Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into fix/356-node-hand-over-at-the-terminal

The subject proved nothing: the bus lets any principal allowed to answer reply to a message it received on the reply subject that message named, so a tool server — the operator's account, every agent — could deliver a hand-over to an engine. The controller now signs the ask with the mesh's key over a fixed context (node, path, who asked, a minute's expiry, a fresh nonce), as declarations are signed, and the engine verifies it. The writers table gains the row for mesh.node.*.ask.hand-over; the subject's comment no longer claims who the engine hears. The line's known-node check and the refusal branch are tested; every check was removed in turn and a test failed.

cmd/mesh-controller/acting.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -179,7 +180,21 @@ func (a *actor) release() {
 // holderOf is this process as the lease's holder.
 func holderOf(instance string) lease.Holder {
 	host, _ := os.Hostname()
-	return lease.Holder{Instance: instance, Host: host, Build: version}
+	build := runningBuild()
+	if build == "" {
+		build = version
+	}
+	return lease.Holder{Instance: instance, Host: host, Build: build}
+}
+
+// RunningBuildVar is where the declaration tells this process which build it is (module.json, the
+// controller process's env): the version its bundle is delivered as, `${version}` composed by the
+// catalogue from the bundle's digest. Empty for a process placed by hand.
+const RunningBuildVar = "MESH_CONTROLLER_VERSION"
+
+// runningBuild is the version of the build this process is, or empty when the declaration did not say.
+func runningBuild() string {
+	return strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv(RunningBuildVar))
 }
 
 // serveUnderTheLease takes the lease for the serving controller, waiting while another holds it, and

cmd/mesh-controller/asker.go

@@ -167,6 +167,11 @@ type asker struct {
 	routerRecord func(ctx context.Context, id string) (*asks.Warrant, error)
 	// routerHere says whether a router holds the seat and takes asks under the asker's name; nil is yes.
 	routerHere func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error)
+	// grantHeld says whether the bus holds the controller's grant to ask: the user list the bus's machine was
+	// last sent is the one the mesh composes now (novox/hq issue 353). The grant is composed from the router's
+	// assignment and reaches the bus only when that machine is next pushed, so between `assign` and `push`
+	// the record says a router is here and the bus refuses every ask. why says what to do; nil is yes.
+	grantHeld func(ctx context.Context) (held bool, why string, err error)
 	// channels is what the channels are now, as a fingerprint: who holds which kind, promising what.
 	channels func(ctx context.Context) string
 	// raise keeps the asker's own condition (sourceAsker): which conditions needing the operator could not be
@@ -176,6 +181,7 @@ type asker struct {
 	logf  func(string, ...any)
 
 	saidNoRouter bool
+	saidNoGrant  bool
 
 	mu     sync.Mutex
 	nudged chan struct{}
@@ -258,6 +264,30 @@ func (a *asker) reconcile(ctx context.Context) error {
 		}
 		a.saidNoRouter = false
 	}
+	if a.grantHeld != nil {
+		held, why, err := a.grantHeld(ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if !held {
+			if !a.saidNoGrant {
+				a.logf("the bus does not hold the controller's grant to ask yet: %s; the operator is asked nothing until it does", why)
+				a.saidNoGrant = true
+			}
+			open, err := a.open(ctx)
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			var unasked []conditions.Condition
+			for _, c := range open {
+				if wants(c, now) {
+					unasked = append(unasked, c)
+				}
+			}
+			return a.sayUnasked(ctx, unasked, "the bus does not hold the controller's grant to ask yet: "+why)
+		}
+		a.saidNoGrant = false
+	}
 	channels := ""
 	if a.channels != nil {
 		channels = a.channels(ctx)

cmd/mesh-controller/asker_test.go

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
@@ -654,3 +655,51 @@ func TestAnAcknowledgementNeverSharesAnAskWithAnApproval(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("the approval kept through a silence was not performed: %v", r.called)
 	}
 }
+
+// novox/hq issue 353: the controller's grant to ask is composed from the router's assignment and reaches the
+// bus only when its machine is pushed. Between the two, the bus refuses every ask (measured 2026-10-09, 17:54 to
+// 17:56 local: seven refusals of mesh.seat.operator-channel.accept.ask.mesh-controller). So nothing is asked
+// while the bus's user list is behind, it is said once, the conditions that need the operator are raised as
+// undelivered with what to do, and the asks go out once the bus holds the grant.
+func TestNothingIsAskedWhileTheBusLacksTheControllersGrant(t *testing.T) {
+	r := newAskerRig(t)
+	var said []string
+	r.a.logf = func(f string, a ...any) { said = append(said, fmt.Sprintf(f, a...)) }
+	var raised [][]conditions.Observation
+	r.a.raise = func(_ context.Context, obs []conditions.Observation) error {
+		raised = append(raised, obs)
+		return nil
+	}
+	held := false
+	r.a.grantHeld = func(context.Context) (bool, string, error) {
+		return held, "the bus's user list on anchor is behind what the mesh composes; `push anchor` carries it", nil
+	}
+	r.open = []conditions.Condition{heldCondition()}
+	_ = r.a.reconcile(context.Background())
+	_ = r.a.reconcile(context.Background())
+	if len(r.asksSent(t)) != 0 {
+		t.Error("asked while the bus lacks the grant")
+	}
+	n := 0
+	for _, s := range said {
+		if strings.Contains(s, "does not hold the controller's grant") {
+			n++
+		}
+	}
+	if n != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("said %d times: %q", n, said)
+	}
+	if len(raised) == 0 || len(raised[len(raised)-1]) != 1 ||
+		!strings.Contains(raised[len(raised)-1][0].Summary, "`push anchor` carries it") ||
+		raised[len(raised)-1][0].Kind != "asks-undelivered" {
+		t.Fatalf("not said as a condition with what to do: %+v", raised)
+	}
+	held = true
+	_ = r.a.reconcile(context.Background())
+	if sent := r.asksSent(t); len(sent) != 1 || sent[0].About != heldCondition().Key {
+		t.Errorf("not asked once the bus holds the grant: %+v", sent)
+	}
+	if last := raised[len(raised)-1]; len(last) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("the undelivered condition was not cleared: %+v", last)
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/asker_wire.go

@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
@@ -234,6 +235,38 @@ func routerHereIn(inv *inventory.Inventory) func(ctx context.Context) (bool, err
 	}
 }
 
+// grantHeldIn says whether the bus holds the controller's grant to ask (novox/hq issue 353): the user list the
+// machine holding the bus was last sent is the one the mesh composes now (brokerBehind, the same judgement a
+// push makes to send that machine first). While it is behind, the controller's ask is refused by the bus,
+// whatever the record says of the router, so nothing is asked and the operator is told to push that machine.
+// Judged at most every grantLookEvery: composing the list resolves the bus's machine whole.
+func grantHeldIn(open *stores) func(ctx context.Context) (bool, string, error) {
+	var mu sync.Mutex
+	var at time.Time
+	var held bool
+	var why string
+	return func(ctx context.Context) (bool, string, error) {
+		mu.Lock()
+		defer mu.Unlock()
+		if !at.IsZero() && time.Since(at) < grantLookEvery {
+			return held, why, nil
+		}
+		machine, behind, err := brokerBehind(ctx, open, nil)
+		if err != nil {
+			return false, "", err
+		}
+		at, held, why = time.Now(), !behind, ""
+		if behind {
+			why = fmt.Sprintf("the bus's user list on %s is behind what the mesh composes, so the bus has not been "+
+				"given the controller's grant to ask; `push %s` carries it", machine, machine)
+		}
+		return held, why, nil
+	}
+}
+
+// grantLookEvery is how often the bus's user list is judged against the one its machine was last sent.
+const grantLookEvery = 30 * time.Second
+
 // channelsIn is what the channels are now, as a fingerprint: each module claiming a kind of the channel
 // bench, where, promising what, and whether of its own account. An ask the router refused is asked again
 // once this changes.
@@ -287,6 +320,7 @@ func startAsking(ctx context.Context, open *stores, server *link.Server, conn *n
 		},
 		routerRecord: routerRecordOf(conn, open.inventory),
 		routerHere:   routerHereIn(open.inventory),
+		grantHeld:    grantHeldIn(open),
 		channels:     channelsIn(open.inventory),
 		raise: func(ctx context.Context, obs []conditions.Observation) error {
 			return keeper.Reconcile(ctx, sourceAsker, obs)

