diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
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-MCR is the Metacircular Container Registry
+# MCR
 
-This is a container registry integrated with MCIAS.
\ No newline at end of file
+Metacircular Container Registry -- an OCI Distribution Spec-compliant
+container registry for the Metacircular platform. MCR stores and serves
+container images with authentication delegated to MCIAS and a local
+policy engine for fine-grained access control. Metadata is stored in
+SQLite; blobs are stored as content-addressed files on the filesystem.
+
+## Quick Start
+
+Build the binaries:
+
+```bash
+make all
+```
+
+This produces three binaries:
+
+| Binary | Purpose |
+|--------|---------|
+| `mcrsrv` | Registry server (OCI + admin REST + gRPC) |
+| `mcr-web` | Web UI (htmx, communicates with mcrsrv via gRPC) |
+| `mcrctl` | Admin CLI |
+
+Copy and edit the example configuration:
+
+```bash
+cp deploy/examples/mcr.toml /srv/mcr/mcr.toml
+# Edit TLS paths, database path, storage paths, MCIAS URL
+```
+
+Run the server:
+
+```bash
+./mcrsrv server --config /srv/mcr/mcr.toml
+```
+
+The server starts two listeners:
+
+| Port | Protocol | Purpose |
+|------|----------|---------|
+| 8443 | TCP | HTTPS -- OCI Distribution endpoints + admin REST API |
+| 9443 | TCP | gRPC admin API (TLS, MCIAS auth) |
+
+Run the web UI:
+
+```bash
+./mcr-web server --config /srv/mcr/mcr.toml
+```
+
+| Port | Protocol | Purpose |
+|------|----------|---------|
+| 8080 | TCP | HTTP -- web UI (repository browsing, policy management) |
+
+## Documentation
+
+- [ARCHITECTURE.md](ARCHITECTURE.md) -- full technical specification, OCI compliance details, database schema, policy engine, and security model.
+- [RUNBOOK.md](RUNBOOK.md) -- operational procedures, health checks, backup/restore, incident response, and MCP deployment.
+- [CLAUDE.md](CLAUDE.md) -- context for AI-assisted development.
diff --git a/RUNBOOK.md b/RUNBOOK.md
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+# MCR Runbook
+
+## Service Overview
+
+MCR (Metacircular Container Registry) is an OCI Distribution
+Spec-compliant container registry for the Metacircular platform. It
+stores and serves container images, with authentication delegated to
+MCIAS and a local policy engine for fine-grained access control.
+
+MCR runs as two containers:
+
+- **mcr-api** -- the registry server. Exposes OCI Distribution endpoints
+  and an admin REST API on port 8443 (HTTPS), plus a gRPC admin API on
+  port 9443. Handles blob storage, manifest management, and
+  token-based authentication via MCIAS.
+- **mcr-web** -- the web UI. Communicates with mcr-api via gRPC on port
+  9443. Provides repository/tag browsing and ACL policy management for
+  administrators. Listens on port 8080.
+
+Both are fronted by MC-Proxy for TLS routing. Metadata is stored in
+SQLite; blobs are stored as content-addressed files on the filesystem
+under `/srv/mcr/layers/`.
+
+## Health Checks
+
+### REST
+
+```bash
+curl -k https://localhost:8443/v1/health
+```
+
+Expected: HTTP 200.
+
+### gRPC
+
+Use the `AdminService.Health` RPC on port 9443. This method is public
+(no auth required).
+
+### OCI Version Check
+
+```bash
+curl -k https://localhost:8443/v2/
+```
+
+Expected: HTTP 401 with `WWW-Authenticate` header (confirms the OCI
+endpoint is alive and responding). An authenticated request returns
+HTTP 200 with `{}`.
+
+### CLI
+
+```bash
+mcrctl status --addr https://localhost:8443
+```
+
+Expected output: `ok`
+
+## Common Operations
+
+### Start the Service (MCP)
+
+1. Deploy via MCP:
+   ```bash
+   mcp deploy mcr
+   ```
+2. Verify health:
+   ```bash
+   curl -k https://localhost:8443/v1/health
+   ```
+
+### Start the Service (Docker Compose)
+
+1. Verify config exists: `ls /srv/mcr/mcr.toml`
+2. Start the containers:
+   ```bash
+   docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose-rift.yml up -d
+   ```
+3. Verify health:
+   ```bash
+   curl -k https://localhost:8443/v1/health
+   ```
+
+### Stop the Service
+
+Via MCP:
+
+```bash
+mcp stop mcr
+```
+
+Via Docker Compose:
+
+```bash
+docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose-rift.yml stop
+```
+
+MCR handles SIGTERM gracefully: it stops accepting new connections,
+drains in-flight requests (including ongoing uploads) for up to 60
+seconds, then force-closes remaining connections and exits.
