diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ Repository layout:
 - `docs/roadmap.md`: current milestones and near-term priorities
 - `docs/schemas.md`: canonical data models
 - `docs/deployment.md`: intended deployment approach
+- `docs/translation_support.md`: translation-oriented control-plane and node notes
 - `docs/demo.md`: first end-to-end control-plus-node demo flow
 - `docs/llm_demo.md`: detailed master/peer/client LLM demo runbook
 - `docs/reverse_proxy.md`: safer external exposure patterns
diff --git a/docs/translation_support.md b/docs/translation_support.md
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/docs/translation_support.md
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+# GenieHive Translation Support
+
+This note describes the control-plane and node configuration needed to support
+translation clients such as SciSiteForge.
+
+GenieHive already exposes the core transport needed for translation:
+
+- `POST /v1/chat/completions`
+- client API keys
+- role-based routing
+- OpenAI-compatible upstream services
+
+Translation support is mostly a matter of configuration discipline.
+
+## Control Plane
+
+The control plane should provide a translation-oriented role or directly
+addressable model that the client can target.
+
+Recommended control-plane changes:
+
+1. Add a dedicated role, for example `scientific_translator`.
+2. Keep it as `operation: "chat"`.
+3. Use a conservative prompt policy that returns translation only.
+4. Prefer a stable, instruction-following model family.
+5. Keep the role in the loaded role catalog so it appears in `/v1/models`
+   and route-resolution output.
+
+Example role entry:
+
+```yaml
+- role_id: "scientific_translator"
+  display_name: "Scientific Translator"
+  description: "Translation-oriented chat route for site localization"
+  operation: "chat"
+  modality: "text"
+  prompt_policy:
+    system_prompt: "Translate faithfully. Preserve meaning, structure, citations, and technical terms. Return only the translation."
+    request_policy:
+      body_defaults:
+        temperature: 0.1
+  routing_policy:
+    preferred_families: ["Qwen3", "Mistral", "Llama"]
+    min_context: 8192
+    require_loaded: true
+```
+
+What matters operationally:
+
+- the role must resolve to a healthy chat service
+- the role should stay loaded on a model with enough context for page-sized
+  paragraph batches
+- the control plane should not silently route translation requests to a
+  low-context or partially loaded fallback unless that is explicitly intended
+
+## Auth and Exposure
+
+Keep the same separation used for other GenieHive clients:
+
+- `X-Api-Key` for client requests
+- `X-GenieHive-Node-Key` for node registration and heartbeats
+
+If the control plane is exposed beyond localhost, prefer a reverse proxy and
+keep the upstream control port private.
+
+## Node Requirements
+
+A node that is meant to serve translation traffic should expose one or more
+healthy chat services that can accept small, repeated requests.
+
+Recommended node configuration:
+
+- chat service kind: `chat`
+- runtime: any OpenAI-compatible upstream that GenieHive can route to
+- assets: a loaded instruction-following model
+- observed latency and throughput: populated so scoring can prefer the right
+  node
+- `accept_requests: true`
+
+Example service snippet:
+
+```yaml
+services:
+  - service_id: "atlas-01/chat/qwen3-8b"
+    kind: "chat"
+    endpoint: "http://127.0.0.1:18091"
+    runtime:
+      engine: "llama.cpp"
+      launcher: "managed"
+    assets:
+      - asset_id: "qwen3-8b-q4km"
+        loaded: true
+    state:
+      health: "healthy"
+      load_state: "loaded"
+      accept_requests: true
+    observed:
+      p50_latency_ms: 900
+      tokens_per_sec: 40
+```
+
+For translation, loaded state matters more than raw capacity. A node that is
+nominally available but not loaded is a poor default target for a localization
+job that will touch many pages.
+
+## Node-Side Practices
+
+Use the node agent to keep the registry current:
+
+- heartbeat frequently enough that the control plane sees the service as fresh
+- publish loaded assets honestly
+- keep queue and latency metrics current when possible
+- separate translation services from other high-latency or experimental routes
+
+If a translation model is available through multiple runtimes, prefer the one
+that keeps response shape stable and context handling predictable.
+
+## Routing Advice
+
+For translation clients, the most useful route behavior is usually:
+
+- a translation role with a stable model family preference
+- `require_loaded: true`
+- enough context to keep paragraph-level requests coherent
+- predictable prompt policy, not aggressive prompt rewriting
+
+That keeps the client config simple. The client can point to a role alias and
+let GenieHive pick the actual service.
+
+## What Not to Do
+
+- Do not rely on a transient model alias unless you are willing to update the
+  client config when the alias changes.
+- Do not expose raw upstream model endpoints directly to the translation client
+  if GenieHive is already in the path.
+- Do not route translation through a node that cannot maintain enough context
+  for the content size you expect.
+
+## Minimal Support Checklist
+
+- translation role present in the role catalog
+- client API key enabled
+- node API key enabled
+- at least one healthy chat service with a loaded model
+- route resolution confirms the translation role resolves to that service
+- client can reach the control plane or reverse proxy