diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 1d0ba9e..8f0916f 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.4.0
+0.5.0
diff --git a/docs/OPERATIONS.md b/docs/OPERATIONS.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca711c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/OPERATIONS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+# Operating ecomm
+
+The framework-repo operator guide (SD-0002 DOC-1), started at SLICE-5. It covers
+the app's operational surface — telemetry, runbooks, alert gestures, the E2E
+gate. Per-deployment mechanics (deploy, secrets, VM access) live in the
+deployment's flotilla docs and `deployment.toml`; environment bring-up is in
+[`BOOTSTRAP.md`](./BOOTSTRAP.md).
+
+## Products import/export ops (SD-0002, SLICE-5)
+
+The §6.4 surface: a merchant uploads a catalog CSV (`POST
+/api/products/imports`), the app validates it and stores an **import draft**
+with a full preview (adds / updates / unchanged / errors), the merchant
+confirms or cancels at the preview gate, and a confirm applies the previewed
+diff as one **import run** recorded in the history (`/api/products/imports/runs`).
+
+Caps and behavior to know (all enforced in code, not config):
+
+- **Caps (INV-18):** ≤ 5,000 data rows and ≤ 10 MB per file —
+  `MAX_DATA_ROWS` / `MAX_FILE_BYTES` in `backend/app/domains/products/models.py`,
+  enforced in `backend/app/domains/products/codec.py` (file-level rejection)
+  plus a 413 `file_too_large` guard in the BFF (`backend/app/main.py`).
+- **Draft expiry:** ~1 hour (`expires_at = now() + interval '1 hour'`). Cleanup
+  is a lazy sweep — expired drafts are deleted on the next upload and on any
+  access to an expired draft; there is no background job to babysit.
+- **Upsert-only (INV-10):** an import adds and updates, never deletes. Catalog
+  products/variants/images absent from the file are untouched.
+- **One-transaction apply (INV-11):** a confirm applies the whole previewed
+  diff in a single DB transaction — it lands completely or not at all.
+
+### Telemetry
+
+Structured JSON events on the `ecomm.telemetry` logger
+(`backend/app/platform/telemetry.py`), one JSON object per line, emitted from
+`backend/app/domains/products/service.py`. The app's `ecomm.*` log handler
+writes to the process's stderr, which journald captures on the VM (and Cloud
+Logging where the agent ships it). Events carry counts and durations only —
+never file names, URLs, catalog content, or secret bytes.
+
+| Event | Trigger | Payload fields |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| TEL-1 `import_draft_created` | validation completes, draft stored | `storefront_id, dialect, row_count, adds, updates, unchanged, errors, unknown_columns_count, duration_ms` |
+| TEL-2 `import_run_completed` | apply transaction commits | `run_id, storefront_id, added, updated, errored, duration_ms` |
+| TEL-6 `import_apply_failed` | apply transaction aborts unexpectedly | `draft_id, storefront_id, error_class` |
+
+### RB-2 — import apply failed
+
+Triggered by ALR-2 (any TEL-6 event). The apply raised mid-transaction and
+rolled back.
+
+1. **Locate the failure.** On the VM, filter the journal for the event and note
+   the `draft_id`, `storefront_id`, and `error_class`:
+
+   ```
+   journalctl -u ecomm.service | grep import_apply_failed
+   ```
+
+2. **Confirm the rollback held (INV-11).** The apply is one transaction, so a
+   failure leaves the catalog exactly as it was: the storefront's runs history
+   (`GET /api/products/imports/runs`) shows **no new run**, and the products
+   summary (`GET /api/products/summary`) shows an unchanged `product_count`.
+3. **The merchant's draft is intact.** A failed apply does not consume the
+   draft — the merchant can retry confirm, or re-upload if the draft has since
+   expired (~1 h). Advise accordingly.
+4. **File a bug** on `wiggleverse/wiggleverse-ecomm` with the `error_class`
+   and the surrounding log context (the traceback is in the app log next to
+   the event).
+
+### ALR-2 — the log-based alert (one gesture per environment)
+
+Run once per environment, at this slice's PPE deploy. This is an ad hoc op on
+the existing GCP project (`wiggleverse-ecomm`), not a provisioning gesture.
+
+```
+# Select the deployment's gcloud config for this one process (handbook §8.4).
