diff --git a/docs/00-status.md b/docs/00-status.md
index 933342d..eac54fc 100644
--- a/docs/00-status.md
+++ b/docs/00-status.md
@@ -52,10 +52,11 @@ takes multipart/form/JSON; `just web-app` **21/0**. Surfaced + fixed the
 RETURN flavor of the interp-of-borrowed-place emitter bug (emit_return now
 sees through Interp; same corpus pin). Body-parsing hooks: all three ✅.
 
-Next per the implementation order (17 parked): finish the half-done
-database branches — 9c (ipc-attach: manifest + binding) and 9d
-(keypair-auth: manifest) — both need their forks brainstormed before
-planning.
+Next: **iteration 18** (memory-rich framework features — TTL cache,
+@table flags, durable job queue with drain-on-request, `transaction { }`
+over the WAL's staged batch; forks settled 2026-08-20, brainstormed the
+same day) — spec, then plan, then implementation on approval. After 18,
+the order resumes at 9c/9d.
 
 ---
 
@@ -171,6 +172,7 @@ that sequences its tasks. Read one, approve, then the next starts.
 | 15  | [deps: `wo.toml [deps]`](stories/language-runtime-database/15-deps-package-manager.md) | ✅ **landed 2026-08-18** (branch web-framework): [deps] inline tables, git-binary fetch, wo.lock pinning, offline-when-locked, --update-deps, WO-E106/E107; `just deps-accept` 8/0 |
 | 16  | [web framework](stories/language-runtime-database/16-web-framework.md) | ✅ **landed 2026-08-19** — writeonce-framework (HTTP/1.1 + router + Handler/Middleware) consumed by web-app through [deps]; h2c parked (§C) behind 8/9f/11. **v1 polish landed 2026-08-20** (branch framework-v1): get/post/put/delete_ helpers, 405+Allow, HEAD, Logging middleware, set_header; `just web-app` 16/0; fixed the interp-borrowed-field emitter crash en route. **Auth-in-core landed 2026-08-20**: http/auth.wo (Bearer/Basic, ct_eq, req.principal), web-app dogfoods BearerAuth, gate 17/0 |
 | 17  | [library projects + `internal/`](stories/language-runtime-database/17-library-projects-internal.md) | ⏸ **PARKED 2026-08-20** (developer directive; framework v1 first) — forks settled, spec + plan approved and ready on branch `library-internal`: kind = "library" key; Go internal/ rule, dep-boundary-only; lib+bin dual; VM/GC untouched by design |
+| 18  | [memory-rich framework features](stories/language-runtime-database/18-memory-db-features.md) | ⬜ **forks settled 2026-08-20, awaiting spec/plan**: TTL cache + @table flags + durable job queue (drain-on-request, idle-drains-nothing disclosed) + `transaction { }` over the WAL's existing staged batch; pub/sub REJECTED until 8/11 |
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/docs/stories/language-runtime-database/00-story.md b/docs/stories/language-runtime-database/00-story.md
index 76af02a..43ba647 100644
--- a/docs/stories/language-runtime-database/00-story.md
+++ b/docs/stories/language-runtime-database/00-story.md
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ iterations); no commits by agents — drafts go to `.dev/commit.md`.
 | 15 | [deps: `wo.toml [deps]`](15-deps-package-manager.md) | exact-rev git dependencies + `wo.lock` + `.wo-deps` cache; `use <dep>` resolves a fetched project as a module root; flat-only, network-free when locked |
 | 16 | [web framework](16-web-framework.md) | a `.wo`-library framework (HTTP/1.1 keep-alive behind a TLS-terminating proxy): router, `Handler`/`Middleware` structural interfaces, `@table` data layer; `docs/examples/web-app` consumes it via `[deps]`; h2c parked behind 8/9f/11 |
 | 17 | [library projects + `internal/`](17-library-projects-internal.md) | first-class library projects (`wo.toml` kind = "library", checkable without an entry, dual lib+bin) and dependency privacy (Go's `internal/` rule at the [deps] boundary) — forks settled 2026-08-20, spec/plan next |
+| 18 | [memory-rich framework features](18-memory-db-features.md) | what the embedded store + one process buy for free: TTL cache class, @table feature flags with cached reads, a durable @table job queue with drain-on-request, and `transaction { }` exposing the WAL's staged batch (enqueue + write, one commit — no outbox) — forks settled 2026-08-20, spec/plan next |
 
