diff --git a/internal/catalogue/declaration.go b/internal/catalogue/declaration.go
index 0024654..b001ac6 100644
--- a/internal/catalogue/declaration.go
+++ b/internal/catalogue/declaration.go
@@ -1035,7 +1035,9 @@ func (r Resolution) compose(with Rendering, owner map[string]string,
 		// plane's; making a name resolve is the module's software. Emitted as ordinary files under
 		// this module's name, so they are applied, reported and removed exactly as anything else
 		// it declares.
-		given, err := FactsFrom(m, r, with)
+		// The resolver file is the node-resolver holder's where one is held here, and the uplink's
+		// holder steps back from it (novox/hq ADR 0247).
+		given, err := FactsFrom(stepsBack(m, r.Modules), r, with)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
diff --git a/internal/catalogue/node_resolver.go b/internal/catalogue/node_resolver.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ba464d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/catalogue/node_resolver.go
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+package catalogue
+
+// The machine's own resolver (novox/hq ADR 0247).
+//
+// **Most machines have none.** Every machine lists the mesh's resolvers in /etc/resolv.conf and nothing
+// else, and the module holding its uplink writes that file (ADR 0223). A machine with a VPN client that
+// pushes its own resolvers for its own domains needs a third answer: those domains to the VPN's servers,
+// over the VPN's link, and every other name to the mesh's resolvers as before. One file cannot list both
+// sets of servers — musl takes the first reply, glibc the first server's "no such name" — so the domains
+// are routed by a resolver on the machine itself: the `node-resolver` seat's holder.
+//
+// **Where it is held, it owns the resolver file.** The file then names the machine's own resolver, which
+// routes; the uplink's holder steps back from writing it on that machine, by the rule below and not by
+// two modules writing one path. There are two uplink holders (NetworkManager's and systemd-networkd's),
+// and the resolver is its own module so it is written once, not once in each.
+//
+// **It knows nothing of any VPN.** Its verbs route a set of domains to a set of servers over one link,
+// list what is routed and remove a route. A module wrapping a VPN client that writes /etc/resolv.conf
+// itself carries its own adapter and calls those verbs; a VPN that tells systemd-resolved its link's DNS
+// itself needs none.
+
+// ResolverSeat is the machine's own resolver (novox/hq ADR 0247).
+const ResolverSeat = "node-resolver"
+
+// ResolverFile is the machine's resolver file: the uplink holder's, or the node-resolver holder's where
+// one is held.
+const ResolverFile = "/etc/resolv.conf"
+
+// resolverVerbs is the contract every holder of node-resolver serves (novox/hq ADR 0247): what is routed
+// where, route a set of domains, and take a route away. The same verbs are served on the machine itself to
+// the modules there, so what a VPN pushed never crosses the bus to be routed; on the mesh they are the
+// operator's way to read and correct the same.
+func resolverVerbs() []Verb {
+	return []Verb{
+		{Name: "routes", Description: "What this machine's own resolver sends where: the mesh's resolvers, " +
+			"which answer every name not routed elsewhere, and each link given servers of its own with the " +
+			"domains routed to them. Also the resolver file's outside writes it kept, newest first: when, who " +
+			"wrote it as far as the file says, whether a module took it, and when the resolver's own file was " +
+			"put back.",
+			Input:    schema(map[string]string{}, nil),
+			Replaces: []string{"resolvectl status", "resolvectl dns", "resolvectl domain"}},
+		{Name: "route", Description: "Send these domains, and every name under them, to these servers over " +
+			"this link — and only them: the link is never the machine's default route for names, and the " +
+			"mesh's own domain is refused. Replaces whatever the link was given before. A link that goes away " +
+			"takes its route with it.",
+			Input: schema(map[string]string{
+				"link":    "the network link the servers are reached over, by name (a VPN's tunnel interface)",
+				"domains": "the domains to route there, separated by spaces or commas",
+				"servers": "the servers' addresses, separated by spaces or commas",
+			}, []string{"link", "domains", "servers"}),
+			Replaces: []string{"resolvectl dns", "resolvectl domain", "resolvectl default-route"}},
+		{Name: "unroute", Description: "Take one link's route away: its domains go back to the mesh's " +
+			"resolvers. Nothing changes when the link has none.",
+			Input:    schema(map[string]string{"link": "the network link, by name"}, []string{"link"}),
+			Replaces: []string{"resolvectl revert"}},
+	}
+}
+
+// holdsSeat says whether a module claims a seat, by its current name.
