diff --git a/docs/api-key-state.md b/docs/api-key-state.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..86c8cae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/api-key-state.md
@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+# API Key Terraform State Design
+
+## Decision
+
+The masked `kernel_api_key` data source is safe to implement after a tagged
+Kernel Go SDK exposes the API's exact-name list filter.
+
+The `kernel_api_key` resource is deferred. Its Terraform state shape is
+accepted below, but Create and Rotate must not ship until the API provides
+replayable idempotency and lets the provider identify or reject rotation of the
+credential authenticating the current request. The API must also expose that
+credential's effective project scope so provider-default fallback can settle
+predictably into Terraform state.
+
+## First Principles
+
+An API key is durable infrastructure, but its plaintext is not durable API
+metadata. Kernel returns plaintext exactly once after Create or Rotate. Later
+reads return a masked key and stable metadata.
+
+Terraform can manage that lifecycle only when:
+
+- retrying an uncertain Create or Rotate returns the same key and plaintext;
+- refresh never replaces plaintext state with a masked value;
+- import does not pretend it can recover plaintext;
+- rotation is an explicit configuration change;
+- the provider cannot rotate away the credential it is using unknowingly; and
+- project scope follows the provider's documented precedence and settles into
+  durable state.
+
+## Current Kernel Contract
+
+Kernel Go SDK v0.76.0, the latest tagged release at the time of this decision,
+exposes Create, Get, Update, List, Delete, and Rotate. The durable API contract
+has these properties:
+
+- Create returns a new canonical ID, plaintext key, masked key, name, creator,
+  timestamps, and optional project metadata.
+- Get and List return masked metadata only.
+- Update changes only the name.
+- Delete soft-deletes a key and rejects deletion of the current key with the
+  coded `cannot_delete_current_key` error.
+- Rotate creates a new canonical key, returns its plaintext once, and schedules
+  the old key to expire at the earlier of its existing expiration and the grace
+  deadline. Rotation never extends an old key's life.
+- Rotation does not soft-delete the old key. Its expired record remains in
+  ordinary active listings because that status currently means non-deleted.
+- Names are not unique.
+- Project-scoped callers can manage keys only in their own project and cannot
+  create or access organization-wide keys.
+- A deleted key is hidden from ordinary Get and a repeated Delete returns
+  `not_found`.
+
+The API supports an exact-name List filter. It is generated in the pending Go
+SDK v0.77.0 release, so the provider must wait for that tag rather than adding
+direct HTTP or a second client.
+
+## Future Resource State
+
+The resource should use this state model once the API blockers are resolved:
+
+| Attribute | Terraform behavior |
+| --- | --- |
+| `id` | Computed canonical API-key ID. Rotate replaces it with the new key's ID. |
+| `name` | Required durable name. Updated in place. Names are labels, not identity. |
+| `project_id` | Optional scope override. It defaults to the provider-level `project_id`, then the authenticated key's project binding. Null after resolution creates an organization-wide key. Changing resolved scope replaces the key. |
+| `days_to_expire` | Optional lifetime from 1 through 3650 days on Create. When omitted on a new key, the key does not expire. A later finite change is valid only with a simultaneous `rotation_keeper` change; because v1 uses the seven-day default grace, the changed lifetime must be 8 through 3650 days. Removing a known finite value is rejected because Rotate cannot produce a never-expiring replacement. After metadata-only import, omission means the original relative lifetime is unmanaged. |
+| `rotation_keeper` | Optional opaque string. Only a change after Create triggers Rotate. Its value is provider state, not remote metadata. |
+| `key` | Computed, sensitive plaintext returned by Create or Rotate. Read preserves the prior value; import leaves it null. |
+| `masked_key` | Computed durable masked value from Get. It never substitutes for `key`. |
+| `created_at` | Computed creation timestamp. |
+| `expires_at` | Computed nullable expiration timestamp. |
+| `created_by` | Computed creator metadata. |
+| `project_name` | Computed nullable project metadata. |
+
+`key` being sensitive controls display, not storage encryption. The plaintext
+remains in Terraform state after Create or Rotate so downstream configuration
+can use it. Users must use an encrypted remote backend with restricted state
+access. Removing the value on the next Read would make dependent configuration
+unstable and would not erase it from state history.