 Review protocol: the developer reads one iteration, approves or amends;
 the next starts only after approval. Each iteration is an unsplittable
diff --git a/docs/stories/language-runtime-database/18-memory-db-features.md b/docs/stories/language-runtime-database/18-memory-db-features.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8074b52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/stories/language-runtime-database/18-memory-db-features.md
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+# Iteration 18 — memory-rich framework features over the embedded database
+
+> Format: `product/story-iteration-template`. Part of
+> [Story — one language, one runtime, one database, one binary](00-story.md).
+>
+> **Inserted 2026-08-20, forks settled the same day** (developer decisions
+> below). Next step: spec + plan, implementation on approval — the
+> iteration-17 discipline.
+
+## Why this iteration exists
+
+The single binary owns its memory AND its durable store — the class of
+features other stacks buy with Redis, a message broker, and an outbox
+pattern falls out of what is already here: an in-process map needs no
+serialization format or cache-invalidation protocol (one process, one
+node); a `@table` is a durable queue with WAL recovery for free; and the
+WAL already stages multi-write batches internally (`wal_append*` →
+`wal_commit`) — `db.c` merely commits per statement today, so exposing the
+batch as a language transaction makes "enqueue a job and write the order
+in ONE commit" true, which is the outbox problem dissolved rather than
+worked around.
+
+## Ground truths the design stands on (verified 2026-08-20)
+
+- `time.now` exists (Timestamp) — TTL/expiry is expressible; there are no
+  timers, so expiry must piggyback on requests (lazy), never on a clock.
+- The runtime is single-threaded and `net.accept` blocks without a
+  timeout: an IDLE server executes nothing. Any "background" work runs
+  only when requests give it time — disclosed, not hidden.
+- Long-lived state lives on the instances the app wires (`App`,
+  middleware, handler fields) — they survive across requests; GC (7b)
+  handles the churn. No globals needed, none exist.
+- WAL commit is per statement in `db.c`; the staged-batch machinery
+  beneath it is already transactional in shape (RAM apply → append →
+  commit=write+fdatasync).
+
+## Settled decisions (2026-08-20)
+
+1. **Scope: TTL cache, feature flags, background jobs.** Pub/sub for
+   WebSockets is REJECTED for now — WebSockets do not exist, and
+   long-lived connections on a single-threaded accept loop is the
+   iteration-16 starvation lesson magnified; both wait for shards/fibers
+   (8/11). A channel data structure without delivery is mechanism without
+   a consumer.
+2. **Jobs execution model: drain-on-request.** A bounded job budget runs
+   after each served response, in-process, adjacent to the app's own
+   writes. Honest limit stated everywhere it matters: an idle server
+   drains nothing until the next request arrives. Fibers (11) later
+   replaces the scheduler; the queue table and job shape stay.
+   (Rejected for v1: a second worker process over 9c attach — real
+   parallelism but blocks on finishing 9c; parking jobs entirely — the
+   queue-plus-drain is useful today.)
+3. **`transaction { }` ships in this iteration.** Language block deferring
+   `wal_commit` to block end; a trap unwinding out of the block aborts the
+   staged batch (nothing committed, RAM state rolled back or rebuilt per
+   the spec's choice — the spec must settle recovery semantics precisely).
+   This is the headline: job enqueue + business write, one fdatasync, no
+   outbox.
+4. **Recorded as iteration 18; spec + plan before any code.**
+
+## Goals (draft — the spec refines)
+
+- `framework/cache.wo`: a TTL + size-cap cache class (lazy `time.now`
+  expiry on read, evict-on-write over capacity) usable as a field on any
+  long-lived instance. Pure `.wo`, no engine change.
+- Feature flags: `@table`-backed flags with a cached read-through map and
+  bump-on-write invalidation — a framework pattern (and helper) proving
+  "table + cached read" with zero cross-node invalidation problem.
+- Background jobs: a `@table` queue (durable, WAL-recovered, restart-run
+  proven like the storefront's) + a framework drain seam — the serve loop
+  offers a bounded after-response tick to a job runner the app registers;
+  job handlers are classes satisfying an interface (the Handler doctrine).
+- `transaction { }`: multi-statement atomicity exposed in the language,
+  engine-backed by the existing staged batch; enqueue-with-write becomes
+  one commit. Trap = abort.
+- The web-app demonstrates: an order-confirmation job enqueued in the same
+  transaction as the order insert, drained after later requests.
+
+## Open questions for the spec (not forks — details)
+
+- Transaction semantics under trap: RAM apply happens before append —
+  abort must undo RAM state; the spec settles whether the engine keeps an
+  undo list or applies RAM changes only at commit.
+- Nested `transaction { }`: reject (WO-E1xx) or flatten; leaning reject.
+- Job table shape: id, kind, payload (json Text), attempts, not_before —
+  the spec fixes it; retries/backoff policy stays app-side in v1.
+- Drain seam shape: interface on the Dispatcher, or a second registration
+  on `App` (`app.jobs(runner, budget)`); leaning the App registration.
+- Cache eviction order: exact LRU needs an ordered structure — the spec
+  decides between approximate (FIFO of keys) and true LRU cost.
+
+## Acceptance Criteria (draft)
+
+- **Given** a cache with TTL 1 and capacity N, **when** a request reads an
+  expired key or writes past capacity, **then** the entry is gone /
+  evicted — proven by a probe without sleeping the server (stamps
+  injected, not waited).
+- **Given** two writes inside `transaction { }` and a crash (SIGKILL)
+  between block end and the next request, **when** the server restarts,
+  **then** both rows exist; **given** a trap inside the block, **then**
+  neither row exists and the server keeps serving.
+- **Given** an order POST that enqueues a job transactionally, **when**
+  the response has been sent and a subsequent request arrives, **then**
+  the job has run within the drain budget; **given** a SIGKILL before the
+  drain, **then** the job survives restart and runs after the next
+  request.
+- **Given** a flag flipped through its table, **when** the next request
+  reads it, **then** the cached read reflects the write (bump
+  invalidation), and `just web-app` stays green throughout.
+
+## Out Of Scope
+
+Pub/sub and WebSockets (behind 8/11); streaming job payloads; cross-node
+anything (there is one node by doctrine); job priorities/cron scheduling
+(the log-watcher `run` mode already covers time-based execution
+externally); exposing the WAL batch API beyond `transaction { }`;
+distributed cache invalidation (does not exist to invalidate).
+
+## Proposed Solution
+
+Spec next: transaction semantics (the one engine+language seam), the four
+framework pieces as `.wo` (cache, flags, queue+drain, web-app demo), and
+`just web-app` extended as the gate — including the SIGKILL/restart
+transactional-jobs proof. Plan follows the spec; implementation on
+approval.