diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 34101320..05706352 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -211,9 +211,11 @@ already.
 
 Dev only — the release artifact is always the pip package.
 
-Common checks: `uv run pytest`, `uv run lint-imports`, `uv run mypy src/visionset/kernel`,
-`pnpm -r build`, `pnpm test`. The full list — including the wheel build and the thirty-minute
-flow gate — is in [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).
+The inner loop while iterating: `uv run pytest <path>`, `uv run lint-imports`,
+`uv run mypy src/visionset/kernel` (the kernel only — CI checks all of `src/visionset`),
+`pnpm -r build`, `pnpm test` (no browser — the two Playwright suites sit outside it). Each is a
+subset of what CI runs on every pull request; the full list, with what each command does not
+cover, is in [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md#checks-that-must-stay-green).
 
 ## Releases
 
diff --git a/docs/content/architecture/backend/kernel.md b/docs/content/architecture/backend/kernel.md
index f2b19601..f6fa9123 100644
--- a/docs/content/architecture/backend/kernel.md
+++ b/docs/content/architecture/backend/kernel.md
@@ -64,8 +64,10 @@ Enforced twice, and the second one is the one that catches a lazy import:
 - [`tests/architecture/test_kernel_purity.py`](../../../../tests/architecture/test_kernel_purity.py)
  - imports the kernel in a fresh interpreter and inspects `sys.modules`.
 
-The kernel is also the one package `mypy` runs in strict mode over:
-`uv run mypy src/visionset/kernel`.
+The kernel is also the one package `mypy` checks in strict mode. The strict flags are
+per-module configuration, so `uv run mypy src/visionset` - what CI runs - applies them here
+and the ordinary ones everywhere else; `uv run mypy src/visionset/kernel` is the kernel-only
+subset for iterating, and sees nothing outside the kernel.
 
 ## Where the behaviour is written down
 
diff --git a/docs/content/architecture/frontend/README.md b/docs/content/architecture/frontend/README.md
index 5bfa1864..8c454442 100644
--- a/docs/content/architecture/frontend/README.md
+++ b/docs/content/architecture/frontend/README.md
@@ -49,7 +49,10 @@ pnpm -r test      # vitest
 pnpm -r lint      # eslint, plus the annotator's two typecheck passes
 ```
 
-`bash scripts/check.sh` runs all three, plus the two browser suites in chromium.
+None of the three opens a browser: both Playwright suites - the annotator e2e and the
+real-server cycle - sit outside them, so anything only chromium can see passes here. CI
+runs all five on every pull request; `bash scripts/check.sh` runs them all locally, browser
+suites included.
 
 The bundle the app produces is copied into `src/visionset/_static/` and served by
 `visionset server` under `/app`, which is why one `pip install` is the whole