diff --git a/docs/plans/2026-09-12_control-board-mvp.md b/docs/plans/2026-09-12_control-board-mvp.md
index 826f8093..5cf8a42d 100644
--- a/docs/plans/2026-09-12_control-board-mvp.md
+++ b/docs/plans/2026-09-12_control-board-mvp.md
@@ -165,6 +165,79 @@ message reflects the reply. One real exchange is the pass.
   finding (ms-communications rule), reported on the page and in the issue.
 - Fleet seats are out: they are not registered (Jason, 2026-09-12).
 
+## Piece 3: ledger (numbers for the rails)
+
+Approved by Jason 2026-09-12 ("go for it") after Gate C. Purpose: replace
+"it feels like the rails work" with numbers read from evidence that already
+exists. Same shape: one package, one gate, tests, small commits on `refactor`.
+Darkwing opens the issue and updates `CURRENT.md` when he picks it up.
+
+### What it is
+
+`node packages/ledger/src/cli.mjs --since YYYY-MM-DD [--until YYYY-MM-DD]
+[--json] [--no-issues]`. Read-only. Prints two tables and a totals line to
+stdout; `--json` prints the same as one object. Sources, in this order:
+
+1. **Local git log on `refactor`** (no network): commits in range whose
+   subject carries `#N`. Nothing else in the message is parsed.
+2. **Gitea issues** through `scripts/gitea-api.sh` (`repos/mosaicstack/stack`):
+   number, title, `created_at`, `closed_at`. Missing or unreadable
+   credentials: exit 2 with the reason, unless `--no-issues`, which prints the
+   issue table with hours-open as "unknown".
+3. **Session logs** under `.pi/state/<seat>/sessions/*.jsonl` for the seats
+   in `agents/` (repo layout only, no fleet sources): entries with
+   `type: "message"` and `message.role: "user"` whose timestamp falls in range.
+
+Table 1, one row per issue touched in range (a commit or a close in range):
+issue, title (truncated), opened, hours open (or "open"), commits,
+follow-ups (commits after the first one for that issue), seats (from the
+session logs that mention `#N` in a user message; blank when none).
+
+Table 2, one row per seat: user messages in range split three ways by the
+first line of the text: **board** (preamble source session `control-board`),
+**agent** (any other `[a:b -> c:d]` preamble), **human** (no preamble).
+
+Totals line: issues closed, median hours open, commits, follow-ups per issue
+(one decimal), human messages per closed issue (one decimal).
+
+### What it does not claim
+
+- Agent versus human authorship. Every commit and every issue carries
+  Jason's identity; the ledger does not guess.
+- PR metrics. This work is issue-tagged commits on `refactor`; a PR count
+  would read zero and mean nothing.
+- Gate results. Those are written by hand in this log.
+- Quality. A follow-up commit is a count, not a verdict; the reader decides.
+
+### Gate D (yes/no)
+
+Jason runs the ledger for 2026-09-06 to 2026-09-12, picks the one number he
+wants to move next week, and writes that sentence with the number into
+`CURRENT.md`. Pass: the sentence exists, and its number came from the
+ledger's output, not from memory.
+
+### Tests
+
+- Fixture git repository built in a temp dir with commits tagged `#1`,
+  `#2` (two commits, so one follow-up) and one untagged commit; table 1
+  counts match.
+- Fixture session logs with one message of each kind (board, agent, human)
+  and one out of range; table 2 counts match.
+- Fake `gitea-api.sh` on PATH returning fixture JSON; hours open computed
+  from `created_at`/`closed_at`; an open issue prints "open".
+- Missing credentials: exit 2 with a message; with `--no-issues`, exit 0 and
+  "unknown" in the hours column.
+- Empty range: both tables with zero rows, totals of zero, exit 0.
+- `--json` output parses and carries the same numbers as the tables.
+
+### Boundaries
+
+- Read-only. No writes under the data root, no board changes, no new root
+  files, no schedule, no charts, no `packages/mosaic` changes.
+- No fleet sources (`~/.mosaic`) and no network beyond the one Gitea call.
+- If a number cannot be computed from evidence it prints "unknown", never a
+  guess.
+
 ## How the scanner decides state
 
 The scanner reads the newest pi session log for each agent, plus whether