diff --git a/docs/concepts/flows.md b/docs/concepts/flows.md
index f745363..5aa7caf 100644
--- a/docs/concepts/flows.md
+++ b/docs/concepts/flows.md
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ being explicit about the consequences:
 
 - **Fan-in is free.** Two nodes providing `temperature` are two producers of
   one message. The consumer does not change.
+- **A node runs when something it reads was published.** Not merely when
+  something upstream of it ran: a node that produced nothing this time — held
+  back by a rate limit, say — leaves what reads it on the value it already
+  has, and so does everything behind that.
 - **A wire cannot be wrong.** There is no wire. There is a name that either
   matches or does not, and the canvas tells you at edit time which it is.
 - **Layout is not a document.** The canvas computes the arrangement, so a flow
diff --git a/docs/reference/configuration.md b/docs/reference/configuration.md
index 5593c7a..67a0b15 100644
--- a/docs/reference/configuration.md
+++ b/docs/reference/configuration.md
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ warning into a refusal to start.
 | Variable | Default | Notes |
 |---|---|---|
 | `FLOW_MAX_WORKERS` | `4` | node-code subprocesses run in parallel |
+| `FLOW_MAX_CASCADES` | `4` | cascades in flight at once; throughput is this over the mean cascade time, so raise it where nodes wait on a network rather than a CPU |
 | `FLOW_NODE_TIMEOUT` | `0` | seconds a node may be silent, unless it sets its own; 0 is no limit |
 | `OBS_RETENTION_DAYS` | `30` | how long metrics, events and run records are kept |