diff --git a/checks/words/lines.go b/checks/words/lines.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..87c68496
--- /dev/null
+++ b/checks/words/lines.go
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
+	"sort"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// The daemons' lines (novox/hq ADR 0272, its insight of 2026-10-09): the operator types one command, `nox`
+// (`mesh-cli`). The node-engine (`nox-mesh-host`) and the controller (`mesh-controller`) are daemons, and a
+// person never types their names — so no text a module can show names a line of theirs. The list is the
+// copy in retired-lines at the catalogue's root, which novox/hq's words.py prints (`--list lines`) and
+// compares; one line each, `<daemon> <command>`, and a trailing ` …` for a command that is a line only with
+// an argument after it (`mesh-controller module check` is a line; "the mesh-controller module" is prose).
+
+// retiredLine is one daemon's line: the daemon, its command, and whether an argument must follow.
+type retiredLine struct {
+	daemon, command string
+	withArgument    bool
+}
+
+// readLines reads retired-lines: one line a line; blank lines and lines starting with # are not lines.
+func readLines(path string) ([]retiredLine, error) {
+	entries, err := readList(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	var out []retiredLine
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		withArgument := strings.HasSuffix(e, " …")
+		e = strings.TrimSuffix(e, " …")
+		parts := strings.Fields(e)
+		if len(parts) != 2 {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("retired-lines: %q is not `<daemon> <command>`", e)
+		}
+		out = append(out, retiredLine{daemon: parts[0], command: parts[1], withArgument: withArgument})
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+// linePattern matches the line whole: the daemon, white space, the command. A command that is a line only
+// with an argument is matched as a line is written — at the start of a line or a code span, a prompt allowed,
+// with an argument after it — so prose that names the daemon beside the word ("the mesh-controller module is
+// assigned") is not one.
+func linePattern(l retiredLine) *regexp.Regexp {
+	daemon, command := regexp.QuoteMeta(l.daemon), regexp.QuoteMeta(l.command)
+	if l.withArgument {
+		tick := "`"
+		return regexp.MustCompile(`(?m)(?:^|` + tick + `)[ \t]*(?:\$[ \t]*)?(` + daemon + `\s+` + command + `\s+[^\s` + tick + `])`)
+	}
+	return regexp.MustCompile(`(?:^|[^\w-])(` + daemon + `\s+` + command + `)(?:$|[^\w-])`)
+}
+
+// checkLines finds every daemon's line in the texts.
+func checkLines(lines []retiredLine, texts []text) []string {
+	var out []string
+	for _, l := range lines {
+		rx := linePattern(l)
+		for _, t := range texts {
+			if m := rx.FindStringSubmatchIndex(t.s); m != nil {
+				line := t.line
+				if line > 0 {
+					line += strings.Count(t.s[:m[2]], "\n")
+				}
+				out = append(out, fmt.Sprintf("%s:%d: `%s %s` is a daemon's line — the operator types `nox …` (novox/hq "+
+					"ADR 0272) — in %q", t.file, line, l.daemon, l.command, excerpt(t.s, m[2], m[3])))
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	sort.Strings(out)
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/checks/words/main.go b/checks/words/main.go
index 345e86bc..2ef0d32a 100644
--- a/checks/words/main.go
+++ b/checks/words/main.go
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@
 // 0244): no word the glossary retired for the tools' descriptions — the copy in retired-words at the
 // catalogue's root — in any text a module's tools can show. That text is every string literal in a module's
 // own code that is not a test (a tool's description, the notes and errors it answers with) and every
-// description in its manifest. Comments are not read: an agent never sees them.
+// description in its manifest. Comments are not read: an agent never sees them. And no daemon's line
+// (novox/hq ADR 0272, lines.go): the copy in retired-lines, the lines a person would otherwise be told to
+// type of the node-engine's or the controller's binary, where the operator's command is `nox`.