+
+`days_to_expire` records create-time intent; Kernel reads expose the resulting
+absolute `expires_at`, not the original relative input. Import therefore cannot
+reconstruct that input and must not guess it from timestamp subtraction.
+
+Project resolution is resource override, provider default, authenticated-key
+binding, then organization-wide when no project applies. State stores the
+resolved project ID. The current API requires a project-scoped caller to send
+`project_id` but does not expose that caller's canonical scope to this provider.
+Until current-key metadata closes that gap, callers must configure either the
+resource or provider project explicitly.
+
+## Lifecycle
+
+Create sends explicit `name`, resolved `project_id`, and `days_to_expire`
+values. It disables automatic mutation retries. On success it stores the
+canonical ID and plaintext before any later operation can fail.
+
+Read uses masked Get metadata. It refreshes readable fields while preserving
+the prior plaintext, create-time lifetime, and rotation keeper. A coded
+`not_found` response removes the resource from state. Expiration alone does not
+remove the durable key record.
+
+Update patches a changed name before Rotate so the replacement key copies the
+new name. A changed `rotation_keeper` then calls Rotate and stores the returned
+new ID and plaintext immediately. If `days_to_expire` changes in the same plan,
+Rotate uses that new lifetime; changing the lifetime without changing the
+keeper is a plan error. The old key is no longer owned by the Terraform
+resource. Kernel expires it by the grace deadline, sooner when its existing
+expiration is earlier, and immediately when it is already expired. Kernel
+retains the non-deleted historical record; deleting the resource later deletes
+only the replacement key. Rotation uses the API's default grace and otherwise
+preserves the old key's original lifetime for the replacement. Custom grace
+controls are deferred until a concrete Terraform workflow requires them.
+
+## Null, Empty, And Defaults
+
+- `name` must contain 1 through 255 UTF-8 bytes and must equal its trimmed value.
+  Empty, whitespace-only, and leading/trailing-whitespace values are invalid so
+  API normalization cannot create a perpetual diff.
+- `project_id` may be omitted for scope resolution, but an explicit empty string
+  is invalid. A resolved null value means organization-wide.
+- `days_to_expire` omitted or null means no expiry for a newly created key. On
+  Rotate, omission asks Kernel to preserve the old key's original lifetime. A
+  changed rotation lifetime must be at least eight days so the replacement
+  outlives the seven-day default grace window; this does not restrict a new
+  key's initial 1-3650-day lifetime. Removing a known finite value is a plan
+  error because the API treats rotation null as preserve, not never-expiring.
+  Moving to no expiry requires creating a separate key and migrating consumers
+  before removing the old resource.
+- `rotation_keeper` may be omitted. When configured it must be non-empty. Create
+  records its initial value without an extra Rotate because Create already
+  issued fresh plaintext. Import leaves it null; setting it after import is an
+  explicit first rotation, and every later value change rotates again.
+- The API's omitted rotation grace defaults to seven days. The v1 resource does
+  not expose a second grace control.
+- Nullable read fields remain Terraform null. Zero times and empty strings must
+  not be used as substitutes for API null values.
+
+Delete treats `not_found` as success. The coded self-delete response is a
+diagnostic and retains the resource ID so a different provider credential can
+retry. Terraform must not hide that failure or remove state.
+
+Import accepts only the canonical API-key ID. Read then imports masked metadata.
+The plaintext `key`, original `days_to_expire`, and prior rotation keeper remain
+unknown or unset. Import documentation must call this metadata-only import.
+
+## Self-Use Rule
+
+A provider instance must be authenticated by a separate administrative key
+from every `kernel_api_key` resource it manages. Provider configuration cannot
+depend safely on a key created by that same provider instance.