+func holdsSeat(m Manifest, seat string) bool {
+	for _, c := range m.Claims {
+		if canonicalSeat(c.Name) == seat {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+// rendersResolverFile says whether a module asks the mesh to render the machine's resolver file.
+func rendersResolverFile(m Manifest) bool {
+	for _, f := range m.Facts {
+		if !f.Home && f.Path == ResolverFile {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+// ResolverFileOwner is the module that writes the machine's resolver file among the modules on one
+// machine (novox/hq ADR 0247): the holder of node-resolver when one renders it, else nobody is named here
+// and the file is whoever's it always was — the uplink holder's (ADR 0223).
+func ResolverFileOwner(modules []Manifest) string {
+	for _, m := range modules {
+		if holdsSeat(m, ResolverSeat) && rendersResolverFile(m) {
+			return m.Module
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+// stepsBack is the module as it composes on a machine whose resolver file is the node-resolver holder's:
+// **the uplink holder's rendering of that file is left out**, and nothing else of it changes. Only the
+// uplink's holder steps back — any other module rendering the file beside the resolver's is still two
+// owners of one path, and is refused as before.
+func stepsBack(m Manifest, modules []Manifest) Manifest {
+	if !holdsSeat(m, "node-uplink") || !rendersResolverFile(m) {
+		return m
+	}
+	owner := ResolverFileOwner(modules)
+	if owner == "" || owner == m.Module {
+		return m
+	}
+	facts := make(map[string]RosterFile, len(m.Facts))
+	for name, f := range m.Facts {
+		if !f.Home && f.Path == ResolverFile {
+			continue
+		}
+		facts[name] = f
+	}
+	m.Facts = facts
+	return m
+}
+
+// steppedBack is every module of one machine as it composes there (stepsBack, each).
+func steppedBack(modules []Manifest) []Manifest {
+	if ResolverFileOwner(modules) == "" {
+		return modules
+	}
+	out := make([]Manifest, len(modules))
+	for i, m := range modules {
+		out[i] = stepsBack(m, modules)
+	}
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/internal/catalogue/node_resolver_test.go b/internal/catalogue/node_resolver_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..24caf3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/catalogue/node_resolver_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+package catalogue
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// Defends novox/hq ADR 0247: a machine's own resolver is a node seat, held only where something requires
+// `split-dns`; where it is held it writes the resolver file and the uplink's holder steps back from it.
+
+// The seat: node-scoped, decided by ADR 0247, and its three verbs required of every holder — a holder
+// exists only once the module serving them does, so nothing has to be optional while it catches up.
+func TestTheMachinesOwnResolverIsANodeSeatWithItsVerbs(t *testing.T) {
+	s, ok := SeatNamed(ResolverSeat)
+	if !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("%s is not in the mesh's set", ResolverSeat)
+	}
+	if s.Scope != ScopeNode || s.Decision != "novox/hq ADR 0247" || s.Delivers != "" || s.Replicated {
+		t.Errorf("%s is %+v; a node seat under ADR 0247 that delivers nothing", ResolverSeat, s)
+	}
+	var got []string
+	for _, v := range s.Serves {
+		got = append(got, v.Name)
+		if v.Optional {
+			t.Errorf("%s.%s is optional; its first holder serves it", ResolverSeat, v.Name)
+		}
+		if v.Description == "" || v.Input["type"] != "object" || len(v.Replaces) == 0 {
+			t.Errorf("%s.%s has no description, no object schema or says it replaces nothing", ResolverSeat, v.Name)
+		}
+	}
+	if strings.Join(got, " ") != "routes route unroute" {
+		t.Errorf("%s serves %v, not routes, route and unroute", ResolverSeat, got)
+	}
+	// The verbs name a link, domains and servers, and never a VPN: the resolver knows nothing of one.
+	for _, v := range s.Serves {
+		if strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(v.Description), "forti") {
+			t.Errorf("%s.%s names a VPN client: %s", ResolverSeat, v.Name, v.Description)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// localResolver is a stand-in holder: it claims the seat and renders the resolver file naming the
+// machine's own address. What is under test is the controller's rule, not the catalogue's module.
