diff --git a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
index 60aef6a5..64de6247 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
@@ -206,6 +206,31 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     '**Leave the ambiguous alone and name it.** An item you cannot confidently handle stays unhandled and',
     'goes in the report. Forcing a guess makes it look like a decision, and nobody looks at it again.',
     '',
+    '## Where things go',
+    '',
+    'One layout for every commander, whatever it handles:',
+    '',
+    '```',
+    'classification/          what this commander has produced, filed',
+    '  <category>/            one directory per category, named by you as they are agreed',
+    '  unclassified/          handled and recorded, placement still open',
+    'procedures/              what a spawned agent follows, one file per job',
+    'reports/                 per-run output — what happened, what was skipped, what needs a person',
+    'state/                   the loop pid and spawned session ids. The platform reads these.',
+    '```',
+    '',
+    '`classification/` is named for the SHAPE, not the payload. Transcripts, extracted invoices, photos —',
+    'they are all just items being filed, and a commander that calls it `transcripts/` has baked one job',
+    'into its own directory layout.',
+    '',
+    "**A file's directory is its state.** In a category, it is filed. In `unclassified/`, it is finished",
+    'work waiting on a person — not a failure, and nothing should re-run the action on it. The ledger says',
+    'whether an item was handled; the directory says where it belongs. They answer different questions and',
+    'you need both.',
+    '',
+    '`unclassified/` always exists, even when empty. A commander that creates it only when it first needs',
+    'one gives you nowhere to look before that, and no hint that looking is a thing you do.',
+    '',
     '## Before arming anything',
     '',
     'Never arm a watcher on the first turn. The first turn is for settling what to watch and what to do',