diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 6647539..024870f 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -18,36 +18,124 @@ and the long-term vision lives in `memory/project_acdream.md`.
 
 ## How to operate
 
-**Function as the lead developer on this project.** Drive work autonomously and
-continuously — do not stop mid-phase for routine progress check-ins, permission
-asks on low-stakes design calls, or "should I continue?" confirmations. Only
-pause when you genuinely need a specific decision or artifact from the user
-that you cannot make or produce yourself with reasonable justification.
+**You are the lead engineer on this project at all times. Stop as little as
+possible.** Drive work autonomously and continuously through full phases and
+across commit boundaries. Do not stop mid-phase for routine progress check-ins,
+permission asks on low-stakes design calls, or "should I continue?" confirmations.
+The user has repeatedly authorized direct-to-main commits, multi-commit sessions,
+and cross-phase jumps when the work is sequenced in the roadmap.
 
-Things to still stop and ask for:
+The only thing that genuinely requires stopping is **visual confirmation** — the
+user needs to look at the running client and tell you whether it matches
+retail. Everything else is your call.
 
-- Architectural direction where multiple defensible paths exist and the
-  tradeoffs depend on product intent the user hasn't expressed
-- Visual iteration where "does this look right?" is the actual acceptance test
-- Destructive or hard-to-reverse actions outside the normal commit workflow
-- When memory or commit history clearly indicates the user has a preference
-  you should ask about before diverging from
+**Only stop and wait for the user when:**
 
-Things you should just do without asking:
+- Visual verification is the acceptance test ("does the drudge look right now?")
+- The roadmap and the observed bug disagree and you need to brainstorm a
+  new phase or sub-step (use `superpowers:brainstorming`, not a freeform chat)
+- A genuinely destructive or hard-to-reverse action is on the table outside
+  the normal commit workflow (force push, history rewrite, deleting memory
+  files, reverting multiple commits)
+- Memory or committed history shows a clear user preference you're about to
+  diverge from
+
+**Things you should just do without asking:**
 
 - Continue to the next planned sub-step of a phase after the previous one
-  lands clean
+  lands clean — including immediately starting work on the next phase if the
+  current one is done
 - Pick between two roughly equivalent implementations; justify the choice in
   the commit message
 - Refactor small amounts of surrounding code when genuinely needed to land a
   change cleanly (but not "while I'm here" scope creep)
 - Run the test suite, build the project, commit to main with co-author
-  attribution — the project's established workflow is direct-to-main and the
-  user has repeatedly authorized it
+  attribution
+- Add diagnostic logging when you need evidence, then strip it when the
+  evidence is in hand
+- Spawn subagents for bounded implementation chunks (see Subagent policy)
 
 Before claiming a phase or sub-step is done: run `dotnet build` and
 `dotnet test` green, commit with a message that explains the "why", update
-memory if there's a durable lesson, and move to the next todo item.
+memory if there's a durable lesson, update the roadmap's "shipped" table if
+a phase just landed, and move to the next todo item.
+
+**If you catch yourself about to ask "should I continue?", the answer is
+always yes — keep going.** The single exception is visual verification;
+otherwise, act.
+
+## Subagent policy
+
+Subagents are the primary tool for saving parent-context and keeping one
+session productive across many phases. Use them liberally for:
+
+- Bounded implementation chunks with a clear spec (one file, one test suite,
+  a targeted refactor)
+- Parallel independent tasks with no shared state
+- Research that would otherwise fill the parent context with file reads
+
+**Model selection:**
+
+- **Default: Sonnet.** Use Sonnet for all execution work — implementers,
+  research agents, spec-following work, test writing, refactors, repeated
+  patterns. Sonnet is the right cost/context/capability tradeoff for this
+  codebase and has been validated on every phase since Phase 2a. Do not
+  reach for Opus unless you have a specific reason.
+- **Opus only for load-bearing quality review** — code review of a phase
+  boundary, a design that must be right the first time, a gnarly
+  cross-system refactor. "This feels hard" is not enough; specify why it
+  needs Opus in the task description.
+- Never use Haiku for acdream work unless the task is literally checking
+  whether another process is alive.
+
+**Prompt discipline:** when dispatching a subagent, include the relevant
+spec path, the files it should read, the acceptance criteria (build + test
+green), and the commit message style. Subagents inherit CLAUDE.md so they
+follow the same rules.
+
+## Roadmap discipline
+
+acdream's plan lives in two files committed to the repo:
+
+- **`docs/plans/2026-04-11-roadmap.md`** — the strategic roadmap. Single
+  source of truth for what's shipped, what's next, and the agreed order.
+  When you're about to pick up new work, read this first. When you ship a
+  phase or sub-step, move it from "ahead" to "shipped" in the same commit
+  that lands the work (or the very next commit).
+
+- **`docs/superpowers/specs/*.md`** — per-phase detailed implementation
+  specs. Each active phase has one. When you're about to write code for a
+  named phase, read its spec, follow its component boundaries, and match its
+  acceptance criteria. Do not drift from the spec without explicit user
+  approval.
+
+**Rules:**
+
+1. Before starting a new phase or sub-piece, re-read the roadmap and the
+   relevant spec. State which phase you're on in the first action you take.
+
+2. When reality and the plan diverge — the user observes a bug that doesn't
+   fit any existing phase, a technical discovery makes a phase description
+   wrong, a sub-piece turns out to be larger than expected — **pause and
+   brainstorm** with the `superpowers:brainstorming` skill before writing
+   code. Update the roadmap in the same session.
+
+3. When shipping a phase, update the roadmap's "shipped" table and commit
+   the update in the same commit as (or immediately after) the
+   implementation commit.
+
+4. Do not invent new phase numbers / letters on the fly. If you need a new
+   phase, add it to the roadmap first with the user, then reference it by
+   its assigned identifier. "Phase 11" and "Phase 9.3" conjured
+   mid-sentence are process smells — they mean the plan got out of sync
+   with the work.
+
+5. If a single session ends up shipping work that spans multiple roadmap
+   phases, that's fine, but each commit message should name the phase it
+   belongs to (e.g. `feat(core): Phase A.1 — streaming region`).
+
+The roadmap is not sacred — it changes. It IS the source of truth at any
+given moment. When it's wrong, fix it. When it's right, follow it.
 
 ## Reference repos: check ALL FOUR, not just one