+func localResolver() Manifest {
+	return Manifest{Module: "local-resolver", Version: "1",
+		Claims: []Claim{{Name: ResolverSeat, Scope: ScopeNode}},
+		Facts: map[string]RosterFile{"resolvers": {Path: ResolverFile,
+			Template: "# Managed by the mesh\n{{range .Machines}}{{if eq .Name $.Node}}nameserver {{.Address}}\n{{end}}{{end}}"}}}
+}
+
+func splitDNSLaptop() Node {
+	return Node{Name: "laptop", At: "laptop.internal", Capabilities: map[string]bool{
+		"package-manager": true, "service-manager": true, "uplink-systemd-networkd": true}}
+}
+
+// Where a module holds node-resolver, the machine is composed one resolver file, the holder's, naming
+// the machine's own address; the uplink's holder composes everything else it declares, and not that file.
+func TestWhereTheResolverIsHeldItWritesTheFileAndTheUplinkStepsBack(t *testing.T) {
+	shelf := resolverShelf(t)
+	shelf["local-resolver"] = localResolver()
+	got, err := Resolve(shelf, []string{"dnsmasq", "systemd-networkd", "local-resolver"}, splitDNSLaptop(), World{})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the resolver's holder and the uplink's were refused together: %v", err)
+	}
+	out, err := got.Declaration(Rendering{Names: twoMachines, Machines: twoMachines, Suffix: "internal",
+		Holders:  map[string]map[string]string{"mesh-dns-resolver": {"anchor.internal": "10.42.0.1"}},
+		Needed:   map[string]map[string]string{"dnsmasq": {"broker": "sealed"}},
+		Settings: SettingsBy{"dnsmasq": {{From: "the mesh", Values: map[string]any{"listen-addresses": "127.0.0.1"}}}},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var files []string
+	for _, r := range out {
+		if r["path"] == ResolverFile {
+			files = append(files, r["id"].(string))
+		}
+	}
+	if strings.Join(files, " ") != "local-resolver.fact-resolvers" {
+		t.Fatalf("the resolver file is composed as %v; once, the resolver's", files)
+	}
+	content := byID(out)["local-resolver.fact-resolvers"]["content"].(string)
+	if !strings.Contains(content, "nameserver 10.42.0.2\n") || strings.Contains(content, "10.42.0.1") {
+		t.Errorf("the resolver file does not name this machine's own resolver alone:\n%s", content)
+	}
+	// The uplink's holder is still composed: only the one file moved.
+	uplinkComposed := false
+	for _, r := range out {
+		if id, _ := r["id"].(string); strings.HasPrefix(id, "systemd-networkd.") {
+			uplinkComposed = true
+		}
+	}
+	if !uplinkComposed {
+		t.Errorf("the uplink's holder composed nothing once the resolver was held")
+	}
+}
+
+// Where nobody holds it, nothing changes: the uplink's holder writes the file, listing the mesh's
+// resolvers (ADR 0223) — every machine but the one that requires split-dns.
+func TestWithoutTheResolverTheUplinkWritesTheFileAsBefore(t *testing.T) {
+	got, err := Resolve(resolverShelf(t), []string{"dnsmasq", "systemd-networkd"}, splitDNSLaptop(), World{})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	out, err := got.Declaration(Rendering{Names: twoMachines, Machines: twoMachines, Suffix: "internal",
+		Holders:  map[string]map[string]string{"mesh-dns-resolver": {"anchor.internal": "10.42.0.1"}},
+		Needed:   map[string]map[string]string{"dnsmasq": {"broker": "sealed"}},
+		Settings: SettingsBy{"dnsmasq": {{From: "the mesh", Values: map[string]any{"listen-addresses": "127.0.0.1"}}}},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if r := byID(out)["systemd-networkd.fact-resolvers"]; r == nil || r["path"] != ResolverFile {
+		t.Fatalf("without the resolver, the uplink's holder no longer writes the resolver file: %v", r)
+	}
+}
+
+// Only the uplink's holder steps back. A third module rendering or declaring the file beside the
+// resolver's is two owners of one path, refused as before; and a module rendering it without holding
+// the seat is not the resolver, so the uplink's holder does not step back for it.
