diff --git a/internal/catalogue/seats.go b/internal/catalogue/seats.go
index 64736de..5ad9ea2 100644
--- a/internal/catalogue/seats.go
+++ b/internal/catalogue/seats.go
@@ -286,7 +286,12 @@ var defaultSeats = append([]Seat{
 	// channel a fix could arrive on. A seat
 	// rather than a condition in the resolver's module, so a machine running two managers is
 	// refused at assignment instead of found by the resolver being rewritten (novox/hq ADR 0117).
-	{Name: "node-uplink", Scope: ScopeNode, Decision: "novox/hq ADR 0117"},
+	//
+	// Its verbs say what the machine resolves through and over which links (novox/hq ADR 0241): the
+	// resolver file as it is and who wrote it, and every link with its addresses, routes and the resolvers
+	// 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 graphical session's roles (novox/hq ADR 0208), last because they are a workstation's.
 	graphicalSessionSeats()...)
@@ -655,6 +660,22 @@ func serviceManagerVerbs() []Verb {
 	}
 }
 
+// uplinkVerbs is the contract every holder of node-uplink serves (novox/hq ADR 0241): read-only answers
+// about what the machine resolves through and over which links, whatever program manages its network.
+func uplinkVerbs() []Verb {
+	return []Verb{
+		{Name: "resolvers", Description: "The machine's resolver file as it is now: the resolvers, search " +
+			"domains and options it lists, whether it is the file the mesh declares, and when it is not, who " +
+			"wrote it as far as the machine shows — its header, a backup a VPN client left beside it, a link " +
+			"in its place, a known writer running.",
+			Input: schema(nil, nil), Optional: true},
+		{Name: "links", Description: "Every network link on the machine: its state, its addresses, whether " +
+			"the default route leaves through it, and the resolvers and search domains the network manager " +
+			"knows for it — a VPN's tunnel included.",
+			Input: schema(nil, nil), Optional: true},
+	}
+}
+
 // loginShellVerbs is the contract every holder of node-login-shell serves (novox/hq ADR 0176, ADR
 // 0204): one command, run the way the operator's own terminal would run it, bounded below the
 // runtime's thirty-second call limit so a hung command answers rather than times the caller out.
diff --git a/internal/catalogue/uplink_verbs_test.go b/internal/catalogue/uplink_verbs_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a67fb17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/catalogue/uplink_verbs_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+package catalogue
+
+import (
+	"slices"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// The node-uplink seat's verbs (novox/hq ADR 0241): promised and routed, optional — not yet a condition of
+// holding — so the holders of today still hold it, a holder may name them, and nothing it does not promise;
+// and still optional once the store's row is read back (optionalAsCompiled).
+
+func uplinkSeat(t *testing.T) Seat {
+	t.Helper()
+	for _, s := range Seats() {
+		if s.Name == "node-uplink" {
+			return s
+		}
+	}
+	t.Fatal("no node-uplink seat")
+	return Seat{}
+}
+
+func TestTheUplinkSeatPromisesItsVerbsAndRequiresNoneYet(t *testing.T) {
+	seat := uplinkSeat(t)
+	var names []string
+	for _, v := range seat.Serves {
+		names = append(names, v.Name)
+		if !v.Optional {
+			t.Errorf("%s is required already", v.Name)
+		}
+	}
+	if !slices.Equal(names, []string{"resolvers", "links"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("node-uplink promises %v", names)
+	}
+	today := Manifest{Module: "networkmanager", Version: "1", Claims: []Claim{{Name: "node-uplink", Scope: ScopeNode}}}
+	if err := CanHold(today, seat); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a holder that serves no verb yet is refused: %v", err)
+	}
+	serving := today
+	serving.Claims = []Claim{{Name: "node-uplink", Scope: ScopeNode, Serves: []string{"resolvers", "links"}}}
+	if err := CanHold(serving, seat); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a holder serving both is refused: %v", err)
+	}
+	typo := today
+	typo.Claims = []Claim{{Name: "node-uplink", Scope: ScopeNode, Serves: []string{"resolver"}}}
+	if err := CanHold(typo, seat); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "does not promise") {
+		t.Fatalf("a verb the seat does not promise was accepted: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTheUplinkVerbsReadBackFromTheRowStayOptional(t *testing.T) {
+	before := seats
+	t.Cleanup(func() { seats = before })
+	// The row as seeding stores it: both verbs, the mark not a column.
+	UseSeats([]Seat{{Name: "node-uplink", Scope: ScopeNode, Serves: []Verb{{Name: "resolvers"}, {Name: "links"}}}})
+	seat := uplinkSeat(t)
+	holder := Manifest{Module: "systemd-networkd", Version: "1", Claims: []Claim{{Name: "node-uplink", Scope: ScopeNode}}}
+	if err := CanHold(holder, seat); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("read back from the row, the verbs are required: %v", err)
+	}
+}