1 files changed, 11 insertions, 4 deletions
diff --git a/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-09-12-mail-overview.md b/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-09-12-mail-overview.md
index b1009ff..0e01d3e 100644
--- a/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-09-12-mail-overview.md
+++ b/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-09-12-mail-overview.md
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ bash, waybar.
 
 ## Before starting
 
+**Nothing in this plan launches an application on the user's screen.** The user
+works at this machine and runs the shell themselves; an agent executing this
+plan writes code and runs non-GUI checks (`notmuch`, `git`, `grep`), then hands
+the user the exact command to run and the values to compare against. Steps
+below that need a running `qs` are marked "user runs this". Never run a bare
+`pkill -x qs`: the user's three other components are running under it.
+
 Read `AGENTS.md` at the repo root. Four traps in it cost real time and this
 plan depends on all four:
 
@@ -333,7 +340,7 @@ ShellRoot {
 }
 ```
 
-- [ ] **Step 4: Verify it loads and stays running**
+- [ ] **Step 4: Verify it loads and stays running — USER RUNS THIS**
 
 Start it in the foreground so the harness owns the process. A detached `qs`
 does not survive a tool call and a later `pgrep` will report it dead whether
@@ -347,7 +354,7 @@ Expected: `Configuration Loaded` in the output, no QML errors, and the command
 runs for the full 10 seconds before `timeout` ends it. If it returns in under
 a second, the config exited on its own: the keepalive window is wrong.
 
-- [ ] **Step 5: Verify IPC reaches it**
+- [ ] **Step 5: Verify IPC reaches it — USER RUNS THIS**
 
 In one terminal:
 
@@ -611,7 +618,7 @@ Singleton {
 }
 ```
 
-- [ ] **Step 3: Verify the parse and the counts from the log**
+- [ ] **Step 3: Verify the parse and the counts from the log — USER RUNS THIS**
 
 Add a temporary probe to `mail-overview/shell.qml`, inside `ShellRoot`:
 
@@ -960,7 +967,7 @@ and guard the click:
 
 matching whatever identifiers the copied file actually uses.
 
-- [ ] **Step 4: Verify it opens, shows real numbers, and closes**
+- [ ] **Step 4: Verify it opens, shows real numbers, and closes — USER RUNS THIS**
 
 ```bash
 qs -p mail-overview