+func TestOnlyTheUplinkStepsBackForTheResolver(t *testing.T) {
+	uplink := Manifest{Module: "uplink", Version: "1", Claims: []Claim{{Name: "node-uplink"}},
+		Facts: map[string]RosterFile{"resolvers": {Path: ResolverFile, Template: "nameserver 10.42.0.1\n"}}}
+	if p := checkResources([]Manifest{uplink, localResolver()}); len(p) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("the uplink's holder and the resolver's were refused together: %v", p)
+	}
+	other := Manifest{Module: "other", Version: "1",
+		Facts: map[string]RosterFile{"mine": {Path: ResolverFile, Template: "nameserver 10.42.0.9\n"}}}
+	if p := checkResources([]Manifest{uplink, localResolver(), other}); len(p) == 0 {
+		t.Error("a third module wrote the resolver file beside the resolver's")
+	}
+	if p := checkResources([]Manifest{uplink, other}); len(p) == 0 {
+		t.Error("a module that does not hold node-resolver took the resolver file from the uplink's holder")
+	}
+	declared := Manifest{Module: "declared", Version: "1", Resources: []map[string]any{
+		{"id": "mine", "type": "file", "path": ResolverFile, "content": "nameserver 10.42.0.9\n"}}}
+	if p := checkResources([]Manifest{uplink, localResolver(), declared}); len(p) == 0 {
+		t.Error("a module declaring the resolver file was let beside the resolver's")
+	}
+	// What steps back is the one file: the uplink's other facts stay.
+	uplink.Facts["hosts"] = RosterFile{Path: "/etc/elsewhere", Template: "x"}
+	if got := stepsBack(uplink, []Manifest{uplink, localResolver()}); len(got.Facts) != 1 || got.Facts["hosts"].Path == "" {
+		t.Errorf("the uplink's holder lost more than the resolver file: %v", got.Facts)
+	}
+	if got := stepsBack(uplink, []Manifest{uplink}); len(got.Facts) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("the uplink's holder stepped back with no resolver held: %v", got.Facts)
+	}
+}
+
+// The catalogue as it is: every holder of node-resolver renders the resolver file as the mesh's own
+// (its header is how the uplink's verb and the node-engine read a file as the mesh's), and provides
+// split-dns at the machine's reach — a requirement is answered only on the same machine and never pulls
+// the resolver in. Skipped while the catalogue has no holder.
+func TestTheCataloguesResolverHoldersWriteTheFileAndProvideSplitDNS(t *testing.T) {
+	held := 0
+	for _, m := range theCatalogue(t) {
+		if !holdsSeat(m, ResolverSeat) {
+			continue
+		}
+		held++
+		f, ok := m.Facts["resolvers"]
+		if !ok || f.Path != ResolverFile || !strings.HasPrefix(f.Template, "# Managed by the mesh") {
+			t.Errorf("%s holds %s and does not render the resolver file as the mesh's: %+v", m.Module, ResolverSeat, f)
+		}
+		provides := false
+		for _, o := range m.Provides {
+			if o.Name == "split-dns" && o.Reach == ReachMachine {
+				provides = true
+			}
+		}
+		if !provides {
+			t.Errorf("%s holds %s and does not provide split-dns at the machine's reach", m.Module, ResolverSeat)
+		}
+	}
+	if held == 0 {
+		t.Skip("no module of the catalogue holds node-resolver yet")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/catalogue/resolve.go b/internal/catalogue/resolve.go
index 8547968..163a435 100644
--- a/internal/catalogue/resolve.go
+++ b/internal/catalogue/resolve.go
@@ -930,6 +930,9 @@ func canonicalSeat(name string) string {
 // resolves with no refusal. What is refused is the contradiction — a path one module owns and
 // another merely accesses — because shared data is the operator's and nobody's to own.
 func checkResources(modules []Manifest) []string {
+	// Judged as the machine composes them: where the node-resolver holder writes the resolver file, the
+	// uplink holder's rendering of it is not composed, so it is not a second owner (novox/hq ADR 0247).
+	modules = steppedBack(modules)
 	var problems []string
 	owner := map[string]string{}
 	ownedPath := map[string]string{} // path → owning module, for the access check below
diff --git a/internal/catalogue/resolver_file_is_the_uplinks_test.go b/internal/catalogue/resolver_file_is_the_uplinks_test.go
index 0141b33..768d37e 100644
--- a/internal/catalogue/resolver_file_is_the_uplinks_test.go
+++ b/internal/catalogue/resolver_file_is_the_uplinks_test.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ func TestTheResolverConfigSeatIsGone(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 // The catalogue as it is: nothing claims the retired seat, and every manager the mesh knows holds the
-// uplink and writes the resolver file.
