diff --git a/docs/GATE5-MEMORY-CONTRACT.md b/docs/GATE5-MEMORY-CONTRACT.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a89c9838e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/GATE5-MEMORY-CONTRACT.md
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+<!-- Edge-owned. Deliberately NOT under kernel/. -->
+
+> **Ownership.** This contract describes a `relayhistory` / `ai-hist` integration:
+> provider CLI syntax, JSON output, exit-code behaviour and provider-specific
+> traps. That is SDK/control-plane knowledge, not kernel design authority.
+> RFC-0001 §4 and settled decision #13 keep the Rust kernel provider-neutral and
+> closed-vocabulary, so this file lives under `docs/` — it previously sat under
+> `kernel/`, where its location signalled kernel ownership regardless of what the
+> text said, and a future implementer could reasonably have grown the kernel
+> around `ai-hist` on that signal alone.
+
+# Gate 5 — what a relayhistory-backed MemoryProvider has to do
+
+Read of `AgentWorkforce/relayhistory` at `3e7df69`, 2026-09-08. RFC-0001 gate 5
+says relayhistory is "consumed over its serialization contract, not rewritten",
+so this records that contract rather than proposing a design that ignores it.
+
+## What already exists on the flows side
+
+PR `#221` (issue `#220`) landed the seam, and it is the part that is hard to retrofit (`kernel/MEMORY.md` is titled "Step memory, slice 1 (#220)" because it names the issue):
+`MemoryProvider`, `MemoryPack`, and a `memory.injected` journal entry carrying
+the consuming `step_id` and initial `attempt`. That is RFC decision 10 — memory
+tokens charged to the consuming step, itemized, no shared pools.
+
+What is wired is `FixedMemoryProvider`, which returns
+`{"text":"fixed memory pack","citations":[]}` with synthetic usage of 7 input
+tokens and `"0.002"`. `kernel/MEMORY.md` says so plainly: "a substrate stub:
+there is no retrieval, relayhistory call, or claim about memory quality."
+
+## The contract to consume
+
+Retrieval is `ai-hist pack`:
+
+    ai-hist pack <query...> [--project P] [--tag T] [--source S]
+                            [--limit N] [--tokens N] [--fts] [--json]
+
+- `--json` emits `{ "query": ..., "entries": [...] }`.
+- `--tokens N` is the budget, applied as `chars_budget = tokens * 4`
+  (`crates/ai-hist/src/lib.rs:2369`) — a four-characters-per-token
+  approximation, not a tokenizer. A provider must not report that figure back
+  as exact usage; decision 10's accounting is only checkable if the number
+  means something.
+
+**The trap worth writing down before anyone implements this.** `pack_entries`
+calls `std::process::exit(1)` when there are no results, after printing
+`{"query": ..., "entries": []}`. Exit 1 here means *no memory matched*, not
+*the call failed*. A provider that treats nonzero as an error will report every
+cold-start step as a memory failure, and a provider that treats it as fatal
+will fail closed on exactly the runs that have nothing to remember yet.
+
+The trajectory side is `ai-hist push`, which takes `--install-service` and an
+interval. Gate 5's bar is "every relayflow run pushes trajectories to
+relayhistory **without opt-in code**", so that is a service the cell runs, not
+a call each flow makes.
+
+## What gate 5 still needs, in order
+
+1. A `RelayhistoryMemoryProvider` over `ai-hist pack --json`, mapping a step's
+   declared `memory: { scope, query, budget }` onto the pack arguments and
+   reporting honest usage rather than the char-budget approximation.
+
+   **It does not live in the kernel.** The adapter belongs at the
+   SDK/control-plane edge and reaches the kernel across the journal protocol
+   boundary. RFC-0001 §4 and settled decision #13 keep the Rust kernel small,
+   pure and closed-vocabulary, so `relayflowd` must not gain an `ai-hist`
+   dependency, a subprocess call, or any relayhistory-shaped vocabulary.
+   `MemoryProvider` in `kernel/relayflowd/src/memory.rs` stays an **injected
+   protocol seam** — the kernel declares the shape it will accept and never
+   learns who satisfies it. Reading item 1 as "implement this trait inside
+   relayflowd" is the failure mode this paragraph exists to prevent.
+2. Exit-1-means-empty handled explicitly, with a test that a step whose query
+   matches nothing still runs and journals an empty pack.
+3. The push side wired as a service.
+
+None of this is the acceptance test. RFC gate 5 asks for "an agent avoiding a
+mistake recorded in a previous run's trajectory, with the citation in its
+output" — a behavioural bar, not a passing suite. The three items above are
+what makes attempting it possible.
diff --git a/ops/SCOREBOARD.md b/ops/SCOREBOARD.md
index 9b0066bbb..ccc8c4ad8 100644
--- a/ops/SCOREBOARD.md
+++ b/ops/SCOREBOARD.md
@@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ Every row starts RED and moves only on evidence. AMBER blocks nothing here
 | 4 — chief / harness | RED | not started |
 | 5 — memory | RED | scoped by harness directive 3 (relayfile + relayhistory per customer) |
 | 6 — integrations via relayfile | RED | **BLOCKED on gates 2-4** (Khaliq, 2026-08-28, option B — this repo has no example flows to convert; helper surface may be built now but does not make the gate green) — harness (design partner) needs slack/notion helpers; also unblocks its `REPLACE-WHEN: gate-2` shims |
-| 7 — sandbox routing | RED | regression suite needs darwin-arm64 placement |
+| 7 — sandbox routing | **AMBER** | in progress — #227 merged 2026-09-08 (`be3c95ed`). Routing is journaled as a `RoutingDecision` fact at `StepRouted` and dispatch consumes it without re-deciding. **Not GREEN**: gate 7 requires the same flow YAML to run locally and in cloud, and the cloud half is unproven. Design, test inventory and the mutation transcript live in the PR #227 review artifacts, not in this row. |
 | 8 — identity + credentials | RED | regression suite needs multi-principal runs |
 | 9 — self-improving agents | RED | depends on 5 + 8 |