diff --git a/packages/polyfill/src/emulated-verifier/open-repo.ts b/packages/polyfill/src/emulated-verifier/open-repo.ts
index ed9d500..fed93e8 100644
--- a/packages/polyfill/src/emulated-verifier/open-repo.ts
+++ b/packages/polyfill/src/emulated-verifier/open-repo.ts
@@ -198,8 +198,9 @@ export function setOpenTimeoutForTests(ms: number): void {
   OPEN_TIMEOUT_MS = ms;
 }
 
-/** Reset the open registry (mainly for tests / a switched wallet). Tears down the
- *  held bootstrap subscriptions so a subsequent open re-subscribes cleanly. */
+/** Reset the open registry (mainly for tests / a switched wallet). Releases the bootstrap
+ *  listeners so a subsequent open takes out a new subscription, and DISOWNS the documents it
+ *  takes them from rather than forgetting them - see {@link disowned}. */
 // @provenance resetOpenedRepos kind=invention level=none ref=none — per-session bookkeeping reset; upstream the verifier owns `self.repos` and nothing resets it from outside
 export function resetOpenedRepos(): void {
   for (const [nuri, open] of [...opens]) {
@@ -241,12 +242,15 @@ export function resetOpenedRepos(): void {
 
 /**
  * The bootstrap sync state of `nuri` (lib-internal accessor; NOT a reactive
- * app-facing hook — that is a later phase). Returns `"unknown"` if the repo was
- * never opened via {@link ensureRepoOpen} (or was opened on the fake-ng no-op
- * path, which has no `State` semantics). Otherwise `"syncing"` (subscribed, no
- * `State` yet), `"synced"` (first `State` received — the barrier), or
- * `"timed-out"` (fallback fired without a `State`). `"synced"` and `"timed-out"`
- * are deliberately distinct — a later readiness signal must not confuse them.
+ * app-facing hook - that is a later phase). **DERIVED on every call, never stored**: from the
+ * document's one real subscription ({@link docChannel}) and this module's record of having
+ * opened it. Returns `"unknown"` if the repo was never opened via {@link ensureRepoOpen} (or
+ * was opened on the fake-ng no-op path, which has no `State` semantics); `"synced"` once a
+ * `State` has arrived on the channel standing NOW - the barrier; `"syncing"` while the open is
+ * inside its bounded wait; and `"timed-out"` when it was opened here with no barrier to show
+ * for it, whether the fallback fired, the subscribe was refused, or the channel was taken
+ * away. `"synced"` and `"timed-out"` are deliberately distinct - a readiness signal must not
+ * confuse them - and deriving both is what stops either outliving its subscription.
  */
 // @provenance getSyncState kind=aligned level=1 ref=engine/net/src/app_protocol.rs:AppResponseV0 — reports whether the first `State` arrived; upstream this is not observable from JS
 export function getSyncState(nuri: Nuri): SyncState | "unknown" {