diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go
index 92521e9..d748461 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go
@@ -111,7 +111,9 @@ func isBaseOf(base, to string, edges []inventory.Edge, in map[string]bool) bool
 }
 
 // reachableFrom is the moved modules plus everything that depends on them, through every layer:
-// what a merge rebuilds.
+// what a merge rebuilds. Along the code and build edges only: a module *built by* the build machine
+// is not changed by a new build machine, so a built-by edge orders and gates a plan and never
+// widens it — the first plan of 2026-10-01 took the whole catalogue along for a controller change.
 func reachableFrom(moved []string, edges []inventory.Edge) []string {
 	in := map[string]bool{}
 	for _, m := range moved {
@@ -120,6 +122,9 @@ func reachableFrom(moved []string, edges []inventory.Edge) []string {
 	for grew := true; grew; {
 		grew = false
 		for _, e := range edges {
+			if e.Kind == inventory.EdgeBuiltBy {
+				continue
+			}
 			if in[e.To] && !in[e.From] {
 				in[e.From] = true
 				grew = true
@@ -571,6 +576,23 @@ func plansCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		}
 		return nil
 	}
+	if len(positionals) == 2 && positionals[0] == "stop" {
+		p, err := inv.PlanByID(ctx, positionals[1])
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if !p.Open() {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%s is already %s", p.ID, p.State)
+		}
+		p.State = inventory.PlanFailed
+		p.Note = "stopped by hand at tier " + fmt.Sprint(p.Tier)
+		if err := inv.SavePlan(ctx, p); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("%s stopped at tier %d of %d; what was asked still builds and registers, nothing further is asked\n",
+			p.ID, p.Tier, len(p.Tiers))
+		return nil
+	}
 	plans, err := inv.RecentPlans(ctx, *limit)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan_test.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan_test.go
index 554f378..c2eeb27 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan_test.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan_test.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ func TestAMergeIsPlannedInTiersAlongTheThreeKindsOfDependency(t *testing.T) {
 		{From: "shop-plugin", To: "shop", Kind: inventory.EdgeDeclared},
 		// a code dependency: the proxy packages the controller's source — same tier
 		{From: "route-proxy", To: "mesh-controller", Kind: inventory.EdgePackages},
+		{From: "builder", To: "mesh-controller", Kind: inventory.EdgePackages},
 		// runtime dependencies: everything source-built is built by the builder
 		{From: "shop", To: "builder", Kind: inventory.EdgeBuiltBy},
 		{From: "postgres", To: "builder", Kind: inventory.EdgeBuiltBy},
@@ -30,7 +31,9 @@ func TestAMergeIsPlannedInTiersAlongTheThreeKindsOfDependency(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	// The runtime image moved: everything on it, and what is built by what is on it.
 	set := reachableFrom([]string{"mesh-tools"}, edges)
-	want := []string{"builder", "mesh-controller", "mesh-tools", "postgres", "route-proxy", "shop", "shop-plugin"}
+	// What stands on the runtime, and the builder that stands on it; not the controller, which the
+	// builder merely builds, nor the proxy that packages the controller.
+	want := []string{"builder", "mesh-tools", "postgres", "shop", "shop-plugin"}
 	if len(set) != len(want) {
 		t.Fatalf("reachable from the runtime: %v, want %v", set, want)
 	}
@@ -44,26 +47,31 @@ func TestAMergeIsPlannedInTiersAlongTheThreeKindsOfDependency(t *testing.T) {
 	if pos["mesh-tools"] != 0 || pos["builder"] != 1 {
 		t.Fatalf("the runtime then the builder: %v", tiers)
 	}
-	if !(pos["shop"] > pos["builder"] && pos["postgres"] > pos["builder"] && pos["mesh-controller"] > pos["builder"]) {
+	if !(pos["shop"] > pos["builder"] && pos["postgres"] > pos["builder"]) {
 		t.Fatalf("what the builder builds comes after the builder: %v", tiers)
 	}
 	if pos["shop-plugin"] <= pos["shop"] {
 		t.Fatalf("a plugin after what it is declared on: %v", tiers)
 	}
-	if pos["route-proxy"] != pos["mesh-controller"] {
-		t.Fatalf("a code dependency is rebuilt in the same tier as its source: %v", tiers)
-	}
 	if hasCycle(tiers, edges) {
 		t.Fatalf("no cycle here: %v", tiers)
 	}
 
 	// The controller alone moved: the proxy with it, nothing else.
 	small := reachableFrom([]string{"mesh-controller"}, edges)
-	if len(small) != 2 {
+	if len(small) != 3 {
 		t.Fatalf("a controller merge rebuilds the controller and what packages it: %v", small)
 	}
-	if tiers := tiersOf(small, edges); len(tiers) != 1 {
-		t.Fatalf("both in one tier: %v", tiers)
+	// The builder packages the controller's source (same tier by that edge) and the controller is
+	// built by the builder (next tier by that one): the builder first, then the controller and the
+	// proxy together — a code dependency in one tier, a runtime dependency across tiers.
+	smallTiers := tiersOf(small, edges)
+	if len(smallTiers) != 2 || smallTiers[0][0] != "builder" || len(smallTiers[1]) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("the builder, then the controller and the proxy together: %v", smallTiers)
+	}
+	// The builder alone moved: the builder, and nothing it builds.
+	if only := reachableFrom([]string{"builder"}, edges); len(only) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("a build machine change rebuilds the build machine alone: %v", only)
 	}
 
 	// Only a runtime dependency gates on deployment, and only when the module rolls out.
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/seatverbs.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/seatverbs.go
index e95a5dc..08922ca 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/seatverbs.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/seatverbs.go
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ func argvFor(verb string, args map[string]any) ([]string, error) {
 		}
 		return []string{"builds"}, nil
 	case "plans":
+		if id := str("stop"); id != "" {
+			return []string{"plans", "stop", id}, nil
+		}
 		if id := str("id"); id != "" {
 			return []string{"plans", id}, nil
 		}
diff --git a/internal/catalogue/verbs.go b/internal/catalogue/verbs.go
index 71aeea4..0f1a473 100644
--- a/internal/catalogue/verbs.go
+++ b/internal/catalogue/verbs.go
@@ -93,7 +93,10 @@ var ControllerVerbs = []Verb{
 		}, nil)},
 	{Name: "plans", Description: "What the last merges produced and where each stands (novox/hq ADR 0162): " +
 		"the tiers, the tier a plan is at, what it waits for and since when; one plan whole, given its id.",
-		Input: schema(map[string]string{"id": "a plan's id (as `plans` lists them): that plan, tier by tier"}, nil)},
+		Input: schema(map[string]string{
+			"id":   "a plan's id (as `plans` lists them): that plan, tier by tier",
+			"stop": "a plan's id: stop it — what was asked still builds, nothing further is asked",
+		}, nil)},
 	{Name: "plan", Description: "What one machine would run, and why: the declaration the mesh would send it.",
 		Input: schema(map[string]string{"node": "the machine's name"}, []string{"node"})},
 	{Name: "assign", Description: "Put a module on a machine. Refused with the mesh's own words when it cannot resolve there.",