diff --git a/packages/coding-agent/docs/windows.md b/packages/coding-agent/docs/windows.md
index 3f7da6c61d..67b97f7e7d 100644
--- a/packages/coding-agent/docs/windows.md
+++ b/packages/coding-agent/docs/windows.md
@@ -15,3 +15,120 @@ For most users, [Git for Windows](https://git-scm.com/download/win) is sufficien
   "shellPath": "C:\\cygwin64\\bin\\bash.exe"
 }
 ```
+
+## Python kernel bootstrap
+
+Prime Agent spawns an IPython kernel so the model can execute Python (pandas, requests, etc.) on your machine. On Windows the kernel lives in a per-user `uv`-managed venv at `~/.prime/agent/kernel-venv/`. The kernel must be reachable at first `ipython` tool call.
+
+### Required packages
+
+The kernel must have **all 13** of these installed (in this order):
+
+1. `ipykernel`
+2. `prime-agent-runtime` (the bundled package — installed from `<prime-agent install dir>/dist/prime-agent-runtime/`)
+3. `dill`
+4. `requests`
+5. `httpx`
+6. `pyyaml`
+7. `tomli`
+8. `python-dotenv`
+9. `pandas`
+10. `numpy`
+11. `scipy`
+12. `beautifulsoup4`
+13. `lxml`
+14. `pydantic`
+15. `tyro`
+
+`tyro` and `dill` are the easy ones to miss. They are not obvious from the failure message — the bootstrap only reports the first missing group per run.
+
+### One-shot provisioning (recommended)
+
+The bootstrap will run on first use if not skipped. **It is destructive**: each retry wipes the kernel venv and re-creates it. If you have pre-installed packages, the retry loses them. To avoid this, **provision the venv yourself and point Prime Agent at it via `PRIME_AGENT_KERNEL_PYTHON`**.
+
+#### PowerShell (recommended for Windows)
+
+```powershell
+$uv  = "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\bin\uv.exe"
+$py  = "$env:USERPROFILE\.prime\agent\kernel-venv\Scripts\python.exe"
+$rt  = "$env:APPDATA\npm\node_modules\prime-agent\dist\prime-agent-runtime"
+
+# create the venv and install everything Prime Agent needs in one shot
+& $uv venv --python 3.11 --seed "$env:USERPROFILE\.prime\agent\kernel-venv" --clear
+& $uv pip install --python $py ipykernel $rt `
+    dill requests httpx pyyaml tomli python-dotenv `
+    pandas numpy scipy beautifulsoup4 lxml pydantic tyro
+
+# tell Prime Agent to use this Python instead of running its own bootstrap
+[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PRIME_AGENT_KERNEL_PYTHON", $py, "User")
+```
+
+After this, the first `ipython` tool call skips the bootstrap entirely and the kernel boots in <1 second.
+
+#### Git Bash
+
+```bash
+uv=~/.local/bin/uv.exe
+py="$HOME/.prime/agent/kernel-venv/Scripts/python.exe"
+rt="$(npm root -g)/prime-agent/dist/prime-agent-runtime"
+
+"$uv" venv --python 3.11 --seed "$HOME/.prime/agent/kernel-venv" --clear
+"$uv" pip install --python "$py" \
+    ipykernel "$rt" \
+    dill requests httpx pyyaml tomli python-dotenv \
+    pandas numpy scipy beautifulsoup4 lxml pydantic tyro
+```
+
+### PowerShell wrapper must copy user-level env vars
+
+`setx` writes a user-level env var, but **PowerShell does NOT auto-inherit user-level env vars into the process env** (`cmd` does). If your `prime-agent.ps1` wrapper runs under PowerShell, the spawned `prime-agent` won't see `PRIME_AGENT_KERNEL_PYTHON` (or `MINIMAX_API_KEY`, etc.) unless the wrapper explicitly copies them in.
+
+Minimal wrapper snippet that works:
+
+```powershell
+# Pull user-level env vars into the process env BEFORE spawning prime-agent.
+foreach ($name in @(
+    'PRIME_AGENT_KERNEL_PYTHON',
+    'MINIMAX_API_KEY',
+    'PRIME_AGENT_BOOTSTRAP_KERNEL_ON_INSTALL',
+    'PRIME_AGENT_BOOTSTRAP_TOOLS_ON_INSTALL'
+)) {
+    $value = [System.Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable($name, 'User')
+    if ($value -and [string]::IsNullOrEmpty($env:$name)) {
+        [System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable($name, $value, 'Process')
+    }
+}
+
+& prime-agent --cwd $PSScriptRoot @args
+```
+
+### Stale `session-leases/*.lock` blocks resume
+
+Prime Agent's `proper-lockfile` uses **directories** as locks on Windows. If a previous `prime-agent` was killed (e.g. by `npm update` or `Stop-Process`), the `.lock` directory is left behind. The next resume then fails with:
+
+```
+EPERM: rename ...lock.candidate-XXX → ...lock
+```
+
+because Windows cannot rename a file to a directory name.
+
+Your wrapper should clear stale locks whose owner PID is no longer running before spawning `prime-agent`:
+
+```powershell
+Get-ChildItem -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.prime\agent\session-leases" -Filter "*.lock" -Directory -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | ForEach-Object {
+    $owner = Get-Content "$($_.FullName)\owner.json" -Raw -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
+        ConvertFrom-Json -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+    if (-not $owner -or -not (Get-Process -Id $owner.pid -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue)) {
+        Remove-Item -LiteralPath $_.FullName -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+    }
+}
+```
+
+### Failure mode symptoms (for diagnosis)
+
+If `prime-agent` reports the kernel is broken, check in order:
+
+1. **`uv pip install ... bin/python ... exit code 2`** → the bootstrap is hitting the POSIX-only path. Prime Agent v0.7.0 / v0.7.1 has this bug. Workaround: provision manually and set `PRIME_AGENT_KERNEL_PYTHON` (see above). Fixed in PR #825.
+2. **`PRIME_AGENT_KERNEL_PYTHON points to a Python missing ...`** → the override Python is missing one of the 13 packages. Re-run the one-shot provisioning with the full list.
+3. **`EPERM: rename ... lock`** → a stale session-leases lock. Run the lock-cleanup snippet above.
+4. **Kernel "ready" but tools don't see Python** → `~/.prime/agent/kernel-venv/.bootstrap-version` is out-of-sync with the runtime source. Delete the file and let the next `ipython` call rebuild the kernel.
\ No newline at end of file