diff --git a/.github/workflows/README.md b/.github/workflows/README.md
index cc69447..4719d0d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/README.md
+++ b/.github/workflows/README.md
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ the digest are those of the tested artifact:
   `.url` (the repository), `.version` (`RELEASE_VERSION`), `.revision`
   (`git rev-parse HEAD`), `.created` (the commit time, not the build
   time), and `.licenses` (`OCI_LICENSE`,
-  default `GPL-3.0-or-later`).
+  default `GPL-3.0-only`).
 - `org.opencontainers.image.description`, only when the instance sets
   `OCI_DESCRIPTION` in `image.mk` (the Makefile has no offline source
   for the repository description).
diff --git a/docs/TEMPLATE.md b/docs/TEMPLATE.md
index 78b8be5..91e56e4 100644
--- a/docs/TEMPLATE.md
+++ b/docs/TEMPLATE.md
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ defaults) and every variable is `?=`, so set them in `image.mk`:
 | `BUILD_ARGS` | empty | full flag words, e.g. `--build-arg APP_VERSION=$(RELEASE_VERSION)` |
 | `EXTRA_LABELS` | empty | full flag words, e.g. `--label k=v` |
 | `OCI_DESCRIPTION` | empty | `org.opencontainers.image.description`; the label is omitted while empty |
-| `OCI_LICENSE` | `GPL-3.0-or-later` | SPDX id for `org.opencontainers.image.licenses` |
+| `OCI_LICENSE` | `GPL-3.0-only` | SPDX id for `org.opencontainers.image.licenses` |
 | `COVERAGE_REPORT` | empty | release asset name for the `io.github.<owner>.coverage-report` label; omitted while empty |
 | `IMAGE_SMOKE_PORT`, `IMAGE_SMOKE_PATH` | `8000`, `/health/live` | URL polled for a 2xx |
 | `IMAGE_SMOKE_RUN_ARGS`, `IMAGE_SMOKE_TIMEOUT` | empty, `60` | extra `docker run` words, whitespace-separated with no embedded spaces or quotes (passed through the environment); seconds to wait |
@@ -608,7 +608,7 @@ template-base
 Naming: a library repo is `lib-<name>-<py|ts|rs>` and an app repo is
 `template-<runtime>`; the registry package is `craftainer-<name>` on PyPI and
 crates.io and `@craftainer/<name>` on npm (`lib-crud-sdk-ts` publishes
-`@craftainer/crud-sdk`). Libraries declare `GPL-3.0-or-later` in their package
+`@craftainer/crud-sdk`). Libraries declare `GPL-3.0-only` in their package
 manifest; base itself ships the GPL v3 text in `LICENSE`.
 
 Each mid-layer template is an instance of base that is itself a template. It
diff --git a/docs/adrs/0003-re-parent-onto-template-docker.md b/docs/adrs/0003-re-parent-onto-template-docker.md
index 37313e4..0c33689 100644
--- a/docs/adrs/0003-re-parent-onto-template-docker.md
+++ b/docs/adrs/0003-re-parent-onto-template-docker.md
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 Accepted
 
+Note (2026-10-26, LIC1): the project licence identifier is now `GPL-3.0-only`, not `GPL-3.0-or-later`; the `OCI_LICENSE` default and the `licenses` label follow it. The `GPL-3.0-or-later` mentions below record what was decided at the time.
+
 ## Context
 
 template-react was an instance of `template-base` that carried its own