diff --git a/docs/grafana-dashboard.md b/docs/grafana-dashboard.md
index 0e2e64a..6570926 100644
--- a/docs/grafana-dashboard.md
+++ b/docs/grafana-dashboard.md
@@ -3,10 +3,35 @@
 Stream reuses the upstream dashboard rather than maintaining a lookalike.
 The reviewed artifact is:
 
-- upstream commit: `f29815c391fc2644f8a3dd36b899fb3697dd1ea6`
+- upstream commit: `f29815c391fc2644f8a3dd36b899fb3697dd1ea6` (upstream's
+  repository, not this one — the path below is upstream's too)
 - path: `contrib/grafana/jetstream.json`
 - SHA-256: `ef6033c182d8c3f9d88af7d91e61126724efbe72e6b940984c9de12e9530cd91`
 
+## Empty panels during bootstrap are expected, not broken
+
+Every metric named in this file is real — checked against a live instance —
+but a panel only has data once the code path behind it has run at least once.
+During bootstrap that leaves three genuinely absent from the metrics endpoint,
+because nothing has exercised them yet:
+
+| metric | appears when |
+|---|---|
+| `jetstream_getblock_requests_total` | serving ungates; `getBlock` returns 503 until steady state |
+| `jetstream_orchestrator_phase_transitions_total` | the lifecycle first leaves bootstrap |
+| `jetstream_orchestrator_state_duration_seconds` | same — needs a completed phase |
+
+Verified on experiment 6 at 54 h elapsed: `max_over_time(jetstream_orchestrator_phase[54h])`
+was still `1`, so no transition had ever occurred and those series could not
+exist. Do not read their absence as a wiring fault.
+
+**Also: histograms have no bare series.** A `*_duration_seconds` or
+`*_wait_seconds` metric exists only as `_bucket`, `_count` and `_sum`, so
+grepping the metrics endpoint for the bare name finds nothing while the
+histogram is present and working. Nine of the names in this file behave that
+way. Query `histogram_quantile(...)` or `rate(..._sum[5m]) / rate(..._count[5m])`,
+and when checking whether a metric exists, look for the suffixed series.
+
 The exact reviewed bytes are vendored at
 `deploy/grafana/jetstream-upstream.json`; deployment does not depend on the
 network or a moving branch. Stream provisions