chore: drop Project v2 from the process, the docs and the release script

The owner stopped using GitHub Projects. Most of this is wording, but one part
was not: release-prerelease.mjs talked to the Project in code. finishIssues
looked up the project id, listed its items and its Status=Done option, and threw
when an issue was missing from the board — so the first release that closed an
issue would have died on a step with nothing to do with publishing. Found by
reading rather than by releasing, which was luck.

Closing issues stays, and now strips the status label first. That order is not
cosmetic: the invariant that a closed issue carries no status label has broken
twice already, both times because a manual step did it the other way round. The
close-merged job already does it in this order.

The documents now say labels and only labels. The explicit "no longer used"
lines are kept on purpose, in PROCESS.md and next to the code that used to sync:
a decision that vanishes quietly gets reintroduced a month later by someone who
never knew it was made.

Issue: #139
User-Visible: no

docs/DEVELOPMENT.md

@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ stages a draft prerelease and uploads both assets. Only then does it make the
 release public. It locates the Release, HACS-zip and Telegram runs by workflow
 file plus exact tag/SHA, verifies the downloaded public asset contents and
 paginated HACS prerelease order, and finally closes only the explicitly supplied
-issues and moves their Project v2 items to Done. Re-running the same command
+issues and strips their status label. Re-running the same command
 after a partial failure is safe when local/remote tags still resolve to the same
 SHA: stale public assets are replaced and verified rather than accepted or left
 for manual deletion. ZIP inspection is implemented in Node and does not depend
@@ -278,9 +278,9 @@ draft-first publication entirely on GitHub, including both assets. Prereleases
 are intentionally silent in Telegram; only stable releases are announced.
 GitHub exposes a `workflow_dispatch` button only after
 the workflow file exists on the default branch; until the next promotion to
-`main`, use the local command. The button deliberately does not close Issues or
-edit the user-owned Project because the repository `GITHUB_TOKEN` has no safe
-authority over that Project.
+`main`, use the local command. The button deliberately does not close Issues:
+closing them is the release manager's call, and the `close-merged` job does it
+from the beta itself (#120).
 
 The older release-event workflows remain supported as a recovery/manual
 fallback. They still gate assets on the exact tagged SHA, so adopting the new

docs/STATUS.md

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 > v1.42.0 — the user base is largely Russian-speaking, see the Telegram chat)**, STATUS.md for state changes
 > (versions, publication, infrastructure), DEVELOPMENT.md for new gotchas,
 > ARCHITECTURE.md for design changes. Work scope and status live in GitHub
-> Issues + Project v2, not in a parallel backlog document.
+> Issues and their labels, not in a parallel backlog document.
 
