diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/SessionEventDistributor.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/SessionEventDistributor.cs
index 441ce1c..9ea3ec4 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/SessionEventDistributor.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.MxGateway.Server/Sessions/SessionEventDistributor.cs
@@ -111,9 +111,13 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributor : IAsyncDisposable
     // Copy-on-write fan-out snapshot of _subscribers.Values. Rebuilt (a whole new array)
     // inside the _lifecycleLock section of every register/unregister; never mutated in
     // place, so the pump can walk the array it captured with no lock and no allocation.
-    // Written with Volatile.Write / read with Volatile.Read so a reader on another core
-    // cannot observe a stale reference after the publishing store. See the type remarks
-    // for why fan-out must not touch ConcurrentDictionary.Values.
+    // Volatile.Write / Volatile.Read ORDER the access — they keep the publishing store from
+    // sinking past the lock release and keep the pump's read from being hoisted out of the
+    // fan-out loop. They do NOT promise freshness, and nothing here needs them to: a reader
+    // may legitimately observe the previous array, which IS the documented "late subscribers
+    // see events after they register" window. Where visibility must be guaranteed — the
+    // RegisterWithReplay handoff — it comes from the _replayLock edge, not from Volatile.
+    // See the type remarks for why fan-out must not touch ConcurrentDictionary.Values.
     private Subscriber[] _subscriberSnapshot = [];
 
     // Replay ring buffer. Appended on the pump thread and queried from arbitrary
@@ -451,9 +455,10 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributor : IAsyncDisposable
     ///             If the pump appended E before this critical section, E is in
     ///             <paramref name="replayedEvents"/> (when newer than
     ///             <paramref name="afterSequence"/>). The pump captured its subscriber array in
-    ///             that same earlier section, so it cannot fan E into this not-yet-registered
-    ///             channel. Even if it could, E's sequence is <c>&lt;= liveResumeSequence</c>, so
-    ///             the caller's live filter DROPS it — no duplicate either way.
+    ///             that same earlier section, so it cannot also fan E into this
+    ///             not-yet-registered channel — no duplicate. Belt and braces: even if it did,
+    ///             E's sequence is <c>&lt;= liveResumeSequence</c> and the caller's live filter
+    ///             DROPS it.
     ///         </item>
     ///         <item>
     ///             If the pump appends E after this critical section, E is NOT in the snapshot,
@@ -464,6 +469,16 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributor : IAsyncDisposable
     ///         </item>
     ///     </list>
     ///     <para>
+    ///         Capturing the fan-out array inside the append's <c>_replayLock</c> section is what
+    ///         makes the first bullet's "cannot" hold. It is defense in depth rather than a
+    ///         correctness fix: a capture taken after that lock released could not drop an event
+    ///         either (the lock edge orders it), it could only produce the duplicate the live
+    ///         filter already discards. Doing it under the lock costs nothing and stops
+    ///         no-duplicate from depending on every caller remembering to apply the filter —
+    ///         which callers MUST still do, since <paramref name="liveResumeSequence"/> remains
+    ///         part of this method's contract.
+    ///     </para>
+    ///     <para>
     ///         Lock ordering: this is the only path that holds both <c>_replayLock</c> and
     ///         <c>_lifecycleLock</c>; it always takes <c>_replayLock</c> first then
     ///         <c>_lifecycleLock</c>. No other path acquires both, so there is no inversion.
@@ -627,10 +642,13 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributor : IAsyncDisposable
                 // Walk the captured copy-on-write array: no dictionary enumeration, no
                 // per-event allocation. A subscriber registered after this capture misses
                 // this event, which matches "late subscribers see events after they
-                // register". A subscriber unregistered after the capture is still written
-                // to — the identical window the previous ConcurrentDictionary.Values
-                // enumeration had (that property also materialized its list up front), so
-                // the race and its outcome are unchanged by the copy-on-write array.
+                // register". A subscriber UNREGISTERED after the capture is still written to,
+                // and TryWrite on its completed channel returns false — from here that is
+                // indistinguishable from a real overflow. The window predates the
+                // copy-on-write array (ConcurrentDictionary.Values materialized its list up
+                // front too) and its outcome is NOT benign, so telling a graceful unregister
+                // apart from a genuine overflow is OnSubscriberOverflow's job, not this
+                // loop's.
                 foreach (Subscriber subscriber in subscribers)
                 {
                     // Non-blocking write: TryWrite never blocks the pump on a slow reader.
@@ -854,14 +872,28 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributor : IAsyncDisposable
     }
 
