diff --git a/modules/gitea/cmd/agent-teams/retire.go b/modules/gitea/cmd/agent-teams/retire.go
index 8da05e440..0ed7b2c8c 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/cmd/agent-teams/retire.go
+++ b/modules/gitea/cmd/agent-teams/retire.go
@@ -19,10 +19,17 @@ import (
 // seats came, made each consumer of npm-package-registry an account under the mesh's derived login
 // (mesh_<node>_<consumer>) and put it in the organisation's team packages (read and write) or readers (read only).
 // Reads of the packages are anonymous and every write goes through the seats, so both teams go, and each account of
-// that form in no team but them goes with them. Nothing else is touched: a team of another name, an account of
-// another form or one still in a team the module does not retire stays as it is.
+// that form in no team but them goes with them. Only what the provisioner made goes: a team of those names in its
+// organisation (RetiredOrg) is the provisioner's when every member of it is an account of the provisioner's form and
+// it has one at least, since the provisioner put its own accounts in them alone and nobody else ever made one. A team
+// a person makes later under such a name holds no such account (they are gone with the first run), so it stays, and
+// so does a team of those names with a person in it or with no member. Nothing else is touched: a team of another
+// name or organisation, an account of another form or one still in a team the module does not retire stays as it is.
 var RetiredTeams = []string{"packages", "readers"}
 
+// RetiredOrg is the organisation the npm pair provisioner made its teams in (its ORG, the npm registry's owner).
+const RetiredOrg = "novox"
+
 // retiredAccount is the login form the npm pair provisioner made its accounts under.
 var retiredAccount = regexp.MustCompile(`^mesh_[a-z0-9-]+_[a-z0-9_]+$`)
 
@@ -37,6 +44,7 @@ func (s *Syncer) Retire(ctx context.Context, orgs []string) error {
 		team forgeTeam
 	}
 	var gone []retired
+	retiring := map[string]bool{} // org/team
 	for _, org := range orgs {
 		teams, err := s.teams(ctx, org)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -50,15 +58,14 @@ func (s *Syncer) Retire(ctx context.Context, orgs []string) error {
 			for _, m := range members {
 				teamsOf[m.Login] = append(teamsOf[m.Login], org+"/"+t.Name)
 			}
-			if slices.Contains(RetiredTeams, t.Name) {
+			made := len(members) > 0 && !slices.ContainsFunc(members, func(m forgeMember) bool { return !retiredAccount.MatchString(m.Login) })
+			if org == RetiredOrg && slices.Contains(RetiredTeams, t.Name) && made {
 				gone = append(gone, retired{org, t})
+				retiring[org+"/"+t.Name] = true
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	isRetired := func(orgTeam string) bool {
-		_, team, _ := strings.Cut(orgTeam, "/")
-		return slices.Contains(RetiredTeams, team)
-	}
+	isRetired := func(orgTeam string) bool { return retiring[orgTeam] }
 	var accounts []string
 	for login, in := range teamsOf {
 		if retiredAccount.MatchString(login) && slices.ContainsFunc(in, isRetired) && !slices.ContainsFunc(in, func(t string) bool { return !isRetired(t) }) {
diff --git a/modules/gitea/cmd/agent-teams/teams_test.go b/modules/gitea/cmd/agent-teams/teams_test.go
index a68007579..c5e746a19 100644
--- a/modules/gitea/cmd/agent-teams/teams_test.go
+++ b/modules/gitea/cmd/agent-teams/teams_test.go
@@ -365,11 +365,15 @@ func TestReadValue(t *testing.T) {
 // form still in another team, an account of another form and every other team stay; a second run changes nothing.
 func TestTheNpmPairsTeamsAndAccountsAreRetired(t *testing.T) {
 	f := newFake([]string{"novox"}, "mesh_ace_mesh_build_node", "mesh_shanks_lab", "mesh_g14_agent", "mesh_novox_owner",
-		"mesh-packages", "agent-ace", "jschoubben")
+		"mesh-packages", "agent-ace", "jschoubben", "mesh_ace_agent")
 	f.owners = map[string]bool{"mesh_novox_owner": true}
-	f.add("novox", "packages", "none", nil, []string{"mesh_ace_mesh_build_node", "mesh_g14_agent", "mesh_novox_owner", "jschoubben"})
+	f.add("novox", "packages", "none", nil, []string{"mesh_ace_mesh_build_node", "mesh_g14_agent", "mesh_novox_owner"})
 	f.add("novox", "readers", "none", nil, []string{"mesh_ace_mesh_build_node", "mesh_shanks_lab"})
 	f.add("novox", "agents", "none", nil, []string{"mesh_g14_agent", "agent-ace"})
+	// Catalog note: a team of a retired name the provisioner did not make (a person in it, or in another
+	// organisation) stays.
+	f.orgs = append(f.orgs, "other")
+	f.add("other", "readers", "none", nil, []string{"mesh_ace_agent"})
 	f.add("novox", "mesh-packages", "none", nil, []string{"mesh-packages"})
 	s, said := syncer(t, f)
 	if err := s.Sync(context.Background(), Value{}); err != nil {
@@ -382,7 +386,7 @@ func TestTheNpmPairsTeamsAndAccountsAreRetired(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("a team the module did not retire was removed: %+v", f.teams)
 	}
 	for u, want := range map[string]bool{"mesh_ace_mesh_build_node": false, "mesh_shanks_lab": false, "mesh_g14_agent": true,
-		"mesh_novox_owner": true, "mesh-packages": true, "agent-ace": true, "jschoubben": true} {
+		"mesh_novox_owner": true, "mesh-packages": true, "agent-ace": true, "jschoubben": true, "mesh_ace_agent": true} {
 		if f.users[u] != want {
 			t.Errorf("account %s kept %v, want %v", u, f.users[u], want)
 		}
@@ -390,8 +394,17 @@ func TestTheNpmPairsTeamsAndAccountsAreRetired(t *testing.T) {
 	if !f.prohibited["mesh_novox_owner"] || len(f.prohibited) != 1 {
 		t.Errorf("prohibited %v, want mesh_novox_owner alone", f.prohibited)
 	}
+	if f.byName("other", "readers") == nil {
+		t.Errorf("a readers team in another organisation was removed")
+	}
+	// A team a person makes after the first run under a retired name, with persons in it or none, stays.
+	f.add("novox", "packages", "none", nil, []string{"jschoubben"})
+	f.add("novox", "readers", "none", nil, nil)
 	before := len(*said)
 	if err := s.Sync(context.Background(), Value{}); err != nil || len(*said) != before {
 		t.Errorf("a second run: %v, said %v; want nothing", err, (*said)[before:])
 	}
+	if f.byName("novox", "packages") == nil || f.byName("novox", "readers") == nil || !f.users["jschoubben"] {
+		t.Errorf("a team a person made later under a retired name was removed: %+v", f.teams)
+	}
 }