diff --git a/.aristo/index.toml b/.aristo/index.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1b950d11a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.aristo/index.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+[__meta__]
+schema_version = 1
+generated_by = "aristo stamp 0.2.0"
+generated_at = "2026-06-05T07:51:33.45819636Z"
+source_root = "."
+
+[backfill_watermark_advances_only_after_durable]
+kind = "intent"
+text = "The published backfill watermark advances only after the database-file pages it covers have been durably written and synced, so a crash can never leave the log treating frames as applied to the database when the database does not yet hold them."
+verify = "neural"
+status = "unknown"
+text_hash = "sha256:41ecf517973ba246f2906d32769b4fc1dbe366b30a71431402629bff6306d4dd"
+body_hash = "sha256:f85e009b6961916b91528b745d43e4173eb76499e296dd2315daf0290ce76209"
+file = "core/storage/wal.rs"
+site = "impl Wal for WalFile::publish_backfill (line 3783)"
+covered_region = "function"
+
+[committed_frames_visible_only_after_durable]
+kind = "intent"
+text = "Appended frames become visible to readers only after they have been durably written and synced, so a reader never observes a frame whose data a crash could still lose."
+verify = "neural"
+status = "unknown"
+text_hash = "sha256:74c9ab83ffb8f941a7af5f5c9917f2d082bc6753ca8bb0f62de7dac42fe1f83f"
+body_hash = "sha256:3bfdda02e38c710c89ec74ae8c18d240fd73133d61839848f0fb63fd71979bc7"
+file = "core/storage/wal.rs"
+site = "impl Wal for WalFile::finish_append_frames_commit (line 3953)"
+covered_region = "function"
+
+[log_restart_rotates_salts]
+kind = "intent"
+text = "Restarting the log changes the WAL salts and increments the checkpoint sequence, so frames written under a previous epoch cannot be mistaken as valid once the log file is reused."
+verify = "neural"
+status = "unknown"
+text_hash = "sha256:c52bf25b41ba56279e7c1c7066ae6318ff82a99c1af858ec82c269dec6882d12"
+body_hash = "sha256:b00775bc779b3fcf3713676b6675ea5c354d64b207daa71437d77a884b3ff35f"
+file = "core/storage/wal.rs"
+site = "impl ShmWalCoordination::restart_snapshot_from_authority (line 1710)"
+covered_region = "function"
+
+[truncate_failure_surfaced_as_error]
+kind = "intent"
+text = "A failed WAL truncation, or its post-truncation sync, during a TRUNCATE checkpoint is surfaced as a checkpoint error and is never reported to the caller as a successfully emptied log."
+verify = "neural"
+status = "unknown"
+text_hash = "sha256:ec1910d45dab26c962378a05fb3b082b98e9cc1da455b77c521ffebb2a21146b"
+body_hash = "sha256:05185c3220c7a3336b932e56abace4aeb02d2e59791bd490705d036c41afd850"
+file = "core/storage/wal.rs"
+site = "impl WalFile::truncate_log (line 4891)"
+covered_region = "function"
+
+[wal_initialized_only_after_header_durable]
+kind = "intent"
+text = "The WAL counts as initialized only after its header has been durably written and its sync has completed successfully; a failed header write or sync leaves the WAL uninitialized so the header is re-issued before the next append, so the initialized state never reports durability the on-disk header has not actually reached."
+verify = "neural"
+status = "unknown"
+text_hash = "sha256:29cfd50757584c85fc404e9c3d112aa47fe794bfaee0fc0f1ddff4059bfc24bf"
+body_hash = "sha256:074f1f17f8ba26ffd1109158b3d49d5ad5ded5187c1ba8f678bd80544b495885"
+file = "core/storage/wal.rs"
+site = "trait WalCoordination::mark_initialized (line 574)"
+covered_region = "function"
+
+[wal_records_changes_before_apply]
+kind = "intent"
+text = "An append-only log that records page-level changes before they are applied to the database, so a system crash can be recovered by replaying the log."