cmd/mesh-controller/desk_secret.go

@@ -0,0 +1,244 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/conditions"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/secrets"
+)
+
+// A module's own secret given at the operator's desk (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10).
+//
+// **The value never passes through whoever asked for it.** An agent, or the operator at the mesh MCP
+// server, calls `give` with the machine, the module, the secret's name and the desk — never a value. The
+// controller makes a sealing keypair for this one call, asks the desk's `node-launcher.secret` to prompt the
+// operator without showing what is typed, and is answered with what was typed **sealed to that key**: no
+// plaintext on the bus, in a runtime's log or in any call's record. It opens it here, seals it to the
+// module's machine exactly as `secret accept` does, and forgets it. What it answers says only that the
+// value was taken, or why not.
+//
+// **What remains** (ADR 0234's accepted residual risk): on an X11 desk any program of the operator's
+// account can read the keys as they are typed. And a program that calls the desk's prompt itself, with a
+// key of its own, is answered with what the operator typed into a prompt they did not ask for — as it could
+// draw a window of its own. The prompt says who asks and for what, so the operator types only into a
+// prompt they started.
+
+// deskPromptWithin is how long the prompt waits for the operator: below the runtime's thirty seconds for
+// one call, as the launcher's menu is.
+const deskPromptWithin = 25
+
+// deskGive is the desk path, its four reaches given so a test needs no store and no bus.
+type deskGive struct {
+	// declares refuses a module or a secret the mesh would refuse, before anybody is asked to type.
+	declares func(module, name string) error
+	// known refuses a machine the mesh does not know, before anybody is asked to type; nil knows every one
+	// (a test that does not look).
+	known func(machine string) error
+	// trusted says a module runs as an account of its own: its secret is never taken at a desk (below). Nil is
+	// never (a test that does not look).
+	trusted func(module string) (bool, error)
+	// ask asks one machine's node-launcher.secret and answers its result, or the holder's refusal.
+	ask func(machine string, args map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error)
+	// accept seals the value as `secret accept` does, and says whether it lives until the module's start.
+	accept func(value string) (untilStart bool, err error)
+	// record writes the act in the hand-act log.
+	record func(link.HandAct) error
+	// announce raises the condition that says a module's own secret was given (secretGivenObservation), on
+	// every channel; nil announces nothing (a test that does not look).
+	announce func(node, module, name, how string) error
+}
+
+// errNothingGiven is a prompt dismissed, or not answered in time: nothing changes.
+var errNothingGiven = errors.New("nothing was given")
+
+// give asks the desk for the value and seals it; it answers the words said to the caller.
+func (d deskGive) give(node, module, name, desk string) (string, error) {
+	for what, v := range map[string]string{"the machine": node, "the module": module, "the secret": name, "the desk": desk} {
+		if strings.TrimSpace(v) == "" {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("%s is not named", what)
+		}
+	}
+	if d.known != nil {
+		for what, machine := range map[string]string{"the machine the secret is for": node, "the desk": desk} {
+			if err := d.known(machine); err != nil {
+				return "", fmt.Errorf("nobody was asked to type anything: %s, %s, is not a machine this mesh knows: %w",
+					what, machine, err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if err := d.declares(module, name); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("nobody was asked to type anything: %w", err)
+	}
+	// **A trusted party's secret is not taken at a desk** (the confirmation review of 2026-10-09, N1-give). The
+	// prompt's answer comes back over the desk machine's bus, on a subject that machine's runtime answers — and
+	// on a desk machine agents run as the operator, who holds that runtime's credential. An agent could answer
+	// first, with a bot token of its own sealed to this call's key, and the channel the operator's answers are
+	// proven on would be the agent's. So the value of a module running as its own account is typed at the
+	// controller's terminal, where no bus carries it.
+	if d.trusted != nil {
+		trusted, err := d.trusted(module)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("nobody was asked to type anything: whether %s is a trusted party could not be read: %w", module, err)
+		}
+		if trusted {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("nobody was asked to type anything: %s runs as an account of its own and proves the "+
+				"operator's answers, so its %s is given at the controller's terminal alone — there, run `mesh-controller "+
+				"secret accept %s %s %s` and type it at its prompt. A desk's prompt is answered over the desk machine's "+
+				"bus, where an agent may answer first (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10)", module, name, node, module, name)
+		}
+	}
+	public, private, err := secrets.Keypair()
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("no key could be made to take the value: %w", err)
+	}
+	// By name, never by words: the holder writes the prompt from these, and says the controller asks, which
+	// the bus alone makes true (broker.ControllerOnly).
+	raw, err := d.ask(desk, map[string]any{
+		"module":          module,
+		"secret":          name,
+		"node":            node,
+		"seal_to":         public,
+		"timeout_seconds": deskPromptWithin,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("the desk on %s could not be asked: %w", desk, err)
+	}
+	var answer struct {
+		Sealed    string `json:"sealed"`
+		Cancelled bool   `json:"cancelled"`
+		TimedOut  bool   `json:"timed_out"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &answer); err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("the desk on %s answered something that is not the prompt's answer", desk)
+	}
+	switch {
+	case answer.TimedOut:
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("%w: the prompt on %s was not answered within %d seconds", errNothingGiven, desk, deskPromptWithin)
+	case answer.Cancelled:
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("%w: the prompt on %s was dismissed", errNothingGiven, desk)
+	case answer.Sealed == "":
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("the desk on %s answered no sealed value", desk)
+	}
+	opened, err := secrets.Open(private, answer.Sealed)
+	if err != nil {
+		// Never the value, never what failed to open: only that it was not sealed to this call.
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("the desk on %s answered a value not sealed to this call; nothing was taken", desk)
+	}
+	value := asSupplied(string(opened))
+	for i := range opened {
+		opened[i] = 0
+	}
+	if strings.TrimSpace(value) == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("%w: the prompt on %s was answered empty", errNothingGiven, desk)
+	}
+	untilStart, err := d.accept(value)
+	value = ""
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	act := link.HandAct{Verb: "secret accept", Args: []string{node, module, name, "--at-desk", desk},
+		Why:   fmt.Sprintf("the operator gave %s for %s on %s at the desk on %s", name, module, node, desk),
+		Cause: "given-at-the-desk"}
+	recorded := ""
+	if err := d.record(act); err != nil {
+		recorded = fmt.Sprintf("\n  this act could NOT be recorded in the hand-act log, and is done anyway: %v", err)
+	}
+	if d.announce != nil {
+		if err := d.announce(node, module, name, "at the desk on "+desk); err != nil {
+			recorded += fmt.Sprintf("\n  this change could NOT be announced on the operator's channels: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+	words := fmt.Sprintf("%s on %s now holds %q, given at the desk on %s and sealed to %s; the mesh cannot read it "+
+		"back.\n  run `push %s` to send it", module, node, name, desk, node, node)
+	if untilStart {
+		words += fmt.Sprintf("\n  it lives until %s next starts well under the mesh, and is then replaced with a value "+
+			"the mesh makes (ADR 0228)", module)
+	}
+	return words + recorded, nil
+}
+
+// giveAtDesk is `secret accept <node> <module> <name> --at-desk <machine>`: the desk path, on this
+// controller's stores and bus.
+func giveAtDesk(ctx context.Context, node, module, name, desk string) error {
+	open, err := openStores(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer open.Close()
+	d := deskGive{
+		declares: func(module, name string) error { return open.inventory.DeclaresOwnSecret(ctx, module, name) },
+		known: func(machine string) error {
+			_, err := open.inventory.NodeByName(ctx, machine)
+			return err
+		},
+		trusted: func(module string) (bool, error) { return open.inventory.RunsAsItsOwnAccount(ctx, module) },
+		ask: func(machine string, args map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+			var result json.RawMessage
+			err := onTheBus(func(conn *nats.Conn) error {
+				answer, err := link.AskSeatTool(ctx, conn, "node-launcher", "secret", machine, args,
+					time.Duration(deskPromptWithin+5)*time.Second)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+				if answer.Error != "" {
+					return errors.New(answer.Error)
+				}
+				result = answer.Result
+				return nil
+			})
+			return result, err
+		},
+		accept: func(value string) (bool, error) {
+			return open.inventory.AcceptGivenSecret(ctx, node, module, name, value)
+		},
+		record: func(act link.HandAct) error {
+			return onTheBus(func(conn *nats.Conn) error {
+				_, err := link.RecordHandAct(ctx, conn, act)
+				return err
+			})
+		},
+		announce: func(node, module, name, how string) error { return announceSecretGiven(ctx, node, module, name, how) },
+	}
+	words, err := d.give(node, module, name, desk)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	fmt.Println(words)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// kindSecretGiven is the condition every value given for a module's own secret raises (the review of 2026-10-09,
+// M4): on every channel, so a bot token changed by somebody else — a channel that now answers for them — is
+// heard of. It stays until the operator silences or clears it.
+const kindSecretGiven = "secret-given"
+
+// secretGivenObservation is that condition: which secret, of which module on which machine, how and when.
+func secretGivenObservation(node, module, name, how string, at time.Time) conditions.Observation {
+	key := node + "." + module + "." + name
+	return conditions.Observation{Scope: conditions.ScopeMachine, ID: key, Token: kindSecretGiven, Kind: kindSecretGiven,
+		Machine: node, Severity: conditions.Urgent, Source: kindSecretGiven,
+		Summary: fmt.Sprintf("%s of %s on %s was given %s at %s", name, module, node, how,
+			at.Local().Format("2006-01-02 15:04")),
+		Headline: "Secret of " + module + " changed",
+		Explanation: fmt.Sprintf("The secret %s of %s on %s was given %s at %s. If you did not do this, "+
+			"somebody else holds what %s acts with.", name, module, node, how, at.Local().Format("15:04"), module),
+		Needs:    "silence this if you gave it; if you did not, give the secret again yourself and unlink what it serves.",
+		Resolved: "You saw that " + name + " of " + module + " was changed",
+		Actions:  []conditions.Action{conditions.SilenceAction(conditions.Key(conditions.ScopeMachine, key, kindSecretGiven))}}
+}
+
+// announceSecretGiven raises it on this controller's keeper.
+func announceSecretGiven(ctx context.Context, node, module, name, how string) error {
+	return withKeeper(ctx, func(k *conditions.Keeper) error {
+		_, err := k.Observe(ctx, secretGivenObservation(node, module, name, how, time.Now()))
+		return err
+	})
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/desk_secret_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,361 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/broker"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/conditions"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/secrets"
+)
+
+const typed = "123456789:AAEhBP0av28P4XFQnIuR-o-7Xnz1kkUzW3g"
+
+// aDesk is the desk path with a prompt the test answers as the operator would, and what it was asked kept.
+func aDesk(t *testing.T, answer func(args map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error)) (deskGive, *[]string, *[]link.HandAct, *[]map[string]any) {
+	t.Helper()
+	var accepted []string
+	var acts []link.HandAct
+	var asked []map[string]any
+	return deskGive{
+		declares: func(module, name string) error {
+			if module != "telegram" || name != "telegram-token" {
+				return errors.New(module + " does not declare " + name + " as an own secret")
+			}
+			return nil
+		},
+		ask: func(machine string, args map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+			asked = append(asked, args)
+			return answer(args)
+		},
+		accept: func(value string) (bool, error) { accepted = append(accepted, value); return false, nil },
+		record: func(a link.HandAct) error { acts = append(acts, a); return nil },
+	}, &accepted, &acts, &asked
+}
+
+func sealedTo(t *testing.T, value string) func(args map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+	return func(args map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+		sealed, err := secrets.Seal(args["seal_to"].(string), []byte(value+"\n"))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		raw, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"sealed": sealed})
+		return raw, nil
+	}
+}
+
+// novox/hq ADR 0259 §10: the value typed at the desk is sealed as `secret accept` seals it, and is in no
+// answer, no prompt argument and no act recorded.
+func TestASecretGivenAtTheDeskIsSealedAndSaidNowhere(t *testing.T) {
+	d, accepted, acts, asked := aDesk(t, sealedTo(t, typed))
+	words, err := d.give("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "laptop")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(*accepted) != 1 || (*accepted)[0] != typed {
+		t.Fatalf("the value sealed is not what was typed, its line ending taken off")
+	}
+	if len(*acts) != 1 || (*acts)[0].Verb != "secret accept" || (*acts)[0].Cause != "given-at-the-desk" ||
+		!strings.Contains((*acts)[0].Why, "at the desk on laptop") {
+		t.Errorf("the act: %+v", *acts)
+	}
+	raw, _ := json.Marshal(struct {
+		Words string
+		Acts  []link.HandAct
+		Asked []map[string]any
+	}{words, *acts, *asked})
+	if strings.Contains(string(raw), typed) || strings.Contains(string(raw), "AAEhBP0") {
+		t.Fatal("the value appears in what was said, asked or recorded")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(words, "push anchor") || !strings.Contains(words, "given at the desk on laptop") {
+		t.Errorf("%q", words)
+	}
+	if p := (*asked)[0]; p["seal_to"] == "" || p["timeout_seconds"] != deskPromptWithin {
+		t.Errorf("the prompt was asked %v", p)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNothingIsAskedForASecretTheMeshWouldRefuse(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, c := range [][2]string{{"telegram", "chat-id"}, {"nobody", "telegram-token"}} {
+		d, accepted, _, asked := aDesk(t, sealedTo(t, typed))
+		if _, err := d.give("anchor", c[0], c[1], "laptop"); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "nobody was asked") {
+			t.Errorf("%v: %v", c, err)
+		}
+		if len(*asked) != 0 || len(*accepted) != 0 {
+			t.Errorf("%v: the operator was asked anyway", c)
+		}
+	}
+	d, _, _, _ := aDesk(t, sealedTo(t, typed))
+	if _, err := d.give("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", ""); err == nil {
+		t.Error("no desk was refused nowhere")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestADismissedEmptyLateOrForeignAnswerTakesNothing(t *testing.T) {
+	for want, answer := range map[string]func(map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error){
+		"not answered within 25 seconds": func(map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+			return json.RawMessage(`{"cancelled":true,"timed_out":true}`), nil
+		},
+		"was dismissed":  func(map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) { return json.RawMessage(`{"cancelled":true}`), nil },
+		"answered empty": sealedTo(t, "  "),
+		"not sealed to this call": func(map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+			other, _, _ := secrets.Keypair()
+			sealed, _ := secrets.Seal(other, []byte(typed))
+			raw, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]any{"sealed": sealed})
+			return raw, nil
+		},
+		"could not be asked": func(map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) { return nil, errors.New("no session answers") },
+	} {
+		d, accepted, acts, _ := aDesk(t, answer)
+		_, err := d.give("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "laptop")
+		if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), want) || strings.Contains(err.Error(), typed) {
+			t.Errorf("want %q, got %v", want, err)
+		}
+		if len(*accepted) != 0 || len(*acts) != 0 {
+			t.Errorf("%s: something was taken or recorded", want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTheGiveVerbRunsTheDeskPathAndTheControllerMayAskTheDesk(t *testing.T) {
+	argv, err := argvFor("give", map[string]any{"node": "anchor", "module": "telegram", "secret": "telegram-token", "at": "laptop"})
+	if err != nil || strings.Join(argv, " ") != "secret accept anchor telegram telegram-token --at-desk laptop" {
+		t.Fatalf("%v %v", argv, err)
+	}
+	if _, err := argvFor("give", map[string]any{"node": "anchor", "module": "telegram", "secret": "telegram-token"}); err == nil {
+		t.Error("give without a desk was taken")
+	}
+	perms, err := broker.PermissionsFor(broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindController})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	found := false
+	for _, p := range perms.Publish {
+		found = found || p == "mesh.seat.node-launcher.tool.secret.*"
+	}
+	if !found {
+		t.Error("the controller may not ask the desk's prompt")
+	}
+}
+
+// The review of 2026-10-09 (M4): the desk's prompt says who asks in words the caller does not choose — the
+// controller, which the bus alone lets ask it — and what for, from names the controller checked; the prompt
+// carries no free text of the caller's.
+func TestThePromptIsAskedByNameNeverByWordsTheCallerChose(t *testing.T) {
+	d, _, _, asked := aDesk(t, sealedTo(t, typed))
+	if _, err := d.give("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "laptop"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	p := (*asked)[0]
+	if p["module"] != "telegram" || p["secret"] != "telegram-token" || p["node"] != "anchor" {
+		t.Errorf("the prompt was not asked by name: %v", p)
+	}
+	for _, free := range []string{"prompt", "message"} {
+		if _, there := p[free]; there {
+			t.Errorf("the prompt carries the caller's %s: %v", free, p)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// Every value given for a module's own secret is announced as a condition, on every channel (the review of
+// 2026-10-09, M4): a bot token changed by somebody else is a channel that now answers for them.
+func TestAValueGivenAtTheDeskIsAnnounced(t *testing.T) {
+	d, _, _, _ := aDesk(t, sealedTo(t, typed))
+	var said []string
+	d.announce = func(node, module, name, how string) error {
+		said = append(said, node+" "+module+" "+name+" "+how)
+		return nil
+	}
+	if _, err := d.give("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "laptop"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if len(said) != 1 || !strings.Contains(said[0], "anchor telegram telegram-token") || !strings.Contains(said[0], "laptop") {
+		t.Fatalf("announced %v", said)
+	}
+	o := secretGivenObservation("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "at the desk on laptop", time.Date(2026, 10, 9, 12, 3, 0, 0, time.UTC))
+	if o.Severity != conditions.Urgent || !strings.Contains(o.Explanation, "telegram-token") ||
+		len(o.Actions) == 0 || o.Key() == "" {
+		t.Errorf("the announcement %+v", o)
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(o.Summary+o.Explanation+o.Said, typed) {
+		t.Error("the announcement carries the value")
+	}
+}
+
+// The bus lets the controller alone ask the desk's prompt (the review of 2026-10-09, M4): the runtime, which
+// carries every agent's calls, and a person granted every tool are denied it, however wide their grant.
+func TestOnlyTheControllerMayAskTheDesksPrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, p := range []broker.Principal{
+		{Kind: broker.KindNodeTools, Node: "laptop"},
+		{Kind: broker.KindPerson, Module: "operator", Invokes: []string{"*"}},
+		{Kind: broker.KindModule, Node: "laptop", Module: "lab", Invokes: []string{"seat:node-launcher.secret"}},
+	} {
+		perms, err := broker.PermissionsFor(p)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		for _, subject := range []string{"mesh.seat.node-launcher.tool.secret.laptop", "mesh.seat.node-launcher.tool.secret",
+			"mesh.mod.rofi.tool.node-launcher.secret", "mesh.mod.rofi.tool.node-launcher.secret.laptop"} {
+			if broker.MayPublish(perms, subject) {
+				t.Errorf("%s may publish %s", p.Username(), subject)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	perms, _ := broker.PermissionsFor(broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindController})
+	if !broker.MayPublish(perms, "mesh.seat.node-launcher.tool.secret.laptop") {
+		t.Error("the controller may not ask the desk's prompt")
+	}
+}
+
+// A value for a secret comes from the terminal or the desk, never through a verb (the review of 2026-10-09,
+// M4): `secret accept` with a value, run for a verb, is refused before anything is read.
+func TestASecretValueIsNeverAcceptedThroughAVerb(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv(verbVar, "mesh-controller.command")
+	for _, args := range [][]string{
+		{"accept", "anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "--from", "/dev/null"},
+		{"accept", "anchor", "app", "db", "--from", "/dev/null", "--provider", "store"},
+	} {
+		err := secretCommand(context.Background(), args)
+		if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "never through a verb") {
+			t.Errorf("%v: %v", args, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The `give` verb's own line passes the terminal-only rule of ADR 0266, and no other `secret accept` does: a
+// value, a file, a provider or an extra word is still the terminal's alone.
+func TestOnlyTheGiveLinePassesTheTerminalRuleForSecrets(t *testing.T) {
+	if err := terminalOnly([]string{"secret", "accept", "anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "--at-desk", "laptop"}); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("give's line refused: %v", err)
+	}
+	for _, argv := range [][]string{
+		{"secret", "accept", "anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token"},
+		{"secret", "accept", "anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "--from", "/tmp/x"},
+		{"secret", "accept", "anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "--at-desk", "laptop", "--local"},
+		{"secret", "accept", "anchor", "telegram", "--provider", "--at-desk", "laptop"},
+		{"secret", "export", "anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "--at-desk", "laptop"},
+	} {
+		if err := terminalOnly(argv); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%v passed the terminal rule", argv)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The confirmation review of 2026-10-09, N1-give: a desk's prompt is answered over the desk machine's bus, and
+// on a desk machine agents run as the operator, who holds its runtime's credential — so a trusted party's
+// secret (a module running as an account of its own: the Telegram bot's token) is never taken at a desk.
+// Refused before anybody is asked to type, whoever called, naming the terminal's line.
+func TestATrustedPartysSecretIsNeverTakenAtADesk(t *testing.T) {
+	d, accepted, acts, asked := aDesk(t, sealedTo(t, typed))
+	d.trusted = func(module string) (bool, error) { return module == "telegram", nil }
+	_, err := d.give("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "laptop")
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "controller's terminal alone") ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "secret accept anchor telegram telegram-token") {
+		t.Fatalf("a trusted party's secret was taken at the desk, or refused without the line: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(*asked)+len(*accepted)+len(*acts) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("asked %v, accepted %d, recorded %v", *asked, len(*accepted), *acts)
+	}
+	d.trusted = func(string) (bool, error) { return false, errors.New("the store did not answer") }
+	if _, err := d.give("anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "laptop"); err == nil || len(*asked) != 0 {
+		t.Errorf("a module not known to be untrusted was asked at the desk: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// And who may answer the desk's prompt at all: only the runtime of the machine it is asked on, carrying the
+// launcher that holds the seat there — never the controller, another machine's runtime, or a module's own
+// account (the confirmation review of 2026-10-09, N1-give).
+func TestOnlyTheDeskMachinesLauncherMayAnswerItsPrompt(t *testing.T) {
+	launcher := broker.Declared{Module: "rofi", Holds: []broker.Seat{{Name: "node-launcher", Scope: "node",
+		Serves: []string{"run", "secret"}}}}
+	subject := "mesh.seat.node-launcher.tool.secret.laptop"
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		p       broker.Principal
+		answers bool
+	}{
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindNodeTools, Node: "laptop", Module: broker.RuntimeModule, Carries: []broker.Declared{launcher}}, true},
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindNodeTools, Node: "anchor", Module: broker.RuntimeModule, Carries: []broker.Declared{launcher}}, false},
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindController}, false},
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindModule, Node: "laptop", Module: "lab"}, false},
+		{broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindNode, Node: "laptop"}, false},
+	} {
+		perms, err := broker.PermissionsFor(c.p)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if got := broker.MaySubscribe(perms, subject); got != c.answers {
+			t.Errorf("%s may answer %s: %v, want %v", c.p.Username(), subject, got, c.answers)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// N1-give at the controller's terminal (the confirmation review of 2026-10-09): a trusted party's secret is
+// announced before it is kept, and not kept when the announcement fails; another module's is kept first and
+// a failed announcement is said, not undone.
+func TestATrustedPartysSecretGivenAtTheTerminalIsAnnouncedBeforeItIsKept(t *testing.T) {
+	var order []string
+	announce := func(fail bool) func() error {
+		return func() error {
+			order = append(order, "announce")
+			if fail {
+				return errors.New("no channel")
+			}
+			return nil
+		}
+	}
+	keep := func() (bool, error) { order = append(order, "keep"); return false, nil }
+
+	order = nil
+	if _, unannounced, err := keepGiven(true, announce(false), keep); err != nil || unannounced != nil ||
+		strings.Join(order, ",") != "announce,keep" {
+		t.Errorf("trusted: %v %v, order %v; want announced, then kept", unannounced, err, order)
+	}
+	order = nil
+	if _, _, err := keepGiven(true, announce(true), keep); err == nil || strings.Join(order, ",") != "announce" {
+		t.Errorf("trusted, announcement failed: %v, order %v; want refused and nothing kept", err, order)
+	}
+	order = nil
+	if _, unannounced, err := keepGiven(false, announce(true), keep); err != nil || unannounced == nil ||
+		strings.Join(order, ",") != "keep,announce" {
+		t.Errorf("not trusted: %v %v, order %v; want kept, then the failed announcement said", unannounced, err, order)
+	}
+	order = nil
+	failing := func() (bool, error) { order = append(order, "keep"); return false, errors.New("store away") }
+	if _, _, err := keepGiven(false, announce(false), failing); err == nil || strings.Join(order, ",") != "keep" {
+		t.Errorf("not trusted, keep failed: %v, order %v; want refused and nothing announced", err, order)
+	}
+}
+
+// A machine the mesh does not know, as the secret's or as the desk, is refused before anybody is asked to type.
+func TestAGiveNamingAMachineTheMeshDoesNotKnowAsksNobody(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, unknown := range []string{"elsewhere", "nodesk"} {
+		d, accepted, acts, asked := aDesk(t, func(map[string]any) (json.RawMessage, error) {
+			t.Fatal("the desk was asked")
+			return nil, nil
+		})
+		d.known = func(machine string) error {
+			if machine == unknown {
+				return errors.New("no node " + machine)
+			}
+			return nil
+		}
+		node, desk := "anchor", "laptop"
+		if unknown == "elsewhere" {
+			node = unknown
+		} else {
+			desk = unknown
+		}
+		_, err := d.give(node, "telegram", "telegram-token", desk)
+		if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "nobody was asked") || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), unknown) {
+			t.Errorf("%s: %v", unknown, err)
+		}
+		if len(*accepted)+len(*acts)+len(*asked) != 0 {
+			t.Errorf("%s: something happened: %v %v %v", unknown, *accepted, *acts, *asked)
+		}
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/found_wait_test.go

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ func foundDirectory(module string, since time.Time) inventory.ResourceHealth {
 	return inventory.ResourceHealth{Module: module, Resource: module + ".data", Kind: link.KindDirectory,
 		Target: "/srv/" + module, State: link.StateUnhealthy, Since: since,
 		Reason: link.ReasonUsedAsFound + " owned by 1000:1000, mode 700, as found; root, mode 755 was declared and " +
-			"not given it — `mesh-host hand-over` at the machine hands it to the mesh"}
+			"not given it — `nox node hand-over laptop <directory>` on the control-node, with its path, hands it to the mesh"}
 }
 
 func TestADirectoryFoundBeforeTheSendIsAWaitForAPerson(t *testing.T) {

cmd/mesh-controller/gate.go

@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ const (
 	healthWaiting
 	healthNotYet
 	healthBroken
+	// healthSuperseded is a judging that cannot go on: the machine was sent another build of the module
+	// after the gate's send (novox/hq issue 352). No verdict on the build judged, and nothing put back.
+	healthSuperseded
 )
 
 // served is what one machine's node tools answered the bus's discovery with.
@@ -122,6 +125,39 @@ type gateFacts struct {
 	// groupsAdded is, per module, whether the move judged puts an account in a group its previous build did
 	// not (issue 318 review): the only move whose wait for a new login is excused.
 	groupsAdded map[string]bool
+	// sent is, per machine, the declaration the gate's own send carried there (novox/hq issue 352): a
+	// report is held against it, never against the send made last. sentBuilds is what each machine was
+	// last sent of every module, and judged the commit of each module this gate judges: a machine last
+	// sent another build of the module is not running the build judged.
+	sent       map[string]inventory.SentDeclaration
+	sentBuilds map[string]map[string]string
+	commits    map[string]string
+}
+
+// reportedOn says a machine's last report is on what the gate sent it (novox/hq issue 352): on that
+// declaration, or one it was sent after it — or, for a gate kept before sends were kept on it, on the
+// declaration last sent. On 2026-10-09 a release's gate read the control node's report against a newer
+// send another plan had just made there, and failed three builds the machine had reported healthy as
+// "has not reported on what it was sent".
+func (f gateFacts) reportedOn(machine string, r inventory.Reported) bool {
+	if sent, kept := f.sent[machine]; kept {
+		return sent.ReportsOn(r)
+	}
+	return r.Current
+}
+
+// supersededOn says the machine was last sent another build of the module than the one this gate judges
+// (novox/hq issue 352): the judging cannot go on, whatever the machine reports. On 2026-10-09 a controller
+// put back by one gate judged another gate's newer controller build passed on the same machine, reading
+// the put-back build's health as the newer one's.
+func (f gateFacts) supersededOn(module, machine string) (string, bool) {
+	judged, known := f.commits[module]
+	sent, has := f.sentBuilds[machine][module]
+	if !known || !has || judged == "" || sent == "" || sameCommit(sent, judged) {
+		return "", false
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s was sent %s %s after this gate's %s: the build judged no longer runs there, and "+
+		"this judging is superseded by that send's", machine, module, short(sent), short(judged)), true
 }
 
