diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0f1c9af..7329f10 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ inventory of what is running and at which version.* **That is
 `jeffry/homelab-impl` and it is private**, because a version inventory is a target
 list for anybody matching published vulnerabilities.
 
+> **These documents describe the cluster; they do not define it.** *The manifests
+> do.* **When a page here and the running cluster disagree, the cluster is right
+> and the page is what gets corrected** — *which is why each one ends with how to
+> check.*
+
 > **Nothing on this side links to that side.** *A public page naming a private
 > thing as its answer costs the reader a request and their confidence in the rest
 > of the page.*