diff --git a/docs/build-packages-plan.md b/docs/build-packages-plan.md
index 6e00dcf..37d5a1c 100644
--- a/docs/build-packages-plan.md
+++ b/docs/build-packages-plan.md
@@ -113,9 +113,9 @@ images, release ISO, check steps) and `build/qemu.zig` (the run steps + OVMF
 probing), imported by a short root `build.zig`.
 
 **Afterwards** (outside this plan): the intel-uhd-graphics-750 driver is
-(re)created as a greenfield package — the "Adding a driver" checklist's build
-step (docs/device-driver-development/devices-csv.md, step 1) gets rewritten
-against the package template at that point.
+(re)created as a greenfield package. The new-driver checklist's build step
+(docs/device-driver-development/new-driver-checklist.md, step 2) is already
+rewritten against the package template.
 
 ## Execution notes (the finished shape)
 
@@ -159,6 +159,7 @@ style: no Co-Authored-By trailers.
   struct sizes) — they moved into their binaries' packages with their waves,
   discharging the carry-along obligation.
 - Doc updates ride each phase: docs/README.md (repo layout + source map),
-  docs/device-driver-development/devices-csv.md ("Adding a driver", step 1),
-  and the docs that cite the build recipe (driver-model.md, threading.md,
-  system-requirements.md) reference build shapes that keep changing.
+  docs/device-driver-development/new-driver-checklist.md (step 2) and
+  devices-csv.md ("Adding a driver"), and the docs that cite the build recipe
+  (driver-model.md, threading.md, system-requirements.md) reference build
+  shapes that keep changing.
diff --git a/docs/device-driver-development/devices-csv.md b/docs/device-driver-development/devices-csv.md
index 44a66f4..203bea9 100644
--- a/docs/device-driver-development/devices-csv.md
+++ b/docs/device-driver-development/devices-csv.md
@@ -96,6 +96,9 @@ in different namespaces — against the right `bus` column.
 