+export CLOUDSDK_ACTIVE_CONFIG_NAME=wiggleverse-ecomm
+
+# Log-based metric counting import-apply failures (TEL-6).
+gcloud logging metrics create ecomm_import_apply_failed \
+  --description="ecomm TEL-6 import_apply_failed events (SD-0002 ALR-2)" \
+  --log-filter='resource.type="gce_instance" AND jsonPayload.message:"import_apply_failed" OR textPayload:"import_apply_failed"'
+```
+
+Then attach an alert policy to the metric — **operator email channel, threshold
+any event > 0 in 5 minutes, severity notify-only** (pre-v1: no paging). The
+policy is created in the Cloud Console or with
+`gcloud alpha monitoring policies create`; the exact command depends on the
+notification-channel id, so list channels first:
+
+```
+# Find the operator email channel's id for the policy.
+gcloud beta monitoring channels list
+```
+
+### E2E browser suite
+
+- Lives at `e2e/` — Playwright, Chromium, four SLICE-5 scenarios
+  (preview/confirm happy path, actionable errors, file rejection, cancel).
+- Run with `bash scripts/e2e.sh`. The harness boots a **fresh `ecomm_e2e`
+  database** against the local compose Postgres and serves the built SPA from
+  the backend on **:8765** (the deployed topology), so it needs the dev
+  Postgres up (`scripts/dev.sh`).
+- **Not in `scripts/check.sh` / CI yet** — the Gitea runner has no browsers
+  (the §10.6 machinery gap). Run it locally before merge, and against PPE per
+  the §9 pipeline (the PPE browser run is still manual this slice).
+
+## Cross-references
+
+- SLO and alert definitions: SD-0002 §9–§10 (content repo,
+  `wiggleverse-ecomm-content/specs/SD-0002-products-bulk-csv-import-export.md`).
+- Import/diff engine internals: [`products-domain.md`](./products-domain.md).
diff --git a/docs/products-domain.md b/docs/products-domain.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5210708
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/products-domain.md
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+# products domain — developer notes
+
+DOC-4 (SD-0002 §11): the import/export spine as built in SLICE-5, extended by
+SLICE-6–8. Operator-facing material is in [`OPERATIONS.md`](./OPERATIONS.md);
+the spec is SD-0002 in the content repo.
+
+## Layout and pipeline
+
+`backend/app/domains/products/` is layered like the rest of the app
+(main → domains → platform, enforced by import-linter):
+
+- `models.py` — canonical row model + the column registry.
+- `codec.py` — bytes → `ParsedFile`; file-level gates only.
+- `validate.py` — rows → `CanonicalProduct` blocks + per-row errors.
+- `diff.py` — catalog × canonical products → apply plan + preview records.
+- `repo.py` — SQL only: catalog snapshot, draft/run CRUD, apply primitives.
+  Never commits or rolls back.
+- `service.py` — use-case orchestration; owns every transaction boundary and
+  emits the TEL events via `backend/app/platform/telemetry.py`.
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart LR
+    subgraph validate_path [import_validate]
+        A[parse_csv] --> B[build_products] --> D[compute_diff] --> E[(import_draft)]
+        C[load_catalog] --> D
+    end
+    subgraph confirm_path [confirm_draft]
+        E --> F[re-derive: parse → build → diff] --> G{fingerprint match?}
+        G -- yes --> H[one-transaction apply<br/>run + products + delete draft]
+        G -- no --> I[PreviewStale<br/>draft kept]
+    end
+```
+
+Confirm re-derives everything from the draft's stored `file_bytes` against the
+live catalog, then checks the fingerprint — so what lands is exactly what the
+preview showed, or the confirm refuses (`preview_stale`). A confirm with no
+adds and no updates refuses with `nothing_to_apply`.
+
+## Canonical model and blank-vs-absent
+
+`models.py` is the one model every dialect maps to (INV-17). `KNOWN_COLUMNS`
+is the registry header detection, unknown-column warnings, and validation all
+read; `CLEAR_DEFAULTS` holds the reset values for clearable fields
+(`status`, `published`, `product_type`, `tags`).
+
+The §6.5.1 cell semantics, as implemented:
+
+- **Absent column** → the field never enters `fields{}` → untouched by diff
+  and apply (never a change).
+- **Present-but-empty cell** → `fields[name] = None` (an explicit clear) →
+  resolved at diff time to its `CLEAR_DEFAULTS` entry, or NULL where none
+  exists.
