diff --git a/docs/DESIGN.md b/docs/DESIGN.md
index b95826d..115d0d4 100644
--- a/docs/DESIGN.md
+++ b/docs/DESIGN.md
@@ -138,8 +138,38 @@ Decision 1 anticipated this: it says a textual form exists "as a
 bidirectional projection of the JSON form." The pretty-printer already
 emits S-expression-style text (see `crates/ailang-core/src/pretty.rs`).
 What is missing is the inverse direction — text → AST. Decision 6
-makes that inverse the canonical authoring surface, with JSON-AST
-demoted to "storage and exchange" only.
+adds that inverse as **one** authoring projection alongside the
+existing pretty-printer; the JSON-AST remains the source of truth.
+
+### Architectural pin: data structure is the source of truth
+
+The textual surface is **not** a replacement for the JSON-AST. It is
+one projection among potentially many. Concretely:
+
+- The JSON-AST keeps its role as the canonical, hashable, content-
+  addressed representation of a module. All hashing, content-
+  addressing, cross-module references, and typecheck/codegen input
+  flow through the JSON-AST. **No new hashable form is introduced.**
+- The textual surface (form A, this Decision) is the **AI authoring
+  projection**: optimised for me producing programs token-efficiently
+  and for foreign LLMs producing programs from a spec. It is not
+  optimised for human authors and does not need to be human-pleasant.
+- Future projections are explicitly anticipated: a visual / graphical
+  front-end is a plausible second projection for human review and
+  inspection (display being the one case where non-AI eyes matter).
+  The architecture leaves room: any producer of well-formed
+  `ailang-core::ast::Module` values is a valid front-end.
+- **No human is expected to author AILang seriously.** Authoring is
+  AI work. Display and verification, by contrast, are concerns where
+  human-facing alternatives may be useful — and which can therefore
+  layer their own projections on top of the same AST without
+  touching the surface or the core.
+
+In code terms: `ailang-core` owns the AST. `ailang-surface` (new in
+Iter 14c) is one producer/consumer pair: text-form-A → AST → text-
+form-A. A hypothetical `ailang-visual` would be a different producer
+of the same AST. `ailang-check` and `ailang-codegen` consume only
+the AST and remain projection-agnostic.
 
 ### Constraints (hard, in priority order)
 
@@ -328,17 +358,38 @@ on the shelf for a future iter only if both fail.
 
 ### Implementation outline (Iter 14c onwards, not done in 14b)
 
-- `crates/ailang-surface` — new crate. PEG parser → existing
-  `ailang-core::ast` types. No new AST nodes.
-- Round-trip test: every `examples/*.ail.json` → emit via
-  `pretty::module` → parse via new crate → re-canonicalise →
-  hash-equivalent to original. Hash equivalence is the truth check;
-  no surface form ships if a single fixture loses its hash.
-- CLI: `ail parse <surface-file> -o <json-file>`. Symmetric to the
-  existing `ail render`.
-- Then: rewrite one existing fixture (probably `box.ail.json`) in
-  the surface, hash-compare, commit both forms. Stdlib starts in
-  the surface from day one.
+- `crates/ailang-surface` — new crate. **Strictly additive.** PEG
+  parser produces existing `ailang-core::ast` types. No new AST
+  nodes, no schema changes, no new hashable form. Pretty-printer
+  for form (A) lives here too (the round-trip is the contract).
+- `ailang-check`, `ailang-codegen` are **not modified**. They
+  continue to consume `ailang-core::ast::Module` values regardless
+  of which projection produced them.
+- Round-trip test: for every `examples/*.ail.json`, parse the
+  corresponding hand-written `*.ailx`, canonicalise, and assert
+  hash-equivalence to the original. Hash equivalence is the truth
+  check; the surface ships only if every fixture round-trips
+  identically.
+- CLI: `ail parse <file.ailx> -o <file.ail.json>`. Symmetric to
+  existing `ail render`. **`.ail.json` remains a first-class input**
+  to every existing subcommand; the parser is a producer, not a
+  gatekeeper.
+- Iter 14d: stdlib (`std_list`, `std_maybe`, ...) authored in
+  form (A) from day one **because that is the AI authoring
+  projection**, not because JSON authoring is forbidden. The
+  resulting `.ail.json` is what tests and downstream tools see.
+
+### What this Decision deliberately does not do
+
+- It does not promote form (A) to the source of truth. Form (A) is
+  one projection; the JSON-AST stays canonical.
+- It does not foreclose visual or graphical front-ends. The crate
+  layout (`core` owns AST; `surface`/`visual`/... are siblings)
+  reserves that lane.
+- It does not remove `.ail.json` as input. Every existing
+  CLI subcommand (`check`, `render`, `describe`, `emit-ir`,
+  `build`, `run`, `manifest`, `deps`, `diff`, `workspace`,
+  `builtins`) keeps its current `.ail.json` interface.
 
 ## Mangling scheme (Iter 5c)