diff --git a/docs/IRIS_EXTRACTION_HANDOFF.md b/docs/IRIS_EXTRACTION_HANDOFF.md
index 416d78c..d375fdf 100644
--- a/docs/IRIS_EXTRACTION_HANDOFF.md
+++ b/docs/IRIS_EXTRACTION_HANDOFF.md
@@ -165,15 +165,28 @@ URLs are `https://git.arirex.me/iris/iris/pulls/{number}`.
 
 ## Choosing the next slice
 
-```sh
-cd /home/bob/repos/iris && git fetch upstream
-git diff --stat upstream/main..archive/full-extraction
-```
+**Most fundamental first**, from the owner on 2026-09-13: *"please do more
+fundamental changes first, such as library updates and core framework changes,
+so that code only has to be written once"*, and *"should probably start adding
+tests early on rather than later, so you don't have to make separate test
+scripts and stuff. This might involve making the harness eventually, depends
+on what needs tested."*
 
-The archive is a reference, not a patch to apply. Recreate a change on top of
-canonical `main`, leave app-specific behaviour out, and verify it independently.
-Pick disjoint path sets when two PRs are open, and branch each from the latest
-`upstream/main` rather than stacking.
+So the order is by how much else depends on a thing, not by what is nearest
+ready, and a slice lands with tests rather than with a script in `/tmp`.
+
+1. **wgpu 28.0.0 -> 30.0.1.** Two majors behind, and it is under everything
+   the renderer does; any renderer slice written first is written twice.
+   `winit` is at 0.30.12 with only a 0.31 prerelease available, so it stays
+   until that is stable; `image` 0.25.9 -> 0.25.10 is a patch to take at the
+   same time. `parley` 0.11.1 is current.
+2. **The headless rig and the test harness** -- `scripts/run-headless.sh`,
+   `headless.conf`, `rig-input` and `iris::harness` live in ai-app's iris
+   submodule, not in canonical Iris. Until they are extracted, canonical Iris
+   can only be tested by the four `tests/text_edit.rs` tests, and anything
+   about rendering is verified by hand from another checkout. Extracting them
+   is what lets every later slice arrive with tests.
+3. Everything below, once those two are in.
 
 Still in the target and not yet claimed:
 
@@ -184,15 +197,16 @@ Still in the target and not yet claimed:
 - Application-owned fonts and application-named font families.
 - Shared resource-handle bookkeeping and replaceable glyph-atlas buckets.
 - Positioned text overflow and cluster-safe ellipsis.
-- **The headless rig** — `scripts/run-headless.sh`, `headless.conf` and
-  `rig-input` live in ai-app's iris submodule and not in canonical Iris.
-  Everything below depends on running them from there; extracting them is a
-  slice of its own.
 
-The three sampling paths each need a real render, and the examples for two of
-them are not in the repo: `/tmp/pr11-checks/run.sh` copies them in, renders
-rect+glyph+image together, an image alone in a layer, and a grown atlas, then
-removes them again.
+```sh
+cd /home/bob/repos/iris && git fetch upstream
+git diff --stat upstream/main..archive/full-extraction
+```
+
+The archive is a reference, not a patch to apply. Recreate a change on top of
+canonical `main`, leave app-specific behaviour out, and verify it
+independently. Pick disjoint path sets when two PRs are open, and branch each
+from the latest `upstream/main` rather than stacking.
 
 ## Verifying a framework slice