diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 5ef935e..8575683 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -46,11 +46,14 @@ App.jsx (router)
 
 ### Error Bar Convention: 90% Intervals
 
-The API returns 95% HPD intervals (`count_lower`, `count_upper`). However, all chart labels and calculations in this app use **90% intervals**. When converting HPD bounds to standard deviations for the synthetic draw generation fallback (used in the ridgeline chart if real draws can't be fetched — see "Real posterior draws via duckdb-wasm" above), the divisor used is **3.29** (corresponding to z = 1.645 for a two-tailed 90% interval).
+The API returns 95% HPD intervals (`count_lower`, `count_upper`). However, all chart labels and calculations in this app use **90% intervals**.
+
+The 90% convention is baked into the analytic fallback in `src/utils/distributionApprox.js` (the path used when real posterior draws can't be fetched — see the duckdb-wasm section below). That fallback generates **no draws**: `fitSkewedInterval` fits a two-piece normal directly from `{median, lower, upper}`, converting each half-interval to its own sigma with `z = probit((1 + intervalMass) / 2)` and `intervalMass` defaulting to `0.90` (so z ≈ 1.645). For a symmetric interval that is equivalent to the old fixed "full width / 3.29" divisor, but it is computed from `intervalMass` rather than hardcoded, and each side gets its own sigma so the fitted shape stays skewed.
 
 If you change this convention, update:
-- `RateDensityRidgeline.jsx` — SD calculation (`intervalWidth / 3.29`) and label text
-- `ModelDrawsComparison.jsx` — Legend labels mentioning "90%"
+- `distributionApprox.js` — the `intervalMass = 0.90` default in `fitSkewedInterval`, and its JSDoc claim that the API's bounds are a 90% interval
+- `RateByGroupBar.jsx` — the caption and component JSDoc, both of which say "the model's reported 90% interval"
+- `ArrestsOverTime.jsx` — the legend label "Modeled (median + 90% interval)"
 - Any documentation referencing confidence/credible intervals
 
 ## Common Pitfalls & Gotchas
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 79a22ee..cd5931f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,22 +18,19 @@ npm run preview    # serve built files locally
 
 ## What It Does
 
-Visitors select a U.S. state, search for a school district (with suggestions of districts that have the most arrests), and see 6 charts comparing observed data against Bayesian model estimates:
+Visitors select a U.S. state, search for a school district (with suggestions of districts that have the most arrests), and see 3 charts comparing observed data against Bayesian model estimates:
 
 1. **Arrests over time** (Chart 1) — raw counts by CRDC wave with per-1k rate labels, built with inline SVG
-2. **Rate by student group** (Chart 2) — bar chart, most recent year (observed vs. modeled), SVG
-3. **District vs. national** (Chart 3) — highest-rate group compared to the U.S. average, SVG
-4. **Model predictions vs. observed** (Chart 4) — four quadrants (one-year/three-year × baseline/covariate)
-5. **Predicted rates by student group** (Chart 5) — density ridges built from each group's real 500-draw posterior (fetched client-side via duckdb-wasm from the public Hugging Face parquet dataset), with diamond markers for observed rates; falls back to an analytic approximation if the draws can't be fetched.
-6. **Exceedance probability** (Chart 6) — P(district > national) per student group
+2. **Rate by student group** (Chart 2) — box-and-whisker per race×sex group for the most recent year, split into Female/Male panels. The box is the 25th–75th percentile of that group's real 500-draw posterior (same duckdb-wasm fetch as Chart 3), the whisker is the model's reported 90% interval, and a diamond marks the observed rate; individual boxes fall back to an analytic approximation when a group's draws can't be fetched.
+3. **Predicted rates by student group** (Chart 3) — density ridges built from each group's real 500-draw posterior (fetched client-side via duckdb-wasm from the public Hugging Face parquet dataset), with a model-selector dropdown for the four Bayesian specifications and diamond markers for observed rates; falls back to an analytic approximation if the draws can't be fetched.
 
