diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 7dcefc6..fb8aba8 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -120,6 +120,11 @@ state table.
 | `plan [--budget N]` | which `ready` phases fit a laptop slot, cheapest first; it hands over a command, never a decision |
 | `collect [--slot S] [--pull] [--refreshed ISO] [--apply]` | score a pulled run's legs into a packet member; `--pull` is opt-in and runs the *project's own* sync CLI |
 
+The batch conductor is the **slot door** over the same two verbs:
+`pyauto-brain batch plan --kind cortex` and `batch collect --kind cortex` drive
+this `plan` and `collect` for one review slot and write `batches/` — the record,
+its `refreshed:` lines and the packet (`batches/AGENTS.md`).
+
 **`--apply` here, `--write` there.** The conductor's verbs spell the writing
 flag `--apply` (the Brain's house spelling, as intake does); `scripts/cortex.py`
 spells it `--write`. `cortex gates --grade --apply` is a thin wrapper over
diff --git a/batches/AGENTS.md b/batches/AGENTS.md
index 60aa66e..109d5a5 100644
--- a/batches/AGENTS.md
+++ b/batches/AGENTS.md
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ about them; the board is the live view of run progress. Each pull appends a
 
 ## Schema
 
+The record is **opened by the batch conductor** — `pyauto-brain batch plan
+--kind cortex --apply --review-at <ISO> [--slot <YYYY-MM-DD-label>] [--shift
+<label>]` (`PyAutoBrain/agents/conductors/batch/AGENTS.md`, "Two kinds, two
+records"). The schema below is unchanged by that: the conductor writes what a
+hand-written record always wrote.
+
 ```markdown
 # Batch 2026-09-01 pm
 - dispatched: 2026-09-01T09:00Z      # when the board was opened
@@ -27,6 +33,7 @@ about them; the board is the live view of run progress. Each pull appends a
 - shift: day                         # free-text label the human gives it
 - lane: local-dev                    # always — the review happens at the laptop
 - review-minutes-planned: 20
+- carried-from: batches/2026-08-31-pm.md   # optional — the record the carried members came from
 - members:
   - <slug>: <phase path> — <runs> — <review-minutes> — <state>
 - refreshed: 2026-09-01T11:40Z — <slug> pulled      # one line per pull, appended in order
@@ -37,6 +44,7 @@ about them; the board is the live view of run progress. Each pull appends a
 - packet: batches/packets/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slot>.html
 - review: batches/reviews/<YYYY-MM-DD>-<slot>.md
 - review-minutes-actual: <n>
+- carried: <slug> — still <state> at review          # one per still-running member, written at close
 - notes: |
     What actually happened. Anything that stalled, and why.
 ```
@@ -71,7 +79,18 @@ and their own `review-at:`.
 
 **`refreshed:` is the board's history.** A member joins on the pull that
 fills its results in; the line says when and which. A packet refreshed without
-the line is a board whose history cannot be audited.
+the line is a board whose history cannot be audited. The lines are written by
+`pyauto-brain batch collect --kind cortex --apply`, one per member it moves —
+a member already `awaiting-ruling` is on the board and is not re-stamped.
+
+**`carried:` is how a run outlives its slot. A Cortex member never blocks a
+Cortex review.** At close, every member still `submitted` or `running` gets a
+`- carried: <slug> — still <state> at review` line, and the next `batch plan
+--kind cortex --apply` includes those members automatically — current state,
+with `- carried-from:` naming the record they came from. The human
+re-specifies nothing and nothing is re-dispatched: the run was already running.
+The old record's member line stays as the ledger of what that state was at its
+own review.
 
 **`review-minutes-actual:` is the only calibration there is.** The planned
 figure is a seed; this is what the slot really cost.
diff --git a/batches/packets/AGENTS.md b/batches/packets/AGENTS.md
index 2bd3e4e..9564dea 100644
--- a/batches/packets/AGENTS.md
+++ b/batches/packets/AGENTS.md
@@ -24,9 +24,13 @@ Rules:
   fills — the `mirror:` of its `projects.yaml` row), because the review
   happens at the laptop. A pointer may stay remote only when the pull cannot
   fetch it by design, and must say so.
-- **Not hand-written.** The renderer is the batch conductor's (phase 2 of the
-  birth epic). Until it exists a packet is whatever the session produced,
-  archived unchanged.
+- **Not hand-written.** The renderer is `pyauto-brain batch collect --kind
+  cortex --apply` (phase 5 of the birth epic); it writes this page and appends
+  each member as it joins. A member still `submitted`/`running` renders with
+  **no review control** — no ruling chips, no ruled box — because there is
+  nothing to rule on yet; carry-forward, not a ruling, moves it to the next
+  board. The follow-ups block a review submits is a `###` heading: `cortex.py
+  check` requires every `##` in a review to name a member.
 
 **Visibility.** Packets and reviews are public in this repository, as the
 Mind's are (ruled 2026-08-31): science numbers, figures and run paths in a