 **Promotion rule (2026-08-08):** every new feature or material behaviour
 change must pass through a published beta/RC before stable. Stable release
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ metadata). Only an explicit owner-approved emergency hotfix may skip this gate.
 | Current local cycle | v1.64.0-beta.1 packages the merged #122 hidden isometric Stage 2, #131 read-only cold-start fix and #107 persistent virtual-light toggles. The independent #124 exact-SHA view-toggle performance debt remains open under the owner's accepted exception. |
 | Hidden Labs Stage | #89 Stage 1 ships in v1.63.0-beta.1. #122 Stage 2 is included in the v1.64.0-beta.1 candidate and evolves the same hidden, expiring `iso` experiment with matte walls, a low exterior floor edge, restrained shared shadows and live vertical door/window/gate panels. Flat remains default; editors and `houseplan-space-card` remain flat; live floor effects and HA actions remain unchanged. Public activation is explicitly a separate task. |
 | Workflow | Owner's rule since 2026-08-07: ordinary fixes/features are made **locally, without tests and without commits**. A requested pre-release gets a production build plus the smallest targeted unit/smoke set covering the changed surfaces, one tested `dev` commit/tag and a GitHub Release with `prerelease=true`; `main` stays untouched. The complete local frontend/backend/smoke gate runs only before a stable release, after which `main` is fast-forwarded to the exact tested `dev` SHA and the GitHub Release uses `prerelease=false`. Release bodies are short and bilingual (Russian first): only significant user changes get individual bullets, while minor/code-only work is grouped as `Мелкие исправления и улучшения` / `Small fixes and improvements`; every body ends with separate links to the Russian and English changelogs. Detailed RU/EN changelog bullets may link the corresponding closed GitHub Issues; open or partially delivered issues are never presented as shipped. Telegram announcements are sent only for stable releases; beta and RC publication is silent. `docs/RELEASE-NOTES.md` is the current canonical body instance; `npm run release:prerelease -- <tag> --issues=… --yes` is the primary local publication path and the manual `Publish prerelease` workflow is its GitHub-only equivalent once present on `main`. Nothing is copied to the home instance by hand |
-| GitHub | https://github.com/Matysh/houseplan-card — [Issues](https://github.com/Matysh/houseplan-card/issues) are the canonical task records and the linked [Project v2](https://github.com/users/Matysh/projects/1) is the canonical priority/status view; both must stay current. `main` carries stable releases; pre-release tags may point directly at `dev`. Work lands on `dev` and is merged into `main` for a stable release, so `dev` is normally equal to or ahead of `main`, never behind. Push via SSH key `ha_jb` (remote git@github.com:…); API releases via the fine-grained PAT in `~/.git-credentials` (Contents R/W, issued 2026-07-23) |
+| GitHub | https://github.com/Matysh/houseplan-card — [Issues](https://github.com/Matysh/houseplan-card/issues) are the canonical task records; their labels carry priority and workflow status (`PROCESS.md` §9). GitHub Projects is no longer used. `main` carries stable releases; pre-release tags may point directly at `dev`. Work lands on `dev` and is merged into `main` for a stable release, so `dev` is normally equal to or ahead of `main`, never behind. Push via SSH key `ha_jb` (remote git@github.com:…); API releases via the fine-grained PAT in `~/.git-credentials` (Contents R/W, issued 2026-07-23) |
 | CI | Prerelease publication requires a green exact-SHA Validate: frontend/backend, smoke (including the #73 rAF frame sampler), golden, HACS/Hassfest and a short absolute-ceiling performance smoke. Obsolete same-ref Validate runs are cancelled. Full seven-sample base/candidate performance moved to `performance.yml` (`main` push, weekly, manual); stable release assets fail closed unless Validate and Full Performance are green for the exact tagged SHA and the stable-only CDP compositor screencast finds no empty/black presented frame. |
 | HACS | Custom repository works. **Inclusion PR: hacs/default#9004** — open, valid, labeled, mergeable clean, never drafted. Queue: 1212 open, 835 older than ours. Merge rate COLLAPSED: 75 in July but almost all in the first decade, 0 in the last week (checked 2026-07-29) — maintainers process in rare bursts; ETA unknowable, months at best. Nothing actionable on our side |
 | Home instance | ha.jbstudio.pro (SSH port **22222**, key `ha_jb`; HA config root is `/mnt/data/supervisor/homeassistant` — `/config` does NOT exist in this SSH environment), last direct copy was **v1.57.0**; from v1.58.0 on it updates itself through HACS by tag (no scp) |
@@ -239,10 +239,9 @@ metadata). Only an explicit owner-approved emergency hotfix may skip this gate.
 ## Open items / watchlist
 
 0. **Canonical backlog** — [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/Matysh/houseplan-card/issues)
-   contain task scope and acceptance criteria; the linked
-   [Project v2](https://github.com/users/Matysh/projects/1) contains the
-   current priority and workflow status. Every open in-scope issue belongs in
-   the Project. The former local product plan is preserved only as a snapshot at
+   contain task scope and acceptance criteria; their **labels** carry priority
+   and workflow status (`PROCESS.md` §9). GitHub Projects is no longer used.
+   The former local product plan is preserved only as a snapshot at
    [`legacy/docs/PRODUCT-IMPROVEMENT-PLAN.ru.md`](../legacy/docs/PRODUCT-IMPROVEMENT-PLAN.ru.md)
    and must not be updated or used as a backlog.
 1. **hacs/default PR #9004** — accepted by the bot into the review queue ('New default