diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a8a69e70..cd7c5b70 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -289,10 +289,13 @@ packages.
 
 ## Release status
 
-This repository builds one public npm artifact named `@kaelio/ktx`. The first
-public npm handoff is policy-gated through `release-policy.json`, which keeps
-Python package publishing disabled because KTX-owned Python code ships inside
-the npm package as a bundled wheel.
+This repository builds one public npm artifact named `@kaelio/ktx`. The release
+artifact manifest contains the public npm tarball and the bundled `kaelio-ktx`
+runtime wheel. The first public npm handoff is policy-gated through
+`release-policy.json`, which keeps Python package publishing disabled because
+KTX-owned Python code ships inside the npm package as a bundled wheel. The
+`python/ktx-sl` and `python/ktx-daemon` directories remain source packages for
+development, not public release artifacts.
 
 Build local package artifacts and verify the guarded dry-run publish path with:
 
diff --git a/examples/package-artifacts/README.md b/examples/package-artifacts/README.md
index 089bcbbe..67c8d212 100644
--- a/examples/package-artifacts/README.md
+++ b/examples/package-artifacts/README.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ starts and reuses the managed daemon, stops it, previews a stale runtime with
 `ktx runtime prune --dry-run`, verifies confirmation is required, and removes
 the stale runtime with `ktx runtime prune --yes`.
 
-The Python smoke project still installs the Python artifacts directly because
-it verifies the standalone Python distributions that feed the bundled runtime
-wheel.
+The artifact manifest contains the public `@kaelio/ktx` npm tarball and the
+bundled `kaelio-ktx` runtime wheel. The smoke does not install standalone
+Python packages directly; Python-backed behavior is verified through the
+managed runtime installed from the npm package.
diff --git a/scripts/examples-docs.test.mjs b/scripts/examples-docs.test.mjs
index 213b6b25..e8ff363a 100644
--- a/scripts/examples-docs.test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/examples-docs.test.mjs
@@ -150,6 +150,8 @@ describe('standalone example docs', () => {
     assert.match(rootReadme, /ktx runtime prune --yes/);
     assert.match(rootReadme, /KTX requires `uv` on `PATH`/);
     assert.match(rootReadme, /KTX doesn't download `uv` automatically/);
+    assert.match(rootReadme, /release\s+artifact manifest contains the public npm tarball and the\s+bundled `kaelio-ktx`\s+runtime wheel/);
+    assert.match(rootReadme, /source packages for\s+development, not public release artifacts/);
     assert.match(rootReadme, /ktx serve --mcp stdio/);
     assert.doesNotMatch(rootReadme, /uv run ktx-daemon serve-http/);
     assert.doesNotMatch(rootReadme, /--semantic-compute-url http:\/\/127\.0\.0\.1:8765/);
@@ -160,6 +162,10 @@ describe('standalone example docs', () => {
 
     assert.match(readme, publicPackagePattern('{package}'));
     assert.match(readme, /managed Python runtime/);
+    assert.match(readme, /public `@kaelio\/ktx` npm tarball and the\s+bundled `kaelio-ktx`\s+runtime wheel/);
+    assert.match(readme, /does not install standalone\s+Python packages directly/);
+    assert.doesNotMatch(readme, /standalone Python distributions/);
+    assert.doesNotMatch(readme, /installs the Python artifacts directly/);
     assert.match(readme, /requires `uv` on `PATH`/);
     assert.match(readme, /ktx runtime status/);
     assert.match(readme, /ktx runtime doctor/);