diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery-gate/README.md b/modules/mesh-delivery-gate/README.md
index bcc3db09..0da8df86 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery-gate/README.md
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery-gate/README.md
@@ -19,3 +19,22 @@ module and the backup's words, and the pull request's comment shows it. The hold
 of such a delivery asks the controller (`delivery-backups-again`) to take the backups again and the delivery goes on
 delivering; a record from before the controller cleared the failure does not hold it again. A held delivery already
 ends as covered or delivered when a later merge covers it.
+
+## Taking the seat over from today's module
+
+The gate claims the seat `mesh-delivery` beside the module `mesh-delivery`, which the catalogue no longer holds. The controller
+keeps a module that is assigned (it refuses to forget it), so the running module goes by a handover of verbs after the merge,
+never by hand on a machine (novox/hq ADR 0449 §4, ADR 0450 §6):
+
+1. assign `mesh-delivery-gate` to the machine that holds the seat (`mesh-controller.assign`);
+2. check that `mesh-controller.seats` still names `mesh-delivery`, held by the running module;
+3. unassign `mesh-delivery` from that machine (`mesh-controller.unassign`) and push it (`mesh-controller.push`);
+4. the seat passes: the gate reads the controller's assignments and the node-engine's have keys, finds the module on no machine,
+   carries its deliveries, groups and pull keys over once (the key `carried` in its `deliveries` says it did), reads the controller's
+   walks and the forge's open pull requests, and acts.
+
+Until then the gate is silent: it takes no event, writes no key, asks nothing and answers no verb but `delivery_status`, which
+says why (`holds-the-seat`, `seat-waits`).
+
+The catalogue holds the names of the old module that the handover needs, and no others: the three buckets the gate carries
+over, and the event the issue tracker and the tool runner hear until the module is forgotten (`catalogue_test.go`).
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery-gate/cmd/mesh-delivery-gate/catalogue_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery-gate/cmd/mesh-delivery-gate/catalogue_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..af564adc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery-gate/cmd/mesh-delivery-gate/catalogue_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"slices"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// **Today's module is gone from the catalogue** (novox/hq ADR 0437 §1, issue 1351; how it is checked): no `modules/mesh-delivery`
+// is held, no manifest declares the module `mesh-delivery`, and no manifest names the module in what it reads, hears or
+// calls but through the seat's name (`mesh-delivery` as a seat or a repository, `seat:mesh-delivery.<verb>`) and through
+// the names below, each of which stays until today's module is forgotten by the controller, because it is the only way to
+// reach what that module left: the three buckets the gate carries over (ADR 0450 §6) and the event the trackers hear
+// (issue 1350). Removing the module from the catalogue does not stop the running module: the controller keeps it until it is
+// unassigned (mesh-controller upgrades.go retireDeleted), and the handover follows the merge by verbs.
+var oldModuleNames = map[string][]string{
+	"mesh-delivery-gate": {"mesh-delivery.deliveries", "mesh-delivery.groups", "mesh-delivery.pulls"},
+	"mesh-issues":        {"mesh-delivery.transition"},
+}
+
+func TestTheCatalogueHoldsNoModuleMeshDeliveryButThroughTheNamesItsHandoverNeeds(t *testing.T) {
+	modules := filepath.Join("..", "..", "..")
+	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(modules, "mesh-delivery")); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("modules/mesh-delivery is still in the catalogue: its code is the gate's now")
+	}
+	dirs, err := os.ReadDir(modules)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	read := 0
+	for _, dir := range dirs {
+		raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(modules, dir.Name(), "module.json"))
+		if err != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		read++
+		var manifest any
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &manifest); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("%s: %v", dir.Name(), err)
+		}
+		if m, _ := manifest.(map[string]any); m["module"] == "mesh-delivery" {
+			t.Errorf("%s declares the module mesh-delivery", dir.Name())
+		}
+		var walk func(v any)
+		walk = func(v any) {
+			switch x := v.(type) {
+			case string:
+				if strings.HasPrefix(x, "mesh-delivery.") && !slices.Contains(oldModuleNames[dir.Name()], x) {
+					t.Errorf("%s names the module mesh-delivery in %q: through the seat, or the gate's name", dir.Name(), x)
+				}
+			case []any:
+				for _, e := range x {
+					walk(e)
+				}
+			case map[string]any:
+				for _, e := range x {
+					walk(e)
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		walk(manifest)
+	}
+	if read < 20 {
+		t.Fatalf("only %d manifests were read: the catalogue is not where the test looks", read)
+	}
+}