diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md
index 521335f10d..ee581eb3a4 100644
--- a/docs/README.md
+++ b/docs/README.md
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ For a full walkthrough (installation, onboarding, first task, and daily workflow
 | [Task Management](./task-management.md) | Task creation modes, lifecycle, prompt specs, comments, archiving, and GitHub integration |
 | [Todo View](./todo-view.md) | Canonical guide for the experimental Todo View, including enablement, usage, API routes, and storage |
 | [Missions](./missions.md) | Mission hierarchy, planning flow, activation, progress tracking, and autopilot behavior |
+| [Goals Refinement Gate](./goals-refinement-gate.md) | Evidence gate for activating the conditional post-v1 goals refinement slice only after real usage pain is documented |
 | [Research](./research.md) | Research runs, provider setup, dashboard/CLI usage, findings, exports, and task integration |
 | [Research View UX Spec](./research-view-ux-spec.md) | Canonical layout and capability-state messaging spec for the Research dashboard view (FN-4138, informs FN-4134/FN-4135) |
 | [Workflow Steps](./workflow-steps.md) | Reusable quality gates, templates, pre/post-merge phases, and workflow execution results |
diff --git a/docs/goals-refinement-gate.md b/docs/goals-refinement-gate.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ff85f0f0c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/goals-refinement-gate.md
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+# Goals Refinement Gate
+
+[← Docs index](./README.md)
+
+This document defines the evidence gate for activating **Slice 4: Schema/Focus-Set Refinement (Conditional)** in the Goals mission (`M-MP32KU9Y-0001-2ADN`). It is a governance artifact, not an implementation plan.
+
+## Purpose
+
+Slice 4 stays pending and intentionally under-specified until Slices 1–3 produce **observed pain from real use**. Fusion must not build a structured `successMetric` schema, a focus-set concept, or richer goal-progress/reporting surfaces because they seem plausible in advance. Refinement starts only when operators can point to real usage evidence showing the v1 shape is insufficient.
+
+## Locked guardrails carried forward from the mission
+
+The gate inherits the mission guardrails already locked by CEO + CTO + PM:
+
+1. **Hard cap of 5 active goals** remains the v1 operating limit.
+2. **Success metrics live in slice/feature text for v1** rather than a structured `successMetric` schema.
+3. **Only Slice 1 was activated up front**; later slices were not meant to auto-start just because earlier work shipped.
+4. Slice 4 is conditional follow-up work, not an automatic continuation of the v1 Goals rollout.
+
+Until this gate is satisfied, Slice 4 remains pending in practice: no schema-expansion, focus-set, or reporting implementation work should begin.
+
+## Acceptable trigger evidence
+
+A written activation rationale may recommend Slice 4 only when it cites real usage evidence in one or more of these categories.
+
+### 1. Operator friction
+
+Observed operator pain using the v1 goals workflow may justify refinement when teams repeatedly struggle to create, maintain, interpret, or operationalize goals with the existing surfaces.
+
+**Corresponding Slice 4 direction:** general post-v1 refinement work, but only where the pain is demonstrated rather than speculative.
+
+### 2. Prompt-budget or context-window pressure from goal injection
+
+If active-goal injection creates measurable prompt-budget pressure, context-window crowding, or citation noise during actual agent use, that is valid trigger evidence.
+
+**Corresponding Slice 4 direction:** candidate focus-set or narrowing mechanisms so only the most relevant goals are injected or emphasized.
+
+### 3. Unclear prioritization or unclear mission ↔ goal ownership
+
+If real usage shows agents or operators cannot tell which goals should drive a mission, or cannot reliably distinguish active strategic priorities from background goals, that is valid trigger evidence.
+
+**Corresponding Slice 4 direction:** candidate focus-set concepts, richer linkage semantics, or prioritization aids.
+
+### 4. Free-text success-metric limitations that fail agent reasoning
+
+If goals expressed only through free-text slice/feature descriptions cause repeated ambiguity, weak planning, poor validation, or unreliable agent reasoning, that is valid trigger evidence.
+
+**Corresponding Slice 4 direction:** candidate structured `successMetric` schema, but only to solve the observed reasoning failure.
+
+### 5. The hard 5-active-goal cap proving too tight
+
+If real operating practice shows the fixed five-goal cap blocks necessary work, forces unhealthy churn, or hides the difference between globally active goals and a smaller currently emphasized subset, that is valid trigger evidence.
+
+**Corresponding Slice 4 direction:** candidate focus-set concept or related prioritization model.
