diff --git a/modules/mesh-knowledge/README.md b/modules/mesh-knowledge/README.md
index bb749dd0..d3576f92 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-knowledge/README.md
+++ b/modules/mesh-knowledge/README.md
@@ -96,7 +96,9 @@ as text. `get` serves each, and any other field a record of hq wrote under `fiel
 3. Revise it by proposing again; every version is kept.
 4. The knowledge base reviews every version proposed itself. It asks the agent module's judge
    (`claude-code.claude_code_judge` on this node) one question, in a separate call with no tools, that holds only
-   the record, the records it links and the rules, and answers `approve` or `changes` with findings. The background
+   the record, the records it links and the rules, and answers `approve` or `changes` with findings. The rules it sees
+   name every kind of link `propose` accepts, from the one list `propose` holds a link to, and the record it sees
+   shows its state in the knowledge base apart from a research effort's own status (hq issue 492). The background
    work asks it at once, before the next step of any drafting, one judgement at a time.
    - On `changes` the record stays proposed, the findings kept with the version they judged (`get` shows them).
      Its author revises it by proposing it again, and that version is reviewed again.
diff --git a/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/record.go b/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/record.go
index 53003fbe..24d91e50 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/record.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/record.go
@@ -73,6 +73,18 @@ const (
 // LinkKinds are the kinds a link may be.
 var LinkKinds = []string{LinkSupersedes, LinkChanges, LinkExtends, LinkBecame, LinkCites, LinkRestsOn, LinkTouches}
 
+// LinkMeanings says what each kind of link means, as the knowledge base's own review is told (hq issue 492): the
+// rules it sees list LinkKinds, which propose holds a link to, so the two cannot drift.
+var LinkMeanings = map[string]string{
+	LinkSupersedes: "a record it replaces whole",
+	LinkChanges:    "a clause of another decision it replaces part of, named as 0276 §4",
+	LinkExtends:    "a record of its kind it builds on",
+	LinkBecame:     "from a research effort, the decision record or design it became",
+	LinkCites:      "any record, issue or design it names",
+	LinkRestsOn:    "from a decision, a decision it stands on, which may not be superseded under it",
+	LinkTouches:    "from a research effort, a record, issue or design its effort bears on",
+}
+
 // What a link may point at besides a record of this knowledge base: an issue in the tracker, a design in hq.
 const (
 	TargetIssue  = "issue"
diff --git a/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/review.go b/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/review.go
index c864f397..3b63fe73 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/review.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/review.go
@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ func ReviewQuestion(r *Record, linked []*Record) string {
 	for _, rule := range PerRecordRules {
 		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "- %s\n", rule.Holds)
 	}
+	b.WriteString("\nThe kinds of link a record may have, each going out from the record or one of its clauses:\n")
+	for _, kind := range LinkKinds {
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "- `%s`: %s\n", kind, LinkMeanings[kind])
+	}
 	b.WriteString("\nThe record:\n\n")
 	b.WriteString(Render(reviewed(r)))
 	if len(linked) > 0 {
@@ -112,9 +116,16 @@ func ReviewQuestion(r *Record, linked []*Record) string {
 }
 
 // reviewed is the record as its judgement sees it: what it says, without where its review stands.
+// Its state in the knowledge base (proposed, while it is reviewed) and a research effort's own status (active,
+// graduated or abandoned, which it takes once accepted) are shown apart, each named for what it is (hq issue 492).
 func reviewed(r *Record) *Record {
 	c := r.Clone()
 	c.Reviews, c.Ask, c.Judging, c.Drafting, c.Writers, c.Author = nil, nil, nil, nil, nil, ""
+	c.Extra = addExtra(c.Extra, "state in the knowledge base", c.Status+" (every record under review is; it is not the record's own status)")
+	if c.Kind == KindResearch && c.Effort != "" {
+		c.Extra = addExtra(c.Extra, "research status", c.Effort)
+	}
+	c.Status, c.Effort = "", ""
 	return c
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/review_sees_test.go b/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/review_sees_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..75d7c60f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-knowledge/cmd/mesh-knowledge/review_sees_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// hq issue 492: the first live review (research 046) sent a valid proposal back because the rules it was shown
+// named no link kind propose accepts beyond its words, and the record it was shown carried the record's state
+// `proposed` where a research effort's status belongs.
+
+// Every link kind propose accepts is named in the rules the judgement sees: one list, so the two cannot drift.
+func TestTheReviewIsShownEveryLinkKindProposeAccepts(t *testing.T) {
+	q := ReviewQuestion(&Record{Kind: KindDecision, Number: 300, Title: "x", Status: StatusProposed}, nil)
+	for _, kind := range LinkKinds {
+		if !strings.Contains(q, "- `"+kind+"`: ") {
+			t.Errorf("the review is not shown the link kind %s", kind)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, kind := range LinkKinds {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(LinkMeanings[kind]) == "" {
+			t.Errorf("the link kind %s says nothing of what it means", kind)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(LinkMeanings) != len(LinkKinds) {
+		t.Errorf("%d meanings for %d link kinds", len(LinkMeanings), len(LinkKinds))
+	}
+}
+
+// A research effort's own status is shown apart from its state in the knowledge base.
+func TestTheReviewIsShownAResearchEffortsStatusApartFromItsState(t *testing.T) {
+	w := imported(t, newMemStore())
+	r, err := w.k.ReserveNumber("author@g14", KindResearch, "a vendor-neutral inference layer")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := w.k.Propose("author@g14", ProposeAsk{Kind: KindResearch, Number: r.Number, Title: "A vendor-neutral inference layer",
+		Date: "2026-10-11", Deciders: []string{"jochen"}, Status: StatusActive,
+		Sections: []Section{{Name: "00-overview.md", Text: "What an inference layer the mesh controls would be."}},
+		Links:    []LinkAsk{{Kind: LinkTouches, To: "0290"}, {Kind: LinkTouches, To: "issue 365"}}}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	w.reviewAll(t)
+	if len(w.judge.reviews) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("%d reviews", len(w.judge.reviews))
+	}
+	q := w.judge.reviews[0]
+	record := q[strings.Index(q, "The record:"):]
+	if !strings.Contains(record, "research status: active") || !strings.Contains(record, "state in the knowledge base: proposed") {
+		t.Fatalf("the record as the review sees it:\n%.600s", record)
+	}
+	for _, never := range []string{"\nstatus: proposed", "\neffort: "} {
+		if strings.Contains(record, never) {
+			t.Errorf("the review is shown %q", strings.TrimSpace(never))
+		}
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(q, "- `touches`: ") {
+		t.Error("the review is not told what touches is")
+	}
+}