diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9970f9f..789dc7c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -101,8 +101,9 @@ records the reasoning.
   integrity, skill format, secrets, and more: zero model tokens spent. CI runs it on every push.
   A `commit-msg` hook adds the last link in the chain: every commit names the scope item it
   serves, so a sha resolves back to a requirement instead of to someone's memory.
-  The checks test themselves (`node checks/check.test.mjs`): a gate that isn't tested is false
-  confidence. The same directory holds `node checks/progress.mjs`: a read-only, plain-language
+  The checks test themselves: every gate has to prove it fails on a violation before it is
+  trusted, and `.github/workflows/ci.yml` runs those suites ahead of the checks, because a gate
+  that isn't tested is false confidence. The same directory holds `node checks/progress.mjs`: a read-only, plain-language
   answer to "what is done and what is left", derived from the brief, the specs and the handoff,
   with `--all` covering every project you have started this way. Add `--serve` and the same
   answer opens as a page on this machine only: the goal, the stand, the next step, which file
diff --git a/docs/operations/deploy.md b/docs/operations/deploy.md
index 317013b..4f3682e 100644
--- a/docs/operations/deploy.md
+++ b/docs/operations/deploy.md
@@ -49,9 +49,12 @@ There is no server and no build step. What ships is the repository itself, on tw
   working tree it was cut from:
   1. Unpack the release tarball
      (`curl -sL https://github.com/Tradebaas/Groundwork/archive/refs/tags/vX.Y.Z.tar.gz`) into a
-     scratch directory and run `node checks/check.test.mjs` and `node checks/check.mjs` inside it.
-     Expect the self-tests green, the checks green, and enforcement reporting hooks and CI **not**
-     armed with the two commands that arm them: that is what a fresh copy should say.
+     scratch directory. Inside it, run **every** self-test the `gate` job lists in
+     `.github/workflows/ci.yml`, then `node checks/check.mjs`. The list lives there and not here
+     on purpose: this step named one suite file until v0.2.0, and a split had made that a third
+     of the tests while the sentence still said all of them. Expect the self-tests green, the
+     checks green, and enforcement reporting hooks and CI **not** armed with the two commands
+     that arm them: that is what a fresh copy should say.
   2. `.claude/skills` is still a symlink to `../.agents/skills` in the unpacked archive. An archive
      that flattened it would hand every copy a duplicated skill library.
   3. `node checks/progress.mjs` in that copy ends with `now: run begin`.