+
+### Restart the Service
+
+Via MCP:
+
+```bash
+mcp restart mcr
+```
+
+Via Docker Compose:
+
+```bash
+docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose-rift.yml restart
+```
+
+Verify health after restart:
+
+```bash
+curl -k https://localhost:8443/v1/health
+```
+
+### Backup (Snapshot)
+
+MCR backups have two parts: the SQLite database (metadata) and the blob
+filesystem. The database snapshot alone is usable but incomplete --
+missing blobs return 404 on pull.
+
+1. Run the snapshot command:
+   ```bash
+   mcrsrv snapshot --config /srv/mcr/mcr.toml
+   ```
+2. The snapshot is saved to `/srv/mcr/backups/mcr-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.db`.
+3. Verify the snapshot file exists and has a reasonable size:
+   ```bash
+   ls -lh /srv/mcr/backups/
+   ```
+4. For a complete backup, also copy the blob directory:
+   ```bash
+   rsync -a /srv/mcr/layers/ /backup/mcr/layers/
+   ```
+
+A systemd timer (`mcr-backup.timer`) runs the database snapshot daily
+at 02:00 UTC with 5-minute jitter.
+
+### Restore from Snapshot
+
+1. Stop the service (see above).
+2. Back up the current database:
+   ```bash
+   cp /srv/mcr/mcr.db /srv/mcr/mcr.db.pre-restore
+   ```
+3. Copy the snapshot into place:
+   ```bash
+   cp /srv/mcr/backups/mcr-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.db /srv/mcr/mcr.db
+   ```
+4. If restoring blobs as well:
+   ```bash
+   rsync -a /backup/mcr/layers/ /srv/mcr/layers/
+   ```
+5. Start the service (see above).
+6. Verify the service is healthy:
+   ```bash
+   curl -k https://localhost:8443/v1/health
+   ```
+7. Verify an image pull works:
+   ```bash
+   docker pull mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443/<repo>:<tag>
+   ```
+
+### Log Inspection
+
+Container logs (mcr-api):
+
+```bash
+docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose-rift.yml logs --tail 100 mcr-api
+```
+
+Container logs (mcr-web):
+
+```bash
+docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose-rift.yml logs --tail 100 mcr-web
+```
+
+Follow logs in real time:
+
+```bash
+docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose-rift.yml logs -f mcr-api mcr-web
+```
+
+Via MCP:
+
+```bash
+mcp logs mcr
+```
+
+MCR logs to stderr as structured text (slog). Log level is configured
+via `[log] level` in `mcr.toml` (debug, info, warn, error).
+
+### Garbage Collection
+
+Garbage collection removes unreferenced blobs -- blobs no longer
+referenced by any manifest. GC acquires a registry-wide lock that
+blocks new blob uploads for the duration of the mark-and-sweep phase.
+Pulls are not blocked.
+
+1. Trigger GC via CLI:
+   ```bash
+   mcrctl gc --addr https://mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443
+   ```
+2. Check GC status:
+   ```bash
+   mcrctl gc status --addr https://mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443
+   ```
+3. GC can also be triggered via the REST API:
+   ```bash
+   curl -k -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" https://localhost:8443/v1/gc
+   ```
+
+If a previous GC crashed after the database sweep but before filesystem
+cleanup, orphaned files may remain on disk. Run reconciliation to clean
+them up:
+
+```bash
+mcrctl gc --reconcile --addr https://mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443
+```
+
+## Incident Procedures
+
+### Database Corruption
+
+Symptoms: server fails to start with SQLite errors, or API requests
+return unexpected errors.
+
+1. Stop the service.
+2. Check for WAL/SHM files alongside the database:
+   ```bash
+   ls -la /srv/mcr/mcr.db*
+   ```
+3. Attempt an integrity check:
+   ```bash
+   sqlite3 /srv/mcr/mcr.db "PRAGMA integrity_check;"
+   ```
+4. If integrity check fails, restore from the most recent snapshot:
+   ```bash
+   cp /srv/mcr/mcr.db /srv/mcr/mcr.db.corrupt
+   cp /srv/mcr/backups/mcr-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.db /srv/mcr/mcr.db
+   ```
+5. Start the service and verify health.
+6. Note: blobs on the filesystem are unaffected by database corruption.
+   Images pushed after the snapshot was taken will be missing from
+   metadata. Their blobs remain on disk and will be cleaned up by GC
+   unless the metadata is re-created.
+
+### TLS Certificate Expiry
+
+Symptoms: health check fails with TLS errors, Docker clients get
+certificate verification errors on push/pull.
+
+1. Check certificate expiry:
+   ```bash
+   openssl x509 -in /srv/mcr/certs/cert.pem -noout -enddate
+   ```
+2. Replace the certificate and key files at the paths configured in
+   `mcr.toml` (`[server] tls_cert` and `tls_key`).
+3. Restart the service to load the new certificate.
