diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index ba63d87c..0cde4520 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -91,8 +91,17 @@ check:*` script, so a violation fails CI rather than waiting for review.
   `undefined` to an optional field the compiler expects omitted is a
   recurring CI break — omit the key instead.
 
+## Product decisions
+
+[docs/DECISIONS.md](docs/DECISIONS.md) records rulings the owner has made
+that the code does not imply — where a routine delivers, what the top-bar
+search does, what a brand-new tenant must have. **Read it before building in
+those areas.** A decision there overrides an inference drawn from existing
+code: when the two disagree, the code is what is wrong.
+
 ## Docs map
 
+- [DECISIONS.md](docs/DECISIONS.md) — owner rulings the code does not imply
 - [README.md](README.md) — quickstart and repo layout
 - [PRODUCT.md](PRODUCT.md) — what Workbench is and why
 - [ARCHITECTURE.md](ARCHITECTURE.md) — system structure
diff --git a/docs/DECISIONS.md b/docs/DECISIONS.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..afcc97f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/DECISIONS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+# Product decisions
+
+Rulings the owner has made that are not derivable from the code, and that
+have been re-litigated more than once. Read this before building anything in
+these areas. A decision here overrides an inference from the existing code:
+if the code disagrees with a row below, the code is the thing that is wrong.
+
+Add a row when the owner decides something that a future contributor would
+otherwise get wrong. Keep each row short enough to read in full.
+
+## Search
+
+**The top-bar search filters the current page. `Cmd+K` is the global command
+palette. They are separate things.**
+
+The magnifier in the stage top bar searches within whatever page you are on —
+Files filters files, Skills filters skills. `Cmd+K` opens the global palette
+that reaches workbenches, people, actions and pages. Do not merge them, and do
+not make one open the other.
+
+## Routines
+
+**A routine delivers into a workbench the person selects.**
+
+The destination is chosen when the routine is created, and is editable
+afterwards. Never auto-create a delivery workbench, and never name one after
+the routine. If a selected destination no longer exists, ask for a new one
+rather than minting a replacement.
+
+**A routine that cannot run yet offers setup, not "Run now".**
+
+When a routine's tools need connectors or keys that are not connected, say
+what is missing in the person's words and lead into the connect flow. A
+control that is going to fail should not be rendered.
+
+## Agents
+
+**Jimmy is an agent, not a workbench template.** He is added to a bench, and
+ideally available in every bench. Due diligence, by contrast, is a template
+like code review, and Scout is its participant.
+
+## Chat
+
+**A person's own messages align right; everything else aligns left.** This is
+per viewer — the same message is right-aligned for its author and
+left-aligned for everyone else in a shared bench. Alignment only; this is not
+a return to chat bubbles.
+
+## First run
+
+**A brand-new tenant has everything it needs on first sign-in.** Not on a
+later visit, not after a retry. Provisioning either completes or fails
+loudly; a half-provisioned tenant that looks fine until the first click is
+the defect, and reconciling on a later sign-in is a safety net rather than
+the answer.
+
+## Setup
+
+**There is one setup path, and it is easy.** No demo mode, no demo-only
+seeds, no branch that exists to make a demonstration look good. Local
+convenience flags must be impossible to inherit into a real deployment rather
+than relying on an operator to strip them.
+
+## Workflows
+
+**Workflows are code, and they live in the hub's git-backed store.** Agents
+author workflow source, it is stored in `RepoStore`, and it deploys from
+there under the agent's own grants. Everything runs on Interchange's workflow
+runtime — where `@intx/*` already provides something, workbench consumes it
+rather than reimplementing it.
+
+## Scale of change
+
+**Less is more.** Prefer removing a concept to adding one. A smaller change
+that genuinely works beats a larger one that is partly wired, and a rule that
+a check enforces beats a rule written down and hoped for.