 ## Adding a driver
 
+(The step-by-step walkthrough with a worked example is
+[new-driver-checklist.md](new-driver-checklist.md).)
+
 1. Create `system/drivers/<name>/` with the driver source plus a ~15-line
    package `build.zig` + `build.zig.zon` (copy an existing driver package,
    e.g. `system/drivers/pci-bus/`; per-driver extras go through
diff --git a/docs/device-driver-development/new-driver-checklist.md b/docs/device-driver-development/new-driver-checklist.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..41767d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/device-driver-development/new-driver-checklist.md
@@ -0,0 +1,214 @@
+# New driver: the minimum steps
+
+The shortest path from "a device shows up in the boot log" to "my process is
+running with its registers mapped". This is the checklist; the reasoning behind
+every step lives in [Writing a driver](drivers.md), the matching rules in
+[devices.csv](devices-csv.md), and interrupts in
+[device interrupts](device-interrupts.md).
+
+Worked example throughout: the Intel UHD 750 iGPU, which the boot log reports as
+
+```
+pci-bus: 0:2.0  bus=pci base=03 class=00 prog_if=00 vendor=8086 device=4C8A ...
+```
+
+## 1. Create the source file
+
+`system/drivers/<name>/<name>.zig` — kebab-case, abbreviations spelled out
+([coding standards](../coding-standards.md)). The directory name, the binary
+name, and the `devices.csv` driver path must all agree; a mismatch fails
+silently (the device-manager logs the spawn failure, nothing else happens).
+
+The complete minimal driver — claims its device, logs every resource, maps the
+register window, then sleeps in the harness loop:
+
+```zig
+//! /system/drivers/intel-uhd-graphics-750 — spawned by the device manager with
+//! the device-tree id as argv[1]; claims that device and no other.
+
+const std = @import("std");
+const device = @import("driver");
+const ipc = @import("ipc");
+const memory = @import("memory");
+const process = @import("process");
+const service = @import("service");
+
+/// No protocol yet: the kernel's IPC ceiling (MESSAGE_MAXIMUM) sizes the buffers.
+const message_maximum = 256;
+
+var controller_id: u64 = 0;
+var register_base: usize = 0;
+
+fn initialise(endpoint: ipc.Handle) bool {
+    _ = endpoint; // needed later, for irq binding and timers
+
+    if (!device.claim(controller_id)) {
+        std.log.err("unable to claim device {d}", .{controller_id});
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    // Fetch our own descriptor back for the device's resources.
+    const buffer = memory.allocator().alloc(device.DeviceDescriptor, 64) catch return false;
+    defer memory.allocator().free(buffer);
+    const total = device.enumerate(buffer);
+    const descriptor = for (buffer[0..@min(total, buffer.len)]) |d| {
+        if (d.id == controller_id) break d;
+    } else {
+        std.log.err("device {d} not in the device tree", .{controller_id});
+        return false;
+    };
+
+    // Log every resource BEFORE choosing one (see step 5).
+    var register_index: u64 = 0;
+    for (descriptor.resources[0..@intCast(descriptor.resource_count)], 0..) |resource, index| {
+        std.log.info("resource {d}: kind={d} start=0x{x} len=0x{x}", .{
+            index, resource.kind, resource.start, resource.len,
+        });
+        // The 16 MiB window is GTTMMADR, the register BAR (this device also has
+        // a 256 MiB memory BAR, GMADR — "first memory resource" would be wrong).
+        if (resource.kind == @intFromEnum(device.ResourceKind.memory) and
+            resource.len == 16 * 1024 * 1024) register_index = index;
+    }
+    if (register_index == 0) {
+        std.log.err("register BAR not found", .{});
+        return false;
+    }
+
+    register_base = device.mmioMap(controller_id, register_index) orelse {
+        std.log.err("mmio_map failed", .{});
+        return false;
+    };
+    std.log.info("registers mapped at 0x{x}", .{register_base});
+    return true;
+}
+
+fn onMessage(message: []const u8, reply: []u8, sender: u32, capability: ?ipc.Handle) usize {
+    _ = message;
+    _ = reply;
+    _ = sender;
+    _ = capability;
+    return 0; // no protocol yet; the zero-length ping is answered by the harness
+}
+
+pub fn main(init: process.Init) void {
+    const argument = init.arguments.get(1) orelse {
+        std.log.err("missing device id (argv[1])", .{});
+        return;
+    };
+    controller_id = std.fmt.parseInt(u64, argument, 10) catch {
+        std.log.err("malformed device id '{s}'", .{argument});
+        return;
+    };
+    service.run(message_maximum, .{
+        .init = initialise,
+        .on_message = onMessage,
+        // .on_notification only once an IRQ or timer is bound
+    });
+}
+```
+
+`claim` is the capability gate: MMIO mapping, DMA grants, and IRQ binding all
+require it, and it pins the IOMMU domain to this process
+([drivers.md — claim before touch](drivers.md#the-capability-claim-before-touch)).
+
+## 2. Create the build package and register it in the root build
+
+The driver directory is its own build package
+([build-packages-plan.md](../build-packages-plan.md)): a ~15-line `build.zig`
+plus a `build.zig.zon` beside the source. Copy both from an existing driver —
+`system/drivers/pci-bus/` is the template — and adjust the name, root source
+file, and per-driver extras:
+
+```zig
+pub fn build(b: *std.Build) void {
+    const exe = build_support.userBinary(b, .{
+        .name = "intel-uhd-graphics-750",
+        .root_source_file = b.path("intel-uhd-graphics-750.zig"),
+        .domains = build_support.domains(b),
+    });
+    build_support.programModule(exe).addImport("pci", b.dependency("device", .{}).module("pci")); // if the pci library is used
+    b.installArtifact(exe);
+}
+```
+
+The zon declares `build-support`, the four domain packages, and any extras'
+homes by relative path (again, copy pci-bus's and adjust); for the
+`.fingerprint` field, leave the copied value in place and `zig build` will
+reject it and suggest the fresh one to paste.
+
+Then three one-liners in the root build register the package: the dependency
+and a row in the boot-tree array in `build.zig` (search for
+`virtio_gpu_package` to land in the right places),
+
+```zig
+const intel_uhd_graphics_750_exe = b.dependency("intel-uhd-graphics-750", .{}).artifact("intel-uhd-graphics-750");
+```
+
+```zig
+.{ .path = "system/drivers/intel-uhd-graphics-750", .binary = intel_uhd_graphics_750_exe.getEmittedBin() },
+```
+
+and the path entry in the root `build.zig.zon`:
+
+```zig
+.@"intel-uhd-graphics-750" = .{ .path = "system/drivers/intel-uhd-graphics-750" },
+```
+
+Without the boot-tree row the binary never reaches the image and the
+device-manager has nothing to spawn. (The package also builds standalone:
+`cd system/drivers/intel-uhd-graphics-750 && zig build`.)
+
+## 3. Add the match rule to `etc/devices.csv`
+
+One row: bus, class triplet, vendor/device, driver path. **Copy the class
+triplet from the pci-bus boot log line, not from another row** — for the iGPU
+above the correct rule is
+
+```
+pci,    03,  00,   00,     8086,  4C8A,  *,        *,        /system/drivers/intel-uhd-graphics-750
+```
+
+Field-by-field rules and the most-specific-wins policy: [devices.csv](devices-csv.md).
+The registry is authoritative: an unmatched device is logged unbound, never
+guessed — so a wrong nibble here means the driver simply never starts.
+
+## 4. First contact: read, predict, verify
+
+Before writing any register, read one whose value you can predict from state
+the firmware already programmed (for a display controller: the pipe source
+size of the live mode). Registers are volatile loads at `register_base +
+offset`, where `offset` is what the device's manual lists:
+
+```zig
+fn read32(offset: usize) u32 {
+    return @as(*volatile u32, @ptrFromInt(register_base + offset)).*;
+}
+```
+
+A matching read proves the whole chain — CSV match, spawn, claim, BAR choice,
+mapping — with zero risk to the hardware.
+
+## 5. Verify the plumbing
+
+- `zig build test` still passes.
+- On the image: `/var/log/<boot-stamp>/system/services/device-manager.log`
+  shows `spawned <name> for device <N>`, and
+  `/var/log/<boot-stamp>/system/drivers/<name>.log` holds the resource list and
+  your first read.
+- If the driver did not spawn, diagnose in this order: binary on the image
+  (step 2) → CSV row matches the log line exactly (step 3) → path identical in
+  both (step 1).
+
+## Later, when the device needs them
+
+- **Interrupts**: MSI/MSI-X via the `pci` module, delivered as notifications to
+  `on_notification` — see [device interrupts](device-interrupts.md) and the
+  xHCI driver's `setupMsi` (QEMU trap documented there: enable MSI-X before
+  unmasking the device's own interrupt-enable bit).
+- **DMA**: grant-backed buffers, bounded by the IOMMU domain established at
+  claim time ([driver model](driver-model.md)).
+- **Children**: a bus driver publishes what it finds via `device_register`
+  ([drivers.md — publishing children](drivers.md#publishing-children-device_register)).
+- **A protocol**: replace `message_maximum` with the protocol's own maximum and
+  dispatch on the operation word in `onMessage` — every service under
+  `system/services/` is an example.