diff --git a/docs/research/iroh-blobs-eval.md b/docs/research/iroh-blobs-eval.md
index 1aa7857..b043904 100644
--- a/docs/research/iroh-blobs-eval.md
+++ b/docs/research/iroh-blobs-eval.md
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ Lessons for alkblobs:
 - **The command-enum-as-contract is a working pattern** (it is what
   makes iroh-blobs' remote/local symmetry possible), but it carries the
   whole irpc machinery into the store layer and *is* the reason their
-  store is welded to their transport. POC #1's lean `Backend` trait is
+  store is welded to their protocol stack (theirs also welds transport
+  endpoints above that; the store-actor weld alone is what kills
+  backend swappability). POC #1's lean `Backend` trait is
   the smaller hammer for our split: the trait stays dumb (opaque bytes),
   and any ops surface above it (alkcall) speaks its own protocol.
 - **Re-borrowed conclusion, not mechanism: per-hash serialized actors.**
@@ -175,7 +177,7 @@ findings (first-party, measured).
 ## Do-not-inherit list (re-confirmed against 0.103)
 
 - The `Command`-actor + irpc store abstraction (welds store to their
-  transport stack).
+  protocol stack; endpoints/transport weld on above it).
 - redb-specific entry-state modeling if we go sqlite (their tables and
   `EntryState` postcard encoding are theirs; our sqlite schema is
   `key → (value, size)` and our dispatch is store-layer policy).
diff --git a/docs/research/phase-0.md b/docs/research/phase-0.md
index b04ed9a..a527f9d 100644
--- a/docs/research/phase-0.md
+++ b/docs/research/phase-0.md
@@ -29,8 +29,9 @@ documents (`poc-trait-dispatch-findings.md`, `poc-largeblob-findings.md`,
 a put/get/verify store keyed under one canonical content hash (the
 git-family derivation; legacy SHA-1-tolerant), with pluggable backends
 (small blobs in a kv/sqlite-ish store, large blobs on a filesystem
-fallback), split from any transport/protocol layer, with auth-gated
-network operations riding the alkcall seam (OQ-BL-01).
+fallback), split from any wire/ops-protocol layer (framing, op family,
+ACL ride the alkcall substrate when they exist — OQ-BL-01), which is
+itself transport-free (alkcall is a pure protocol crate).
 
 **Why this crate exists (the converging consumers):**
 
@@ -82,15 +83,16 @@ The implications for this crate:
   alkcall substrate (OQ-BL-01), whether it lives in this crate or a
   sibling.
 
-**The scope line:** this crate is the *store*, not the *transport*.
-iroh-blobs welds store + provider protocol + tickets + postcard into
-one crate; the defining posture here is the opposite split —
-put/get/verify against a hash is its own layer, and any
-provider/protocol/ops surface lives above it or in feature-gated
-modules (the alk* inversion-point pattern). "Above it" does not mean
-"without alkcall": the ops surface *is* alkcall-shaped (OQ-BL-01) —
-what the store layer itself must never grow is transport, framing, or
-auth internals. What stays *above* the crate regardless: repos/
+**The scope line:** this crate is the *store*, not the *wire/ops
+protocol*. iroh-blobs welds store + provider protocol + tickets +
+postcard into one crate; the defining posture here is the opposite
+split — put/get/verify against a hash is its own layer, and any
+ops/protocol surface lives above it or in feature-gated modules (the
+alk* inversion-point pattern). "Above it" does not mean "without
+alkcall": the ops surface *is* alkcall-shaped (OQ-BL-01) — what the
+store layer itself must never grow is wire framing, op dispatch, ACL,
+or transport (alkcall carries none of the last either; the connection
+is handed to it). What stays *above* the crate regardless: repos/
 workspaces as reference sets (trees/manifests), path→hash mapping,
 git semantics, the contract/gossip/replicator policy layer.
 
@@ -304,16 +306,22 @@ appfile pattern this crate now owns by its own validated design.
 
 ### alkcall — the substrate (and the ops surface's foundation)
 
-`/workspace/@alkdev/alkcall` (the call + channels RPC crate). The ops
-surface rides it (OQ-BL-01, settled): JSON-shaped control ops with
-JSON Schema validation and typed error schemas (ADR-016), binary
-streaming via the `channel_open` marker (ADR-047) in both directions
-(`Sub` ADR-021 for verified fetch, `Pub`/`HandlerKind::Sink` ADR-046
-for put), ACL via `AccessControl` + ownership checks (ADR-011) under
-the ADR-017 privilege model, and the established data-path patterns
+`/workspace/@alkdev/alkcall` (the call + channels RPC crate). **It
+contains no transport code** — no networking dependencies (README:
+"a pure protocol crate — no networking, no transport dependencies");
+a `Connection` wraps an already-established byte stream that the
+*caller* provides (dialing/listening happens above it, per ADR-012's
+dial/call decoupling). What it owns is the wire/ops protocol: JSON
+op family with JSON Schema validation and typed error schemas
+(ADR-016), binary streaming via the `channel_open` marker (ADR-047)
+in both directions (`Sub` ADR-021 for verified fetch, `Pub`/
+`HandlerKind::Sink` ADR-046 for put), ACL via `AccessControl` +
+ownership checks (ADR-011) under the ADR-017 privilege model, service
+discovery, and N-channel multiplexing; established data-path patterns
 (`BiStream`, two-pump `pump_bidi` ADR-050). The store layer itself
 stays alkcall-free (principle 1: substrate-agnostic); alkcall enters
-only at the ops module/sibling boundary.
+only at the ops module/sibling boundary — which is where transport,
+if p2p git ever needs a specific one, enters above *that*.
 
 ## Open Questions
 
@@ -330,11 +338,12 @@ are now settled separately.
 decision rather than an inherited assumption.) The original draft's
 "undecided pending the first consumer's shape" conflated two things:
 iroh-blobs' *actual* weld (no Store trait — its message-actor store is
-inseparable from the irpc transport machinery, the thing convention 7
+inseparable from the irpc protocol machinery, the thing convention 7
 rejects) and the presence of a protocol substrate under the ops layer,
 which is a different layer entirely and is family-standard. The
 inverted-point posture constrains the *store layer only*: the store
-grows no transport, framing, or auth internals. It does not argue for
+grows no wire framing, op dispatch, ACL, or transport internals. It
+does not argue for
 an ops layer that reinvents them.
 
 Why alkcall specifically, rather than an in-band op scheme:
@@ -362,10 +371,12 @@ Why alkcall specifically, rather than an in-band op scheme:
 - **The store stays substrate-agnostic regardless.** alkcall enters
   only at the ops module/sibling layer, behind the store's public
   surface — the same relationship alkhttp's handlers have to their
-  storage. If alkcall were ever unavailable, the store layer loses
-  nothing (that independence is principle 1); the point is that the
-  ops surface, when it exists, does *not* re-implement what the
-  substrate provides.
+  storage. If the ops surface were ever re-homed, the store layer
+  loses nothing (that independence is principle 1); the point is that
+  the ops surface, when it exists, does *not* re-implement what the
+  substrate provides — and neither layer grows transport, which has
+  no home in either crate (alkcall's `Connection` is handed in, not
+  dialed).
 
 **The crate-boundary question — reduced to placement only:** given an
 alkcall-shaped op family, the remaining choice is where the