 //
 // A word is matched whole and in any case, a space in it matching any run of white space, and its plural
 // (`s` or `es` on its last part) is matched as the word. A vendor word is
@@ -97,7 +99,26 @@ func main() {
 		fmt.Printf("words: %d use(s) of a word the glossary retired (novox/hq ADR 0244) — say it in the glossary's word\n", len(findings))
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
-	fmt.Printf("words: %d retired words, none in the %d strings of %d files\n", len(words), len(texts), files)
+	// And no daemon's line (novox/hq ADR 0272): what a module tells the operator to type is a `nox` line.
+	lines, err := readLines(filepath.Join(root, "retired-lines"))
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "words:", err)
+		os.Exit(2)
+	}
+	if len(lines) == 0 {
+		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "words: retired-lines lists no line — the check would pass on anything")
+		os.Exit(2)
+	}
+	if findings := checkLines(lines, texts); len(findings) > 0 {
+		for _, f := range findings {
+			fmt.Println(f)
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("words: %d daemon's line(s) in what a module shows — the operator types one command, nox (novox/hq ADR 0272)\n",
+			len(findings))
+		os.Exit(1)
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("words: %d retired words and %d daemons' lines, none in the %d strings of %d files\n", len(words), len(lines),
+		len(texts), files)
 }
 
 // readList reads retired-words: one word or phrase a line; blank lines and lines starting with # are not words.
diff --git a/checks/words/main_test.go b/checks/words/main_test.go
index 949d7460..84388d14 100644
--- a/checks/words/main_test.go
+++ b/checks/words/main_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
 package main
 
-import "testing"
+import (
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+)
 
 // A retired word's plural is the word; anything else joined on is another word.
 func TestPatternMatchesTheWordAndItsPlural(t *testing.T) {
@@ -24,3 +27,63 @@ func TestPatternMatchesTheWordAndItsPlural(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// A daemon's line is found whole — the daemon, its command, and an argument where the command is a line only with
+// one — and prose that merely names the daemon beside a word is not one (novox/hq ADR 0272).
+func TestADaemonsLineIsFoundWhole(t *testing.T) {
+	push := retiredLine{daemon: "mesh-controller", command: "push"}
+	module := retiredLine{daemon: "mesh-controller", command: "module", withArgument: true}
+	handOver := retiredLine{daemon: "nox-mesh-host", command: "hand-over"}
+	cases := []struct {
+		line retiredLine
+		text string
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{push, "run `mesh-controller push laptop` after", true},
+		{push, "mesh-controller push", true},
+		{push, "mesh-controller\n  push", true},
+		{push, "mesh-controller pushed it", false},
+		{push, "the mesh-controller pushes", false},
+		{push, "mesh-controller-push", false},
+		{module, "`mesh-controller module check modules/*/module.json`", true},
+		{module, "run\n  $ mesh-controller module check x", true},
+		{module, "the mesh-controller module is assigned", false},
+		{module, "mesh-controller module", false},
+		{module, "`mesh-controller module`", false},
+		{handOver, "`nox-mesh-host hand-over /srv/x` at the machine", true},
+		{handOver, "`nox node hand-over laptop /srv/x`", false},
+		{retiredLine{daemon: "mesh-host", command: "hand-over"}, "nox-mesh-host hand-over", false},
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		if got := linePattern(c.line).MatchString(c.text); got != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("%s %s on %q = %v, want %v", c.line.daemon, c.line.command, c.text, got, c.want)
+		}
+	}
+	found := checkLines([]retiredLine{push, module}, []text{{file: "m/a.go", line: 3, s: "say\n`mesh-controller push`"},
+		{file: "m/b.go", line: 1, s: "the mesh-controller module"}})
+	if len(found) != 1 || found[0] != "m/a.go:4: `mesh-controller push` is a daemon's line — the operator types `nox …` (novox/hq ADR 0272) — in \"say `mesh-controller push`\"" {
+		t.Fatalf("found %q", found)
+	}
+}
+
+// The list's lines read as `<daemon> <command>`, a trailing ` …` meaning an argument must follow; anything else is
+// refused rather than read as some line.
