@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ before naming a mark, a colourway, or a surface.
 ## Repository metadata
 
 A repo's description, topics, keywords, classifiers and `[project.urls]` follow
-[section 11 of the standard](https://modern-python.org/standard/#11-metadata).
+[the standard's metadata requirements](https://modern-python.org/standard/#metadata) (MD1 to MD6).
 
 The org profile's `coverage 100%` badge is static and deliberately unlinked: there is no
-org-level coverage URL to point at, and the gate in section 5 of the standard is what
-makes the claim true.
+org-level coverage URL to point at, and the gate in
+[TS2](https://modern-python.org/standard/#TS2) is what makes the claim true.
 
 A repo may be listed on the org profile **before** its package reaches PyPI. Its
 Downloads badge 404s until pepy indexes it; the Stars badge and repo link resolve
 
@@ -64,12 +64,17 @@ The written, normative description of what makes a repo a modern-python repo, ow
 and published on the org site. A repo either meets it, or carries an exemption.
 _Avoid_: guidelines, conventions, rules — each reads as advisory, and the standard is not.
 
+**Requirement**:
+One numbered statement of the standard, cited by its stable ID (`CI6`). A MUST or MUST NOT
+requirement is core; a SHOULD is a recommendation; a MAY is a permission.
+_Avoid_: rule, check — a check is what verifies a requirement, not the requirement.
+
 **Core**:
-The subset of the standard a repo must meet. Everything the standard describes outside the core is
-free.
+The standard's MUST and MUST NOT requirements, which a repo must meet. Everything outside the core
+is a recommendation or a permission.
 _Avoid_: baseline, required set
 
 **Exemption**:
-A recorded, reasoned deviation of one repo from one part of the core.
+A recorded, reasoned deviation of one repo from one or more core requirements.
 _Avoid_: exception, override — both already mean something in the DI repos; deviation, drift — a
 deviation nobody recorded is drift, not an exemption.