 // gatherGateFacts reads what a judging needs, from the store, the bus and this controller's memory. A
@@ -199,9 +235,12 @@ func judgeHealth(module, component string, m catalogue.Manifest, machine string,
 		return healthBroken, fmt.Sprintf("the witness on %s judged the %s %s and %s: %s", machine, r.Component,
 			short(r.From), r.Outcome, r.Why)
 	}
+	if why, superseded := f.supersededOn(module, machine); superseded {
+		return healthSuperseded, why
+	}
 	r, said := f.reports[machine]
 	switch {
-	case !said || r.At == nil || !r.Current:
+	case !said || r.At == nil || !f.reportedOn(machine, r):
 		return healthNotYet, fmt.Sprintf("%s has not reported on what it was sent", machine)
 	case r.Outcome == inventory.OutcomeFailed || r.Outcome == inventory.OutcomeRefused:
 		return healthBroken, fmt.Sprintf("%s %s what it was sent", machine, r.Outcome)
@@ -438,6 +477,21 @@ func judgeMoves(ctx context.Context, open *stores, g *inventory.PlanGate, pairs
 		return "", err
 	}
 	facts.groupsAdded = movesAddingGroups(ctx, open.inventory, g, pairs, shelf)
+	facts.sent = g.Sent
+	facts.commits, facts.sentBuilds = judgedCommits(g, pairs), map[string]map[string]string{}
+	// A module this gate put back at once (putBackBroken) was sent its earlier build by the gate itself:
+	// not another send, and not a judging superseded.
+	for _, m := range g.Returned {
+		delete(facts.commits, m)
+	}
+	for _, j := range pairs {
+		if _, read := facts.sentBuilds[j.node]; read {
+			continue
+		}
+		if builds, known, err := open.inventory.SentBuilds(ctx, j.node); err == nil && known {
+			facts.sentBuilds[j.node] = builds
+		}
+	}
 	// **What is wrong with a machine itself is the machine's** (novox/hq issue 281): read once for each
 	// machine judged, apart from what is wrong with a module there, and never pinned on the module the
 	// gate happens to be kept on.
@@ -474,6 +528,13 @@ func judgeMoves(ctx context.Context, open *stores, g *inventory.PlanGate, pairs
 		if _, seen := reading[j.module]; !seen {
 			modules = append(modules, j.module)
 		}
+		if h == healthSuperseded {
+			// Decided at once (novox/hq issue 352): nothing of this gate's can be judged on a machine that
+			// was sent another build of it, and nothing is put back — the later send is what runs there.
+			g.Failing, g.Last = nil, ""
+			decide(g, inventory.GateSuperseded, said, now)
+			return g.Verdict, nil
+		}
 		if h == healthBroken && !slices.Contains(g.Broken, j.module) {
 			g.Broken = append(g.Broken, j.module)
 			if g.BrokenWhy == "" {
@@ -577,6 +638,40 @@ func judgeMoves(ctx context.Context, open *stores, g *inventory.PlanGate, pairs
 	return g.Verdict, nil
 }
 
+// judgedCommits is the commit of each module a gate judges: the gate's own To for its module, and each
+// carried move's. Pure.
+func judgedCommits(g *inventory.PlanGate, pairs []judged) map[string]string {
+	out := map[string]string{}
+	for _, c := range g.Carried {
+		if c.To != "" {
+			out[c.Module] = c.To
+		}
+	}
+	if g.To != "" {
+		for _, j := range pairs {
+			if _, has := out[j.module]; !has && !slices.ContainsFunc(g.Carried, func(c inventory.CarriedMove) bool { return c.Module == j.module }) {
+				out[j.module] = g.To
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// sentNow is what each machine was just sent, read after a send for the gate to keep (novox/hq issue
+// 352): a machine whose send is not on record is left out, and its report is read as before.
+func sentNow(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, machines []string) map[string]inventory.SentDeclaration {
+	out := map[string]inventory.SentDeclaration{}
+	for _, n := range machines {
+		if s, found, err := inv.SentTo(ctx, n); err == nil && found {
+			out[n] = s
+		}
+	}
+	if len(out) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
 // whyFor is a passing gate's why as one module's verdict says it: the send's, and that module's own wait
 // for a person, never another's (issue 318 review).
 func whyFor(g *inventory.PlanGate, module string) string {
@@ -802,6 +897,16 @@ func gateFailed(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan, module str
 			"back", module, short(state.Previous), inventory.KeptBuilds))
 		return
 	}
+	if g.Component == lease.ComponentController {
+		// **The controller is never put back to a build older than the store's schema** (novox/hq issue
+		// 352): the build before it carries fewer migrations than the failed one applied, starts behind
+		// its own records, and judges the next gate with what it can read. The current build is kept and
+		// the condition says so; a person decides.
+		if why, ok := controllerSchemaAllows(ctx, inv, previous); !ok {
+			notBack(why)
+			return
+		}
+	}
 	if err := inv.RestoreModule(ctx, previous); err != nil {
 		notBack(err.Error())
 		return
@@ -835,6 +940,53 @@ func gateFailed(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan, module str
 	sayRollback(ctx, open, module, g, "")
 }
 
+// controllerSchemaAllows says the store's schema lets this build of the controller be put back: the
+// build recorded, when it served, a reach at or past the highest migration the store has applied. One
+// that never recorded a reach is not proved safe, and is refused as such (novox/hq issue 352). Why
+// says what is kept and why when it is not.
+func controllerSchemaAllows(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, previous inventory.Build) (string, bool) {
+	applied, err := inv.SchemaApplied(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "what the store's schema reaches cannot be read, so whether the build before it can read it is not " +
+			"known; the current build is kept: " + err.Error(), false
+	}
+	build := versionOfBuild(previous)
+	if build == "" {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("the build before it (%s) names no bundle to know it by, so whether it can read the store's "+
+			"schema (migration %04d) is not known; the current build is kept, and a person decides", short(previous.Commit), applied), false
+	}
+	reach, known, err := inv.SchemaReachOf(ctx, build)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "what the build before it knows of the store's schema cannot be read; the current build is kept: " + err.Error(), false
+	}
+	if !known {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("the build before it (%s, %s) never recorded how far it reads the store's schema — a "+
+			"controller records that when it serves — so it is not proved to read migration %04d, which the store "+
+			"has applied; a controller older than its store starts behind its own records and judges with what it "+
+			"can read, so the current build is kept, and a person decides", short(previous.Commit), build, applied), false
+	}
+	if reach < applied {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("the build before it (%s, %s) reads the store's schema up to migration %04d, and the store "+
+			"is at %04d: a controller older than its store starts behind its own records and judges with what it "+
+			"can read, so the current build is kept, and a person decides", short(previous.Commit), build, reach, applied), false
+	}
+	return "", true
+}
+
+// versionOfBuild is the version a build's bundle is delivered as — its archive's digest, short, as the
+// catalogue names it (`${version}`) — read from the build's artifacts; empty when none is a bundle.
+func versionOfBuild(b inventory.Build) string {
+	for _, a := range b.Made {
+		if a.Kind != catalogue.ArtifactBundle && a.Kind != catalogue.ArtifactArchive {
+			continue
+		}
+		if _, hex, found := strings.Cut(a.Reference, "sha256:"); found && len(hex) >= 12 {
+			return hex[:12]
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
 // rollbacks is what a failed send puts back, sent together (novox/hq issue 281): a gate that judged one
 // send judges what it moved as one, and what it found wanting goes back in one send per machine — not
 // in a send for each module, which is the churn that failed the gate in the first place.

cmd/mesh-controller/gate_test.go

@@ -113,9 +113,10 @@ func aGateMesh(t *testing.T) *gateMesh {
 		}
 		for node, h := range g.health {
 			if h == healthNotYet {
+				// Not reported on the send: neither the send made last, nor the gate's own (issue 352).
 				f.rolledBack[node] = nil
 				r := f.reports[node]
-				r.Current = false
+				r.Current, r.Declared, r.ReportedSequence = false, "", 0
 				f.reports[node] = r
 			}
 		}

cmd/mesh-controller/handacts.go

@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ var handActVerbs = []handActVerb{
 	// to that judgement. Several values rotate for one leak, and a leak that recurs is a defect of the
 	// module that prints them, an issue against it, not a healer that rotates. A rotation for any other
 	// cause — a credential that stopped working — counts: a schedule or a healer could take it over.
+	// A value given at the desk (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10): an outside party's key, such as a bot token, which
+	// only a person can give. Their word, never a repair.
+	{Verb: "secret accept", Decision: "a value an outside party issued is given by a person, at their desk"},
 	{Verb: "secret rotate", Decision: "a value a person judged disclosed is replaced on their word",
 		DecidedFor: []string{causeLeakedInLogs}},
 }

cmd/mesh-controller/handover_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/conditions"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+)
+
+// A hand-over's line is judged before anything is asked (novox/hq issue 356): a node's name and the directory's
+// absolute path exactly as the engine states it — no `..`, no doubled or trailing separator, nothing relative.
+func TestAHandOverLineIsJudgedBeforeItIsAsked(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, args := range [][]string{
+		{},
+		{"laptop"},
+		{"laptop", "/srv/notes", "extra"},
+		{"", "/srv/notes"},
+		{"--node", "/srv/notes"},
+		{"laptop", "srv/notes"},
+		{"laptop", "/srv/../etc"},
+		{"laptop", "/srv//notes"},
+		{"laptop", "/srv/notes/"},
+		{"laptop", "/srv/notes/."},
+	} {
+		if _, _, err := handOverLine(args); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%q was taken", args)
+		}
+	}
+	node, path, err := handOverLine([]string{"laptop", "/srv/notes"})
+	if err != nil || node != "laptop" || path != "/srv/notes" {
+		t.Fatalf("read as %q %q %v", node, path, err)
+	}
+}
+
+// Who hands over is the line's caller in the words every verb's caller is recorded in — the operator through
+// mesh-cli — or the controller's terminal when nobody is named.
+func TestAHandOverNamesWhoAsked(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv(link.CallerVar, " jo through mesh-cli on anchor ")
+	if by := handOverBy(); by != "jo through mesh-cli on anchor" {
+		t.Fatalf("by %q", by)
+	}
+	t.Setenv(link.CallerVar, "")
+	if by := handOverBy(); by != "the controller's terminal" {
+		t.Fatalf("by %q", by)
+	}
+}
+
+// **A hand-over is the controller's terminal's alone** (novox/hq issue 356, ADR 0266): through any verb, and
+// through mesh-cli outside the terminal, `node hand-over` is refused and nothing runs — at the next apply root
+// gives the directory to the account the module declares, and whoever may call a verb includes agents.
+func TestAHandOverIsRefusedThroughEveryVerb(t *testing.T) {
+	line := []string{"node", "hand-over", "laptop", "/srv/notes"}
+	if err := terminalOnly(line); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("node hand-over passed as a verb's line")
+	}
+	if _, err := argvFor("command", map[string]any{"command": "node hand-over laptop /srv/notes"}); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("the command verb composed node hand-over")
+	}
+	if _, err := ordinaryLine(line); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("node hand-over composed as an ordinary mesh-cli line")
+	}
+	if _, err := argvFor("node", map[string]any{"node": "laptop", "hand-over": "/srv/notes"}); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("the node verb composed a hand-over")
+	}
+}
+
+// The condition's words are plain and name no machine's binary; the operator's line, with the node and the path
+// (novox/hq ADR 0272), is in the summary the module's health gives (moduleHealthWord) and in the evidence.
+func TestTheUsedAsFoundConditionNamesTheOperatorsLine(t *testing.T) {
+	rs := []inventory.ResourceHealth{foundDirectory("notes", time.Now().Add(-24*time.Hour))}
+	o := usedAsFoundObservation("notes", "laptop", "notes on laptop uses notes.data as found", rs)
+	if strings.Contains(o.Needs, "mesh-host") || strings.Contains(o.Explanation, "mesh-host") ||
+		!strings.Contains(o.Needs, "control-node") {
+		t.Fatalf("the condition's words: %q %q", o.Needs, o.Explanation)
+	}
+	if why, ok := conditions.PlainWords(conditions.Words{Headline: o.Headline, Explanation: o.Explanation, Needs: o.Needs,
+		Resolved: o.Resolved}, "laptop"); !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("not plain: %s", why)
+	}
+	f := gateFacts{now: time.Now(), health: map[string]inventory.NodeHealth{"laptop": {Node: "laptop", HeardAt: time.Now(),
+		Resources: rs}}}
+	h, why := moduleHealthWord("notes", "laptop", time.Now().Add(-time.Hour), f)
+	if h != healthPerson || !strings.Contains(why, "`nox node hand-over laptop <directory>` on the control-node") ||
+		strings.Contains(why, "mesh-host") || strings.Contains(why, "/srv/") {
+		t.Fatalf("the module's health reads %v %q; want the operator's line", h, why)
+	}
+}
+
+// **Nothing is asked of a node the mesh does not know, and the engine's refusal is the command's failure**
+// (review of issue 356): a refused hand-over never exits as a success.
+func TestAHandOverAsksOnlyAKnownNodeAndFailsOnARefusal(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv(link.CallerVar, "jo through mesh-cli on anchor")
+	asked := 0
+	ask := func(answer link.HandOverAnswer) func(node, path, by string) (link.HandOverAnswer, error) {
+		return func(node, path, by string) (link.HandOverAnswer, error) {
+			asked++
+			if node != "laptop" || path != "/srv/notes" || by != "jo through mesh-cli on anchor" {
+				t.Fatalf("asked %q %q %q", node, path, by)
+			}
+			return answer, nil
+		}
+	}
+	unknown := func(string) error { return errors.New("no node called laptop") }
+	known := func(string) error { return nil }
+	var out bytes.Buffer
+	err := handOverAsked([]string{"laptop", "/srv/notes"}, unknown, ask(link.HandOverAnswer{Said: "x"}), &out)
+	if err == nil || asked != 0 || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "nothing was asked") {
+		t.Fatalf("an unknown node: %v, asked %d", err, asked)
+	}
+	err = handOverAsked([]string{"laptop", "/srv/../etc"}, known, ask(link.HandOverAnswer{Said: "x"}), &out)
+	if err == nil || asked != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a refused line was asked: %v, asked %d", err, asked)
+	}
+	err = handOverAsked([]string{"laptop", "/srv/notes"}, known,
+		ask(link.HandOverAnswer{Refused: "/srv/notes is not used as found; nothing was handed over"}), &out)
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "laptop refused: /srv/notes is not used as found") || out.Len() != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a refusal: %v, printed %q", err, out.String())
+	}
+	err = handOverAsked([]string{"laptop", "/srv/notes"}, known, ask(link.HandOverAnswer{Said: "handed over"}), &out)
+	if err != nil || !strings.HasPrefix(out.String(), "handed over\n") || !strings.Contains(out.String(), "`nox push laptop`") {
+		t.Fatalf("a record: %v, printed %q", err, out.String())
+	}
+	failing := func(string, string, string) (link.HandOverAnswer, error) {
+		return link.HandOverAnswer{}, errors.New("no engine")
+	}
+	if err := handOverAsked([]string{"laptop", "/srv/notes"}, known, failing, &out); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("an ask that failed was a success")
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/hidden_input.go