+4. Verify health:
+   ```bash
+   curl -k https://localhost:8443/v1/health
+   ```
+
+### MCIAS Outage
+
+Symptoms: push/pull fails with 401 or 502 errors. Authentication
+cannot complete.
+
+1. Confirm MCIAS is unreachable:
+   ```bash
+   curl -k https://svc.metacircular.net:8443/v1/health
+   ```
+2. Cached token validation results remain valid for up to 30 seconds
+   after the last successful MCIAS check. Operations using
+   recently-validated tokens may continue briefly.
+3. Once cached tokens expire, all authenticated operations (push, pull,
+   catalog, admin) will fail until MCIAS recovers.
+4. The OCI `/v2/` version check endpoint still responds (confirms MCR
+   itself is running).
+5. Escalate to MCIAS (see Escalation below).
+
+### Disk Full
+
+Symptoms: blob uploads fail, database writes fail, container may crash.
+
+1. Check disk usage:
+   ```bash
+   df -h /srv/mcr/
+   du -sh /srv/mcr/layers/ /srv/mcr/uploads/ /srv/mcr/mcr.db
+   ```
+2. Clean up stale uploads:
+   ```bash
+   ls -la /srv/mcr/uploads/
+   ```
+   Remove upload files that are old and have no matching in-progress
+   upload in the database.
+3. Run garbage collection to reclaim unreferenced blobs:
+   ```bash
+   mcrctl gc --addr https://mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443
+   ```
+4. If GC does not free enough space, identify large repositories:
+   ```bash
+   mcrctl repo list --addr https://mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443
+   ```
+5. Delete unused tags or repositories to free space, then run GC again.
+6. If the disk is completely full and the service cannot start, manually
+   remove orphaned files from `/srv/mcr/uploads/` to free enough space
+   for the service to start, then run GC.
+
+### Image Push/Pull Failures
+
+Symptoms: `docker push` or `docker pull` returns errors.
+
+1. Verify the service is running and healthy:
+   ```bash
+   curl -k https://localhost:8443/v1/health
+   ```
+2. Test OCI endpoint:
+   ```bash
+   curl -k https://localhost:8443/v2/
+   ```
+   Expected: HTTP 401 with `WWW-Authenticate` header.
+3. Test authentication:
+   ```bash
+   curl -k -u username:password https://localhost:8443/v2/token?service=mcr
+   ```
+   Expected: HTTP 200 with a token response.
+4. Check if the issue is policy-related (403 Denied):
+   ```bash
+   mcrctl policy list --addr https://mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443
+   ```
+   Review policy rules for the affected account and repository.
+5. Check audit log for denied requests:
+   ```bash
+   mcrctl audit tail --n 20 --addr https://mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443
+   ```
+6. For push failures, verify all referenced blobs exist before pushing
+   the manifest. The error `MANIFEST_BLOB_UNKNOWN` means a layer was
+   not uploaded before the manifest push.
+7. Check logs for detailed error information:
+   ```bash
+   docker compose -f deploy/docker/docker-compose-rift.yml logs --tail 50 mcr-api
+   ```
+
+## MCP Deployment
+
+MCR is deployed via MCP as a two-component service on the `rift` node.
+
+### Service Definition
+
+```toml
+name = "mcr"
+node = "rift"
+active = true
+
+[[components]]
+name = "api"
+image = "mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443/mcr:latest"
+network = "mcpnet"
+user = "0:0"
+restart = "unless-stopped"
+ports = ["127.0.0.1:28443:8443", "127.0.0.1:29443:9443"]
+volumes = ["/srv/mcr:/srv/mcr"]
+cmd = ["server", "--config", "/srv/mcr/mcr.toml"]
+
+[[components]]
+name = "web"
+image = "mcr.svc.mcp.metacircular.net:8443/mcr-web:latest"
+network = "mcpnet"
+user = "0:0"
+restart = "unless-stopped"
+ports = ["127.0.0.1:28080:8080"]
+volumes = ["/srv/mcr:/srv/mcr"]
+cmd = ["server", "--config", "/srv/mcr/mcr.toml"]
+```
+
+### Port Mapping
+
+| Component | Container Port | Host Port | Purpose |
+|-----------|---------------|-----------|---------|
+| mcr-api | 8443 | 28443 | HTTPS (OCI + admin REST) |
+| mcr-api | 9443 | 29443 | gRPC admin API |
+| mcr-web | 8080 | 28080 | Web UI (HTTP, behind MC-Proxy) |
+
+Both containers share the `/srv/mcr` volume for configuration, database,
+and blob storage. They are connected to the `mcpnet` Docker network.
+
+## Escalation
+
+Escalate when:
+
+- Database corruption cannot be resolved by restoring a snapshot.
+- MCIAS is down and registry operations are urgently needed.
+- Disk full cannot be resolved by GC and cleanup.
+- Push/pull failures persist after following the procedures above.
+- Any issue not covered by this runbook.
+
+Escalation path: Kyle (platform owner).