diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5dda391..a521ae7 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -74,5 +74,11 @@ docs/
 # .md files (project-level Markdown is brol-y; allow-list the ones we track)
 *.md
 !CHANGELOG.md
+!/README.md
+!specs/
+!specs/**/*.md
+
+# Private dev docs (separate git repo inside; see .claude/CLAUDE.md)
+/.claude/
 
 #
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5ea41cc..9e60707 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -15,6 +15,16 @@ callers).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Internal
+
+- **`specs/` is now tracked.** The repo-level `.gitignore` had a
+  blanket `*.md` rule with only `CHANGELOG.md` allow-listed. Added
+  explicit exceptions for `/README.md` (root only — avoids
+  unintentionally exposing fixture READMEs) and `specs/**/*.md` so the
+  new design-doc directory ships with the project. Also added an
+  explicit `/.claude/` ignore line for the private dev-docs sub-repo
+  that sits inside the working tree but is versioned separately.
+
 ### Fixed
 
 - **Multi-episode chain (e.g. `S14E09E10E11`) now collapses to a full