diff --git a/llm-router/skills/SKILL.md b/llm-router/skills/SKILL.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..613e7338e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llm-router/skills/SKILL.md
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+---
+name: llm-router
+description: >-
+  What the API reference cannot tell you about the router: how the model
+  catalog is fed and why a registered provider can still serve zero models,
+  the provider token binding and its recovery runbook, the identity prompt
+  precedence, and the rebind semantics behind router::ready. For the
+  function surface itself, read the contracts with engine::functions::info.
+---
+
+# llm-router
+
+The router is the single gateway between agents and model providers:
+callers name `{ model, provider? }`, the router resolves and relays, and
+provider workers are never called directly. The function surface is in the API
+reference (https://workers.iii.dev/workers/llm-router.md, or live via
+`engine::functions::info`); this document covers only the
+semantics that span functions and the failure modes no schema shows.
+
+## The catalog is provider-fed, and the split state that implies
+
+Models enter the catalog when a provider worker reconciles its slice —
+usually right after registering, again on its own refresh cycles. Config
+never adds models. Two consequences:
+
+- A provider can be REGISTERED yet contribute ZERO models: it appears in
+  the provider list while its models are missing from the catalog. That
+  split state is the diagnostic signature of a declare/refresh that never
+  completed — not of a wrong model name.
+- `router/no_provider_for_model` therefore has two distinct causes: the id
+  genuinely does not exist, or the provider that serves it is in the split
+  state above. Check the provider list before trusting the error at face
+  value.
+
+Capability checks fail OPEN for unknown models: absence of a catalog row is
+not evidence a feature is unsupported.
+
+## Provider binding: the token, the rejection, the recovery
+
+A provider's FIRST registration mints a binding token; the router persists
+its hash (state scope `llm-router`, key `registry`) and returns the raw
+token, which then exists only in the provider's process memory. Every later
+registration must present it, else:
+
+    router/registration_rejected: provider <id> is bound to another worker;
+    re-binding is an operator action
+
+Operational facts learned from a live 0.21 to 0.22 migration:
+
+- An upgrade or restart cycle that loses the in-memory token leaves the
+  provider permanently rejected, and some released provider binaries
+  swallow the rejection without a log line — the only symptom is the split
+  state above.
+- There is no release function yet; the operator action is manual: back up
+  the registry state value, clear the affected records (or set the value to
+  `{}`), restart the llm-router worker — it reloads the registry at boot
+  and fires `router::ready` — and restart any provider whose declare task
+  already died. Providers then first-register and mint fresh tokens.
+- `configured` and `available` are independent flags: registration sets a
+  provider available; a dispatch-time function-not-found flips it back
+  down. `router/provider_unavailable` means the record exists but the
+  router does not currently trust the worker behind it.
+
+## The identity prompt precedence
+
+`router::system_prompt::get` resolves the per-provider identity prompt:
+operator override when set and non-empty, else the provider-declared
+prompt, else null — and on null the harness falls back to its embedded
+default. An empty or null override means "use the provider's default", so
+unsetting the console knob is always safe. Prompt lookup never errors by
+design: an identity miss must not take a turn down.
+
+Every provider's config slice carries the override knob; a provider that
+declares no custom config schema gets the default credentials slice with a
+write-only api key (the console never re-displays it). Config hot-reloads:
+changes apply on the next call, no restart.
+
+## Rebind semantics: router::ready
+
+The router fires `router::ready` when it comes up. Provider workers bind
+their re-declare handlers to it, which is what makes a router restart
+self-healing: on ready, every connected provider re-registers and
+re-reconciles. A provider that boots BEFORE the router retries its declare
+with backoff, and the ready binding covers the restart case. The other two
+published events — catalog changed and provider changed — exist for
+consumers that cache model or provider lists and must invalidate on change.
+
+## Boundaries
+
+- The router stores no content catalog of its own: models come from
+  provider reconciles, identity prompts from declarations plus the one
+  override knob, credentials from config slices or the vault path.
+- Streaming budgets and idle guards live router-side; providers bound their
+  own upstream reads. A healthy stream emits frames or pings — prolonged
+  silence is treated as a dead connection and surfaced as a terminal error
+  frame, not a hang.
+
+`harness/reference` documents where a harness turn touches the router; this
+is the router-side contract behind those calls.
diff --git a/llm-router/src/surface.rs b/llm-router/src/surface.rs
index 93191a27a..4898defc9 100644
--- a/llm-router/src/surface.rs
+++ b/llm-router/src/surface.rs
@@ -31,7 +31,8 @@ pub const CHAT_DESC: &str =
 
 pub const COMPLETE_ID: &str = "router::complete";
 pub const COMPLETE_DESC: &str = "Non-streaming convenience over router::chat: run the turn on an \
-     internal channel and return the final assistant message + usage.";
+     internal channel and return the final assistant message + usage. Message content is an \
+     ARRAY OF BLOCKS ([{type: text, text}]), never a plain string.";
 
 pub const ABORT_ID: &str = "router::abort";
 pub const ABORT_DESC: &str =
diff --git a/llm-router/tests/golden/schemas/router.complete.json b/llm-router/tests/golden/schemas/router.complete.json
index 6cedc4989..f482bd953 100644
--- a/llm-router/tests/golden/schemas/router.complete.json
+++ b/llm-router/tests/golden/schemas/router.complete.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
-  "description": "Non-streaming convenience over router::chat: run the turn on an internal channel and return the final assistant message + usage.",
+  "description": "Non-streaming convenience over router::chat: run the turn on an internal channel and return the final assistant message + usage. Message content is an ARRAY OF BLOCKS ([{type: text, text}]), never a plain string.",
   "function_id": "router::complete",
   "request_schema": {
     "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",