diff --git a/internal/inventory/catalogue.go b/internal/inventory/catalogue.go
index e29f994..8a3401b 100644
--- a/internal/inventory/catalogue.go
+++ b/internal/inventory/catalogue.go
@@ -431,6 +431,9 @@ func (i *Inventory) Assign(ctx context.Context, nodeName, module string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	if err := i.runsSomewhere(ctx, module); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	_, err = i.store.Pool().Exec(ctx,
 		`insert into assignment (node, module) values ($1, $2) on conflict do nothing`,
 		node.ID, module)
@@ -871,3 +874,43 @@ func (i *Inventory) Running(ctx context.Context, module string) ([]string, error
 	}
 	return out, rows.Err()
 }
+
+// runsSomewhere refuses to put a module on a machine when it would put nothing there.
+//
+// **Not every thing the mesh builds is a thing a machine runs.** The image every module in the
+// scripted toolchain is compiled on top of is built, versioned and depended upon like a module, and
+// is registered as one so the mesh can track all three. It is not one: it declares no resources,
+// because nothing about it belongs on a machine — its whole purpose is to be the starting point for
+// other modules' builds.
+//
+// Without this, assigning it succeeds, the machine is sent a declaration containing nothing of it,
+// and everything reports success. The operator has said "run this here" and the mesh has agreed to
+// something it cannot do. Said at the assignment, which is where somebody is standing.
+//
+// A module whose resources are worked out per node declares none here and is still assignable —
+// that is the point of it — so it is asked about separately rather than caught by the same test.
+func (i *Inventory) runsSomewhere(ctx context.Context, module string) error {
+	var raw []byte
+	err := i.store.Pool().QueryRow(ctx,
+		`select manifest from module where name = $1`, module).Scan(&raw)
+	if errors.Is(err, pgx.ErrNoRows) {
+		// Left to the insert, which already says this and says it the same way everywhere.
+		return nil
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	var m catalogue.Manifest
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &m); err != nil {
+		// Unreadable is not the same as empty. A manifest the mesh cannot parse is a separate
+		// fault and refusing the assignment here would report it as the wrong one.
+		return nil
+	}
+	if m.Computed != "" || len(m.Resources) > 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return fmt.Errorf(
+		"%s puts nothing on a machine, so there is nothing to assign. It is something this mesh "+
+			"builds and other modules are built on top of, not something a machine runs — "+
+			"`module list` shows what it produces", module)
+}