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"os"
+
+	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
+)
+
+// hideTyping turns a terminal's echo off while a secret is typed at it, and gives back what restores it. On
+// anything that is not a terminal (a pipe, a file) it does nothing.
+func hideTyping(f *os.File) func() {
+	fd := int(f.Fd())
+	before, err := unix.IoctlGetTermios(fd, unix.TCGETS)
+	if err != nil {
+		return func() {}
+	}
+	hidden := *before
+	hidden.Lflag &^= unix.ECHO
+	if err := unix.IoctlSetTermios(fd, unix.TCSETS, &hidden); err != nil {
+		return func() {}
+	}
+	return func() {
+		_ = unix.IoctlSetTermios(fd, unix.TCSETS, before)
+		_, _ = os.Stderr.WriteString("\n")
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/issue352_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,356 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"reflect"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/conditions"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/lease"
+)
+
+// novox/hq issue 352: on 2026-10-09 a release's gate on the control node read the machine's report against a
+// newer send another plan had just made there — not against its own send — and failed three builds the
+// machine had reported healthy ("has not reported on what it was sent"), put them back on every machine,
+// to a controller older than the store's schema, and that controller then judged the newer plan's
+// controller passed from the put-back build's health.
+
+// TestReplay352 replays the walk on the backlog fixture: the release sends anchor and anchor reports;
+// another send reaches anchor, unreported; the gate still passes. And a send that moves a judged module
+// to another build supersedes the judging: no verdict, nothing put back.
+func TestReplay352(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("a newer send to the judged machine does not unreport the gate's", testANewerSendDoesNotUnreportTheGatesOwn)
+	t.Run("a send that moves the module supersedes the judging", testASendThatMovesTheModuleSupersedesTheJudging)
+}
+
+func testANewerSendDoesNotUnreportTheGatesOwn(t *testing.T) {
+	b := aBacklog(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	inv := b.open.inventory
+	advancePlans(ctx, b.open) // anchor is sent, and the fixture reports it applied
+	// 16:31:37 — another plan sends anchor a newer declaration, which it has not reported on.
+	carried, _, _ := inv.SentBuilds(ctx, "anchor")
+	if err := inv.RecordSent(ctx, nodeID(t, b.open, "anchor"), "d-anchor-newer", carried); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	reports, _ := inv.LastReports(ctx)
+	for _, r := range reports {
+		if r.Node == "anchor" && r.Current {
+			t.Fatal("the fixture's newer send reads as reported")
+		}
+	}
+	gateEvery, gateBound = 0, 0 // past the bound at once: before the fix, "has not reported" fails it here
+	for i := 0; i < 4; i++ {
+		advancePlans(ctx, b.open)
+	}
+	p := b.release(t)
+	if p.State == inventory.PlanFailed || strings.Contains(p.Note, "has not reported") {
+		t.Fatalf("the release failed on the newer send: %s %s", p.State, p.Note)
+	}
+	if g := p.Release.Gate; g != nil && (g.Sent == nil || g.Sent["anchor"].Digest == "") {
+		t.Fatalf("the gate does not keep what it sent: %+v", g)
+	}
+	if v, found, err := inv.GateOf(ctx, "build-app-c2"); err != nil || !found || v.Verdict != inventory.GatePassed {
+		t.Fatalf("app's pass on anchor was not kept: %+v %v %v", v, found, err)
+	}
+	if current, _ := inv.CurrentBuilds(ctx); current["app"].Commit != "c2" {
+		t.Fatalf("app was put back to %s", current["app"].Commit)
+	}
+}
+
+// A plan's own first send waits while a release judges the same module on that machine with another build.
+func TestAPlansFirstSendWaitsForAReleaseJudgingTheModuleThere(t *testing.T) {
+	b := aBacklog(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	advancePlans(ctx, b.open) // the release judges app c2 on anchor
+	_, _, err := gatedSend(ctx, b.open, "anchor", []inventory.CarriedMove{{Module: "app", Node: "anchor", From: "c2", To: "c3", Build: "build-app-c3"}})
+	if !errors.Is(err, errWalkedElsewhere) || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "release-") {
+		t.Fatalf("a newer build of a judged module was sent under the release's gate: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(b.sent) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("sent %v", b.sent)
+	}
+}
+
+// A merge plan's judging is superseded the same way: another send moved its module on the first machine.
+func TestAPlansJudgingIsSupersededByASendThatMovesItsModule(t *testing.T) {
+	g := aGateMesh(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	inv := g.open.inventory
+	advancePlans(ctx, g.open) // anchor is sent app c2 first
+	if err := inv.RecordSent(ctx, nodeID(t, g.open, "anchor"), "d-anchor-c3", map[string]string{"app": "c3"}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	gateEvery = 0
+	advancePlans(ctx, g.open)
+	p := g.plan(t)
+	if p.State != inventory.PlanSuperseded || !strings.Contains(p.Note, "superseded") || !strings.Contains(p.Note, "c3") {
+		t.Fatalf("the plan is %s: %s", p.State, p.Note)
+	}
+	// Nothing put back: the registered build stands, the build is not marked, and the plan's gate made no
+	// rollback (a release may walk what the other send left waiting on anchor; that is not a put-back).
+	if r := p.Modules["app"].Gate.Rollback; r != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("a superseded judging made a rollback: %q", r)
+	}
+	if current, _ := inv.CurrentBuilds(ctx); current["app"].Commit != "c2" {
+		t.Fatalf("app was put back to %s", current["app"].Commit)
+	}
+	if failed, _ := inv.GateFailed(ctx, "build-2"); failed {
+		t.Fatal("a superseded build was marked failed")
+	}
+}
+
+func testASendThatMovesTheModuleSupersedesTheJudging(t *testing.T) {
+	b := aBacklog(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	inv := b.open.inventory
+	advancePlans(ctx, b.open)
+	// Another send moves app on anchor to a build this gate does not judge.
+	carried, _, _ := inv.SentBuilds(ctx, "anchor")
+	carried["app"] = "c3"
+	if err := inv.RecordSent(ctx, nodeID(t, b.open, "anchor"), "d-anchor-c3", carried); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	gateEvery = 0
+	advancePlans(ctx, b.open)
+	p := b.release(t)
+	if p.State != inventory.PlanSuperseded || !strings.Contains(p.Note, "superseded") || !strings.Contains(p.Note, "c3") {
+		t.Fatalf("the release is %s: %s", p.State, p.Note)
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(b.sent, [][]string{{"anchor"}}) {
+		t.Fatalf("sent %v: a superseded judging puts nothing back", b.sent)
+	}
+	if _, found, _ := inv.GateOf(ctx, "build-app-c2"); found {
+		t.Fatal("a superseded judging kept a verdict")
+	}
+	if current, _ := inv.CurrentBuilds(ctx); current["app"].Commit != "c2" {
+		t.Fatalf("app was put back to %s", current["app"].Commit)
+	}
+}
+
+// A report is on the gate's own send: the declaration itself, or one sequenced after it; a gate kept
+// without its send reads the report against the send made last, as before. Pure.
+func TestAReportIsHeldAgainstTheGatesOwnSend(t *testing.T) {
+	sent := inventory.SentDeclaration{Digest: "d-490", Sequence: 490}
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		r    inventory.Reported
+		want bool
+	}{
+		{inventory.Reported{Declared: "d-490", Current: false}, true},
+		{inventory.Reported{Declared: "d-491", ReportedSequence: 491, Current: true}, true},
+		{inventory.Reported{Declared: "d-489", ReportedSequence: 489, Current: false}, false},
+		{inventory.Reported{Declared: "other", ReportedSequence: 490}, true},                // the same sequence, said by another digest
+		{inventory.Reported{Declared: "d-495", ReportedSequence: 495, Current: true}, true}, // the last send: this one or a later one
+		{inventory.Reported{Declared: "", Current: false}, false},
+	} {
+		if got := sent.ReportsOn(c.r); got != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("%+v on %+v: %v", c.r, sent, got)
+		}
+	}
+	byDigest := inventory.SentDeclaration{Digest: "d-1"}
+	if !byDigest.ReportsOn(inventory.Reported{Declared: "d-1"}) || byDigest.ReportsOn(inventory.Reported{ReportedSequence: 5}) ||
+		!byDigest.ReportsOn(inventory.Reported{Current: true}) {
+		t.Fatal("a send kept without a sequence is matched by its digest and by the last send alone")
+	}
+	f := gateFacts{sent: map[string]inventory.SentDeclaration{"anchor": sent}}
+	if !f.reportedOn("anchor", inventory.Reported{Declared: "d-490"}) || f.reportedOn("anchor", inventory.Reported{Declared: "d-1"}) {
+		t.Fatal("a gate that kept its send read the report against something other than it")
+	}
+	if !f.reportedOn("laptop", inventory.Reported{Current: true}) || f.reportedOn("laptop", inventory.Reported{Current: false}) {
+		t.Fatal("a gate that did not keep its send does not read the report against the send made last")
+	}
+	// Through the merge plan's first-machine wait too.
+	at := time.Now()
+	state := inventory.PlanModule{First: []string{"anchor"}, FirstAt: &at,
+		Gate: &inventory.PlanGate{Machines: []string{"anchor"}, Sent: map[string]inventory.SentDeclaration{"anchor": sent}}}
+	reports := []inventory.Reported{{Node: "anchor", At: &at, Outcome: inventory.OutcomeApplied, Current: false, Declared: "d-490"}}
+	if step := nextRollout(state, []string{"anchor", "laptop"}, false, reports, at.Add(time.Minute), time.Hour); step.waiting != "" || step.failed != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("the first machine's report on the plan's own send read as none: %+v", step)
+	}
+	reports[0].Declared = "d-480"
+	if step := nextRollout(state, []string{"anchor", "laptop"}, false, reports, at.Add(time.Minute), time.Hour); step.waiting == "" {
+		t.Fatalf("a report on an older send read as the plan's: %+v", step)
+	}
+}
+
+// A gate judges only the build the machine was last sent: last sent another build of the module, the
+// judging is superseded, whatever the machine reports. Pure.
+func TestAGateJudgesOnlyTheBuildTheMachineWasLastSent(t *testing.T) {
+	at := time.Now()
+	f := gateFacts{now: at, reports: map[string]inventory.Reported{"anchor": {Node: "anchor", Outcome: inventory.OutcomeApplied,
+		At: &at, Current: true}}, engines: map[string]string{}, served: map[string]served{}, rolledBack: map[string][]lease.Rollback{},
+		commits: map[string]string{"mesh-controller": "e6b00e2e"}, sentBuilds: map[string]map[string]string{"anchor": {"mesh-controller": "ef26d4cb"}}}
+	taken := at.Add(-30 * time.Second)
+	f.holder = &lease.Holder{Taken: taken, Health: &lease.Health{Ready: true}}
+	h, why := judgeHealth("mesh-controller", lease.ComponentController, catalogue.Manifest{}, "anchor", at.Add(-time.Minute), f)
+	if h != healthSuperseded || !strings.Contains(why, "ef26d4cb") || !strings.Contains(why, "e6b00e2e") {
+		t.Fatalf("a controller build the machine no longer runs: %v %q", h, why)
+	}
+	f.sentBuilds["anchor"]["mesh-controller"] = "e6b00e2e"
+	if h, why := judgeHealth("mesh-controller", lease.ComponentController, catalogue.Manifest{}, "anchor", at.Add(-time.Minute), f); h == healthSuperseded {
+		t.Fatalf("the build sent read as another: %q", why)
+	}
+	delete(f.sentBuilds, "anchor")
+	if h, why := judgeHealth("mesh-controller", lease.ComponentController, catalogue.Manifest{}, "anchor", at.Add(-time.Minute), f); h == healthSuperseded {
+		t.Fatalf("a machine whose send is not known read as superseded: %q", why)
+	}
+	g := &inventory.PlanGate{To: "c2", Carried: []inventory.CarriedMove{{Module: "late", Node: "anchor", To: "c5"}}}
+	if got := judgedCommits(g, []judged{{"app", "anchor"}, {"late", "anchor"}}); got["app"] != "c2" || got["late"] != "c5" {
+		t.Fatalf("judged commits %v", got)
+	}
+}
+
+// A move of another build of a module to a machine where a release or a plan is judging that module
+// waits for that judging; the same build to that machine is already there. Pure.
+func TestAWalkWaitsForAJudgingOfTheSameModuleOnThatMachine(t *testing.T) {
+	at := time.Now()
+	release := inventory.Plan{ID: "release-1", State: inventory.PlanRolling, Release: &inventory.PlanRelease{
+		Gate: &inventory.PlanGate{Machines: []string{"novox"}, Carried: []inventory.CarriedMove{
+			{Module: "mesh-controller", Node: "novox", From: "ef26d4cb", To: "2913c54c"}}}}}
+	merge := inventory.Plan{ID: "plan-1", State: inventory.PlanRolling, Modules: map[string]*inventory.PlanModule{
+		"app": {First: []string{"anchor"}, FirstAt: &at, Commit: "c2", Gate: &inventory.PlanGate{Machines: []string{"anchor"}}}}}
+	f := moveFacts{plans: []inventory.Plan{release, merge}}
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		module, node, to, want string
+	}{
+		{"mesh-controller", "novox", "e6b00e2e", "release-1"}, // the day's case: a newer controller to the judged machine
+		{"mesh-controller", "novox", "2913c54c", ""},          // the same build: already there
+		{"mesh-controller", "ace", "2913c54c", "release-1"},   // another machine while the first is judged
+		{"mesh-host", "novox", "x", ""},                       // a module the release does not carry
+		{"app", "anchor", "c2", ""},
+		{"app", "anchor", "c3", "plan-1"},
+		{"app", "laptop", "c2", "plan-1"},
+	} {
+		if got := f.walkedBy(c.module, c.node, c.to); got != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("%s %s to %s: walked by %q, want %q", c.module, c.to, c.node, got, c.want)
+		}
+	}
+	release.Release.Gate.Verdict = inventory.GatePassed
+	merge.Modules["app"].Gate.Verdict = inventory.GatePassed
+	if f.walkedBy("mesh-controller", "novox", "e6b00e2e") != "" || f.walkedBy("app", "laptop", "c3") != "" {
+		t.Fatal("a passed judging still holds a move")
+	}
+	release.Release.Gate.Verdict = ""
+	f.plans[0].State = inventory.PlanSuperseded
+	if f.walkedBy("mesh-controller", "novox", "e6b00e2e") != "" {
+		t.Fatal("a closed release still holds a move")
+	}
+}
+
+// The controller is never put back to a build that reaches less of the store's schema than the store
+// has, or to one that never said what it reaches: the current build is kept, and the condition says so.
+func TestTheControllerIsNotPutBackToABuildOlderThanTheStoresSchema(t *testing.T) {
+	open := aMesh(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	inv := open.inventory
+	keeper, _ := withConditionsInMemory(t)
+	told := &conditions.Told{}
+	was := doctorFrom
+	doctorFrom = &doctor{open: open, keeper: keeper, teller: told}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { doctorFrom = was })
+	wasSend := sendRollout
+	var sent [][]string
+	sendRollout = func(ctx context.Context, open *stores, names []string) ([]string, error) {
+		sent = append(sent, names)
+		return names, nil
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { sendRollout = wasSend })
+
+	build := func(id, commit, digest string, asked time.Time) inventory.Build {
+		manifest, _ := json.Marshal(catalogue.Manifest{Module: "mesh-controller", Version: commit})
+		b := inventory.Build{ID: id, Module: "mesh-controller", Commit: commit, Repository: "novox/mesh-controller", Path: ".",
+			Manifest: manifest, Asked: asked, At: asked, Made: []inventory.Artifact{{Name: "controller", Kind: catalogue.ArtifactBundle,
+				Reference: "mesh-artifact://mesh-controller/controller/blobs/sha256:" + digest}}}
+		if err := inv.RecordBuild(ctx, b); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if err := inv.RegisterModule(ctx, catalogue.Manifest{Module: "mesh-controller", Version: commit},
+			inventory.Source{Repository: "novox/mesh-controller", Seat: "git", Path: ".", BuiltFrom: commit, Head: commit, Asked: asked}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		return b
+	}
+	previous := build("build-old", "ef26d4cb", strings.Repeat("1", 64), time.Now().Add(-2*time.Hour))
+	failed := build("build-new", "e6b00e2e", strings.Repeat("2", 64), time.Now().Add(-time.Minute))
+	if versionOfBuild(previous) != strings.Repeat("1", 12) {
+		t.Fatalf("the build's version is %q", versionOfBuild(previous))
+	}
+	applied, err := inv.SchemaApplied(ctx)
+	if err != nil || applied < 87 {
+		t.Fatalf("the store's schema reaches %d (%v)", applied, err)
+	}
+	// The build before never recorded what it reads: not proved, refused.
+	if why, ok := controllerSchemaAllows(ctx, inv, previous); ok || !strings.Contains(why, "never recorded") {
+		t.Fatalf("an unknown reach: %v %q", ok, why)
+	}
+	// It reads less than the store has: refused, naming both.
+	if err := inv.RecordSchemaReach(ctx, versionOfBuild(previous), applied-1); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if why, ok := controllerSchemaAllows(ctx, inv, previous); ok || !strings.Contains(why, "is at") {
+		t.Fatalf("a reach behind the store: %v %q", ok, why)
+	}
+	// Through the gate: the failed build is marked, nothing is put back, nothing is sent, the condition is urgent.
+	at := time.Now().Add(-5 * time.Minute)
+	state := &inventory.PlanModule{Build: failed.ID, Commit: failed.Commit, Previous: previous.Commit, First: []string{"anchor"}, FirstAt: &at}
+	p := inventory.Plan{ID: "plan-352", Repository: "novox/mesh-controller", Branch: "main", Commit: failed.Commit, Created: at,
+		State: inventory.PlanRolling, Tiers: [][]string{{"mesh-controller"}}, Modules: map[string]*inventory.PlanModule{"mesh-controller": state}}
+	if err := inv.SavePlan(ctx, &p); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	gateFailed(ctx, open, &p, "mesh-controller", state, []string{"anchor"}, "not healthy within 10m0s of its apply")
+	if state.Gate.Rollback != inventory.NotRolledBack || !strings.Contains(p.Note, "NOT put back") || !strings.Contains(p.Note, "the current build is kept") {
+		t.Fatalf("rollback %q: %s", state.Gate.Rollback, p.Note)
+	}
+	if len(sent) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("sent %v: nothing is put back", sent)
+	}
+	if current, _ := inv.CurrentBuilds(ctx); current["mesh-controller"].Commit != failed.Commit {
+		t.Fatalf("the module was put back to %s", current["mesh-controller"].Commit)
+	}
+	if marked, _ := inv.GateFailed(ctx, failed.ID); !marked {
+		t.Fatal("the failed build is not marked failed at its gate")
+	}
+	open2, _ := keeper.Open(ctx)
+	var found bool
+	for _, c := range open2 {
+		if c.Kind == kindRollbackFailed && c.Severity == conditions.Urgent && strings.Contains(c.Summary, "current build is kept") {
+			found = true
+		}
+	}
+	if !found {
+		t.Fatalf("no urgent rollback-failed condition saying the current build is kept: %+v", open2)
+	}
+	// Reaching the store: allowed.
+	if err := inv.RecordSchemaReach(ctx, versionOfBuild(previous), applied); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if why, ok := controllerSchemaAllows(ctx, inv, previous); !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("a build that reads the whole schema was refused: %q", why)
+	}
+	// A build with no bundle to know it by: refused.
+	if why, ok := controllerSchemaAllows(ctx, inv, inventory.Build{Commit: "x"}); ok || !strings.Contains(why, "names no bundle") {
+		t.Fatalf("a build without a bundle: %v %q", ok, why)
+	}
+}
+
+// The lease's holder names the build the declaration told it it is, and the version stamp only without one.
+func TestTheHolderNamesTheBuildTheDeclarationToldIt(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv(RunningBuildVar, " ad62528c47c7 ")
+	if h := holderOf("x"); h.Build != "ad62528c47c7" {
+		t.Fatalf("the holder's build is %q", h.Build)
+	}
+	t.Setenv(RunningBuildVar, "")
+	if h := holderOf("x"); h.Build != version {
+		t.Fatalf("without a declared version the holder's build is %q", h.Build)
+	}
+	if reach, err := schemaReach(); err != nil || reach < 87 {
+		t.Fatalf("this build's reach is %d (%v)", reach, err)
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/meshcli.go

@@ -141,6 +141,12 @@ func runForMeshCLI(ctx context.Context, node string, asked link.CLIAsked, v cliV
 	if v.refused != "" {
 		return link.CLIRefusal(v.refused)
 	}
+	// Standard input is the terminal's alone: a secret given at the terminal reaches `secret accept`, and no ordinary
+	// call is handed what the asker's standard input held (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10, ADR 0272).
+	if len(asked.Stdin) > 0 && !v.terminal {
+		return link.CLIAnswer{Exit: 1, Why: v.why, Refused: "standard input is given to a line that runs as the " +
+			"controller's terminal alone, and this one does not. Nothing ran"}
+	}
 	if cliServers[asked.Line[0]] {
 		return link.CLIAnswer{Exit: 1, Why: v.why, Refused: fmt.Sprintf("%s serves until stopped, and is not a "+
 			"command line mesh-cli runs. Nothing ran", asked.Line[0])}
@@ -155,8 +161,12 @@ func runForMeshCLI(ctx context.Context, node string, asked link.CLIAsked, v cliV
 	}
 	cmd := selfCommand(ctx, line)
 	cmd.Env = commandEnvironment(fmt.Sprintf("%s through mesh-cli on %s", asked.Account, node), verb, v.terminal)
-	// No standard input: a command that reads one gets nothing, and fails saying so (ADR 0272 §5).
+	// No standard input unless mesh-cli carried one for a terminal line: a command that reads one gets nothing, and
+	// fails saying so (ADR 0272 §5).
 	cmd.Stdin = nil
+	if len(asked.Stdin) > 0 {
+		cmd.Stdin = bytes.NewReader(asked.Stdin)
+	}
 	var stdout, stderr bytes.Buffer
 	cmd.Stdout, cmd.Stderr = &stdout, &stderr
 	err := cmd.Run()

cmd/mesh-controller/meshcli_stdin_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// secretAcceptWants makes the test binary, run as a command line, read a secret as `secret accept` reads it and
+// say whether it is the value whose SHA-256 the variable names (TestMain).
+const secretAcceptWants = "MESH_TEST_SECRET_ACCEPT_WANTS"
+
+// readAsSecretAccept is that process: `secret accept <node> <module> <name> [--from -]`, the value read by
+// valueFor, compared by digest, and only the verdict printed.
+func readAsSecretAccept(want string, argv []string) int {
+	if len(argv) < 5 || argv[0] != "secret" || argv[1] != "accept" {
+		fmt.Printf("not a secret accept line: %q\n", argv)
+		return 2
+	}
+	from := ""
+	if len(argv) == 7 && argv[5] == "--from" {
+		from = argv[6]
+	}
+	value, err := valueFor(argv[2], argv[3], argv[4], from)
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("secret accept read nothing: %v\n", err)
+		return 1
+	}
+	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(asSupplied(value)))
+	if hex.EncodeToString(sum[:]) != want {
+		fmt.Printf("secret accept read something else (%d bytes)\n", len(value))
+		return 1
+	}
+	fmt.Println("secret accept read the value it was given")
+	return 0
+}
+
+// novox/hq ADR 0259 §10, ADR 0272: what mesh-cli's standard input held reaches `secret accept` on a line that runs
+// as the controller's terminal, and appears nowhere else — not in the answer, not in the journal, not in the calls
+// record; an ordinary line carrying it is refused and nothing runs.
+func TestStandardInputReachesSecretAcceptAtTheTerminalAndNowhereElse(t *testing.T) {
+	token := "123456789:AAEhBOweik6ad9r_QxGivenAtTheTerminal"
+	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(token))
+	t.Setenv(secretAcceptWants, hex.EncodeToString(sum[:]))
+	var journal []string
+	var mu sync.Mutex
+	was := cliJournal
+	cliJournal = func(line string) { mu.Lock(); journal = append(journal, line); mu.Unlock() }
+	t.Cleanup(func() { cliJournal = was })
+	ctx := context.Background()
+
+	for _, line := range [][]string{
+		{"secret", "accept", "anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "--from", "-"},
+		{"secret", "accept", "anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token"}, // the prompt's path, a line on standard input
+	} {
+		asked := cliAsked("operator", 1000, line...)
+		asked.Stdin = []byte(token + "\n")
+		a := runForMeshCLI(ctx, "control", asked, cliVerdict{terminal: true, why: "the terminal"})
+		if a.Exit != 0 || !strings.Contains(string(a.Stdout), "read the value it was given") {
+			t.Fatalf("%q: secret accept did not read what mesh-cli carried: %+v (%s)", line, a, a.Stdout)
+		}
+		if body, _ := json.Marshal(a); strings.Contains(string(body), "AAEh") || strings.Contains(string(body), base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(token))) {
+			t.Fatalf("the answer carries the secret: %s", body)
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Without standard input, the line reads nothing, as before.
+	a := runForMeshCLI(ctx, "control", cliAsked("operator", 1000, "secret", "accept", "anchor", "telegram",
+		"telegram-token", "--from", "-"), cliVerdict{terminal: true, why: "the terminal"})
+	if a.Exit == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a line with no standard input read a value: %+v", a)
+	}
+
+	// An ordinary call is never handed it: refused, and nothing ran.
+	asked := cliAsked("operator", 1000, "status")
+	asked.Stdin = []byte(token)
+	a = runForMeshCLI(ctx, "laptop", asked, cliVerdict{why: "not the terminal"})
+	if a.Exit == 0 || !strings.Contains(a.Refused, "terminal alone") || len(a.Stdout) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("an ordinary line was given standard input: %+v", a)
+	}
+
+	mu.Lock()
+	defer mu.Unlock()
+	for _, l := range journal {
+		if strings.Contains(l, "AAEh") {
+			t.Fatalf("the journal says the secret: %s", l)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(journal) == 0 {
+		t.Fatal("the lines were not said in the journal at all")
+	}
+
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/module_health.go