 ## Architecture
 
 ### Tech Stack
 - **React 19** + **Vite** (static site generation, no backend required)
 - Plain CSS custom properties for styling (matches Civilytics design tokens exactly)
-- D3.js v7 for data-driven visualizations (density ridges, scales, axes)
-- Inline SVG rendering — charts are built with vanilla DOM/D3, not charting libraries
+- Inline SVG rendering with hand-rolled scales — no charting library, no D3 dependency
+- Embeds **DuckDB-Wasm** (`@duckdb/duckdb-wasm`, ~39MB uncompressed / ~8.8MB gzipped, loaded on demand only after a district is selected) to query real posterior draws client-side from a public Hugging Face Parquet dataset
 - Calls the public read-only API directly from the browser
 
 ### File Structure
@@ -41,26 +38,32 @@ Visitors select a U.S. state, search for a school district (with suggestions of
 crdc-demo/
 ├── index.html                    # Entry point
 ├── vite.config.mjs               # Vite build config
-├── public/                       # Static assets (wordmark, favicon)
-│   └── civilytics-wordmark.svg  # Civilytics wordmark from civilyticsR package
+├── public/                       # Static assets (wordmark, favicon, fixtures)
+│   ├── civilytics-wordmark.svg  # Civilytics wordmark from civilyticsR package
+│   └── data/national_rates.json # Static national rates fixture for comparisons
 ├── src/
 │   ├── main.jsx                  # React entry
 │   ├── App.jsx                   # Main router (state → search → loading → charts)
-│   ├── hooks/useApi.js           # API client with retry/backoff + endpoint wrappers
+│   ├── hooks/
+│   │   ├── useApi.js             # API client with retry/backoff + endpoint wrappers
+│   │   └── useDrawDistribution.js # Fetches real posterior draws (duckdb-wasm + HF parquet)
 │   ├── components/
 │   │   ├── StateSelector.jsx     # Landing screen — state dropdown/grid
 │   │   ├── DistrictSearch.jsx    # Search + "interesting" district suggestions
 │   │   ├── LoadingAnimation.jsx  # Animated histogram grid during data fetch
-│   │   └── ChartPanel.jsx        # Orchestrates all 6 charts + data fetching
+│   │   ├── ChartLegend.jsx       # Shared legend row
+│   │   ├── ApproxNote.jsx        # "shape estimated from interval bounds" caption
+│   │   └── ChartPanel.jsx        # Orchestrates all 3 charts + data fetching
 │   ├── charts/
-│   │   ├── ArrestsOverTime.jsx          # Chart 1 — line chart by wave (SVG)
-│   │   ├── RateByGroupBar.jsx            # Chart 2 — bar chart by group (SVG)
-│   │   ├── DistrictVsNational.jsx        # Chart 3 — comparison vs. national avg
-│   │   ├── ModelDrawsComparison.jsx      # Chart 4 — quadrant model comparison (D3)
-│   │   ├── RateDensityRidgeline.jsx      # Chart 5 — density ridges per student group (D3)
-│   │   └── ExceedanceProbability.jsx     # Chart 6 — P(district > nat) per group
-│   ├── styles/tokens.css          # Civilytics design tokens (colors, fonts, spacing)
-│   └── data/national_rates.json    # Static national rates fixture for comparisons
+│   │   ├── ArrestsOverTime.jsx          # Chart 1 — counts by wave (SVG)
+│   │   ├── RateByGroupBar.jsx            # Chart 2 — box-and-whisker by group (SVG)
+│   │   └── RateDensityRidgeline.jsx      # Chart 3 — density ridges per student group (SVG)
+│   ├── utils/
+│   │   ├── duckdbClient.js       # Lazy duckdb-wasm bundle loader (dynamic import)
+│   │   ├── kde.js                # Empirical density from real draws (+ kde.test.js)
+│   │   ├── drawGroups.js         # Draw-map key format + coverage check (+ .test.js)
+│   │   └── distributionApprox.js # Analytic fallback when draws are unavailable
+│   └── styles/tokens.css          # Civilytics design tokens (colors, fonts, spacing)
 ├── Dockerfile                    # Multi-stage build → nginx static server
 ├── docker-compose.yml            # Local dev / self-hosted deployment
 └── .gitea/workflows/pages.yml   # CI/CD — builds and deploys to pages branch
@@ -114,7 +117,7 @@ docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64 -t registry.civilytics.org/crdc-demo:
 docker push registry.civilytics.org/crdc-demo:latest
 ```
 
-The container is ~5MB (nginx Alpine) and serves static files with immutable cache headers. A `/healthz` endpoint supports container orchestration health checks.
+The container is nginx Alpine (~5MB) plus the built site, which is dominated by the ~39MB DuckDB-Wasm engine. `nginx.conf` serves that engine gzipped (~8.8MB on the wire) with immutable cache headers, so it is fetched once per browser. A `/healthz` endpoint supports container orchestration health checks.
 
 ### Environment Variables
 | Variable | Default | Description |