+
+### 6. Reporting or visibility gaps
+
+If operators cannot answer basic progress, coverage, linkage, or adoption questions with the v1 read surfaces, and the gap is observed in real workflows, that is valid trigger evidence.
+
+**Corresponding Slice 4 direction:** candidate goal-progress or reporting views.
+
+## Activation rule
+
+Slice 4 may be activated only after a **written rationale** is recorded that:
+
+- references **real usage evidence**, not anticipated future needs;
+- identifies which trigger-evidence category or categories were observed;
+- explains why the observed pain is significant enough to justify refinement now; and
+- cites the structured evidence collected in the **FN-5963 conditional refinement trigger evidence pack/template**.
+
+That written rationale must exist **before** anyone calls `fn_slice_activate` for `SL-MP32LAJW-0009-RHJQ`.
+
+## Hard constraint: no automatic refinement
+
+The existence of Slice 4 in the mission does **not** authorize automatic follow-on work.
+
+- No structured `successMetric` schema work starts automatically.
+- No focus-set concept starts automatically.
+- No reporting or visibility expansion starts automatically.
+- No schema or expansion task should be treated as pre-approved merely because Slices 1–3 shipped.
+
+Without the written rationale and evidence trigger above, Slice 4 remains pending and unspecified.
+
+## Separation of concerns
+
+This gate intentionally stays narrow:
+
+- **FN-5961 (this artifact):** defines *when* refinement may start.
+- **FN-5962:** maintains the conditional refinement **options backlog** describing candidate directions.
+- **FN-5963:** defines the **evidence pack/template** used to gather and cite the real-usage evidence behind an activation request.
+
+This document should reference those sibling deliverables rather than duplicate them.
+
+## Decision rule summary
+
+Use this checklist before any Slice 4 activation:
+
+- Is there observed pain from real use of Slices 1–3?
+- Does the evidence fit one or more accepted trigger categories above?
+- Has the evidence been captured in the FN-5963 evidence pack/template?
+- Has a written rationale been recorded citing that evidence and naming the proposed refinement direction?
+- Has all of that happened **before** `fn_slice_activate` is called for Slice 4?
+
+If any answer is no, do not activate Slice 4.
diff --git a/packages/dashboard/app/__tests__/goals-refinement-gate-docs.test.ts b/packages/dashboard/app/__tests__/goals-refinement-gate-docs.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..95e0e179ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/dashboard/app/__tests__/goals-refinement-gate-docs.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { resolve } from "node:path";
+
+const REQUIRED_TRIGGER_EVIDENCE = [
+  "Operator friction",
+  "Prompt-budget or context-window pressure from goal injection",
+  "Unclear prioritization or unclear mission ↔ goal ownership",
+  "Free-text success-metric limitations that fail agent reasoning",
+  "The hard 5-active-goal cap proving too tight",
+  "Reporting or visibility gaps",
+] as const;
+
+const REQUIRED_ACTIVATION_RULE_SNIPPETS = [
+  "written rationale",
+  "real usage evidence",
+  "FN-5963 conditional refinement trigger evidence pack/template",
+  "`fn_slice_activate` for `SL-MP32LAJW-0009-RHJQ`",
+] as const;
+
+const REQUIRED_NO_AUTOMATIC_REFINEMENT_SNIPPETS = [
+  "does **not** authorize automatic follow-on work",
+  "No structured `successMetric` schema work starts automatically.",
+  "No focus-set concept starts automatically.",
+  "No reporting or visibility expansion starts automatically.",
+  "Without the written rationale and evidence trigger above, Slice 4 remains pending and unspecified.",
+] as const;
+
+describe("Goals refinement gate doc", () => {
+  it("documents the evidence categories, written-rationale activation rule, and no-auto-refinement constraint", () => {
+    const doc = readFileSync(
+      resolve(__dirname, "../../../../docs/goals-refinement-gate.md"),
+      "utf-8",
+    );
+
+    expect(doc).toContain("# Goals Refinement Gate");
+    expect(doc).toContain("[← Docs index](./README.md)");
+
+    for (const snippet of REQUIRED_TRIGGER_EVIDENCE) {
+      expect(doc).toContain(snippet);
+    }
+
+    for (const snippet of REQUIRED_ACTIVATION_RULE_SNIPPETS) {
+      expect(doc).toContain(snippet);
+    }
+
+    for (const snippet of REQUIRED_NO_AUTOMATIC_REFINEMENT_SNIPPETS) {
+      expect(doc).toContain(snippet);
+    }
+  });
+});