+
+The API already prevents self-delete, but Rotate currently allows the current
+key to rotate and schedules it to expire. The provider cannot derive the
+authenticated key's canonical ID from its plaintext configuration or masked
+metadata. Documentation alone is not a sufficient guard for an operation that
+can make the next Terraform run unable to authenticate.
+
+Before the resource ships, Kernel must expose request-context metadata that
+identifies the current key and its canonical project scope, or reject
+self-rotation with a stable coded error and separately expose the effective
+project binding. The provider will use that signal as an internal safety check;
+current-key identity does not belong in durable Terraform state.
+
+## Idempotency Gate
+
+Create and Rotate have no idempotency key. A connection failure after the API
+commits but before Terraform receives the response loses the only plaintext
+response. Create can leave an untracked credential. Rotate can additionally
+schedule the old credential to expire, and a retry can create another key.
+
+Before the resource ships, both operations must accept an idempotency key and
+replay the same canonical ID and plaintext response for the same request. It is
+not enough to deduplicate by name because names are intentionally non-unique.
+The implementation design must prove that its request token survives a failed
+apply and process restart; API support without a stable Terraform-side token is
+not sufficient. Generic SDK mutation retries remain disabled outside that
+replay contract.
+
+## Masked Data Source
+
+The data source is independent of plaintext lifecycle and may ship first. It
+should accept exactly one of canonical `id` or exact `name`, scan all pages for
+name lookup, deduplicate by ID, and diagnose zero or multiple non-deleted
+matches. Expired-but-not-deleted keys remain visible because they are durable
+records under the current API status definition. The API's name filter follows
+the production database's case- and accent-insensitive collation; the provider
+must post-filter returned names byte-for-byte so Terraform's exact selector has
+stable semantics. Rotation retains an old row with the same name, so name
+lookup becomes ambiguous after rotation and callers must use the canonical ID.
+It may expose ID, name, masked key, creator, creation/expiration timestamps, and
+nullable project metadata. It must never expose plaintext, deleted audit rows,
+or provider-authentication identity.
+
+## Unblocking Checklist
+
+- Tag an SDK release containing the exact API-key name filter.
+- Add replayable idempotency for API-key Create and Rotate.
+- Add a stable current-key/project-scope signal or coded self-rotation
+  rejection plus effective-scope metadata.
+- Verify nullable SDK response fields against API `null` responses.
+- Acceptance-test ASCII and multibyte name boundaries against the API's
+  byte-count validation.
+- Acceptance-test a short initial lifetime, unchanged short-lifetime rotation,
+  rejection of a changed 1-7-day rotation lifetime, and rejection of a known
+  finite-to-null transition.
+- Acceptance-test Create, Read, rename, explicit rotation, metadata-only
+  import, first rotation after import, project scope, retained rotation history,
+  near-expiry and already-expired rotation, not-found deletion, and self-use
+  diagnostics.
+- Repeat the sensitive-state and release review before registering the resource.
diff --git a/docs/architecture.md b/docs/architecture.md
index 3ccd903..359f6cc 100644
--- a/docs/architecture.md
+++ b/docs/architecture.md
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@ Late or conditional v1 work:
 
 Blocked candidates must remain unimplemented until the API and a tagged SDK expose the required durable contract. Provider code must not guess missing semantics, patch generated SDK code, or add a fallback HTTP client to bypass the durable client module.
 
+The accepted plaintext, import, rotation, and self-use model for API keys is
+defined in [API Key Terraform State Design](api-key-state.md). The masked data
+source may proceed after the exact-name SDK surface is tagged. The resource
+remains blocked on replayable Create/Rotate idempotency and a current-key
+rotation guard with effective authenticated project-scope metadata.
+
 `kernel_deployment` remains core v1 scope but is currently blocked until a
 tagged SDK exposes source provenance, the API supports deterministic durable
 readback, and the write-only environment/token plus metadata-only import design