+verify = "neural"
+status = "unknown"
+text_hash = "sha256:85270d4acbf9d93ad70d71d3c5a3a4863616dba36abb529bd7d12244e615e79e"
+body_hash = "sha256:3627e8fd855d64d269a1c927fe4a88b02e1edd4db64e2ffc93b704d24b701552"
+file = "core/storage/wal.rs"
+site = "trait Wal (line 608)"
+covered_region = "type"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/aristo.yml b/.github/workflows/aristo.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..48c6e8ff1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/aristo.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# Lints Aristo intent annotations on every PR.
+#
+# Runs the cheap, local annotation checks via the shared aristo-action — no
+# token needed, everything runs on the runner:
+#   - stamp: the index is fresh relative to source (new/changed intents indexed)
+#   - lint:  annotation prose is clean (no placeholders, weasel words, etc.)
+#
+# Heavy canon verification (`aristo verify`) is intentionally not run here; it
+# needs an ARETTA_TOKEN secret and belongs in a separate nightly workflow.
+name: Aristo intents
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+      - main
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+jobs:
+  lint:
+    name: Lint intent annotations
+    timeout-minutes: 10
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: aretta-ai/aristo-action@v1
+        with:
+          checks: stamp, lint
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index fabbaabe57..669c869f2f 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -413,6 +413,30 @@ And launch an Antithesis test run with:
 scripts/antithesis/launch.sh
 ```
 
+## Annotating intent with Aristo
+
+Turso uses [Aristo](https://github.com/aretta-ai/aristo) to capture design intent that the code alone doesn't spell out — invariants a refactor could silently break — as `#[aristo::intent("...")]` annotations attached to the code. They're optional; reach for one only when a property is invisible from the signature and not already guarded by a test. For example, on the WAL trait in `core/storage/wal.rs`:
+
+```rust
+#[aristo::intent(
+    "An append-only log that records page-level changes before they are \
+     applied to the database, so a system crash can be recovered by \
+     replaying the log.",
+    verify = "neural",
+    id = "wal_records_changes_before_apply",
+)]
+pub trait Wal: Debug + Send + Sync { ... }
+```
+
+The macros are a workspace dependency, so annotated code builds normally. To author and lint annotations, install the CLI:
+
+```console
+cargo install aristo-cli   # provides the `aristo` command
+aristo lint                # lint annotation prose (also runs in CI on every PR)
+```
+
+To machine-check annotations, run `/aristo-neural-verify` in Claude Code.
+
 ## Adding Third Party Dependencies
 
 When you want to add third party dependencies, please follow these steps:
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 9a2bdea365..ecb3c9ef6a 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -225,6 +225,26 @@ version = "1.7.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "69f7f8c3906b62b754cd5326047894316021dcfe5a194c8ea52bdd94934a3457"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "aristo"
+version = "0.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "2e8a6b4e39193428654239618ced859b97f48b996afa92579e6a0f4191dc1094"
+dependencies = [
+ "aristo-macros",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "aristo-macros"
+version = "0.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "855bf1b08a5653549110e4b1540223e453e1d98f82eb4e5b5d407782dae7409e"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.100",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "arrayref"
 version = "0.3.9"
@@ -6641,6 +6661,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "allocator-api2 0.4.0",
  "antithesis_sdk",
  "arc-swap",
+ "aristo",
  "bigdecimal",
  "bitflags 2.9.4",
  "branches",
diff --git a/aristo.toml b/aristo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1f7623e178
--- /dev/null
+++ b/aristo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+[verify.cache]
+strategy = "local"
+commit_specs = true
+
+[stamp]
+hooks = "pre-commit"
+hash_crate_root = false
+
+[telemetry]
+enabled = false
+
+[lint]
+pre_commit = "check"
+strict = false
+
+[corpus]
+contribute = false
+
+[doc]
+commit_artifacts = true
+position = "before"
+
+[index]
+
+[canon]
+enabled = true
+threshold_stamp = 0.85
+threshold_critique = 0.65
diff --git a/core/Cargo.toml b/core/Cargo.toml
index cd81fd8113..90123264c0 100644
--- a/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -121,6 +121,7 @@ bigdecimal = "0.4"
 num-bigint = "0.4"
 num-traits = "0.2"
 stacker = { version = "0.1", optional = true }
+aristo = "0.2.0"
 
 [target.'cfg(not(any(target_family = "wasm", all(target_os = "windows", target_arch = "aarch64"))))'.dependencies]
 simsimd = "6.5.3"
diff --git a/core/storage/wal.rs b/core/storage/wal.rs
index a7bcda8f1b..10859eac08 100644
--- a/core/storage/wal.rs
+++ b/core/storage/wal.rs
@@ -571,6 +571,16 @@ trait WalCoordination: Debug + Send + Sync {
     fn prepare_wal_header(&self, io: &dyn IO, page_size: PageSize) -> Option<WalHeader>;
 
     /// Mark the WAL header durable after the header sync completes.