+- **The position exception:** a cleared `Variant Position` has no
+  `CLEAR_DEFAULTS` entry — `diff.resolved_variant_fields` resolves it to the
+  variant's 1-based file order within its product, never to NULL.
+
+Option names live both in `CanonicalProduct.option_names` (the values) and in
+`fields{}` (the file-presence marker the diff needs for the absent-vs-clear
+distinction).
+
+## Error granularity
+
+`validate.py` never raises on a row problem: every violation is recorded as a
+merchant-language `RowError` and **poisons its whole product block** — the
+product previews as `kind="error"` and is excluded from apply, while parsing
+continues so one pass yields a complete accounting (BUC-1a). On apply, error
+rows are recorded per line in `import_run_error`; `rows_errored` on the run is
+the **error-row count**, while the preview's errors tile counts error
+**products** — the two numbers legitimately differ.
+
+File-level problems (`not_csv`, `missing_required_column`, `too_many_rows`,
+`file_too_large`) raise `FileRejected` in `codec.py` instead: no draft is
+created. The BFF adds an early 413 for oversized uploads (`main.py`).
+
+## INV-11 mechanics
+
+`compute_diff` makes **one walk** that produces two views of the same
+computation: the typed apply `plan` (resolved natives — `Decimal`, `bool`,
+lists) that `confirm_draft` executes, and the JSON-safe preview `records`
+stored as draft JSONB and served verbatim to the SPA. Because both derive from
+the same walk they cannot diverge. The `fingerprint` is
+`sha256(json.dumps(records, sort_keys=True, separators=(",", ":")))`; a
+mismatch at confirm means the catalog drifted since preview → `PreviewStale`
+(409 `preview_stale`, draft kept for re-validation). The whole apply — run row,
+product/variant/image writes, error rows, draft delete — is one transaction;
+any exception rolls it back and emits TEL-6.
+
+## Named seams (what later slices replace)
+
+- **`import_draft.file_bytes` → objectstore key (SLICE-7).** The upload
+  currently lives as BYTEA on the draft row (`0002_products.sql`); SLICE-7
+  moves the bytes to object storage and stores a key.
+- **`codec.detect_dialect` → Shopify (SLICE-8).** Today it always returns
+  `"canonical"`; SLICE-8 recognizes Shopify's exact header set here (INV-17).
+- **Run-status complete shortcut → `fetching_images` (SLICE-7).**
+  `confirm_draft` inserts the run with `status="complete"` directly; SLICE-7
+  inserts it as `fetching_images` and hands off to the image-fetch task.
+  Relatedly, image rows are created with the schema default
+  `status='pending'` **today and stay pending** — placeholder behavior until
+  SLICE-7's fetch phase (the run-detail payload already carries the stable
+  `image_progress` / `image_outcomes` shape, zeroed).
+
+## Test map
+
+| File | Covers |
+| --- | --- |
+| `backend/tests/test_products_codec.py` | file-level gates: parse, caps (INV-18), required columns, dialect |
+| `backend/tests/test_products_validate.py` | every §6.5.1 row-error rule, one fixture each |
+| `backend/tests/test_products_diff.py` | classification, blank-vs-absent, option matching, fingerprint |
+| `backend/tests/test_products_service.py` | draft lifecycle: validate/preview/discard, expiry, TEL-1 |
+| `backend/tests/test_products_invariants.py` | INV-10 (never deletes), INV-14 (storefront isolation), apply transactionality, TEL-6 |
+| `backend/tests/test_products_endpoints.py` | §6.4 API scenarios + auth/storefront gates |
+| `e2e/tests/import-preview-confirm.spec.ts` | happy path: upload → preview → confirm → history |
+| `e2e/tests/import-errors.spec.ts` | actionable row errors at preview and on the run report |
+| `e2e/tests/import-file-rejected.spec.ts` | file-level rejection, picker stays live, no trace |
+| `e2e/tests/import-cancel.spec.ts` | cancel at preview leaves no trace |
diff --git a/frontend/package.json b/frontend/package.json
index 4103db0..9a77ee0 100644
--- a/frontend/package.json
+++ b/frontend/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "wiggleverse-ecomm-frontend",
   "private": true,
-  "version": "0.4.0",
+  "version": "0.5.0",
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
     "dev": "vite",