diff --git a/docs/2-handbook/agents/agent-roster.md b/docs/2-handbook/agents/agent-roster.md
index 58fe79daa..01ba87dc7 100644
--- a/docs/2-handbook/agents/agent-roster.md
+++ b/docs/2-handbook/agents/agent-roster.md
@@ -3,16 +3,14 @@
 Agents are a **flat set**: no agent manages another by position. The
 `manage_root_agent` permission is the one grant that reaches another agent.
 
-## Who is on the roster
+## The hive's list of agents
 
-The swarm decides. An agent exists in the swarm if and only if it has an identity
-in the swarm's authelia identity store, which `swarmctl agent create` or the
-swarm UI writes once. `GET /api/agents` on the swarm controller lists them.
-
-Each hive also keeps a small file of its own, `topology.json`, with the agents
-this hive has state or config for. You never edit it: the hive rebuilds it from
-what it sees locally, so a hand edit is overwritten, and one that doesn't parse
-stops the rebuild until you fix it. It matters for one thing, covered next.
+Which agents exist is the swarm's to decide:
+[who is on the roster](../swarm/README.md#who-is-on-the-roster). Each hive also
+keeps a small file of its own, `topology.json`, with the agents this hive has
+state or config for. You never edit it: the hive rebuilds it from what it sees
+locally, so a hand edit is overwritten, and one that doesn't parse stops the
+rebuild until you fix it. It matters for one thing, covered next.
 
 ## Who may reach whose state
 
@@ -20,16 +18,15 @@ An agent holding no permission sees its own directories and nothing else. An
 agent holding `manage_root_agent` gets every other agent's `state` directory on
 this hive mounted read-write at `/agents/<name>/state`, never `config` or
 `harness`. It's the only grant that reaches another agent's state. Ruth, the
-root agent, holds it, and the swarm UI's setup assistant creates her from the
-[`ruth` archetype](../swarm/archetypes.md#the-built-in-archetypes), which grants it and sets her model to `sonnet`. A ruth created before the archetype keeps her model; set `sonnet` in her inference settings in the swarm UI if wanted. The
-mounts follow the roster: an empty file means no mounts until the next rebuild.
+root agent, holds it (the swarm creates her from the `ruth` archetype, see
+[who is on the roster](../swarm/README.md#who-is-on-the-roster)). The mounts
+follow the hive's list: an empty file means no mounts until the next rebuild.
 
 ## The manager is a normal agent
 
-`ruth` differs from other agents in her name and in that grant. You create her
-like any other agent, from the swarm UI or `swarmctl agent create`; the hive
-creates nothing at boot. Her permissions, prompt and tools work as for every
-agent, and destroying her is as final as for any other.
+`ruth` differs from other agents in her name and in that grant. Her
+permissions, prompt and tools work as for every agent, and destroying her is as
+final as for any other.
 
 How the hive reads and rebuilds the file, the wire protocol and the prompt blocks:
 [`roster.md`](../../4-implementation/agent-state/roster.md). The operator/agent
diff --git a/docs/2-handbook/swarm/README.md b/docs/2-handbook/swarm/README.md
index a409cfde7..6d055cc89 100644
--- a/docs/2-handbook/swarm/README.md
+++ b/docs/2-handbook/swarm/README.md
@@ -100,6 +100,22 @@ socket-directory constraint that governs where `socketPath` may point:
 The options, wire formats and failure modes of each:
 [`controller.md`](../../4-implementation/swarm/controller.md).
 
+### Who is on the roster
+
+The swarm decides. An agent exists in the swarm if and only if it has an
+identity in the swarm's authelia identity store, which `swarmctl agent create`
+or the swarm UI writes once. `GET /api/agents` on the swarm controller lists
+them. A hive creates nothing at boot, so every agent, the manager `ruth`
+included, comes from the swarm UI or `swarmctl agent create`, and destroying
+one is as final for her as for any other.
+
+The swarm UI's setup assistant creates `ruth` from the
+[`ruth` archetype](archetypes.md#the-built-in-archetypes), which grants her
+`manage_root_agent` and sets her model to `sonnet`. A ruth created before the
+archetype keeps her model; set `sonnet` in her inference settings in the swarm UI
+if you want it. What that grant lets an agent reach on a hive is on the
+[agent roster page](../agents/agent-roster.md).
+
 ## Hives: the substrate
 
 - **hive** — one host running `hive-c0re` and its agent containers