+    #[aristo::intent(
+        "The WAL counts as initialized only after its header has been \
+         durably written and its sync has completed successfully; a \
+         failed header write or sync leaves the WAL uninitialized so the \
+         header is re-issued before the next append, so the initialized \
+         state never reports durability the on-disk header has not \
+         actually reached.",
+        verify = "neural",
+        id = "wal_initialized_only_after_header_durable"
+    )]
     fn mark_initialized(&self);
 
     /// Record a newly appended frame in the backend's page-to-frame lookup state.
@@ -595,6 +605,13 @@ trait WalCoordination: Debug + Send + Sync {
 }
 
 /// Write-ahead log (WAL).
+#[aristo::intent(
+    "An append-only log that records page-level changes before they are \
+     applied to the database, so a system crash can be recovered by \
+     replaying the log.",
+    verify = "neural",
+    id = "wal_records_changes_before_apply"
+)]
 pub trait Wal: Debug + Send + Sync {
     /// Begin a read transaction.
     /// Returns whether the database state has changed since the last read transaction.
@@ -1690,6 +1707,13 @@ impl ShmWalCoordination {
         }
     }
 
+    #[aristo::intent(
+        "Restarting the log changes the WAL salts and increments the \
+         checkpoint sequence, so frames written under a previous epoch \
+         cannot be mistaken as valid once the log file is reused.",
+        verify = "neural",
+        id = "log_restart_rotates_salts"
+    )]
     fn restart_snapshot_from_authority(
         &self,
         snapshot: SharedWalCoordinationHeader,
@@ -3756,6 +3780,15 @@ impl Wal for WalFile {
         )
     }
 
+    #[aristo::intent(
+        "The published backfill watermark advances only after the \
+         database-file pages it covers have been durably written and \
+         synced, so a crash can never leave the log treating frames as \
+         applied to the database when the database does not yet hold \
+         them.",
+        verify = "neural",
+        id = "backfill_watermark_advances_only_after_durable"
+    )]
     fn publish_backfill(&self, max_frame: u64) {
         self.coordination.publish_backfill(max_frame);
     }
@@ -3917,6 +3950,13 @@ impl Wal for WalFile {
     }
 
     #[instrument(skip_all, level = Level::DEBUG)]
+    #[aristo::intent(
+        "Appended frames become visible to readers only after they have \
+         been durably written and synced, so a reader never observes a \
+         frame whose data a crash could still lose.",
+        verify = "neural",
+        id = "committed_frames_visible_only_after_durable"
+    )]
     fn finish_append_frames_commit(&self) -> Result<()> {
         let max_frame = self.max_frame.load(Ordering::Acquire);
         let last_checksum = *self.last_checksum.read();
@@ -4848,6 +4888,13 @@ impl WalFile {
     }
 
     /// Truncate WAL file to zero and sync it. Called by pager AFTER DB file is synced.
+    #[aristo::intent(
+        "A failed WAL truncation, or its post-truncation sync, during a \
+         TRUNCATE checkpoint is surfaced as a checkpoint error and is \
+         never reported to the caller as a successfully emptied log.",
+        verify = "neural",
+        id = "truncate_failure_surfaced_as_error"
+    )]
     fn truncate_log(
         &self,
         result: &mut CheckpointResult,