Review P8-T3: release 0.4.4 preparation

Author: SoundBlaster

SPECS/INPROGRESS/REVIEW_release_0.4.4_preparation.md

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+## REVIEW REPORT — release_0.4.4_preparation
+
+**Scope:** `origin/main..HEAD`
+**Files:** 10
+
+### Summary Verdict
+- [x] Approve
+- [ ] Approve with comments
+- [ ] Request changes
+- [ ] Block
+
+### Critical Issues
+
+- None.
+
+### Secondary Issues
+
+- None.
+
+### Architectural Notes
+
+- The release-preparation branch keeps publish side effects out of scope for the PR itself, which matches the protected-`main` workflow documented in `CONTRIBUTING.md` and `PUBLISHING.md`.
+- README and DocC overview version badges were updated together, so the branch remains compatible with `make doccheck-all`.
+- `CHANGELOG.md` stays narrowly scoped to the work merged after `v0.4.3`, which keeps the `0.4.4` patch release reviewable and avoids over-reporting unpublished work.
+
+### Tests
+
+- `pytest tests/ -v --cov=src --cov-report=term` passed with `923 passed, 5 skipped, 2 warnings` and `91.62%` total coverage.
+- `python -m ruff check src/ tests/`, `python -m ruff format --check src/ tests/`, `mypy src/`, `make doccheck-all`, `python -m build`, and `twine check dist/*` all passed.
+
+### Next Steps
+
+- No actionable review findings. FOLLOW-UP is skipped.
+- After merge, run the documented `git tag v0.4.4` / `git push origin v0.4.4` sequence on `main` and verify the `publish-mcp.yml` workflow, PyPI package page, and MCP Registry entry.