@@ -556,8 +556,8 @@ func moduleHealthWord(module, machine string, since time.Time, f gateFacts) (hea
 			said = append(said, wait)
 		}
 		if len(found) > 0 {
-			said = append(said, fmt.Sprintf("on %s, %s uses %s as found and waits for a person to hand it over "+
-				"(`mesh-host hand-over <directory>` at the machine)", machine, module, strings.Join(found, ", ")))
+			said = append(said, fmt.Sprintf("on %s, %s uses %s as found and waits for the operator to hand it over "+
+				"(`nox node hand-over %s <directory>` on the control-node)", machine, module, strings.Join(found, ", "), machine))
 		}
 		return healthPerson, strings.Join(said, "; ")
 	}
@@ -678,7 +678,9 @@ func usedAsFoundObservation(module, node, said string, rs []inventory.ResourceHe
 	o.Explanation = fmt.Sprintf("A directory of %s was already on %s, with another owner or mode than %s declares. "+
 		"The mesh left it as it was rather than hand it to an account, so %s may not be able to use it.",
 		module, node, module, module)
-	o.Needs = fmt.Sprintf("on %s, run mesh-host hand-over with the directory's path as root.", node)
+	// Plain words (ADR 0253): the line itself — `nox node hand-over <node> <path>` on the control-node (ADR 0272,
+	// issue 356) — is in the summary and the evidence, which name the directory; a path is never in these.
+	o.Needs = "hand the directory over from the control-node, as the operator; the details name it and the line to type."
 	o.Resolved = fmt.Sprintf("%s's directory on %s is the mesh's", module, node)
 	o.Actions = nil
 	return o

cmd/mesh-controller/network.go

@@ -426,10 +426,10 @@ func overlayShow(ctx context.Context, open *stores) error {
 				tunnel.Interface, tunnel.Range, tunnel.Port)
 		case n.Hub && hubName == n.Name && tunnel.Interface != "":
 			fmt.Printf("  hub — found a tunnel on %s and did NOT take it over: its key is not the tunnel's; "+
-				"`mesh-host overlay take --tunnel %s` on the machine takes it", tunnel.Interface, tunnel.Interface)
+				"`nox-mesh-host overlay take --tunnel %s` on the machine takes it", tunnel.Interface, tunnel.Interface)
 		case n.Hub:
 			fmt.Print("  hub — found no tunnel; if the machine runs the predecessor's, " +
-				"`mesh-host overlay take --tunnel <iface>` there adopts it (novox/hq ADR 0105)")
+				"`nox-mesh-host overlay take --tunnel <iface>` there adopts it (novox/hq ADR 0105)")
 		case !n.Reachable():
 			fmt.Print("  not dialable")
 		}

cmd/mesh-controller/nodes.go

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 	"net"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/conditions"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/token"
 )
 
@@ -28,7 +30,7 @@ import (
 
 func nodeCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	if len(args) == 0 {
-		return errors.New("node add <name>, node list, node show <name>, or " + publicDomainUsage)
+		return errors.New("node add <name>, node list, node show <name>, " + publicDomainUsage + ", or " + handOverUsage)
 	}
 	open, err := openStores(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -112,11 +114,102 @@ func nodeCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		// an optional second argument is the home when it is not /home/<account>.
 		return nodeAccount(ctx, inv, args[1:])
 
+	case "hand-over":
+		// A directory the node-engine uses as found, handed to the mesh (novox/hq issue 356, issue 339). Here, at
+		// the controller's terminal, and nowhere else: at the next apply root gives the directory to the account
+		// the module declares, and whoever may call a verb includes agents.
+		return nodeHandOver(ctx, open, args[1:])
+
 	default:
-		return fmt.Errorf("node has no %q; it has add, list, show, public-domain, account and agent-account", args[0])
+		return fmt.Errorf("node has no %q; it has add, list, show, public-domain, account, agent-account and hand-over", args[0])
 	}
 }
 
+const handOverUsage = "node hand-over <node> <directory> — hand a directory the node-engine on <node> uses as found " +
+	"to the mesh: its next apply gives it the declared owner and mode. The directory's absolute path, as the module's " +
+	"condition names it"
+
+// handOverLine reads a hand-over's line: the node and the directory's absolute path, exactly as the engine states
+// it. Judged before anything is asked, and judged again by the engine, which is the one that acts.
+func handOverLine(args []string) (node, path string, err error) {
+	if len(args) != 2 {
+		return "", "", errors.New(handOverUsage)
+	}
+	node, path = args[0], args[1]
+	if node == "" || strings.HasPrefix(node, "-") {
+		return "", "", fmt.Errorf("%q is not a node's name; %s", node, handOverUsage)
+	}
+	if !filepath.IsAbs(path) {
+		return "", "", fmt.Errorf("%q is not an absolute path; %s", path, handOverUsage)
+	}
+	if filepath.Clean(path) != path {
+		return "", "", fmt.Errorf("%q is not the directory's path as the engine states it (no `..`, no doubled or "+
+			"trailing separator); %s", path, handOverUsage)
+	}
+	return node, path, nil
+}
+
+// handOverBy is who hands the directory over, in the words a verb's caller is recorded in: the operator through
+// mesh-cli on the control-node, or whoever runs this controller's binary at its terminal.
+func handOverBy() string {
+	if by := strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv(link.CallerVar)); by != "" {
+		return by
+	}
+	return "the controller's terminal"
+}
+
+// nodeHandOver asks the node's engine to take a directory it uses as found as the mesh's, and says what came of
+// it. The engine records the hand-over or refuses; nothing is recorded here, because the directory is the
+// machine's and the engine is the one that reads it. The ask is signed with the mesh's key (issue 356's review).
+func nodeHandOver(ctx context.Context, open *stores, args []string) error {
+	known := func(node string) error {
+		_, err := open.inventory.NodeByName(ctx, node)
+		return err
+	}
+	ask := func(node, path, by string) (link.HandOverAnswer, error) {
+		ident, err := open.Identity(ctx)
+		if err != nil {
+			return link.HandOverAnswer{}, fmt.Errorf("the mesh's signing key cannot be read, so nothing was asked of %s: %w",
+				node, err)
+		}
+		address, err := broker.BusAddress()
+		if err != nil {
+			return link.HandOverAnswer{}, err
+		}
+		js, err := broker.Dial(address)
+		if err != nil {
+			return link.HandOverAnswer{}, fmt.Errorf("cannot reach the bus, so nothing was asked of %s: %w", node, err)
+		}
+		defer js.Close()
+		return link.AskHandOver(ctx, js.Conn(), ident, node, path, by, link.HandOverWithin)
+	}
+	return handOverAsked(args, known, ask, os.Stdout)
+}
+
+// handOverAsked is the hand-over's line with its two acts given: whether the mesh knows the node, and the ask.
+// Nothing is asked of a line or a node that is refused, and the engine's refusal is this command's failure —
+// never a success with the refusal printed.
+func handOverAsked(args []string, known func(node string) error,
+	ask func(node, path, by string) (link.HandOverAnswer, error), out io.Writer) error {
+	node, path, err := handOverLine(args)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := known(node); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("nothing was asked: %w", err)
+	}
+	answer, err := ask(node, path, handOverBy())
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if answer.Refused != "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s refused: %s", node, answer.Refused)
+	}
+	fmt.Fprintln(out, answer.Said)
+	fmt.Fprintf(out, "  the module's condition clears once %s applies; `nox push %s` applies it now\n", node, node)
+	return nil
+}
+
 // addNode creates a node record, adopted when the operator says so (novox/hq ADR 0100).
 func addNode(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, args []string) error {
 	set := flag.NewFlagSet("node add", flag.ContinueOnError)

cmd/mesh-controller/push.go

@@ -76,6 +76,21 @@ func serve(ctx context.Context) (err error) {
 	}
 	defer open.Close()
 	inv := open.inventory
+	// **What this build reads of the store's schema, on record** (novox/hq issue 352): the highest migration
+	// it carries, by its version, so a gate that would put this build back later knows it reads the store
+	// as it is then. A build that does not know its version records nothing, and is never put back.
+	if build := runningBuild(); build != "" {
+		if reach, err := schemaReach(); err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("what this build reads of the store's schema is not recorded: %v\n", err)
+		} else if err := inv.RecordSchemaReach(ctx, build, reach); err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("what this build (%s) reads of the store's schema is not recorded: %v\n", build, err)
+		} else {
+			fmt.Printf("this build (%s) reads the store's schema up to migration %04d; recorded\n", build, reach)
+		}
+	} else {
+		fmt.Printf("this process was not told which build it is (%s), so what it reads of the store's schema is not "+
+			"recorded, and a gate will never put it back\n", RunningBuildVar)
+	}
 
 	ident, err := openIdentity(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -1598,3 +1613,18 @@ func reportUnheldPushed(w io.Writer, named bool, asked []string, unheld map[stri
 		fmt.Fprintf(w, "%s: %d unmet seat dependenc(ies) — see `status`\n", node, len(lines))
 	}
 }
+
+// schemaReach is the highest migration this build carries for the inventory's store (novox/hq issue 352).
+func schemaReach() (int, error) {
+	migrations, err := inventory.Migrations()
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	reach := 0
+	for _, m := range migrations {
+		if m.Number > reach {
+			reach = m.Number
+		}
+	}
+	return reach, nil
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/release.go

@@ -180,12 +180,35 @@ func (f moveFacts) moves(node string, modules []string, sent map[string]string,
 	return out
 }
 
-// walkedBy is the open plan that has started walking a module's build — sent it to a first machine,
-// not yet passed — other than to this machine; empty when none does.
-func (f moveFacts) walkedBy(module, node string) string {
+// walkedBy is the open plan that has started walking a module's build — sent it to a first machine, not
+// yet passed — and whose walk this move would cross; empty when none does. A move of the same build to a
+// machine that plan already sent it is not a crossing: the build is there. A move of **another** build of
+// the module to that machine is (novox/hq issue 352): on 2026-10-09 a merge's plan sent the control node a
+// newer controller while a release's gate was judging the controller there, the release's gate read the
+// machine's report against the newer send, failed three builds and put them back under the new plan's
+// feet. A release keeps no module records: its open gate's carried moves are its walk.
+func (f moveFacts) walkedBy(module, node, to string) string {
 	for _, p := range f.plans {
+		if !p.Open() {
+			continue
+		}
+		if p.Release != nil {
+			g := p.Release.Gate
+			if g == nil || g.Verdict != "" {
+				continue
+			}
+			for _, c := range g.Carried {
+				if c.Module == module && !(slices.Contains(g.Machines, node) && sameCommit(c.To, to)) {
+					return p.ID
+				}
+			}
+			continue
+		}
 		s, holds := p.Modules[module]
-		if !p.Open() || !holds || s == nil || s.FirstAt == nil || s.SentAt != nil || slices.Contains(s.First, node) {
+		if !holds || s == nil || s.FirstAt == nil || s.SentAt != nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		if slices.Contains(s.First, node) && sameCommit(s.Commit, to) {
 			continue
 		}
 		if s.Gate != nil && s.Gate.Verdict == inventory.GatePassed {
@@ -277,11 +300,19 @@ func gatedSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, node string, owns []inventory.
 		if own(mv.Module) {
 			continue
 		}
-		if id := f.walkedBy(mv.Module, node); id != "" {
+		if id := f.walkedBy(mv.Module, node, mv.To); id != "" {
 			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s's build %s waits on %s, which %s is walking", errWalkedElsewhere,
 				mv.Module, short(mv.To), node, id)
 		}
 	}
+	// **And the plan's own modules wait too** (novox/hq issue 352): a walk of the same module by another
+	// plan, or a release, on this machine is not crossed with a newer build; this send waits for its gate.
+	for _, o := range owns {
+		if id := f.walkedBy(o.Module, node, o.To); id != "" {
+			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s's build %s waits on %s, which %s is walking", errWalkedElsewhere,
+				o.Module, short(o.To), node, id)
+		}
+	}
 	for _, o := range owns {
 		i := slices.IndexFunc(moves, func(mv inventory.CarriedMove) bool { return mv.Module == o.Module })
 		switch {
@@ -526,7 +557,7 @@ func waitingMoves(ctx context.Context, open *stores, all bool) (map[string][]inv
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		for _, mv := range moves {
-			if f.walkedBy(mv.Module, n.Name) == "" {
+			if f.walkedBy(mv.Module, n.Name, mv.To) == "" {
 				out[n.Name] = append(out[n.Name], mv)
 			}
 		}
@@ -658,7 +689,7 @@ func advanceRelease(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan) (bool,
 				r.Next++
 				continue
 			}
-			r.Gate = &inventory.PlanGate{Machines: sent, Since: &now, Carried: moves}
+			r.Gate = &inventory.PlanGate{Machines: sent, Since: &now, Carried: moves, Sent: sentNow(ctx, open.inventory, sent)}
 			p.Note = fmt.Sprintf("sent %s %d build(s) that waited for a gate; judging them there", node, len(moves))
 			if said := recreationsSaid(moves); said != "" {
 				p.Note += "; " + said
@@ -693,6 +724,15 @@ func advanceRelease(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan) (bool,
 		r.Next++
 		r.Gate = nil
 		return true, nil
+	case inventory.GateSuperseded:
+		// Another send moved a judged module on the judged machine (novox/hq issue 352): no verdict on what
+		// was carried, nothing put back, and this release ends; the builds still waiting are released again
+		// by the next pass, judged afresh.
+		p.State = inventory.PlanSuperseded
+		p.Note = fmt.Sprintf("superseded on %s: %s — nothing judged, nothing put back; what still waits is released again",
+			strings.Join(g.Machines, ", "), g.Why)
+		fmt.Printf("%s: %s\n", p.ID, p.Note)
+		return true, nil
 	}
 	p.Note = ""
 	batched, back := batchingRollbacks(ctx)

cmd/mesh-controller/release_plan.go

@@ -793,6 +793,15 @@ func advanceOnce(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan,
 			case inventory.GateFailed:
 				failFirstSend(ctx, open, p, m, state, state.Gate.Machines, state.Gate.Why, step.rest)
 				return true, nil
+			case inventory.GateSuperseded:
+				// Another send moved this module on its first machine (novox/hq issue 352): the build is not
+				// judged, not marked, not put back; the plan ends here, said, and a newer plan carries on.
+				state.Why = "superseded: " + state.Gate.Why
+				p.State = inventory.PlanSuperseded
+				p.Note = fmt.Sprintf("%s's judging on %s was superseded: %s", m, strings.Join(state.Gate.Machines, ", "),
+					state.Gate.Why)
+				fmt.Printf("%s: %s\n", p.ID, p.Note)
+				return true, nil
 			case inventory.GatePassed:
 				if !state.Gate.Kept {
 					gatePassed(ctx, open, p, m, state)
@@ -964,6 +973,9 @@ func firstSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan, node string
 	}
 	now := time.Now().UTC()
 	lead := modules[0]
+	// What each machine was just sent, kept on the gate (novox/hq issue 352): its report is held against
+	// this send, whatever it is sent after.
+	sentWhat := sentNow(ctx, inv, sent)
 	for _, m := range modules {
 		s := p.Modules[m]
 		// What the first machine ran before: what a failed gate puts back (ADR 0236).
@@ -972,7 +984,7 @@ func firstSend(ctx context.Context, open *stores, p *inventory.Plan, node string
 		}
 		s.First, s.FirstAt = sent, &now
 		s.Gate = &inventory.PlanGate{Component: coreComponent(m), Machines: firstRunning(sent, runningOf[m]),
-			From: s.Previous, To: s.Commit, Since: &now}
+			From: s.Previous, To: s.Commit, Since: &now, Sent: sentWhat}
 		s.GatedBy = ""
 		if m == lead {
 			s.Gate.Carried = carried
@@ -1131,8 +1143,15 @@ func nextRollout(s inventory.PlanModule, running []string, together bool, report
 	var waiting, failed []string
 	for _, n := range s.First {
 		r, said := byNode[n]
-		// Only a report about what it was last sent says anything about this build.
-		if !said || r.At == nil || !r.Current {
+		// Only a report about what this plan sent it — or what it was sent after that — says anything about
+		// this build (novox/hq issue 352); a plan from before sends were kept on the gate reads the report
+		// against the send made last, as before.
+		reported := r.Current
+		if s.Gate != nil && s.Gate.Sent != nil {
+			sent, kept := s.Gate.Sent[n]
+			reported = kept && sent.ReportsOn(r)
+		}
+		if !said || r.At == nil || !reported {
 			waiting = append(waiting, n)
 			continue
 		}

cmd/mesh-controller/sayable_test.go

@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ import (
 func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
 	// The process a mesh-cli test runs as a command line: it says the verb and the caller it was given, and
 	// ends (meshcli_test.go).
+	// The process a mesh-cli test runs as `secret accept`: it reads its value exactly as `secret accept` does
+	// (valueFor) and says whether it is the one the test gave, never the value (meshcli_stdin_test.go).
+	if want := os.Getenv(secretAcceptWants); want != "" {
+		os.Exit(readAsSecretAccept(want, os.Args[1:]))
+	}
 	if os.Getenv(echoEnvironment) != "" {
 		fmt.Printf("verb=%q caller=%q terminal=%v\n", os.Getenv("MESH_VERB"), os.Getenv("MESH_CALLER"), startedAtTheTerminal())
 		os.Exit(0)

cmd/mesh-controller/seatverbs.go

@@ -762,6 +762,11 @@ func (a *verbArguments) commandLine() ([]string, error) {
 			argv = append(argv, "--probe", p)
 		}
 		return append(argv, "--json"), nil
+	case "give":
+		if err := need("node", "module", "secret", "at"); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		return []string{"secret", "accept", str("node"), str("module"), str("secret"), "--at-desk", str("at")}, nil
 	case "rotate":
 		if p := str("provision"); p != "" {
 			argv := []string{"rotate", p}
@@ -1495,6 +1500,20 @@ var terminalOnlyCommands = map[string]string{
 	"licence":  "the licences' secrets",
 }
 
