: CI and CodeQL failed before any job steps ran. Aether Hosted Build & Test returned neutral because its approved executor image was unavailable. These remote checks are not satisfied; local validation does not replace them.