diff --git a/docs/recipe-customization.md b/docs/recipe-customization.md
index 1916cf9..edba963 100644
--- a/docs/recipe-customization.md
+++ b/docs/recipe-customization.md
@@ -241,6 +241,13 @@ in `previous/` (§5.5b). Reference the overlay from `EXTRA_ENV`'s `COMPOSE_FILE`
 
 ### 5.5b Previous-version base repair — `tests/<recipe>/previous/`
 
+> **Prefer NOT to use this — it is a last resort.** The mechanism exists so that, when updating a
+> recipe's tests, you *can* bring up a previous base that won't deploy as-published. But reach for it
+> only after the dynamic base (last-green → main-tip) has genuinely failed to come up. Every `previous/`
+> you add re-introduces the per-version patching treadmill the dynamic base was designed to remove, so
+> the bar is **"the base will not deploy any other way."** Most recipes — including discourse, the case
+> that motivated this — need NONE. When in doubt, don't add one.
+
 Optional. The MINIMAL config to deploy the *previous (last-green) version* when it can't deploy
 as-published (e.g. an image relocation `bitnami/* → bitnamilegacy/*`, or an era-specific
 service/env). Applied to the **base deploy ONLY** and stripped before the head redeploy, so the PR