diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 2be7cf1..1237bc3 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ keywords = ["bluray", "uhd", "optical", "scsi", "disc"]
 categories = ["hardware-support", "multimedia"]
 # Keep internal AI-instruction / private notes out of the published crate.
 exclude = ["CLAUDE.md"]
+# OFF crates.io: libfreemkv git-deps freemkv-unlock (firmware, never published),
+# so libfreemkv itself can only be consumed by git tag. Clients git-tag-pin it.
+publish = false
 
 [profile.release]
 lto = "thin"
@@ -22,6 +25,9 @@ sha1 = "0.10"
 sha2 = "0.10"
 aes = "0.8"
 cbc = "0.1"
+# Interim path dep for local cross-repo dev; the release script re-pins this to
+# `{ git = ".../freemkv-unlock", tag = "vX.Y.Z" }` before tagging libfreemkv (so
+# the released tag resolves freemkv-unlock from git, not a sibling path).
 freemkv-unlock = { path = "../freemkv-unlock" }
 num-bigint = "0.4"
 num-traits = "0.2"