diff --git a/docs/coordinator.md b/docs/coordinator.md
index e06d77fb..4cd74ac4 100644
--- a/docs/coordinator.md
+++ b/docs/coordinator.md
@@ -190,17 +190,56 @@ resources are free. Resources:
    held by nix-heavy nodes for the node's duration.
 2. **Per-agent lifecycle lease** — keyed on the **node's** agent (agent is
    per-node; a DAG can span agents) and globally exclusive per agent across
-   all DAGs: acquired at a container-affecting node (`SetWanted`,
-   `StopForUpdate`, `Swap`, `Signal`, `Drain`, `Reconcile`, `WriteDropin`,
-   `Create`, `DeployWindow`), held by the owning DAG until it's terminal,
-   so two DAGs never interleave container ops on the same agent. A DAG
-   touching several agents holds one lease per agent. (`SetWanted` is a store
-   write, not a container op, but takes the lease anyway so a power-op DAG's
-   intent write + reconcile is atomic — two racing ops can't clobber intent
-   before either reconciles.) **Lease-exempt**: `MetaSync`, `Prebuild`,
-   `MetaLock`, `WritePermFile`, `Reparent` —
-   they touch the store / meta, not the running container, which is exactly
-   why a stop can land while another DAG's prebuild is still building.
+   all DAGs: acquired either at a container-affecting node (`SetWanted`,
+   `Reconcile`, `WriteDropin`, `Create`) or at a **brace** (`AgentWindow`,
+   `DeployWindow`) on behalf of a whole coordinated subtree; held by the owning
+   DAG until it's terminal, so two DAGs never interleave container ops on the
+   same agent. A DAG touching several agents holds one lease per agent.
+   (`SetWanted` is a store write, not a container op, but takes the lease anyway
+   so a power-op DAG's intent write + reconcile is atomic — two racing ops can't
+   clobber intent before either reconciles.) **Lease-exempt**: `MetaSync`,
+   `Prebuild`, `MetaLock`, `WritePermFile`, `Reparent` — they touch the store /
+   meta, not the running container, which is exactly why a stop can land while
+   another DAG's prebuild is still building. Also exempt, for a different
+   reason, are the rebuild subtree's own members (`StopForUpdate`, `Swap`,
+   `Signal`, `Drain`, `RebuildBookkeeping`): they genuinely do touch the
+   container, but their `AgentWindow` brace holds the lease above them — see
+   _Braces_ below.
+
+#### Braces
+
+Templates otherwise declare a resource on **every** node that needs it, even
+when a parent already holds it, so the requirement belongs to the node rather
+than to one DAG shape it happens to appear in. A **brace** is the one sanctioned
+exception: a pure-resource-holder root that declares on behalf of a subtree
+coordinated with itself, whose members then declare nothing.
+
+It is forced rather than stylistic. Declaring a resource means *"I need this
+exclusively"*, and the agent lease is single-unit — so **two siblings that both
+declared it could never run concurrently.** For a subtree whose whole point is
+concurrency (`Prebuild` beside the `Signal` → `Drain` quiesce window), declaring
+the requirement truthfully on every node and running those nodes in parallel are
+mutually exclusive. One holder above them speaks for the subtree.
+
+This is the opposite of the failure the declare-your-own rule exists to prevent,
+not a relapse into it: there the requirement was *implicit*, inferred from a
+node's kind and true only by accident of placement. Here it is explicit, on one
+node, with the omission below it documented on the brace itself.
+
+Two consequences worth knowing:
+
+- **Flattening a chain under a brace is safe.** The stop chain used to nest
+  `Signal` over `Drain` over `StopForUpdate` specifically so the lease stayed
+  continuous — as independent siblings each would acquire it separately and
+  leave a gap another DAG could claim the agent in, mid-bounce. A brace supplies
+  that continuity directly, so the nesting is no longer load-bearing.
+- **Observability is unaffected.** `running_transients` keys off a node's
+  *payload* agent, not off a declared lease edge, so every child still lights its
+  own dashboard pill and still reports its own `takes_container_down` to the
+  crash watcher. A brace itself reports `false`: it parents the stopping nodes
+  but does not stop anything, and claiming otherwise would widen crash
+  suppression across the build and tail, where a vanished container is still a
+  real crash.
 
