diff --git a/docs/explanation/returns-and-performance.md b/docs/explanation/returns-and-performance.md
index 937af9e..8ff996f 100644
--- a/docs/explanation/returns-and-performance.md
+++ b/docs/explanation/returns-and-performance.md
@@ -19,10 +19,25 @@ Two columns show up throughout zfin:
   3-Year Return:              20.75%        22.22%  ann.
 ```
 
-Total return needs dividend history, which comes from Polygon -- so it
-requires `POLYGON_API_KEY`. Without it, you still get price-only
-returns. For a dividend payer like SCHD the gap between the two columns
-is large; for a non-payer it's near zero.
+Total return is computed two ways, and zfin reports whichever comes out
+higher per period:
+
+- **Dividend reinvestment** -- walk the dividend history, buy more shares
+  at each ex-date's close, compound. Exact, but only as complete as the
+  dividend records, which come from Polygon -- so this path wants
+  `POLYGON_API_KEY`.
+- **Adjusted close** -- providers publish an `adj_close` that already
+  bakes dividends in. No dividend history needed, but it is only as
+  current as the last full price-history download (see
+  [Incremental candle updates](caching.md#incremental-candle-updates)).
+
+Both failure modes -- a missing dividend record, a stale adjustment --
+understate the return, never overstate it, which is why taking the higher
+of the two is safe rather than arbitrary. So without `POLYGON_API_KEY`
+you still get a genuine total return, just via the second path; the gap
+you'd see is at most a distribution or two, not the whole yield. For a
+dividend payer like SCHD the gap between the price-only and total-return
+columns is large; for a non-payer it's near zero.
 
 ## Annualized (CAGR)
 
diff --git a/docs/guides/offline-and-refresh.md b/docs/guides/offline-and-refresh.md
index 1572029..fae808f 100644
--- a/docs/guides/offline-and-refresh.md
+++ b/docs/guides/offline-and-refresh.md
@@ -17,11 +17,29 @@ zfin --refresh-data=force  perf VTI
 zfin --refresh-data=never  analysis
 ```
 
-| Value            | Behavior                                                                                                      |
-|------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-| `auto` (default) | Respect each data type's cache TTL; fetch only what's stale.                                                  |
-| `force`          | Re-fetch every symbol regardless of freshness. Use after a market close, or when you suspect bad cached data. |
-| `never`          | Serve cache contents only; make no network calls. True offline mode.                                          |
+| Value            | Behavior                                                                                                       |
+|------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| `auto` (default) | Respect each data type's cache TTL; fetch only what's stale.                                                   |
+| `force`          | Re-ask providers regardless of freshness. Use after a market close, or when a fetch seems to have been missed. |
+| `never`          | Serve cache contents only; make no network calls. True offline mode.                                           |
+
+### `force` tops up price history, it does not rebuild it
+
+Worth knowing before you reach for it: for daily candles, `force` skips
+the TTL and asks the provider for anything newer than the last cached
+bar. It does **not** re-download the series. So if you suspect the
+*existing* bars are wrong rather than merely incomplete, `force` will
+not help -- it appends and moves on.
+
+That case is handled automatically now. When a dividend or split goes ex,
+the bars behind it need their adjusted closes marked down, and zfin
+re-downloads that symbol's full history to pick up the corrected values
+on its own -- see
+[Incremental candle updates](../explanation/caching.md#incremental-candle-updates).
+`zfin diagnose SYMBOL` says whether one is pending.
+
+`zfin cache clear` remains the blunt instrument if you want to discard
+everything and start over.
 
 ## Working offline
 
@@ -66,7 +84,8 @@ zfin cache clear      # delete all cached data
 
 `cache clear` is safe -- everything re-fetches on the next run (subject
 to provider rate limits). Reach for it only when you suspect corrupt
-cached data; normal staleness is handled by `auto`. See
+cached data; normal staleness is handled by `auto`, and a stale
+adjustment basis repairs itself. See
 [`zfin cache`](../reference/cli/cache.md).
 
 ## See also
diff --git a/src/commands/diagnose.zig b/src/commands/diagnose.zig
index 88c59a3..118b484 100644
--- a/src/commands/diagnose.zig
+++ b/src/commands/diagnose.zig
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ pub const meta: framework.Meta = .{
     \\  adj basis  how current the cached adj_close values are, against the
     \\             newest dividend or split that has already gone ex
     \\  peers      newest bar held by other symbols of the same kind
+    \\  tracked    whether a normal run fetches this symbol at all, or it is
+    \\             only pulled on demand (a projections benchmark, say)
     \\  server     what ZFIN_SERVER offers, whether it is ahead or behind, and
     \\             whether it refreshes this symbol at all
     \\  provider   what the upstream provider actually has right now