+// uplink and writes the resolver file; beside them only a holder of node-resolver does (ADR 0247).
 func TestTheCataloguesUplinksWriteTheResolverFileAndNothingElseDoes(t *testing.T) {
 	cat := map[string]Manifest{}
 	for _, m := range theCatalogue(t) {
@@ -41,8 +41,10 @@ func TestTheCataloguesUplinksWriteTheResolverFileAndNothingElseDoes(t *testing.T
 			isUplink = isUplink || u == name
 		}
 		for _, f := range m.Facts {
-			if f.Path == "/etc/resolv.conf" && !isUplink {
-				t.Errorf("%s writes /etc/resolv.conf and does not hold the uplink", name)
+			// Or the machine's own resolver's, where it is held (novox/hq ADR 0247): the uplink's holder
+			// steps back from the file there, and nowhere else.
+			if f.Path == "/etc/resolv.conf" && !isUplink && !holdsSeat(m, ResolverSeat) {
+				t.Errorf("%s writes /etc/resolv.conf and holds neither the uplink nor the machine's resolver", name)
 			}
 		}
 		for _, r := range m.Resources {
diff --git a/internal/catalogue/seats.go b/internal/catalogue/seats.go
index 5ad9ea2..82c519c 100644
--- a/internal/catalogue/seats.go
+++ b/internal/catalogue/seats.go
@@ -292,6 +292,11 @@ var defaultSeats = append([]Seat{
 	// the manager knows for it — the same for every holder, so a question about a machine's names is asked
 	// the same way whatever manages its network. Optional until both holders serve them.
 	{Name: "node-uplink", Scope: ScopeNode, Decision: "novox/hq ADR 0117", Serves: uplinkVerbs()},
+	// The machine's own resolver (novox/hq ADR 0247): held only where something requires `split-dns` — a
+	// VPN client whose domains must go to its own servers while every other name goes to the mesh's.
+	// Where it is held, its holder writes the resolver file and the uplink's holder steps back from it
+	// (node_resolver.go). It knows nothing of any VPN: its verbs route domains to servers over a link.
+	{Name: ResolverSeat, Scope: ScopeNode, Decision: "novox/hq ADR 0247", Serves: resolverVerbs()},
 },
 	// The graphical session's roles (novox/hq ADR 0208), last because they are a workstation's.
 	graphicalSessionSeats()...)
diff --git a/internal/catalogue/seats_test.go b/internal/catalogue/seats_test.go
index fba6951..f0d7119 100644
--- a/internal/catalogue/seats_test.go
+++ b/internal/catalogue/seats_test.go
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ func TestTheSeatsAreAClosedSetAndEachNamesItsDecision(t *testing.T) {
 			delivered[s.Delivers] = s.Name
 		}
 	}
-	// Thirty-seven with mesh-delivery (novox/hq ADR 0239); thirty-six since node-resolver-config retired
+	// Thirty-eight with node-resolver (novox/hq ADR 0247); thirty-seven with mesh-delivery (novox/hq ADR 0239); thirty-six since node-resolver-config retired
 	// into node-uplink (novox/hq ADR 0223); thirty-seven
 	// since the retired node-dns-resolver went (novox/hq ADR 0220); thirty-eight with
 	// node-backup (novox/hq ADR 0214); thirty-seven with node-message-bus (novox/hq ADR 0215);
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ func TestTheSeatsAreAClosedSetAndEachNamesItsDecision(t *testing.T) {
 	// node-container-runtime (ADR 0207); nineteen with node-environment and node-login-shell (ADR 0203,
 	// ADR 0204); seventeen with node-build-agent (ADR 0190). One fewer once the retired
 	// mesh-build-machine row goes, when no registered manifest claims it.
-	if len(Seats()) != 37 {
-		t.Errorf("the mesh defines %d seats rather than 37; the set is closed, so a change here is "+
+	if len(Seats()) != 38 {
+		t.Errorf("the mesh defines %d seats rather than 38; the set is closed, so a change here is "+
 			"a decision (novox/hq ADR 0110): %s", len(Seats()), seatNames())
 	}
 }