+// givenAtTheDesk is exactly the line the `give` verb composes, and nothing beside it: `secret accept <node>
+// <module> <secret> --at-desk <machine>`, with no other word — no value, no file, no provider.
+func givenAtTheDesk(argv []string) bool {
+	if len(argv) != 7 || argv[0] != "secret" || argv[1] != "accept" || argv[5] != "--at-desk" {
+		return false
+	}
+	for _, w := range argv[2:5] {
+		if w == "" || strings.HasPrefix(w, "-") {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return argv[6] != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(argv[6], "-")
+}
+
 // terminalOnly refuses, through any verb, a command that is the operator's at the controller's terminal
 // alone (novox/hq ADR 0266). **Every `node` subcommand that is not a read**: `node account` and
 // `node agent-account` above all. Whoever may call a verb includes agents, and an agent that named itself
@@ -1508,8 +1527,10 @@ func terminalOnly(argv []string) error {
 		return terminalRefusal("%s is run at the controller's terminal only, never through a verb: it holds %s, and "+
 			"whoever may call a verb includes agents (novox/hq ADR 0266). Nothing was done", argv[0], what)
 	}
-	// Of a secret's commands only rotation, which seals the new value to the machine that uses it.
-	if argv[0] == "secret" && (len(argv) < 2 || argv[1] != "rotate") {
+	// Of a secret's commands only rotation, which seals the new value to the machine that uses it, and the
+	// `give` verb's own line: an own secret typed by the operator into the desk's hidden prompt, sealed to this
+	// call and then to the module's machine, so no value travels in the verb or its answer (hq ADR 0259 §10).
+	if argv[0] == "secret" && (len(argv) < 2 || argv[1] != "rotate") && !givenAtTheDesk(argv) {
 		return terminalRefusal("secret %s is run at the controller's terminal only, never through a verb: accepting, "+
 			"recovering or exporting a secret hands it to whoever asks, and that includes agents (novox/hq ADR "+
 			"0266). Nothing was done", strings.Join(argv[1:], " "))

cmd/mesh-controller/seatverbs_schema_test.go

@@ -275,6 +275,13 @@ var accountedFlags = map[string]map[string]string{
 		"json": "set by the verb: the answer is data",
 		"all":  "withheld: every measurement of a fortnight is more than a call should carry; `command` reaches it",
 	},
+	// The desk path of `secret accept` (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10): a value is never an argument of a call.
+	"secret accept": {
+		"at-desk":  "=at",
+		"from":     "withheld: a file of the control node's is read at a shell, never named by a call",
+		"provider": "withheld: a pair credential's value is given at a shell; give takes a module's own secret",
+		"local":    "withheld: it goes with --provider",
+	},
 	"hand-acts":          {"json": "set by the verb: the answer is data"},
 	"conditions":         {"json": "set by the verb: the answer is data"},
 	"retire":             {"json": "set by the verb: the answer is data"},

cmd/mesh-controller/secret.go

@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ func secretCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	provider := set.String("provider", "",
 		"the node providing <name>: the value becomes the PAIR credential between <module> on <node> "+
 			"and that provider, sealed to both — the vault's operator-delivered secret (ADR 0092)")
+	desk := set.String("at-desk", "",
+		"ask the operator for the value in a prompt that does not show it, on this machine's desk; the "+
+			"answer comes back sealed to this call alone (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10)")
 	local := set.String("local", "",
 		"with --provider: the name the credential goes by inside <module>, where its manifest keeps "+
 			"several for <name> (ADR 0094)")
@@ -65,6 +68,18 @@ func secretCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		return errors.New(secretUsage)
 	}
 	node, module, name := rest[0], rest[1], rest[2]
+	// A value comes from the terminal or the desk, never through a verb (the review of 2026-10-09, M4): a
+	// verb's caller may be an agent, and a value it chose would become what a module acts with.
+	if verb, through := throughAVerb(); through && *desk == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("a secret's value is given at the controller's terminal or at the desk (`give`), never "+
+			"through a verb (this line came through %q): nothing was read or sealed", verb)
+	}
+	if *desk != "" {
+		if *from != "" || *provider != "" {
+			return errors.New("--at-desk gives a module's own secret, and takes neither --from nor --provider")
+		}
+		return giveAtDesk(ctx, node, module, name, *desk)
+	}
 
 	value, err := valueFor(node, module, name, *from)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -93,10 +108,26 @@ func secretCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		fmt.Printf("  run `push %s` and `push %s` to send it\n", *provider, node)
 		return nil
 	}
-	untilStart, err := open.inventory.AcceptGivenSecret(ctx, node, module, name, value)
+	// A trusted party's secret is announced before it is kept (the confirmation review of 2026-10-09, N1-give):
+	// on every channel, the one it replaces among them, which still runs on its old value until the next push.
+	// Not announced, it is not kept: a channel whose token changed unheard of answers for somebody else.
+	trusted, err := open.inventory.RunsAsItsOwnAccount(ctx, module)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	untilStart, unannounced, err := keepGiven(trusted,
+		func() error { return announceSecretGiven(ctx, node, module, name, "at the controller's terminal") },
+		func() (bool, error) { return open.inventory.AcceptGivenSecret(ctx, node, module, name, value) })
+	if err != nil {
+		if trusted && unannounced != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%s runs as an account of its own, and the change of its %s could not be announced on "+
+				"your channels first, so nothing was kept: %w", module, name, err)
+		}
+		return err
+	}
+	if unannounced != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("  this change could NOT be announced on the operator's channels: %v\n", unannounced)
+	}
 	// Not printed back, and there is nowhere it could be printed from: it is sealed to that
 	// machine and the mesh cannot read it again.
 	fmt.Printf("%s on %s now holds %q, sealed to that machine.\n", module, node, name)
@@ -118,7 +149,7 @@ func secretCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 }
 
 const secretUsage = "secret rotate <node> <module> <name> [--why <text> [--cause <word>]]\n" +
-	"secret accept <node> <module> <name> [--from <file>] [--provider <node> [--local <name>]]\n" +
+	"secret accept <node> <module> <name> [--from <file> | --at-desk <machine>] [--provider <node> [--local <name>]]\n" +
 	"secret recover <node> <module> <name> --key <operator-key> [--out <file>] [--from-export <file>] [--provider <node>]\n" +
 	"secret export [--out <file>]"
 
@@ -369,6 +400,8 @@ func valueFor(node, module, name, from string) (string, error) {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr,
 			"reading %s's %q for %s from standard input; it is not echoed anywhere\n",
 			module, name, node)
+		// At a terminal, what is typed is not shown either: echo off while it is read.
+		defer hideTyping(os.Stdin)()
 		line, err := bufio.NewReader(os.Stdin).ReadString('\n')
 		if err != nil && line == "" {
 			return "", fmt.Errorf("nothing was given on standard input: %w", err)
@@ -452,3 +485,23 @@ func whoAsked() string {
 	}
 	return "the mesh"
 }
+
+// keepGiven keeps a value given at the controller's terminal, and announces it on the operator's channels
+// (the confirmation review of 2026-10-09, N1-give). **A trusted party's — a module running as an account of its
+// own: the router, a verified channel — is announced before it is kept, and not kept when the announcement
+// fails**: a channel whose token changed unheard of answers for somebody else. Any other module's is kept first
+// and announced after, and a failed announcement is said (unannounced) without undoing it.
+func keepGiven(trusted bool, announce func() error, keep func() (bool, error)) (untilStart bool, unannounced, err error) {
+	if trusted {
+		if err := announce(); err != nil {
+			return false, err, err
+		}
+		untilStart, err = keep()
+		return untilStart, nil, err
+	}
+	untilStart, err = keep()
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, nil, err
+	}
+	return untilStart, announce(), nil
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/signals.go

@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ const (
 
 // callBounds are the verbs that may run longer than callDefault, and how long (S7).
 var callBounds = map[string]time.Duration{
-	"push": 30 * time.Minute, "rotate": 30 * time.Minute, "assign": 15 * time.Minute,
+	"push": 30 * time.Minute, "rotate": 30 * time.Minute, "give": 5 * time.Minute, "assign": 15 * time.Minute,
 	"unassign": 15 * time.Minute, "command": 30 * time.Minute, "doctor": 3 * time.Minute,
 }
 

go.mod

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0
 	golang.org/x/crypto v0.57.0
 	golang.org/x/net v0.58.0
+	golang.org/x/sys v0.48.0
 )
 
 require (
@@ -24,7 +25,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/nats-io/nkeys v0.4.16 // indirect
 	github.com/nats-io/nuid v1.0.1 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/sync v0.23.0 // indirect
-	golang.org/x/sys v0.48.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/text v0.42.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/time v0.15.0 // indirect
 )
@@ -35,4 +35,4 @@ require (
 // committed. Every build (the build agent's `go build`, the Dockerfile) compiles from vendor/ and
 // fetches nothing; go refuses to build when vendor/ and this file disagree, so a pin moved without
 // `go mod vendor` fails loudly, at once, everywhere.
-replace github.com/novox/mesh-host => git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009103656-1c61b72f354d
+replace github.com/novox/mesh-host => git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009141741-d8ff1540df56

go.sum

@@ -1,23 +1,5 @@
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261006095519-3e80b7ae325e h1:g9h4QRaAMg5yaJLwqtb0FoOs23DVGUYpW6qvnQ3oY5A=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261006095519-3e80b7ae325e/go.mod h1:VlilMCRZ5yyNXg7SNigNBLr0Gt32jrGw5KSNq5JAVYs=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261007120832-bdd44154ccac h1:KvnKtJ2rWeIE/t4GweK+JL0OjKSNxsrVP3/nMdpii8o=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261007120832-bdd44154ccac/go.mod h1:VlilMCRZ5yyNXg7SNigNBLr0Gt32jrGw5KSNq5JAVYs=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261007162834-56e2ebec4bac h1:yLtFS0pDCCqIE9Zx8hgXEFG9fUWzf8L9WQoKV+Amk1E=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261007162834-56e2ebec4bac/go.mod h1:VlilMCRZ5yyNXg7SNigNBLr0Gt32jrGw5KSNq5JAVYs=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009081005-b28d7bbcbff4 h1:f4rBnKSemuN0Z9dTtRJMigIGfEs6ltFPOILJGHGab74=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009081005-b28d7bbcbff4/go.mod h1:72ZATZjxMLaJfWdvlSDJrygIoBzCmKIjCDMhEXxVzTo=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009101157-2673e7a2c95e h1:H7eVqDILL6e9cMbWSLHTbCqu9ZxDOmyeQhUmWl9QBV0=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009101157-2673e7a2c95e/go.mod h1:72ZATZjxMLaJfWdvlSDJrygIoBzCmKIjCDMhEXxVzTo=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009103656-1c61b72f354d h1:IrmJ+lz21n+eSqKrmXREtR/7raUCBJ+fZvs+BNhuXVI=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009103656-1c61b72f354d/go.mod h1:72ZATZjxMLaJfWdvlSDJrygIoBzCmKIjCDMhEXxVzTo=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.8-0.20261008145004-62367ce15ad6 h1:JT7xM1bnLNInW7/oImV2OlXTrcQ4/GSM0Y8tAb+AhmY=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.8-0.20261008145004-62367ce15ad6/go.mod h1:GFuZUElBZ9A++mxgIKo97aXXo+kV0uJ/UkbhQPPIbrY=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.8-0.20261008162031-55090da7e08f h1:BNvyWq899GwP7F3sY4ACieB5a5fnFAq+sJ9lP6HQ5qI=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.8-0.20261008162031-55090da7e08f/go.mod h1:GFuZUElBZ9A++mxgIKo97aXXo+kV0uJ/UkbhQPPIbrY=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.8-0.20261009081503-d4077b473ea8 h1:soqhLNpEXThdq6PdiPy6ExxjJ+yjhh1N1n9E3j1CtrM=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.8-0.20261009081503-d4077b473ea8/go.mod h1:GFuZUElBZ9A++mxgIKo97aXXo+kV0uJ/UkbhQPPIbrY=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.8-0.20261009095928-76902998cd39 h1:WHW6CgbuTxP7M+qRBOgzsiG9vT49xdkZ/rarc9/vKMA=
-git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.8-0.20261009095928-76902998cd39/go.mod h1:GFuZUElBZ9A++mxgIKo97aXXo+kV0uJ/UkbhQPPIbrY=
+git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009141741-d8ff1540df56 h1:Vut7OdwSAL0rFaavaFmv3+FIGS3ISM4jA+xTiS88nvg=
+git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009141741-d8ff1540df56/go.mod h1:mBxSf6wULwn0bdpHkIHUnhTvNzqnULnjoRN28dUgSBU=
 git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.10-0.20261009115850-16984aafc689 h1:Ti2P9nwders7YQ/hq3X/dPo+CXMj5pdUcfA5P/c12CU=
 git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.10-0.20261009115850-16984aafc689/go.mod h1:GFuZUElBZ9A++mxgIKo97aXXo+kV0uJ/UkbhQPPIbrY=
 github.com/antithesishq/antithesis-sdk-go v0.7.0-default-no-op h1:Z/MZK75wC/NSrkgqeNIa7jexam9uWzhLmFTSCPI/kn0=
@@ -56,8 +38,6 @@ github.com/stretchr/testify v1.3.0/go.mod h1:M5WIy9Dh21IEIfnGCwXGc5bZfKNJtfHm1UV
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.7.0/go.mod h1:6Fq8oRcR53rry900zMqJjRRixrwX3KX962/h/Wwjteg=
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.11.1 h1:7s2iGBzp5EwR7/aIZr8ao5+dra3wiQyKjjFuvgVKu7U=
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.11.1/go.mod h1:wZwfW3scLgRK+23gO65QZefKpKQRnfz6sD981Nm4B6U=
-go.uber.org/automaxprocs v1.6.0 h1:O3y2/QNTOdbF+e/dpXNNW7Rx2hZ4sTIPyybbxyNqTUs=
-go.uber.org/automaxprocs v1.6.0/go.mod h1:ifeIMSnPZuznNm6jmdzmU3/bfk01Fe2fotchwEFJ8r8=
 golang.org/x/crypto v0.57.0 h1:3ZVCjf8Ggz7zneR/EHRVx68Ctf+2pmIMP2UFhh9cC6M=
 golang.org/x/crypto v0.57.0/go.mod h1:Fdz0i5U6CoizGwLda9DttjSk6qlZo25zYNtR+ycvuZA=
 golang.org/x/net v0.58.0 h1:ynWG7rqYi4ccpTEuPZ2QGWHktVEM9DMCj9yzDE0Q7To=

internal/broker/nats.go

@@ -183,6 +183,49 @@ var VerbsTheSelfCheckAsks = []SeatVerb{{Seat: "node-intrusion-prevention", Verb:
 // the controller's grant that acts, and only through the step a person starts.
 var VerbsTheBusStepAsks = []SeatVerb{{Seat: "node-backup", Verb: "now"}}
 
+// VerbsTheControllerAsksForASecret are the seat verbs `give` calls (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10): the operator's
+// desk opens a prompt that does not show what is typed, and answers it sealed to the controller's call.
+var VerbsTheControllerAsksForASecret = []SeatVerb{{Seat: "node-launcher", Verb: "secret"}}
+
+// ControllerOnly are the subjects the controller alone may publish, however wide another's grant (the review
+// of 2026-10-09, M4): the desk's hidden prompt, on its seat's subjects and on any holder's own module
+// subjects. A grant of every tool — the runtime's, which carries every agent's calls, or a person's `*` — would
+// otherwise reach it, and the prompt says the controller asks: only the bus makes that true.
+func ControllerOnly() []string {
+	var out []string
+	for _, v := range VerbsTheControllerAsksForASecret {
+		for _, base := range []string{"mesh.seat." + v.Seat + ".tool." + v.Verb, "mesh.mod.*.tool." + v.Seat + "." + v.Verb} {
+			out = append(out, base, base+".*")
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// MayPublish says whether permissions let a principal publish one subject: an allow covers it and no deny does.
+func MayPublish(perms Permissions, subject string) bool {
+	for _, d := range perms.PublishDeny {
+		if SubjectsOverlap(d, subject) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	for _, a := range perms.Publish {
+		if SubjectsOverlap(a, subject) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+// MaySubscribe says whether a principal with these permissions may subscribe to (and so answer) a subject.
+func MaySubscribe(perms Permissions, subject string) bool {
+	for _, a := range perms.Subscribe {
+		if SubjectsOverlap(a, subject) {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 // VerbsTheControllerAsksTheDeliveryOwner are the mesh-delivery seat's verbs the controller calls (novox/hq
 // ADR 0239): its self-check reads `stalled`, and healer H2 takes the one transition the table allows
 // through `close`. A mesh seat's verb is flat: no machine in the subject.
@@ -246,6 +289,14 @@ func (p Principal) Username() string {
 // (novox/hq to-be 45 §6): its answer is an ordinary report, on its own report subject.
 func AskReportSubject(node string) string { return "mesh.node." + node + ".ask.report" }
 
+// AskHandOverSubject is where the controller's terminal asks one machine's node-engine to hand a directory it
+// uses as found to the mesh (novox/hq issue 356, issue 339): a request on core NATS, answered once on the reply
+// it carries. Only the controller is granted a publish here (the writers table holds it), but **that is not who
+// the engine hears**: the bus lets any principal allowed to answer reply to a message it received, on the reply
+// subject that message named, so a message can arrive here from any responder. The ask is therefore signed with
+// the mesh's key (link.SignedHandOver), and the engine verifies it before reading anything out of it.
+func AskHandOverSubject(node string) string { return "mesh.node." + node + ".ask.hand-over" }
+
 // inbox is a principal's own reply space. No user is ever granted a bare `_INBOX.>` (design 25
 // §4): with one account, inbox privacy is the permission list or it is nothing, so each user's
 // inbox is derived from its own identity and its permissions name that prefix and no other.
@@ -253,8 +304,11 @@ func (p Principal) inbox() string { return "_INBOX." + p.Username() + ".>" }
 