+func TestRetiredLinesAreReadAsDaemonAndCommand(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	path := dir + "/retired-lines"
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte("# the list\nmesh-controller push\nmesh-controller module …\n\nnox-mesh-host hand-over\n"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	lines, err := readLines(path)
+	if err != nil || len(lines) != 3 || lines[0] != (retiredLine{daemon: "mesh-controller", command: "push"}) ||
+		lines[1] != (retiredLine{daemon: "mesh-controller", command: "module", withArgument: true}) ||
+		lines[2] != (retiredLine{daemon: "nox-mesh-host", command: "hand-over"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("read %+v, %v", lines, err)
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(path, []byte("mesh-controller\n"), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := readLines(path); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a line with no command was read")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-vault/tools/index.ts b/modules/mesh-vault/tools/index.ts
index c6c533bc..a6437e60 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-vault/tools/index.ts
+++ b/modules/mesh-vault/tools/index.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export function getVaultTools(ledger: Ledger, receives: string | undefined, root
         "The mesh's root secrets as this vault keeps them: every secret a module holds for itself, " +
         "sealed to the operator's key (novox/hq ADR 0085, amended). Ciphertext — nothing here can " +
         "open a line of it; the operator, holding the private key off the mesh, recovers one with " +
-        "`mesh-controller secret recover --from-export`. Also lists what is NOT recoverable: secrets " +
+        "`nox secret recover --from-export` on the control-node. Also lists what is NOT recoverable: secrets " +
         "made before the mesh had an operator key.",
       input: {
         sealed: {
diff --git a/retired-lines b/retired-lines
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2eb26ab9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/retired-lines
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+# The daemons' lines a text for the operator never names (novox/hq ADR 0272, its insight of 2026-10-09): the
+# operator types one command, nox (mesh-cli); the node-engine and the controller are daemons. One line each,
+# `<daemon> <command>`; a trailing ` …` marks a command that is a line only with an argument after it. A copy,
+# so a catalogue merge needs nothing else; novox/hq's words.py compares it. Regenerate with:
+# python3 00-META/checks/words.py --list lines
+mesh-controller adopt
+mesh-controller artifacts …
+mesh-controller ask …
+mesh-controller assign
+mesh-controller broker
+mesh-controller builds …
+mesh-controller bus …
+mesh-controller cancel
+mesh-controller cleanup
+mesh-controller collect
+mesh-controller collection …
+mesh-controller conditions
+mesh-controller converge
+mesh-controller data …
+mesh-controller delivery …
+mesh-controller doctor
+mesh-controller durations
+mesh-controller hand-act
+mesh-controller hand-acts
+mesh-controller healers
+mesh-controller identity
+mesh-controller images …
+mesh-controller kill
+mesh-controller licence
+mesh-controller migrate
+mesh-controller mirrors …
+mesh-controller module …
+mesh-controller node …
+mesh-controller operator
+mesh-controller overlay …
+mesh-controller pause
+mesh-controller pin
+mesh-controller plan
+mesh-controller plans …
+mesh-controller prepare
+mesh-controller push
+mesh-controller queue …
+mesh-controller rebuild
+mesh-controller rehearse
+mesh-controller replay
+mesh-controller resume
+mesh-controller retire
+mesh-controller rollout
+mesh-controller rotate
+mesh-controller seat …
+mesh-controller seats …
+mesh-controller secret
+mesh-controller settings
+mesh-controller status
+mesh-controller take …
+mesh-controller token
+mesh-controller unassign
+mesh-controller unpin
+mesh-controller upgrade
+mesh-controller version …
+mesh-host apply
+mesh-host bundle
+mesh-host enrol
+mesh-host enroll
+mesh-host hand-over
+mesh-host help
+mesh-host inventory
+mesh-host key
+mesh-host overlay
+mesh-host owned
+mesh-host profile
+mesh-host reconcile
+mesh-host run
+mesh-host version
+nox-mesh-host hand-over