diff --git a/docs/requirements.md b/docs/requirements.md
index 20ce99f..6ea69d1 100644
--- a/docs/requirements.md
+++ b/docs/requirements.md
@@ -1704,11 +1704,14 @@ loss mid-render.
 available, the app starts in a stated degraded mode with defined capability limits rather than
 failing to launch.
 
-*This requires reconciling ARCH §6.4 and NFR-RES-2:* ARCH §6.4 says the GPU path is primary rather than an
-optimisation, while NFR-RES-2 assumes a CPU fallback on allocation failure. **Decide explicitly**
-whether v1 includes a full CPU pipeline, or whether "CPU fallback" means only tile-spill staging
-with no independent CPU render path. The latter is recommended; the former is a second full
-implementation.
+**Decided 2026-09-19: there is no CPU render pipeline.** The degraded mode is the one the
+viewer already has (`dr_ui::shared_gpu` returning `None`): the library opens, the grid and the
+culling views run on embedded previews and cached proxies, metadata, ratings and collections are
+fully editable, and develop and export are unavailable and say so. "CPU fallback" in this
+document means nothing more than staging through host memory when GPU memory is short; it never
+means a second implementation of the operations. ARCH §6.4 stands as written, and NFR-RES-2's
+fallback clause has been reworded to match. A second full pipeline was the alternative, and it was
+declined for the reason ARCH §6.4 gives: the GPU path is the product, not an optimisation of it.
 
 ### 4.3 Resource behaviour
 
@@ -1716,7 +1719,9 @@ implementation.
 size and image count. Caches are evictable under pressure.
 
 **NFR-RES-2 — GPU memory.** The pipeline shall handle images larger than available GPU memory by
-tiling. GPU memory headroom is configurable, with a CPU fallback path if allocation fails.
+tiling. GPU memory headroom is configurable. Where an allocation fails, work is staged through host
+memory or refused with a typed error (`GpuError::TooLarge`) — never rendered by a CPU pipeline,
+which does not exist (NFR-R8).
 
 **NFR-RES-3 — Mobile power.** On Android the app shall not render continuously when idle. Battery
 and thermal behaviour are first-class concerns; background sync respects metered-connection and