diff --git a/11-Features.md b/11-Features.md
index b57e438..fcfe1c8 100644
--- a/11-Features.md
+++ b/11-Features.md
@@ -5095,8 +5095,32 @@ fleet use this id at all", and `enabled` answers "may it use it right now". Remo
 instead of turning it off makes every profile naming that model fail validation, and the whole
 reload is refused.
 
-`fleet_profiles` and `GET /profiles` report the off set, so a lead can see the gate state without
-reading the config file.
+### Seeing the gate's own state
+
+`fleet_profiles` and `GET /profiles` report the gate, so a lead can see it without reading the
+config file. Two fields, and you need both:
+
+| field | meaning |
+|---|---|
+| `modelGateArmed` | is there a `models:` block at all. Always present, `true` or `false`. |
+| `modelsOff` | which model ids are off right now. Absent when nothing is off. |
+
+The off set alone cannot answer the question you usually have. An empty off set means one of two
+very different things — there is no `models:` block on this host, so nothing is gated and nothing
+can be; or there is a block, it is working, and right now nothing is turned off. `modelGateArmed`
+separates them, which is why it is reported even when it is `false`.
+
+The daemon logs the same three states at startup, from the same read:
+
+```
+model gate (fleetd #422): not configured (no models: block — nothing is gated, and nothing can be)
+model gate (fleetd #422): armed (models: block present; 0 models currently turned off)
+model gate (fleetd #422): armed (2 model(s) turned off: [openai/gpt-5.6-terra, sol/x])
+```
+
+Both the log line and `modelGateArmed` come from one `PeerLauncher.modelGateState()` call, which is
+the same accessor the spawn gate itself reads. So the status can never claim more or less than the
+gate enforces, and a reload landing between two reads cannot make them disagree.
 
 **The knob.** `models.allow[].enabled`. Absent means on.