 // Permissions is what a principal may publish and subscribe, and whether it may answer.
 type Permissions struct {
-	Publish   []string
-	Subscribe []string
+	Publish []string
+	// PublishDeny are subjects refused although an allow covers them: the controller's alone (ControllerOnly),
+	// denied to everybody whose grant is wide enough to reach them. The server's deny outranks its allow.
+	PublishDeny []string
+	Subscribe   []string
 	// AllowResponses lets a principal reply to a request it received, on the reply subject that
 	// request carried, once.
 	//
@@ -392,6 +446,10 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 		for _, v := range VerbsTheBusStepAsks {
 			pub = append(pub, "mesh.seat."+v.Seat+".tool."+v.Verb+".*")
 		}
+		// And the operator's desk, for a secret given there (ADR 0259 §10).
+		for _, v := range VerbsTheControllerAsksForASecret {
+			pub = append(pub, "mesh.seat."+v.Seat+".tool."+v.Verb+".*")
+		}
 		// And the delivery's owner, a mesh seat, asked on its flat subjects (ADR 0239).
 		for _, v := range VerbsTheControllerAsksTheDeliveryOwner {
 			pub = append(pub, "mesh.seat."+v.Seat+".tool."+v.Verb)
@@ -512,7 +570,10 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 			// And the mesh asking it to say again what it last applied (novox/hq to-be 45 §6, the
 			// `report` verb healer H1 asks): its own machine's, on core NATS and off any stream. It
 			// answers through its report, the one thing it already says — no reply to anybody's inbox.
-			AskReportSubject(p.Node)}
+			AskReportSubject(p.Node),
+			// And the controller's terminal asking it to hand a directory used as found to the mesh (novox/hq
+			// issue 356), which it answers on the request's reply: the one request a node is asked.
+			AskHandOverSubject(p.Node)}
 		// The node-engine witnesses the core builds it places (novox/hq to-be 45 §8, ADR 0236; the
 		// contract is lease/witness.go): it asks its own machine's node tools PING, and, where the
 		// machine runs the controller, reads the lease's one key — read, never written.
@@ -796,13 +857,29 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 	if err := CheckWriters(p, pub); err != nil {
 		return Permissions{}, err
 	}
+	// What the controller alone may publish is denied to everybody else whose grant reaches it.
+	var deny []string
+	if p.Kind != KindController {
+		for _, only := range ControllerOnly() {
+			for _, a := range pub {
+				if SubjectsOverlap(a, only) {
+					deny = append(deny, only)
+					break
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
 	return Permissions{
-		Publish:   pub,
-		Subscribe: sub,
+		Publish:     pub,
+		PublishDeny: deny,
+		Subscribe:   sub,
 		// A module answers what it was asked — a tool call reaches it on its own namespace, so the
-		// authority is bounded by having been asked — and so does the controller. A node and a
-		// person are never asked anything, and are granted nothing here.
-		AllowResponses: p.Kind == KindModule || p.Kind == KindController || p.Kind == KindNodeTools,
+		// authority is bounded by having been asked — and so does the controller. A node is asked one
+		// thing, a hand-over on its own subject (novox/hq issue 356), and answers that: the node is its
+		// machine's engine, root there already, and it is delivered only its own subjects. What it answers is
+		// never trusted for being an answer — the controller reads the engine's words and records nothing. A
+		// person is never asked anything, and is granted nothing here.
+		AllowResponses: p.Kind == KindModule || p.Kind == KindController || p.Kind == KindNodeTools || p.Kind == KindNode,
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -1020,7 +1097,11 @@ func ComposeAccounts(principals []Principal) (string, error) {
 			return "", fmt.Errorf("%s has no password hash: a user without one is a user anybody is", p.Username())
 		}
 		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "      { user: %q, password: %q, permissions: {\n", p.Username(), p.PasswordHash)
-		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "        publish: { allow: [%s] }\n", quoted(perms.Publish))
+		if len(perms.PublishDeny) > 0 {
+			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "        publish: { allow: [%s], deny: [%s] }\n", quoted(perms.Publish), quoted(perms.PublishDeny))
+		} else {
+			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "        publish: { allow: [%s] }\n", quoted(perms.Publish))
+		}
 		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "        subscribe: { allow: [%s] }\n", quoted(perms.Subscribe))
 		if perms.AllowResponses {
 			fmt.Fprintf(&b, "        allow_responses: { max: 1, ttl: \"%dm\" }\n", int(ResponseTTL/time.Minute))

internal/broker/nats_test.go

@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ func TestAnInboxIsScopedToItsOwner(t *testing.T) {
 
 // A responder answers on the caller's inbox, which it has no permission for. allow_responses is
 // what makes a scoped inbox workable at all — the authority is bounded by having been asked. A
-// module is asked on its own namespace and may answer; a node and a person are never asked.
+// module is asked on its own namespace and may answer; a node is asked one thing, a hand-over on its own
+// subject (novox/hq issue 356), and may answer that; a person is never asked.
 func TestOnlyWhatCanBeAskedMayAnswer(t *testing.T) {
 	module, _ := PermissionsFor(Principal{Kind: KindModule, Node: "one", Module: "audit",
 		Consumes: []string{"shop.order.placed"}, PasswordHash: "x"})
@@ -111,8 +112,12 @@ func TestOnlyWhatCanBeAskedMayAnswer(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("a module cannot answer a tool call on its own namespace")
 	}
 	node, _ := PermissionsFor(Principal{Kind: KindNode, Node: "one", PasswordHash: "x"})
-	if node.AllowResponses {
-		t.Fatal("a node was granted the right to answer, and nothing asks a node anything")
+	if !node.AllowResponses || !slices.Contains(node.Subscribe, AskHandOverSubject("one")) {
+		t.Fatalf("a node cannot answer the hand-over it is asked: %v %v", node.AllowResponses, node.Subscribe)
+	}
+	person, _ := PermissionsFor(Principal{Kind: KindPerson, Node: "one", Module: "jo", PasswordHash: "x"})
+	if person.AllowResponses {
+		t.Fatal("a person was granted the right to answer, and nothing asks a person anything")
 	}
 }
 

internal/broker/testdata/composed.conf

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ accounts {
     jetstream: enabled
     users = [
       { user: "controller", password: "$2a$11$cccccccccccccccccccccc", permissions: {
-        publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.CONTROL.controller.>", "$JS.ACK.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller.>", "$JS.ACK.EVENTS.controller.>", "$JS.API.>", "$KV.SEAT_MESH_BUILD_MACHINE_cancelled.>", "$KV.SEAT_NODE_BUILD_AGENT_cancelled.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_asked.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_calls.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_condition-history.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_conditions.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_hand-acts.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_lease.>", "$SRV.INFO", "_INBOX.enrol.>", "mesh.again.>", "mesh.assignment.>", "mesh.events.dead.>", "mesh.mod.*.tool.>", "mesh.node.>", "mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.accept.>", "mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.tool.>", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.applied", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.built-before", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.checked", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-changed", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-cleared", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-raised", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.doctor-heartbeat", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.healer-acted", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.plan-moved", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.refused", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.rolled-back", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.secret-replaced", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.tool.plans", "mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.close", "mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.release", "mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.stalled", "mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.stop", "mesh.seat.node-backup.tool.backed-up.*", "mesh.seat.node-backup.tool.now.*", "mesh.seat.node-build-agent.accept.>", "mesh.seat.node-build-agent.tool.>", "mesh.seat.node-intrusion-prevention.tool.banned.*", "mesh.seat.node-service-manager.tool.restart.*"] }
+        publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.CONTROL.controller.>", "$JS.ACK.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller.>", "$JS.ACK.EVENTS.controller.>", "$JS.API.>", "$KV.SEAT_MESH_BUILD_MACHINE_cancelled.>", "$KV.SEAT_NODE_BUILD_AGENT_cancelled.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_asked.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_calls.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_condition-history.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_conditions.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_hand-acts.>", "$KV.mesh-controller_lease.>", "$SRV.INFO", "_INBOX.enrol.>", "mesh.again.>", "mesh.assignment.>", "mesh.events.dead.>", "mesh.mod.*.tool.>", "mesh.node.>", "mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.accept.>", "mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.tool.>", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.applied", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.built-before", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.checked", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-changed", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-cleared", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-raised", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.doctor-heartbeat", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.healer-acted", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.plan-moved", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.refused", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.rolled-back", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.secret-replaced", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.tool.plans", "mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.close", "mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.release", "mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.stalled", "mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.stop", "mesh.seat.node-backup.tool.backed-up.*", "mesh.seat.node-backup.tool.now.*", "mesh.seat.node-build-agent.accept.>", "mesh.seat.node-build-agent.tool.>", "mesh.seat.node-intrusion-prevention.tool.banned.*", "mesh.seat.node-launcher.tool.secret.*", "mesh.seat.node-service-manager.tool.restart.*"] }
         subscribe: { allow: ["$JS.API.>", "$JS.EVENT.ADVISORY.CONSUMER.DELETED.>", "$JS.EVENT.ADVISORY.CONSUMER.MAX_DELIVERIES.>", "$SRV.INFO", "$SRV.INFO.mesh-controller", "$SRV.INFO.mesh-controller.>", "$SRV.PING", "$SRV.PING.mesh-controller", "$SRV.PING.mesh-controller.>", "$SRV.STATS", "$SRV.STATS.mesh-controller", "$SRV.STATS.mesh-controller.>", "_DELIVER.controller", "_DELIVER.controller.>", "_INBOX.controller.>", "mesh.control.>", "mesh.mod.*.event.provisioner.failing", "mesh.mod.*.event.provisioner.recovered", "mesh.mod.*.event.provisioner.retirement", "mesh.mod.gitea.event.pull.merged", "mesh.mod.gitea.event.pull.updated", "mesh.mod.mesh-catalog.event.catching-up", "mesh.mod.mesh-catalog.event.upgraded", "mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.event.built", "mesh.seat.mesh-controller.tool.>", "mesh.seat.node-build-agent.event.built", "mesh.seat.operator-channel.event.decided.mesh-controller"] }
         allow_responses: { max: 1, ttl: "1m" }
       } }
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ accounts {
       } }
       { user: "node.one", password: "$2a$11$nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn", permissions: {
         publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.NODES.one.>", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO.NODES.one", "$SRV.PING.node-tools.one", "mesh.control.one.>"] }
-        subscribe: { allow: ["_DELIVER.one", "_DELIVER.one.>", "_INBOX.node.one.>", "mesh.node.one.ask.report", "mesh.node.one.declare"] }
+        subscribe: { allow: ["_DELIVER.one", "_DELIVER.one.>", "_INBOX.node.one.>", "mesh.node.one.ask.hand-over", "mesh.node.one.ask.report", "mesh.node.one.declare"] }
+        allow_responses: { max: 1, ttl: "1m" }
       } }
       { user: "one.nats", password: "$2a$11$bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb", permissions: {
         publish: { allow: ["$JS.API.STREAM.INFO.*", "$JS.API.STREAM.NAMES", "$JS.API.STREAM.SNAPSHOT.*", "$JS.SNAPSHOT.ACK.>"] }

internal/broker/writers.go

@@ -84,6 +84,13 @@ func kvOf(bucket string) []string { return []string{"$KV." + bucket + ".>"} }
 var WritersTable = []WriterRow{
 	{State: "a machine's declaration", Writer: "controller (lease holder)", KeptIn: "the bus, last per subject",
 		Others: "read", Subjects: []string{"mesh.node.*.declare"}, Writes: isController},
+	// The operator's hand-over of a directory used as found, asked of the machine's engine at the controller's
+	// terminal (novox/hq issue 356). One publisher; and because a responder can still reach the subject through a
+	// reply, the ask is signed with the mesh's key and the engine verifies it — the row bounds who is granted the
+	// publish, the signature who is believed.
+	{State: "a hand-over asked of a machine", Writer: "controller, at its terminal", KeptIn: "the machine, beside its state",
+		Others:   "the engine verifies the mesh's signature and records it, or refuses",
+		Subjects: []string{"mesh.node.*.ask.hand-over"}, Writes: isController},
 	{State: "a machine's applied state and its report", Writer: "the node-engine's apply queue",
 		KeptIn: "the machine; the report on the bus", Others: "the reconcile and a delivery enqueue, never apply",
 		// And its health statement between reports (novox/hq ADR 0240): the same writer stating the same

internal/broker/writers_test.go

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 // to the table; one dropped from either fails.
 var designRows = []string{
 	"a machine's declaration",
+	"a hand-over asked of a machine",
 	"a machine's applied state and its report",
 	"the controller lease",
 	"plans and their tiers",
@@ -150,3 +151,22 @@ func TestSubjectsOverlap(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// **A hand-over asked of a machine has one publisher, the controller** (novox/hq issue 356): a grant that lets any
+// other principal publish it — a node, the node tools, a module — is refused at composition, naming the state.
+// (Who the engine believes is the signature's; this bounds who is granted the publish.)
+func TestAHandOverAskHasOnePublisher(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, p := range []Principal{
+		{Kind: KindNode, Node: "laptop"},
+		{Kind: KindNodeTools, Node: "laptop", Module: RuntimeModule},
+		{Kind: KindModule, Node: "laptop", Module: "notes"},
+	} {
+		err := CheckWriters(p, []string{"mesh.node.laptop.ask.hand-over"})
+		if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "a hand-over asked of a machine") {
+			t.Errorf("%s may publish a hand-over: %v", p.Username(), err)
+		}
+	}
+	if err := CheckWriters(Principal{Kind: KindController}, []string{"mesh.node.>"}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the controller may not ask a hand-over: %v", err)
+	}
+}

internal/catalogue/build.go

@@ -173,11 +173,7 @@ func (m Manifest) Resolve(built []Built) (Manifest, error) {
 			// had — so re-composing a declaration moves nothing, where a commit would move the
 			// path of an identical binary and recreate everything that reads it.
 			for key, value := range filled {
-				text, isText := value.(string)
-				if !isText || !strings.Contains(text, versionRef) {
-					continue
-				}
-				filled[key] = strings.ReplaceAll(text, versionRef, versionOf(artifact.Digest))
+				filled[key] = withVersion(value, versionOf(artifact.Digest))
 			}
 		default:
 			return Manifest{}, fmt.Errorf("%s: %q is a %q, and an artifact is %q, %q, %q or %q",
@@ -189,6 +185,31 @@ func (m Manifest) Resolve(built []Built) (Manifest, error) {
 	return out, nil
 }
 
+// withVersion is a resource's value with `${version}` filled: in a string, and in each string of a map —
+// a process's env, where the controller is told which build it is (novox/hq issue 352). Anything else is
+// left as it is.
+func withVersion(value any, version string) any {
+	switch v := value.(type) {
+	case string:
+		if strings.Contains(v, versionRef) {
+			return strings.ReplaceAll(v, versionRef, version)
+		}
+	case map[string]any:
+		out := make(map[string]any, len(v))
+		for k, x := range v {
+			out[k] = withVersion(x, version)
+		}
+		return out
+	case map[string]string:
+		out := make(map[string]string, len(v))
+		for k, x := range v {
+			out[k] = strings.ReplaceAll(x, versionRef, version)
+		}
+		return out
+	}
+	return value
+}
+
 // checkBuild is the manifest's own account of what it builds.
 func (b *Build) problems(module string) []string {
 	if b == nil {

internal/catalogue/graphical_session.go

@@ -78,6 +78,22 @@ func graphicalSessionSeats() []Seat {
 							"description": "the lines to choose between, in order"},
 						"prompt": map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "what the menu asks (optional)"},
 					}}},
+			// A value the operator types and nobody sees (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10): a hidden prompt whose answer
+			// is sealed to the asker's key, so it is never plaintext on the bus or in any call's record.
+			// **Optional while its holders catch up** (ADR 0246): rofi serves it once this is live.
+			{Name: "secret", Optional: true, Description: "Ask the operator for a value in a prompt that " +
+				"does not show what is typed, and answer it sealed to the key the asker gives — never in " +
+				"the clear — or cancelled when the prompt was dismissed or not answered in time.",
+				// By name, never by words (the review of 2026-10-09, M4): the holder writes the prompt from the
+				// module, the secret and the machine, and says the controller asks — the bus lets nobody else
+				// ask it (broker.ControllerOnly) — so no caller puts words of its own before the operator.
+				Input: schema(map[string]string{
+					"module":          "the module whose own secret is asked for",
+					"secret":          "the own secret's name",
+					"node":            "the machine the module runs on",
+					"seal_to":         "the asker's public sealing key: the answer is sealed to it",
+					"timeout_seconds": "give up after this long (optional)",
+				}, []string{"module", "secret", "node", "seal_to"})},
 		}},
 		{Name: NotifierSeat, Scope: ScopeNode, Decision: decided, Serves: []Verb{
 			{Name: "send", Description: "Show the operator a notification.",

internal/catalogue/graphical_session_test.go

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ func TestTheGraphicalSessionsSeatsAreTheMeshsOwnWithTheirVerbs(t *testing.T) {
 		DisplayServerSeat:    {"displays", "layout"},
 		DisplaySessionSeat:   {"reload", "workspaces", "windows"},
 		TerminalEmulatorSeat: {"open"},
-		LauncherSeat:         {"menu"},
+		LauncherSeat:         {"menu", "secret"},
 		NotifierSeat:         {"send", "history"},
 		LockScreenSeat:       {"lock"},
 		ClipboardSeat:        {"history", "copy"},

internal/catalogue/verbs.go

@@ -230,6 +230,18 @@ var ControllerVerbs = []Verb{
 			"why":       "an own secret: why it is rotated — recorded in the hand-act log (optional)",
 			"cause":     "with why: the cause in a word, the word a second rotation for the same reason uses (optional)",
 		}, nil)},
+	{Name: "give", Description: "Take a module's own secret from the operator at their desk (novox/hq ADR 0259 " +
+		"§10): a prompt that does not show what is typed opens on the machine named by at, its answer comes " +
+		"back sealed to this call alone, and is sealed to the module's machine as `secret accept` seals it. " +
+		"The value is never an argument and never in the answer: the answer says it was taken, or why not. " +
+		"Recorded in the hand-act log as a value given at the desk. The prompt waits 25 seconds; dismissed " +
+		"or unanswered, nothing changes. Then push the machine.",
+		Input: schema(map[string]string{
+			"node":   "the machine the module runs on, which the secret is sealed to",
+			"module": "the module's name",
+			"secret": "the own secret's name in the module's definition",
+			"at":     "the machine the operator sits at, where the prompt opens",
+		}, []string{"node", "module", "secret", "at"})},
 	{Name: "issue", Description: "Give a module on a machine its account on the bus: minted, and sealed to the " +
 		"machine as the module's own secret named broker, read at the next push of that machine. For a module " +
 		"whose definition declares that secret; refused with the reason otherwise. Issued again, it replaces the account.",

internal/catalogue/version_in_a_path_test.go

@@ -95,3 +95,28 @@ func TestAResourceWithoutAVersionReferenceIsUntouched(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("a path naming no version became %q", path)
 	}
 }
+
+// A process's env can name the build's own version too (novox/hq issue 352): the controller is told which
+// build it is, and records what that build reads of the store's schema under it.
+func TestAProcessEnvCanNameTheBuildsOwnVersion(t *testing.T) {
+	m := Manifest{
+		Module: "mesh-controller",
+		Build:  &Build{Artifacts: []Artifact{{Name: "controller", Kind: ArtifactBundle, Language: "go", System: "arch"}}},
+		Resources: []map[string]any{{
+			"id": "controller", "type": "process", "artifact": "controller", "run": []any{"./mesh-controller", "serve"},
+			"env": map[string]any{"MESH_CONTROLLER_VERSION": "${version}", "OTHER": "kept"},
+		}},
+	}
+	got, err := m.Resolve([]Built{{Name: "controller", Kind: ArtifactBundle,
+		Reference: "artifact-store://mesh-controller/controller", Digest: aDigest}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	env, _ := got.Resources[0]["env"].(map[string]any)
+	if env["MESH_CONTROLLER_VERSION"] != "ad62528c47c7" || env["OTHER"] != "kept" {
+		t.Fatalf("the env resolved to %v", env)
+	}
+	if run, _ := got.Resources[0]["run"].([]any); len(run) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("the run was changed: %v", run)
+	}
+}

internal/inventory/gate.go

@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ import (
 const (
 	GatePassed = "passed"
 	GateFailed = "failed"
+	// GateSuperseded is a judging ended by a later send to the judged machine that moved the module to
+	// another build (novox/hq issue 352): no verdict on the build, and nothing put back.
+	GateSuperseded = "superseded"
 
