diff --git a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
index 5ebd4778..ef3e0d70 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts
@@ -72,6 +72,14 @@ export function credentialSection(credentialPath: string | null): string[] {
     '`POST /api/tasks/<dirName>/run` runs one and returns what it did — one reviewed definition on disk',
     'instead of a re-implementation living in a loop nobody reads.',
     '',
+    '**Ask the API what things are. Never read the platform to find out.** `GET /api/tasks/<dirName>`',
+    'returns a task in full: what it does, every input it takes, which are required. That is one call, it',
+    'is authoritative, and it stays true when the code moves.',
+    '',
+    'Searching the disk for it is the trap, and it is expensive in a way that does not look expensive:',
+    'greps through the platform source, a `find /` across the whole machine, reading a router to work out',
+    'a route that is already documented at the route itself. Minutes, for an answer one request had.',
+    '',
     'It reaches everything the platform does EXCEPT administering it — installing plugins, managing users',
     'or roles, changing server settings. That holds for features added later too: the rule is resolved per',
     'request rather than frozen into a list, so a plugin installed next year is already covered without',
@@ -341,6 +349,15 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     'guess, and a wrong condition either never fires or fires constantly — either way it is found out days',
     'later.',
     '',
+    '**Prove the pipeline on ONE item, then arm. Do not process the backlog first.** Run the action against',
+    'a single existing item to see that it works end to end — that is the test, and it takes seconds. Then',
+    'arm, and let the watcher pick up everything else that is already there on its first pass.',
+    '',
+    'Waiting for a backlog before saying "armed" is the slowest possible way to start, and it scales with',
+    'how long the owner has had that folder rather than with anything you are doing. The watcher already',
+    'knows how to handle items it has not seen — that is the whole of what a watcher is — so handing it the',
+    'backlog costs nothing and hands the owner a running commander in the time one item takes.',
+    '',
     'Once the job is settled, write it into this file, replacing this section: what you watch for, what you',
     'do about it, and which numbers were guesses. The next session should read the answer, not the',
     'questions.',