diff --git a/.changeset/18983-connector-header-rate-limit-remedy.md b/.changeset/18983-connector-header-rate-limit-remedy.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3a929a8fd6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/18983-connector-header-rate-limit-remedy.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/spec': patch
+---
+
+docs(spec): the connector header no longer teaches `retryConfig` as the remedy for a rate-limited upstream (#18983)
+
+`packages/spec/src/integration/connector.zod.ts` ships inside this package —
+`files[]` carries `src/**/*.zod.ts`, and the file is present in the published
+tarball — so its header TSDoc is text consumers read, and the generated
+reference page is rendered from it. That header ended its "no outbound rate
+limiting" paragraph with "what L3 does declare for a rate-limited upstream is
+`retryConfig` — whose `retryableStatusCodes` default `[408, 429, 500, 502, 503,
+504]` includes `429` — and `health.circuitBreaker`", which reads as a remedy.
+
+It is not one. `packages/spec/liveness/connector.json` records all eight
+`retryConfig` sub-keys and every `health.circuitBreaker` sub-key as `dead`
+(verifiedAt 2026-09-17), and outside `packages/spec` nothing reads either: no
+retry loop consumes the strategy, the backoff, the jitter or that status-code
+list, so the `429` in it never causes a retry, and no breaker ever opens. An
+author who followed that sentence wrote configuration that parses, stores, and
+is then silently ignored.
+
+The sentence now carries the wording PR #18979 landed for the same claim in
+`packages/spec/docs/SYNC_ARCHITECTURE.md`: both keys are **declared but
+currently unimplemented**, with a pointer to the liveness ledger, and they are
+explicitly neither retired — both are still declared and still parse, so an
+author writing them sees no error — nor left to the host, since
+`ConnectorProviderContext` carries exactly `name`, `label`, `description`,
+`icon`, `type`, `providerConfig`, `auth` and `loadPackageFile`, and a provider
+factory is therefore never handed either key.
+
+**Prose only — zero behaviour change.** No schema, declaration, default or
+accept set moves, and the keys' fate stays ADR-0049's to rule on rather than
+being prejudged here. The generated reference page
+`content/docs/references/integration/connector.mdx` follows from `gen:docs`; it
+is not published by any package in this workspace.
diff --git a/content/docs/references/integration/connector.mdx b/content/docs/references/integration/connector.mdx
index 23370d3bdc4..9e3029ab94b 100644
--- a/content/docs/references/integration/connector.mdx
+++ b/content/docs/references/integration/connector.mdx
@@ -38,9 +38,25 @@ rate-limiting engine ever existed**. The platform's only token bucket (runtime
 the calls a connector makes *out*. Do **not** substitute `shared`'s
 `RateLimitConfig` — that is the inbound limiter and would cap the wrong direction.
 **Until an outbound throttle exists, rate-limit at the connector provider or
-upstream gateway.** What L3 does declare for a rate-limited upstream is
-`retryConfig` — whose `retryableStatusCodes` default `[408, 429, 500, 502, 503,
-504]` includes `429` — and `health.circuitBreaker`. The full removal reasoning is
+upstream gateway.** **And do not reach for `retryConfig` instead.** This
+paragraph used to end "what L3 does declare for a rate-limited upstream is
+`retryConfig` — whose `retryableStatusCodes` default `[408, 429, 500, 502,
+503, 504]` includes `429` — and `health.circuitBreaker`", which reads as a
+remedy. It is not one: both keys are **declared but currently
+unimplemented**. `packages/spec/liveness/connector.json` records every
+`retryConfig` sub-key and every `health.circuitBreaker` sub-key as `dead`,
+and outside `packages/spec` nothing reads either — no retry loop consumes a
+strategy, a backoff, a jitter or that status-code list, so the `429` in it
+never causes a retry, and no breaker ever opens. They are **not retired**:
+both are still declared and still parse, so an author can write them and see
+no error. They are **not left to the host** either —
+`ConnectorProviderContext` (`integration/connector-provider.ts`) carries
+exactly `name`, `label`, `description`, `icon`, `type`, `providerConfig`,
+`auth` and `loadPackageFile`, so a provider factory is never handed either
+key and has no way to honour it. ADR-0049 owes these keys a decision
+(retire / implement / declare as a host contract); until it rules, the
+advice above is the whole advice — retry and throttle **at the connector
+provider or upstream gateway**. The full removal reasoning is
 recorded at the removal site: the "REMOVED: outbound rate limiting" block in
 `integration/connector.zod.ts`, and `packages/spec/docs/SYNC_ARCHITECTURE.md`.
 
diff --git a/packages/spec/src/integration/connector.zod.ts b/packages/spec/src/integration/connector.zod.ts
index c0e6eb6ccbe..1ff7f697507 100644
--- a/packages/spec/src/integration/connector.zod.ts
+++ b/packages/spec/src/integration/connector.zod.ts
@@ -41,9 +41,25 @@ import { retiredKey } from '../shared/retired-key';
  * the calls a connector makes *out*. Do **not** substitute `shared`'s
  * `RateLimitConfig` — that is the inbound limiter and would cap the wrong direction.
  * **Until an outbound throttle exists, rate-limit at the connector provider or
- * upstream gateway.** What L3 does declare for a rate-limited upstream is
- * `retryConfig` — whose `retryableStatusCodes` default `[408, 429, 500, 502, 503,
- * 504]` includes `429` — and `health.circuitBreaker`. The full removal reasoning is
+ * upstream gateway.** **And do not reach for `retryConfig` instead.** This
+ * paragraph used to end "what L3 does declare for a rate-limited upstream is
+ * `retryConfig` — whose `retryableStatusCodes` default `[408, 429, 500, 502,
+ * 503, 504]` includes `429` — and `health.circuitBreaker`", which reads as a
+ * remedy. It is not one: both keys are **declared but currently
+ * unimplemented**. `packages/spec/liveness/connector.json` records every
+ * `retryConfig` sub-key and every `health.circuitBreaker` sub-key as `dead`,
+ * and outside `packages/spec` nothing reads either — no retry loop consumes a
+ * strategy, a backoff, a jitter or that status-code list, so the `429` in it
+ * never causes a retry, and no breaker ever opens. They are **not retired**:
+ * both are still declared and still parse, so an author can write them and see
+ * no error. They are **not left to the host** either —
+ * `ConnectorProviderContext` (`integration/connector-provider.ts`) carries
+ * exactly `name`, `label`, `description`, `icon`, `type`, `providerConfig`,
+ * `auth` and `loadPackageFile`, so a provider factory is never handed either
+ * key and has no way to honour it. ADR-0049 owes these keys a decision
+ * (retire / implement / declare as a host contract); until it rules, the
+ * advice above is the whole advice — retry and throttle **at the connector
+ * provider or upstream gateway**. The full removal reasoning is
  * recorded at the removal site: the "REMOVED: outbound rate limiting" block in
  * `integration/connector.zod.ts`, and `packages/spec/docs/SYNC_ARCHITECTURE.md`.
  *