Primary repository: HowToFit. Branch: feature/howtofit-runtime-guidance.
Local clone: /workspace/scratch/a05dd794807b/HowToFit, main clean and fetched before work. Mind has no conflicting claim in these repositories. The two HowToFit changes are coordinated sequentially in this authorized batch on separate branches; no separate bundle backlog.

Update the first 15-parameter fit's prose and progress message using the recorded 385.1-second measurement, stating that hardware and sampling affect timing. Preserve fit settings. Regenerate notebooks and navigator catalogue, and check generated prose.

Heart door: STALE, release stale and monitoring red; not a release-readiness claim. Recheck authoritative readiness before shipping. Use Python 3.12 local runtime.

HowToFit tutorial 4 promises "under a minute" and takes six

Type: docs
Target: HowToFit
Repos:

• HowToFit
  Themes:
• tutorials
  Difficulty: small
  Autonomy: safe
  Priority: low
  Status: formalised
  Consequence: notify
  Review-minutes: 5
  Unattended: ready
  Witness: tutorial 4's prose states a runtime that matches a measured run of its 15-parameter DynestyStatic fit.
  Filed: 2026-09-15

scripts/chapter_1_introduction/tutorial_4_why_modeling_is_hard.py says of its
15-parameter, five-Gaussian DynestyStatic(sample="rwalk") fit:

"Consequently, the non-linear search takes slightly longer to run but still
 completes in under a minute."

Measured 2026-09-15 at real settings on a 4-core container: 385.1s (6m25s),
the slowest script in the series by a factor of five. The print a few lines
below ("this could take a few minutes") is closer but still under.

Not a defect — the fit completes and the tutorial passes — but it is the single
longest wait in chapter 1 and the prose sets a workshop audience up to think
something has hung. Either restate the runtime honestly (and say it depends on
core count) or give the fit a smaller budget.