diff --git a/pkg/compose/reconcile_start_test.go b/pkg/compose/reconcile_start_test.go
index 501065aed5..768f442102 100644
--- a/pkg/compose/reconcile_start_test.go
+++ b/pkg/compose/reconcile_start_test.go
@@ -992,10 +992,9 @@ func TestPlanStart_OrdinaryPathBareStartsAStaleRelay(t *testing.T) {
 // test for the second Copilot review finding on #14296, the symmetric gap:
 // a service declared provider: whose observed container is NOT a relay (a
 // stale normal replica left over from before the service became
-// provider-backed) must still be started -- the start path only
-// special-cases Provider != nil for the ZERO-containers case, so an
-// existing non-relay container is always started normally,
-// including post_start hooks. planProviderRelayRestart's first version
+// provider-backed) must still be started like any ordinary replica,
+// post_start hooks included: bare-vs-enriched is decided per container, not
+// from the service's declared type. planProviderRelayRestart's first version
 // silently dropped this case (filtered on isRelayContainer), returning
 // success without starting anything.
 func TestPlanStart_ProviderPathEnrichesStaleNonRelayContainer(t *testing.T) {
@@ -1034,7 +1033,7 @@ func TestPlanStart_ProviderPathEnrichesStaleNonRelayContainer(t *testing.T) {
 		"a stale non-relay container must get an enriched start (injection applies), like any ordinary replica:\n%s", plan)
 	// A Copilot review finding on the post_start-only version of this fix:
 	// pre_start must also run for this path, gated on the lowest-numbered
-	// container to start and on isRelayContainer.
+	// container to start and on isReplicaRelay.
 	if pre == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("expected pre_start hooks to run before starting prov's stale non-relay container:\n%s", plan)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/compose/service_containers.go b/pkg/compose/service_containers.go
index ea7eba795f..56122c4a26 100644
--- a/pkg/compose/service_containers.go
+++ b/pkg/compose/service_containers.go
@@ -446,22 +446,33 @@ func (s *composeService) createContainer(ctx context.Context, project *types.Pro
 }
 
 // startMx serializes the plan executor's ContainerStart calls across the whole
-// process. It is a workaround for docker/compose#12846 (added by #12851): with
-// Engine 28.0 to 28.2, containers started concurrently could be assigned the
-// same published host port, a flaw of the daemon's port allocator. That flaw
-// is fixed since Engine 28.3.0 (moby/moby#50054), so beyond it the mutex serves
-// no purpose, and it is unclear it ever prevented the duplicates reported.
-// Only this path takes it: restart, run, the relay and the hook runners start
-// their containers without it.
+// process. It was added by docker/compose#12851 as a workaround for
+// docker/compose#12846, which was not a race between container starts but a
+// flaw of the daemon's port allocator: with Engine 28.0 to 28.2, a container
+// with several random published ports, one on 0.0.0.0 and one on a specific
+// address, could be given the same host port twice. That flaw is fixed since
+// Engine 28.3.0 (moby/moby#50054). A lock around ContainerStart only orders
+// the starts, so it was unlikely to help against that flaw, and no other
+// reason to keep the mutex is known.
+//
+// It is not what starts the replicas of a service one after the other, which
+// docker/compose#8530 (a port range shared by the replicas) required and
+// docker/compose#10067 introduced: that order is the plan's replica chain
+// (each replica's start waits for the previous one's), and does not depend on
+// this mutex.
+//
+// Only the plan executor takes it (a relay restarted by a start plan
+// included): restart, run, the deployment of the relay and the hook runners
+// start their containers without it.
 //
 // TODO: remove startMx, and the locking around it, once Engine 28.x is out of
 // support.
 //
 // While it exists, it deliberately stays a package-level variable rather than
-// a composeService field: the race lives in the daemon, not in a service
-// instance, so two instances (e.g. SDK users) driving the same daemon must
-// still exclude each other. A per-instance lock would silently reintroduce the
-// duplicate-port assignment between them.
+// a composeService field: what it serializes is a call to the daemon, not
+// something of a service instance, so two instances (e.g. SDK users) driving
+// the same daemon must still exclude each other. A per-instance lock would
+// silently stop serializing the starts of two instances.
 var startMx sync.Mutex
 
 func (s *composeService) createMobyContainer(ctx context.Context, project *types.Project, service types.ServiceConfig,