diff --git a/ARCHITECTURE.md b/ARCHITECTURE.md
index cf61c65..d4fa456 100644
--- a/ARCHITECTURE.md
+++ b/ARCHITECTURE.md
@@ -70,3 +70,8 @@ The output boundary is intentionally strict:
 - UI: preserve controller/component boundaries and verify the real Tauri window when behavior changes.
 
 Start with [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md), use `npm run ai:check` for ordinary work, and use `npm run ai:release-check` before publishing.
+
+## Maintenance
+
+- [English maintenance guide](docs/maintenance-guide.en.md)
+- [中文维护指南](docs/maintenance-guide.md)
diff --git a/README.en.md b/README.en.md
index 7c79eea..025f48a 100644
--- a/README.en.md
+++ b/README.en.md
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ cargo install cargo-audit --locked
 
 ## Contributing
 
-Before opening an Issue or Pull Request, read [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md), [SUPPORT.md](SUPPORT.md), and [CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). Small, focused bug fixes, documentation updates, config examples, and tests are welcome. Changes touching ASR, LLM polishing, clipboard/paste, hotkeys, tray behavior, logs, stats, or config structure should clearly describe their impact and verification steps.
+Before opening an Issue or Pull Request, read [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) · [English maintenance guide](docs/maintenance-guide.en.md), [SUPPORT.md](SUPPORT.md), and [CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). Small, focused bug fixes, documentation updates, config examples, and tests are welcome. Changes touching ASR, LLM polishing, clipboard/paste, hotkeys, tray behavior, logs, stats, or config structure should clearly describe their impact and verification steps.
 
 For security or privacy issues, follow [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md). Do not include real keys, transcripts, personal hotwords, prompts, recent context, raw logs, or Windows username paths in public Issues, Pull Requests, screenshots, or logs.
 
diff --git a/docs/README.md b/docs/README.md
index 3747e4a..c593da5 100644
--- a/docs/README.md
+++ b/docs/README.md
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 - AI 和维护规则：[AGENTS.md](../AGENTS.md)
 - 公开路线图：[ROADMAP.md](../ROADMAP.md)
 - 贡献者架构入口：[ARCHITECTURE.md](../ARCHITECTURE.md)
-- 日常维护指南：[docs/maintenance-guide.md](maintenance-guide.md)
+- 日常维护指南：[docs/maintenance-guide.md](maintenance-guide.md) / [English](maintenance-guide.en.md)
 - 架构概览：[docs/architecture.md](architecture.md)
 - ASR 质量与延迟守门清单：[docs/asr-quality-latency-guardrails.md](asr-quality-latency-guardrails.md)
 - 代码规范：[docs/code-style.md](code-style.md)
diff --git a/docs/maintenance-guide.en.md b/docs/maintenance-guide.en.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a4ae1ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/maintenance-guide.en.md
@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+# VoxType maintenance guide
+
+This document is for day-to-day maintenance and small release iterations. The goal is to help maintainers quickly decide which module a change belongs in, and which boundaries must not be casually crossed.
+
+## Locate the path before you change code
+
+VoxType's core path is:
+
+```text
+trigger recording -> microphone capture -> ASR provider -> optional LLM polish -> clipboard output -> stats and local history
+```
+
+Before editing, decide whether the change touches any of these areas:
+
+- ASR provider, audio chunking, final-packet selection, empty-recognition handling.
+- LLM trigger conditions, prompt assembly, recent context, or screen OCR reference text.
+- Clipboard write, auto-paste, original-clipboard restore.
+- Logs, diagnostic reports, statistics, local transcript history.
+- Hotkeys, tray, window-close behavior.
+
+If you touch these areas, read [ASR quality and latency guardrails](asr-quality-latency-guardrails.md) first, then decide the test scope.
+
+## ASR provider boundaries
+
+`src-tauri/src/asr_provider.rs` is the unified entry point. It is responsible for only three things:
+
+- Resolve the current provider.
+- Run start-up configuration gates.
+- Hand recording-session parameters to the concrete provider.
+
+Doubao protocol details live under `src-tauri/src/asr_ws/`. Alibaba Cloud FunASR protocol details live in `aliyun_asr.rs`. Do not push provider-specific WebSocket payloads, event parsing, or final-text selection logic back into `asr_provider.rs`.
+
+The Doubao ASR directory is split by responsibility: `worker.rs` only orchestrates ASR, LLM, and output; `session.rs` handles the Doubao WebSocket session loop; `audio_stream.rs` handles the audio queue and send pacing; `connection.rs` handles connection tests and handshake; `final_text.rs` handles final-text selection; `partial_text.rs` handles live-caption throttling; `output.rs` handles final output events and side effects; `errors.rs` handles error classification. When adding Doubao behavior, put it in the matching module first — do not pile logic back into `mod.rs`.
+
+When adding a provider, prefer the current lightweight dispatch style. Only introduce a trait or heavier abstraction once provider count and shared behavior are clearly duplicated.
+
+## Final-text gates
+
+Live captions and final text must be handled separately:
+
+- Doubao: intermediate packets only update captions; final output waits for the final packet and second-pass sentence selection.
+- Alibaba Cloud: `result-generated` only updates captions; final output must wait for `task-finished`.
+
+No intermediate text may trigger LLM polish, paste, success stats, recent context, or automatic hotword history. An empty final text must enter the failure path.
+
+## Settings page maintenance
+
+The settings page should stay approachable for ordinary users, with advanced parameters available for repair:
+
+- High-frequency, required fields are shown directly.
+- Low-frequency, protocol, compatibility, or troubleshooting fields prefer a collapsed section.
+- Advanced sections that are enabled, non-default, or have validation errors must auto-expand.
+- Field-validation navigation is owned by `src/lib/utils/settingsFields.ts`; panel ids must match the component `id` values.
+- Reuse `src/lib/components/common/AdvancedSettings.svelte` for collapsible panels — do not reimplement the same DOM/CSS on each page.
+- Reuse `src/lib/components/common/ActionPanel.svelte` for "description + metadata + action buttons" cards; pages keep only business buttons and state checks.
+
+When adding a settings field, follow the configuration-sync checklist in `AGENTS.md`. Do not change only Rust or only the frontend.
+
+## Privacy and diagnostics
+
+By default, never write any of the following into logs, diagnostic reports, release audits, or screenshots:
+
+- Real credentials / API keys.
+- Recognition transcript body.
+- Hotwords, prompts, or recent-context body text.
+- Screen OCR body text.
+- Windows username paths.
+
+Statistics store non-body metrics only. Even when recent context and automatic hotword history are enabled, they may only enter their own local data files — never write them back into `config.toml`.
+
+## Pre-release checks
+
+Day-to-day changes:
+
+```powershell
+npm run test:unit
+npm run ai:check
+```
+
+Before a release:
+
+```powershell
+npm run ai:release-check
+npx tauri build
+```
+
+`ai:release-check` first confirms the debug EXE is not locked by a running VoxType instance, then covers the day-to-day checks, npm audit, Rust audit, clippy, and a Tauri debug build. If the preflight reports a file lock, close the debug app from this session and retry — do not wait until the final Tauri build to debug it. GitHub Actions CI reuses the same entry point; if local release checks fail, do not push a release branch.
+
+Treat test evidence as three separate layers — do not mix them:
+
+- Unit/governance tests use synthetic or local temporary data only and must not call providers.
+- API-settings ASR connection tests use real credentials and send a program-generated short silence packet to the selected service, but do not open the microphone.
+- Real recording regressions capture and send live microphone audio; only record them as completed when the change truly touches capture or the full ASR main path and a maintainer explicitly ran them.
+
+Release version numbers should reflect impact:
+
+- patch: pure maintenance, docs, small fixes, narrow copy changes.
+- minor: user-visible features, clear UX adjustments, default-policy changes.
+- major: breaking compatibility or requiring users to relearn the core workflow.
+
+On release, keep `package.json`, `package-lock.json`, `src-tauri/Cargo.toml`, `src-tauri/Cargo.lock`, `src-tauri/tauri.conf.json`, `CHANGELOG.md`, `docs/audits/`, and the current release-audit entry in `docs/README.md` in sync.
+
+## Configuration sync, secrets scan, and rollback
+
+Before merging maintainer changes that touch settings or release metadata:
+
+```powershell
+npm run check:governance
+npm run scan:secrets
+```
+
+`check:governance` validates docs/governance consistency used by CI. `scan:secrets` must stay clean — never commit transcripts, credentials, hotwords, prompts, OCR text, recent context, logs, statistics dumps, or Windows username paths.
+
+If a release build or publish is bad:
+
+1. Stop distributing the bad artifact (GitHub Release / installer channel).
+2. Prefer a forward fix release over rewriting published tags.
+3. Record the incident under `docs/audits/` and link it from `docs/README.md`.
+4. Re-run `npm run ai:release-check` on the fix branch before tagging again.
+
+Chinese original: [maintenance-guide.md](maintenance-guide.md).
\ No newline at end of file