diff --git a/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-31-xy-start-on-login-design.md b/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-31-xy-start-on-login-design.md
index 65be295..deed339 100644
--- a/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-31-xy-start-on-login-design.md
+++ b/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-07-31-xy-start-on-login-design.md
@@ -80,7 +80,10 @@ XML, the daemon gains its own log file (see below).
 
 **Accepted limitation.** Failures occurring before the daemon's logger exists —
 missing binary, dyld error, malformed plist — appear in neither `xy.log` nor
-`xy service status` beyond a bare `Stopped`. Documented recourse:
+`xy service status`. This is worse than first assumed: `LaunchdServiceManager::
+status()` returns `ServiceStatus::Stopped(None)` unconditionally
+(`launchd.rs:288`), so the `Option<String>` reason carried by the enum is always
+`None` on macOS and cannot be surfaced. Documented recourse:
 
     launchctl print gui/$UID/se.aceofba.xy
 
@@ -128,10 +131,12 @@ Two new modules in `crates/xy`, Rust-2018 layout (`foo.rs` + `foo/`):
 | `restart_policy` | `Always { delay_secs: Some(10) }` | `KeepAlive` |
 | `username` | `None` — runs as the invoking user | — |
 
-launchd collapses `RestartPolicy` to a `KeepAlive` boolean: `Never` maps to
-false, `Always` and `OnFailure` both map to true, and `delay_secs` is ignored.
-`Always` is chosen for the explicit `KeepAlive: true` it produces; the delay is
-carried only so the value stays meaningful if this spec is extended to systemd.
+Verified against `service-manager-0.11.0/src/launchd.rs`. `Always` emits
+`KeepAlive: true` (a plain boolean); `OnFailure` instead emits a `KeepAlive`
+*dictionary* with `SuccessfulExit: false`; `Never` omits the key. `delay_secs`
+has no launchd equivalent and is discarded with a `log::warn!`. `Always` is
+chosen deliberately: the daemon should come back regardless of how it exited.
+`delay_secs` is set to `None`, since passing a value only produces a warning.
 
 The label is the reverse-DNS form of the `git.aceofba.se` remote. It lives on
 `AgentSpec` rather than being a constant so tests can install under a distinct
@@ -164,6 +169,49 @@ want.
 Result: `~/.local/state/xy/logs/` becomes uniform — `xy.log` for the daemon,
 `<server>.log` per supervised server, all rotated by the same code.
 
+## launchd mechanics
+
+Verified by reading `service-manager-0.11.0/src/launchd.rs`. Three behaviours
+constrain the CLI and are not obvious from the crate's public documentation.
+
+**`install()` deliberately produces a disabled agent.** Whenever `KeepAlive` is
+present, `make_plist` also writes `Disabled: true` (`launchd.rs:440`) so that
+`install()` never auto-starts, for cross-platform consistency. A `Disabled`
+LaunchAgent does not start at login either, so **install alone does not deliver
+start-on-login**. The crate's `start()` is what removes the `Disabled` key,
+rewrites the plist, and reloads (`launchd.rs:179-194`). `xy service install`
+therefore always calls `install()` *then* `start()`; after that the on-disk
+plist is permanently free of `Disabled` and `RunAtLoad` works at next login.
+
+There is no way to opt out: setting `LaunchdInstallConfig::keep_alive =
+Some(true)` still takes the `has_keep_alive` branch that writes `Disabled`.
+
+**The crate's `stop()` is unusable for our agent.** It runs `launchctl stop
+<label>` (`launchd.rs:208`), which a `KeepAlive: true` service simply survives —
+the crate's own doc comment says to call `uninstall` instead. Since uninstalling
+would discard the `PATH` snapshot, `xy service start` and `xy service stop` are
+implemented directly against `launchctl` on the plist path:
+
+- `stop` → `launchctl unload <plist>`
+- `start` → `launchctl load <plist>`
+
+This pair is symmetric, and `start` works because `install` already stripped
+`Disabled`. The crate is used for `install`, `uninstall` and `status` only.
+
+**`install()`/`uninstall()` use the legacy verbs**, `launchctl load` and
+`launchctl remove` — not `bootstrap`/`bootout`. CLI output says "loaded" rather
+than "bootstrapped" to match what actually happens.
+
+### Risk to verify during implementation
+
+`status()` calls `launchctl print <bare-label>`, but user agents normally
+require the `gui/$UID/<label>` form. The crate compensates with a two-pass
+trick: on exit code 64 it scans stderr for a suggested fully-qualified label and
+retries (`launchd.rs:235-276`). This is fragile and version-sensitive. Task 3
+verifies it empirically against a real installed agent; if it proves unreliable,
+the fallback is to run `launchctl print gui/$UID/<label>` ourselves and parse the
+`state = running` line, which is what the crate is approximating anyway.
+
 ## CLI
 
     xy service install [--force]
@@ -180,23 +228,24 @@ Result: `~/.local/state/xy/logs/` becomes uniform — `xy.log` for the daemon,
   unloadable one. With `--force`, uninstalls first, which re-snapshots `PATH` and
   re-resolves `current_exe()`; this is also the upgrade path after installing a
   new binary or adding a toolchain. Warns and proceeds on a build-tree program
-  path. On success it writes the plist *and* bootstraps, leaving a running
-  daemon.
-- **`uninstall`** — stops, then removes the plist. Not-installed is not an
-  error: prints `not installed`, exits 0, matching how `xy stop` already reports
-  `not running`.
-- **`start`** / **`stop`** — bootstrap and bootout, leaving the plist in place.
-  Both exit 1 if the agent is not installed. `stop` on an already-stopped agent
-  exits 0.
+  path. On success it calls `install()` then `start()` — see *launchd
+  mechanics* — leaving the plist free of `Disabled` and the daemon running.
+- **`uninstall`** — delegates to the crate, which runs `launchctl remove` and
+  deletes the plist. Not-installed is not an error: prints `not installed`,
+  exits 0, matching how `xy stop` already reports `not running`.
+- **`start`** / **`stop`** — `launchctl load` and `launchctl unload` on the
+  plist path, leaving the plist in place. Both exit 1 if the agent is not
+  installed. `stop` on an already-stopped agent exits 0. Note that `stop` lasts
+  only until the next login, since `RunAtLoad` remains set; to disable
+  start-on-login permanently, use `uninstall`.
 - **`status`** — reports label, plist path, state, program path, snapshotted
   `PATH`, and log path. Never fails on state, only on an inability to query.
   State is `running` / `stopped` / `not installed`, taken directly from
-  `ServiceStatus`; the reason string from `Stopped` is surfaced verbatim, being
-  the main window into launch failures. There is deliberately no separate
-  "loaded" line, because the crate's API cannot distinguish a loaded-but-stopped
-  agent from an unloaded one. The pid is read from the existing
-  `paths.pidfile`; the crate does not expose one. The snapshot date is the
-  plist's mtime, not a value stored inside it.
+  `ServiceStatus`. There is deliberately no separate "loaded" line, because the
+  crate's API cannot distinguish a loaded-but-stopped agent from an unloaded
+  one, and no reason string, because macOS always yields `Stopped(None)`. The
+  pid is read from the existing `paths.pidfile`; the crate does not expose one.
+  The snapshot date is the plist's mtime, not a value stored inside it.
 
 Sample output: