diff --git a/apps/github-runner/github-runner.yaml b/apps/github-runner/github-runner.yaml
index 40748d7..26a0555 100644
--- a/apps/github-runner/github-runner.yaml
+++ b/apps/github-runner/github-runner.yaml
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 #   expire after 1h — use a fine-grained PAT with admin:org_hook scope
 #   or a re-registration script. See docs/infrastructure/
 #   self-hosted-runner-fleet.md §Security.
+#   Until that item exists and the Secret contains key "credential", this
+#   deployment intentionally stays at replicas: 0.
 #
 # Security model:
 #   - No ClusterRole / ClusterRoleBinding — runner has no K8s API access.
@@ -53,13 +55,18 @@ metadata:
 # 1Password secret sync — creates github-runner-token K8s Secret.
 # Fields expected in the 1Password item:
 #   credential — GitHub runner registration token (or PAT for re-reg script)
-# Item path: IAmWorkin vault > "GitHub Runner Registration Token"
-# Operator MUST create this item before the Deployment will start cleanly.
+# Item path convention: vaults/IAmWorkin/items/<exact item title>
+# Current required title: "GitHub Runner Registration Token"
+# Operator MUST create this item before replicas can be raised above 0.
 apiVersion: onepassword.com/v1
 kind: OnePasswordItem
 metadata:
   name: github-runner-token
   namespace: github-runner
+  annotations:
+    flowercore.io/operator-action: "Create IAmWorkin item 'GitHub Runner Registration Token' with field 'credential'."
+    flowercore.io/replica-gate: "Keep Deployment replicas at 0 until github-runner-token Secret exists with key credential."
+    flowercore.io/provisioning-status: "awaiting-operator-secret-provisioning"
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/component: credentials
     app.kubernetes.io/part-of: flowercore
@@ -100,6 +107,8 @@ kind: Deployment
 metadata:
   name: github-runner
   namespace: github-runner
+  annotations:
+    flowercore.io/replica-gate: "Scale to 1 only after the 1Password item exists and github-runner-token has key credential."
   labels:
     app.kubernetes.io/name: github-runner
     app.kubernetes.io/component: runner
@@ -111,6 +120,9 @@ spec:
   # one pod at a time. Each pod re-registers as an ephemeral runner after
   # completing a job (EPHEMERAL=true restarts the container, not the pod,
   # so the PVC stays attached between jobs).
+  # Intentionally 0 while the GitHub runner token item is absent. Follow-up
+  # PR should set replicas: 1 only after operator provisioning and Secret
+  # sync verification.
   replicas: 0
   selector:
     matchLabels: