diff --git a/docs/persistence.md b/docs/persistence.md
index 7cbc4f31..c958220d 100644
--- a/docs/persistence.md
+++ b/docs/persistence.md
@@ -285,8 +285,13 @@ step would re-fire).
   claude creds, /state/ notes, and the harness dir are all gone.
   No undo.
 
-The root/bootstrap container is non-destroyable from both paths
-(declarative container; would fight with the host's NixOS config).
+The root/bootstrap container is **imperative** infrastructure — managed
+end-to-end by hive-c0re, not declared in the host's NixOS config.
+`auto_update::ensure_root_agent` recreates it on the next hive-c0re
+startup if it's absent (bypassing the approval queue, as required
+infrastructure). A soft policy guard in `actions::destroy` currently
+refuses to destroy it; even without that guard, destroying it would only
+be transient — hive-c0re brings it back on the next startup.
 
 ### btrfs subvolumes for `/var/lib/hyperhive/agents/<name>`