 Among simultaneously-ready nodes competing for a resource, DAG-submit order
 wins (FIFO) so bulk operations drain predictably. The scheduler also owns the
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/job_queue/templates.rs b/hive-c0re/src/job_queue/templates.rs
index f9353d15..12b1c5d4 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/job_queue/templates.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/job_queue/templates.rs
@@ -1,25 +1,15 @@
-//! DAG shape builders — every operation as a template over the shared
-//! node primitives. Pure (no I/O); each node carries its own `agent` (there is
-//! no DAG-level agent) and **declares its own resources** with `.needs(…)`
-//! right where it is constructed, rather than having them derived from its
-//! kind. Deriving made the requirement a property of the *kind*, so a kind that
-//! happened to run under an ancestor already holding the resource could get
-//! away with declaring nothing.
+//! DAG shape builders — every operation as a template over the shared node
+//! primitives. Pure (no I/O); each node carries its own `agent` (there is no
+//! DAG-level agent) and **declares its own resources** with `.needs(…)` right
+//! where it is constructed, rather than derived from its kind. Deriving made the
+//! requirement a property of the *kind*, so a kind running under an ancestor
+//! that already held the resource could get away with declaring nothing.
 //!
 //! **The one sanctioned exception is a brace** — a pure-resource-holder root
-//! ([`NodeKind::AgentWindow`], [`NodeKind::DeployWindow`]) that declares for a
-//! subtree of nodes coordinated with each other, which then declare nothing.
-//! This is the opposite of the failure above, not a relapse into it: there the
-//! requirement was *implicit*, inferred from a kind and true only by accident of
-//! placement; here it is declared explicitly on one node, and the omission below
-//! it is deliberate and documented on the brace.
-//!
-//! It has to work this way, because declaring a resource means *"I need this
-//! exclusively"* and the agent lease is single-unit: **two siblings that both
-//! declared it could never run concurrently.** So for a subtree whose whole
-//! point is concurrency, declaring the requirement truthfully on every node and
-//! running those nodes in parallel are mutually exclusive. The brace is how the
-//! shape says "this subtree is coordinated, one holder speaks for it".
+//! ([`NodeKind::AgentWindow`], [`NodeKind::DeployWindow`]) declaring for a
+//! coordinated subtree whose members then declare nothing. Forced by the lease
+//! being single-unit: two siblings that both declared it could never run
+//! concurrently. Why this is not a relapse: `docs/coordinator.md`.
 //!
 //! ```text
 //! rebuild(a):        MetaSync(a) → AgentWindow(a){ Prebuild(a) → StopForUpdate(a) → Swap(a) →(ok) RebuildBookkeeping(a) } →(any) Reconcile(a)
@@ -37,7 +27,7 @@
 //! The hive-wide **power ops** (`stop` / `start` / `restart`) are NOT here:
 //! their per-agent shape depends on live running state (an async
 //! `lifecycle::is_running` read), so `submit.rs` assembles them out of the
-//! primitives this module exports ([`rebuild_nodes`]) over `JobBuilder::node`.
+//! primitives this module exports ([`rebuild_nodes`]).
 
 use hive_jobq::TerminalState;
 
@@ -174,34 +164,24 @@ impl<'a> RebuildRoots<'a> {
 ///   build slot *and* the agent lease, atomically, and holds both for the whole
 ///   subtree. Everything below it declares **nothing** and re-enters these
 ///   grants.
-/// - `Prebuild` and the quiesce chain are **siblings under the brace, and run
-///   concurrently.** That is the point of the brace: they contend for different
-///   resources (slot vs. agent), so nesting the stop under the build — as this
-///   template did — hid the entire graceful-stop timeout behind the nix build,
-///   per agent, on every sweep.
-/// - the **quiesce chain** (graceful only): `Signal` then `Drain` as its child.
-///   Asks the agent to checkpoint and waits for it to go quiet; the container
-///   is still *up* throughout.
+/// - `Prebuild` and the **quiesce chain** (`Signal` → `Drain`, graceful only)
+///   are siblings under the brace and run **concurrently** — they contend for
+///   different resources, so nesting the stop under the build (as this template
+///   did) only hid the graceful-stop timeout behind the nix build. The container
+///   is still up throughout the quiesce.
 /// - `StopForUpdate` (child of the brace): `AfterOk` **both** `Prebuild` and
-///   `Drain`. Waiting on the build is deliberate — running the drain window
-///   early is the win, taking the container *down* early would be pure
-///   downtime. This is the node that actually stops the container.
-/// - `Swap` (child of `StopForUpdate`), then `RebuildBookkeeping` (`AfterOk` its sibling
-///   `Swap`): the Ok-only bookkeeping tail (rev marker, forge/matrix sync,
-///   kick, rescan).
+///   `Drain`. Waiting on the build is deliberate — running the drain early is
+///   the win, taking the container *down* early would be pure downtime.
+/// - `Swap` (child of `StopForUpdate`), then `RebuildBookkeeping` (`AfterOk` its
+///   sibling `Swap`): the Ok-only bookkeeping tail.
 /// - `Reconcile` (**last, root**): `AfterAny` `AgentWindow`, which rolls up
-///   terminal only once its whole subtree has settled — so `Reconcile` runs
-///   after the swap regardless of outcome, and as a top-level root it survives
-///   the cancel-cascade of a failed brace (recovery-start invariant, which also
-///   covers a failed `MetaSync`: that cancel-cascades the brace, i.e. terminal,
-///   so the tail still runs). It takes a fresh lease; the tiny gap is harmless —
-///   `Reconcile` converges to the persisted `wanted` idempotently.
+///   terminal only once its whole subtree has settled — so it runs after the
+///   swap regardless of outcome, and as a top-level root it survives the
+///   cancel-cascade of a failed brace (recovery-start invariant). Fresh lease;
+///   the tiny gap is harmless, `Reconcile` converges idempotently.
 ///
-/// The lease-continuity argument that used to justify nesting the stop chain
-/// (*"siblings would each take the lease separately and leave a gap another DAG
-/// could claim the agent in, mid-bounce"*) is **satisfied by the brace instead**
-/// — one holder above them all, so siblings share one continuous grant and
-/// there is no gap to claim. That is what makes flattening them safe.
+/// Why flattening the stop chain is safe, and why the lease-continuity argument
+/// that used to justify nesting it is satisfied by the brace: `docs/coordinator.md`.
 fn rebuild_subtree<'a>(
     builder: &'a JobBuilder,
     agent: &str,