diff --git a/docs/architecture/README.md b/docs/architecture/README.md
index 934fa84814..47b65536d0 100644
--- a/docs/architecture/README.md
+++ b/docs/architecture/README.md
@@ -1058,3 +1058,8 @@ Never build a rung before standing on the previous one.
     are one signed space. In time, every judgment dimension reveals
     itself as a moral one: validity is honesty, care is exposure,
     custody is trust held under load.
+34. THE FUCKED-UP LIST is append-only: lines get added, never changed,
+    never removed — same law as everything else in the system. It lives
+    at the repo root, loads into every session before anything else,
+    and gets compiled in regularly. Grow it when the world shows you a
+    new shape of harm. Amend it never.
diff --git a/packages/neuron/src/session/context.ts b/packages/neuron/src/session/context.ts
index 3aadcb40d6..064012e86a 100644
--- a/packages/neuron/src/session/context.ts
+++ b/packages/neuron/src/session/context.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,17 @@ export async function assemble(input: {
   if (law) blocks.push({ source: "base-prompt", text: law })
 
   // THE FUCKED UP LIST — the only list in the system. Read every time, by everyone.
-  const theList = await readFile(join(import.meta.dir, "../../../THE-FUCKED-UP-LIST.md"), "utf8").catch(() => "")
+  // Append-only: lines get added, never changed or removed.
+  const listCandidates = [
+    join(import.meta.dir, "../../../THE-FUCKED-UP-LIST.md"),
+    join(process.cwd(), "THE-FUCKED-UP-LIST.md"),
+    "/Users/will/Development/neuron-technologies/runs/v0-neuron/THE-FUCKED-UP-LIST.md",
+  ]
+  let theList = ""
+  for (const p of listCandidates) {
+    theList = await readFile(p, "utf8").catch(() => "")
+    if (theList) break
+  }
   if (theList) blocks.push({ source: "base-prompt", origin: "THE-FUCKED-UP-LIST.md", text: theList })
 
   const rules = await readFile(join(import.meta.dir, "session", "prompt", "THE-RULES.md"), "utf8").catch(() => "")