     // Appends an event to the replay ring AND captures the fan-out array the pump will write it
-    // to, in ONE _replayLock section. The capture must share the append's critical section, not
-    // follow it: RegisterWithReplay snapshots the ring and registers under the same _replayLock,
-    // so mutual exclusion is what puts each event strictly before or strictly after a resume —
-    // "replayed, not fanned" or "fanned, not replayed", never neither. Capturing after the lock
-    // released would let a resume interleave between the append and the capture, replaying
-    // nothing for the event and fanning it to a stale array that omits the new subscriber: a
-    // silently dropped event. Returns the array; the pump fans OUTSIDE the lock so a slow
-    // reader can never stall replay.
+    // to, in ONE _replayLock section, making append+capture atomic with respect to
+    // RegisterWithReplay (which snapshots the ring and registers under that same lock). Each
+    // event therefore lands strictly on one side of a resume: replayed to that subscriber, or
+    // fanned to it live — never both.
+    //
+    // This is defense in depth, NOT a correctness fix; capturing after the lock released would
+    // also be correct. Monitor.Enter is an acquire (ECMA-335 I.12.6.5), so a later read cannot
+    // move above the append's lock acquisition, and a resume whose entire locked section
+    // (ring snapshot, registration, array republish) preceded the append is visible across that
+    // lock edge — no event can be silently dropped. What a late capture would allow is the
+    // benign case: an event both replayed AND written to the new subscriber's live channel, a
+    // duplicate the caller's liveResumeSequence filter discards. Capturing under the lock
+    // removes that duplicate at the source, so "no duplicate" no longer rests on the caller
+    // actually applying the filter — bought at zero cost, since the pump holds this lock anyway.
+    //
+    // Lock ordering: this helper only READS the already-published array, deliberately. The one
+    // permitted nesting in this type is RegisterWithReplay's _replayLock -> _lifecycleLock;
+    // every other path takes exactly one lock. Rebuilding here instead — an obvious-looking
+    // lock(_lifecycleLock) inside this _replayLock section — would drag the pump's hot path into
+    // that nesting and turn any future _lifecycleLock -> _replayLock path into a deadlock.
+    //
+    // Returns the array; the pump fans OUTSIDE the lock so a slow reader can never stall replay.
     private Subscriber[] AppendToReplayBufferAndCaptureSubscribers(MxEvent mxEvent)
     {
         lock (_replayLock)
@@ -873,28 +905,29 @@ public sealed class SessionEventDistributor : IAsyncDisposable
             }
 
             // Capacity 0 disables retention: track the highest-seen sequence (so replay
-            // can still report a gap) but keep no events.
-            if (_replayBufferCapacity == 0)
+            // can still report a gap) but keep no events. The capture below still runs —
+            // retention being off says nothing about the fan-out set.
+            if (_replayBufferCapacity > 0)
             {
-                return Volatile.Read(ref _subscriberSnapshot);
+                // Append at the logical tail. When the ring is full the oldest entry is
+                // overwritten in place (its slot becomes the new tail) and the head advances,
+                // so the newest _replayBufferCapacity events are retained with no allocation.
+                ReplayEntry entry = new(mxEvent, _timeProvider.GetUtcNow());
+                if (_replayCount < _replayBufferCapacity)
+                {
+                    _replayBuffer[(_replayHead + _replayCount) % _replayBufferCapacity] = entry;
+                    _replayCount++;
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    _replayBuffer[_replayHead] = entry;
+                    _replayHead = (_replayHead + 1) % _replayBufferCapacity;
+                }
+
+                EvictAged();
             }
 
-            // Append at the logical tail. When the ring is full the oldest entry is
-            // overwritten in place (its slot becomes the new tail) and the head advances,
-            // so the newest _replayBufferCapacity events are retained with no allocation.
-            ReplayEntry entry = new(mxEvent, _timeProvider.GetUtcNow());
-            if (_replayCount < _replayBufferCapacity)
-            {
-                _replayBuffer[(_replayHead + _replayCount) % _replayBufferCapacity] = entry;
-                _replayCount++;
-            }
-            else
-            {
-                _replayBuffer[_replayHead] = entry;
-                _replayHead = (_replayHead + 1) % _replayBufferCapacity;
-            }
-
-            EvictAged();
+            // Single capture point for both the retained and no-retention paths.
             return Volatile.Read(ref _subscriberSnapshot);
         }
     }