diff --git a/packages/chord/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/chord/CHANGELOG.md
index 5d2dda138..973cf7f2e 100644
--- a/packages/chord/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/chord/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 - `WatchHandle<T>` and `WatchEnd`, the one watch API, moved from Durable: a serialized exact-frame observation with `value`, `start(listener)`, `stop()`, and `closed`. `WatchEnd` reasons are `stopped`, `cancelled`, `retired`, `ended`, `listener_error`, and `failed`.
 - `Watch<T>`, the one watch handle implementation, moved from Durable: a source creates one per watch and feeds it with `advance(value, ops, context)`, `retire(context)` (last frame `[["r", null]]`, then `retired`), `end()` or `end({ error })`, and `observeCancellation(signal)`. More than 100 undelivered frames collapse to one root replacement `[["r", newest]]`; termination drops the listener and every reference into the source.
+- `Watchable<T>`: a value that changes and can be watched (`value`, `watch(context)` returning a `WatchHandle<T>`), the common interface of documents, derives and other observable values.
 - `NativeWatchHandle<T>` and its implementation `NativeWatch<T>`: the same lifecycle for in-process values, with listener `(value, context)` and no ops; an overflow collapses to the newest value.
 
 ## [1.4.0] - 2026-10-21
diff --git a/packages/chord/src/index.ts b/packages/chord/src/index.ts
index d81b621b5..3523e27f1 100644
--- a/packages/chord/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/chord/src/index.ts
@@ -78,6 +78,13 @@ export {
 	replicatedState,
 } from "./state.ts";
 export type { Ctx, GetOptions, Readable, RefStatus, Shape, StateEvent } from "./types.ts";
-export { NativeWatch, type NativeWatchHandle, Watch, type WatchEnd, type WatchHandle } from "./watch.ts";
+export {
+	NativeWatch,
+	type NativeWatchHandle,
+	Watch,
+	type Watchable,
+	type WatchEnd,
+	type WatchHandle,
+} from "./watch.ts";
 export { acceptWebSockets, type WebSocketAcceptOptions, type WebSocketServerLike } from "./websocket.ts";
 export { type Frame, PROTOCOL_VERSION } from "./wire.ts";
diff --git a/packages/chord/src/watch.ts b/packages/chord/src/watch.ts
index 3b8a19044..d0bbcc6a9 100644
--- a/packages/chord/src/watch.ts
+++ b/packages/chord/src/watch.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,17 @@ export interface WatchHandle<T> {
 	readonly closed: Promise<WatchEnd>;
 }
 
+/**
+ * A value that changes and can be watched: documents, derives, members of references. Values are immutable by
+ * convention (JSON for state); each watch starts at the current value and then gets one frame per change.
+ */
+export interface Watchable<T> {
+	/** The current value. */
+	readonly value: T;
+	/** A watch holding the current value, then one frame per change; the context's cancellation ends it. */
+	watch(context: Context): Promise<WatchHandle<T>>;
+}
+
 /** Serialized observation of an in-process value: as `WatchHandle`, but a change is a new value without ops. */
 export interface NativeWatchHandle<T> {
 	/** Acquisition value before start; latest delivered value afterward. */