 	RollingBack   = "rolling-back"
 	RolledBack    = "rolled-back"

internal/inventory/givable_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package inventory
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+)
+
+// `give` takes only a value nobody but a person has (the review of 2026-10-09, M4): never the module's bus
+// account, which `issue` mints, nor a secret the mesh may make itself.
+func TestOnlyASecretThePersonHoldsIsGivenAtTheDesk(t *testing.T) {
+	m := catalogue.Manifest{Module: "telegram", OwnSecrets: catalogue.OwnSecrets{
+		"telegram-token": {Path: "/s/telegram-token"},
+		"broker":         {Path: "/s/broker"},
+		"session":        {Path: "/s/session", Taken: catalogue.TakenAtStart},
+	}}
+	if err := GivableAtDesk(m, "telegram-token"); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("the bot token was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+	for _, name := range []string{"broker", "session", "chat-id"} {
+		if err := GivableAtDesk(m, name); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s was givable", name)
+		} else if name != "chat-id" && !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "the mesh makes") {
+			t.Errorf("%s: %v", name, err)
+		}
+	}
+}

internal/inventory/migrations/0087-a-controller-records-what-its-stores-schema-reaches.sql

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+-- A controller records, when it serves, how far the store's schema reaches in the build it is (novox/hq
+-- issue 352): the highest migration it carries, by its build's version. A gate that fails the controller's
+-- build puts the build before it back, and on 2026-10-09 that build was older than the migrations the
+-- failed one had applied: it started, said it was behind its own row, and judged the next gate half-blind.
+-- A put-back now reads this and keeps the current build when the one before it reaches less than the store.
+create table controller_schema (
+    build    text        primary key,
+    reach    integer     not null,
+    recorded timestamptz not null default now()
+);

internal/inventory/nodes.go

@@ -1054,13 +1054,57 @@ type Reported struct {
 	// acted on the current words, not merely spoken after they were written. False also covers
 	// a machine that has not said which, which is every host from before reports carried it.
 	Current bool
+	// Declared is the digest of the declaration the last report was about, and ReportedSequence that
+	// declaration's sequence as the report claimed it (zero from an engine that claims none): what a
+	// gate holds against the send it made, rather than against the send made last (novox/hq issue 352).
+	Declared         string
+	ReportedSequence int64
+}
+
+// SentDeclaration is what one send carried to a machine, as a gate keeps it: the declaration's digest and
+// its sequence (novox/hq issue 352). A report about this declaration, or about one sequenced after it, is a
+// report on what the gate sent — whatever the machine was sent since.
+type SentDeclaration struct {
+	Digest   string `json:"digest"`
+	Sequence int64  `json:"sequence,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// ReportsOn says a report is about this send: the declaration itself; one the same machine was sequenced
+// after it; or the declaration the machine was sent last (Current), which is this send or a later one —
+// sends to a machine are made one after another. A send kept without a sequence is matched by its digest
+// and by the last send alone.
+func (s SentDeclaration) ReportsOn(r Reported) bool {
+	if r.Current || (s.Digest != "" && r.Declared == s.Digest) {
+		return true
+	}
+	return s.Sequence > 0 && r.ReportedSequence >= s.Sequence
+}
+
+// SentTo is the declaration a machine was last sent, by name: its digest and sequence, and false when it
+// was never sent one.
+func (i *Inventory) SentTo(ctx context.Context, name string) (SentDeclaration, bool, error) {
+	var digest *string
+	var seq *int64
+	err := i.store.Pool().QueryRow(ctx, `select sent, sequence from node where name = $1`, name).Scan(&digest, &seq)
+	if errors.Is(err, pgx.ErrNoRows) {
+		return SentDeclaration{}, false, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s", ErrNoSuchNode, name)
+	}
+	if err != nil || digest == nil || *digest == "" {
+		return SentDeclaration{}, false, err
+	}
+	s := SentDeclaration{Digest: *digest}
+	if seq != nil {
+		s.Sequence = *seq
+	}
+	return s, true, nil
 }
 
 // LastReports is every machine's last report beside when it was last sent a declaration.
 func (i *Inventory) LastReports(ctx context.Context) ([]Reported, error) {
 	rows, err := i.store.Pool().Query(ctx,
 		`select n.name, coalesce(r.outcome, ''), r.at, n.sent_at,
-		        r.declared is not null and r.declared <> '' and r.declared = n.sent
+		        r.declared is not null and r.declared <> '' and r.declared = n.sent,
+		        coalesce(r.declared, ''), coalesce(r.reported_sequence, 0)
 		 from node n left join node_report r on r.node = n.id
 		 order by n.name`)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -1070,7 +1114,7 @@ func (i *Inventory) LastReports(ctx context.Context) ([]Reported, error) {
 	var out []Reported
 	for rows.Next() {
 		var r Reported
-		if err := rows.Scan(&r.Node, &r.Outcome, &r.At, &r.Sent, &r.Current); err != nil {
+		if err := rows.Scan(&r.Node, &r.Outcome, &r.At, &r.Sent, &r.Current, &r.Declared, &r.ReportedSequence); err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 		out = append(out, r)

internal/inventory/plans.go

@@ -126,6 +126,10 @@ type PlanGate struct {
 	To        string   `json:"to,omitempty"`
 	// Since is when the judging began: the first machine reported the new build applied.
 	Since *time.Time `json:"since,omitempty"`
+	// Sent is, per machine, the declaration the gate's send carried there (novox/hq issue 352): what a
+	// machine's report is held against. Absent on a gate kept before it was, which reads the report
+	// against the send made last, as before.
+	Sent map[string]SentDeclaration `json:"sent,omitempty"`
 	// Passes counts the consecutive judgings that found it healthy, LastPass the newest; a judging that
 	// does not resets them.
 	Passes   int        `json:"passes,omitempty"`

internal/inventory/plans_test.go

@@ -115,3 +115,83 @@ func TestTheNewestMergeOfABranchIsTheOneMergedLast(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("one merge time, two plans: %s", p.ID)
 	}
 }
+
+// novox/hq issue 352: what a machine was last sent is read back by name with its sequence, a report keeps
+// the declaration it was about and that declaration's sequence, and a gate's sends are kept with the plan.
+func TestASendAndAReportAreKnownByTheirDeclaration(t *testing.T) {
+	inv := ForTest(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	record, err := inv.AddNode(ctx, "anchor")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, found, err := inv.SentTo(ctx, "anchor"); err != nil || found {
+		t.Fatalf("a machine never sent anything: %v %v", found, err)
+	}
+	if _, _, err := inv.SentTo(ctx, "nobody"); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a machine that does not exist was answered")
+	}
+	seq, err := inv.NextSequence(ctx, record.ID)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := inv.RecordSent(ctx, record.ID, "d-1", map[string]string{"app": "c1"}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	sent, found, err := inv.SentTo(ctx, "anchor")
+	if err != nil || !found || sent.Digest != "d-1" || sent.Sequence != seq {
+		t.Fatalf("sent %+v %v %v", sent, found, err)
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.RecordOrderedDoing(ctx, record.ID, Doing{Node: "anchor", Outcome: OutcomeApplied, Declared: "d-1", Applied: 1},
+		ReportOrder{Sequence: seq, ReportSequence: 1}, func(ReportOrder) bool { return false }); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	reports, err := inv.LastReports(ctx)
+	if err != nil || len(reports) != 1 || reports[0].Declared != "d-1" || reports[0].ReportedSequence != seq || !reports[0].Current {
+		t.Fatalf("reports %+v %v", reports, err)
+	}
+	// Sent again, unreported: the report is no longer on the last send, and is still on the first.
+	if err := inv.RecordSent(ctx, record.ID, "d-2", map[string]string{"app": "c1"}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	reports, _ = inv.LastReports(ctx)
+	if reports[0].Current || !sent.ReportsOn(reports[0]) {
+		t.Fatalf("after a newer send: %+v", reports[0])
+	}
+	at := time.Now().UTC()
+	p := Plan{ID: "plan-352", Repository: "novox/x", Commit: "c", Created: at, State: PlanRolling, Tiers: [][]string{{"app"}},
+		Modules: map[string]*PlanModule{"app": {Gate: &PlanGate{Machines: []string{"anchor"}, Since: &at,
+			Sent: map[string]SentDeclaration{"anchor": sent}}}}}
+	if err := inv.SavePlan(ctx, &p); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	kept, err := inv.PlanByID(ctx, "plan-352")
+	if err != nil || kept.Modules["app"].Gate.Sent["anchor"] != sent {
+		t.Fatalf("the gate's send was not kept with the plan: %+v %v", kept.Modules["app"].Gate, err)
+	}
+}
+
+// A controller build's reach of the store's schema is kept by its version, and the store's own is read.
+func TestASchemaReachIsKeptByBuild(t *testing.T) {
+	inv := ForTest(t)
+	ctx := t.Context()
+	applied, err := inv.SchemaApplied(ctx)
+	if err != nil || applied < 87 {
+		t.Fatalf("applied %d %v", applied, err)
+	}
+	if _, known, err := inv.SchemaReachOf(ctx, "ad62528c47c7"); err != nil || known {
+		t.Fatalf("an unrecorded build: %v %v", known, err)
+	}
+	if err := inv.RecordSchemaReach(ctx, "", 87); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a reach without a build was recorded")
+	}
+	if err := inv.RecordSchemaReach(ctx, "ad62528c47c7", 86); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := inv.RecordSchemaReach(ctx, "ad62528c47c7", 87); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if reach, known, err := inv.SchemaReachOf(ctx, "ad62528c47c7"); err != nil || !known || reach != 87 {
+		t.Fatalf("reach %d %v %v", reach, known, err)
+	}
+}

internal/inventory/schema.go

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+package inventory
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+
+	"github.com/jackc/pgx/v5"
+)
+
+// What a controller build knows of the store's schema (novox/hq issue 352): the highest migration it
+// carries, recorded by its version when it serves, and the highest migration the store has applied. A
+// put-back of the controller to a build that reaches less than the store is refused (gate.go), because
+// such a controller starts behind its own records and judges with what it can read.
+
+// RecordSchemaReach keeps the highest migration the build serving now carries.
+func (i *Inventory) RecordSchemaReach(ctx context.Context, build string, reach int) error {
+	if build == "" {
+		return errors.New("a schema reach is recorded by a build's version, and this controller has none")
+	}
+	_, err := i.store.Pool().Exec(ctx,
+		`insert into controller_schema (build, reach) values ($1, $2)
+		 on conflict (build) do update set reach = excluded.reach, recorded = now()`, build, reach)
+	return err
+}
+
+// SchemaReachOf is the highest migration a build carries, as it recorded when it served; false for a
+// build that never did.
+func (i *Inventory) SchemaReachOf(ctx context.Context, build string) (int, bool, error) {
+	var reach int
+	err := i.store.Pool().QueryRow(ctx, `select reach from controller_schema where build = $1`, build).Scan(&reach)
+	if errors.Is(err, pgx.ErrNoRows) {
+		return 0, false, nil
+	}
+	return reach, err == nil, err
+}
+
+// SchemaApplied is the highest migration the store has applied.
+func (i *Inventory) SchemaApplied(ctx context.Context) (int, error) {
+	var n *int
+	if err := i.store.Pool().QueryRow(ctx, `select max(number) from migration`).Scan(&n); err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	if n == nil {
+		return 0, nil
+	}
+	return *n, nil
+}

internal/inventory/secrets.go

@@ -554,6 +554,50 @@ func (i *Inventory) declared(ctx context.Context, module string) (catalogue.Mani
 	return m, nil
 }
 
+// DeclaresOwnSecret refuses, in words, a module the mesh does not know or an own secret its definition does
+// not declare: asked before anybody is asked for a value, so nobody types one the mesh would refuse.
+func (i *Inventory) DeclaresOwnSecret(ctx context.Context, module, name string) error {
+	m, err := i.declared(ctx, module)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return GivableAtDesk(m, name)
+}
+
+// RunsAsItsOwnAccount says a module runs as an account of its own (novox/hq ADR 0259 §8): a trusted party — the
+// router, a channel that proves its sender or shows a link's code — whose own secret is what the operator's
+// answers are believed by. Its value is given at the controller's terminal alone.
+func (i *Inventory) RunsAsItsOwnAccount(ctx context.Context, module string) (bool, error) {
+	m, err := i.declared(ctx, module)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+	return m.RunsAs != "", nil
+}
+
+// BrokerSecret is the own secret that is a module's bus account, which `issue` mints.
+const BrokerSecret = "broker"
+
+// GivableAtDesk refuses, in words, an own secret a module does not declare, and one the mesh makes itself
+// (the review of 2026-10-09, M4): the module's bus account, which `issue` mints, and any the mesh may make
+// in place of a value given (catalogue.OwnSecret.MeshMayMake). The desk takes only what a person holds and
+// the mesh cannot make — a bot's token — so nobody is asked to type the mesh's own credential into a prompt.
+func GivableAtDesk(m catalogue.Manifest, name string) error {
+	own, ok := m.OwnSecrets[name]
+	if !ok {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s does not declare %q as an own secret; %s", m.Module, name, declaresOwn(m))
+	}
+	switch {
+	case name == BrokerSecret:
+		return fmt.Errorf("%q is %s's account on the bus, which the mesh makes (`issue`), never a value a person gives",
+			name, m.Module)
+	case own.MeshMayMake():
+		return fmt.Errorf("%q of %s is a secret the mesh makes itself (it may replace a value given at the module's "+
+			"start, ADR 0228); a person gives it only at the controller's terminal, with `secret accept`", name, m.Module)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func declaresOwn(m catalogue.Manifest) string {
 	if len(m.OwnSecrets) == 0 {
 		return "it declares no own secrets"

internal/link/calls.go

@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ func kept(args json.RawMessage) json.RawMessage {
 	for k, v := range given {
 		s, isString := v.(string)
 		switch {
-		case k == "values" || k == "secret":
+		case k == "values" || k == "secret" || k == "stdin":
 			out[k] = "(given, not kept)"
 		case k == "line":
 			// A mesh-cli line (ADR 0272): its command word, never the rest, which may carry settings.

internal/link/handover.go

@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+package link
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"crypto/rand"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/broker"
+)
+
+// A hand-over asked of a machine's node-engine (novox/hq issue 356, issue 339).
+//
+// The operator hands a directory the node-engine uses as found to the mesh at the controller's terminal:
+// `nox node hand-over <node> <path>` on the control-node (ADR 0272). The controller asks that machine's
+// engine on its own subject, a request on core NATS the engine answers once; the engine judges every
+// value and records the hand-over, or refuses and records nothing. The engine holds the same two shapes
+// in its own link code (mesh-host internal/link HandOverAsk, HandOverAnswer); a test on each side holds
+// the field names.
+
+// HandOverAsk is what the controller asks: the node it is for, the directory's absolute path as the engine states
+// it, who asked in the controller's words, when the ask stops being good, and a nonce the engine takes once.
+type HandOverAsk struct {
+	Node    string    `json:"node"`
+	Path    string    `json:"path"`
+	By      string    `json:"by"`
+	Expires time.Time `json:"expires"`
+	Nonce   string    `json:"nonce"`
+}
+
+// SignedHandOver is the ask as it travels: its bytes exactly as signed, and the signature.
+//
+// **Signed, because the subject proves nothing** (review of issue 356). Only the controller may publish
+// `mesh.node.<node>.ask.hand-over`, but the bus lets any principal allowed to answer reply to a message it
+// received, on whatever reply subject that message named — so a tool server asked on its own subject with that
+// reply could hand the engine an ask the controller never made. The engine verifies this signature, with the
+// key it verifies declarations with, before it reads anything out of the ask.
+type SignedHandOver struct {
+	Ask       []byte `json:"ask"`
+	Signature []byte `json:"signature"`
+}
+
+// HandOverContext is prefixed to an ask's bytes before signing, so a hand-over's signature is never a
+// declaration's: the same key signs both, and a declaration is signed over its bytes alone.
+const HandOverContext = "novox-mesh hand-over v1\n"
+
+// HandOverGood is how long a signed ask is good for: the engine refuses one past it, and one further ahead.
+const HandOverGood = time.Minute
+
+// HandOverAnswer is the engine's answer: what it recorded, or why it refused.
+type HandOverAnswer struct {
+	Said    string `json:"said,omitempty"`
+	Refused string `json:"refused,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// HandOverWithin is how long the controller waits for the engine's answer: a file write, on a machine that is
+// up; a machine that is down is said as not answering.
+const HandOverWithin = 30 * time.Second
+
+// AskHandOver asks one machine's node-engine to hand a directory used as found to the mesh, and reads its
+// answer. An error is the ask not reaching an engine, or an answer that is not one; a refusal is the engine's
+// and comes back in the answer.
+func AskHandOver(ctx context.Context, conn *nats.Conn, signer Signer, node, path, by string,
+	timeout time.Duration) (HandOverAnswer, error) {
+	if conn == nil {
+		return HandOverAnswer{}, errors.New("this controller is not on the bus")
+	}
+	body, err := SignHandOver(ctx, signer, HandOverAsk{Node: node, Path: path, By: by})
+	if err != nil {
+		return HandOverAnswer{}, err
+	}
+	asking, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, timeout)
+	defer cancel()
+	subject := broker.AskHandOverSubject(node)
+	refused, stop := refusalsOf(conn, subject)
+	defer stop()
+	type replied struct {
+		msg *nats.Msg
+		err error
+	}
+	done := make(chan replied, 1)
+	go func() {
+		msg, err := conn.RequestWithContext(asking, subject, body)
+		done <- replied{msg, err}
+	}()
+	var reply *nats.Msg
+	select {
+	case r := <-done:
+		reply, err = r.msg, r.err
+	case why := <-refused:
+		cancel()
+		return HandOverAnswer{}, fmt.Errorf("the bus refused the controller asking %s for a hand-over: %v", node, why)
+	}
+	switch {
+	case errors.Is(err, nats.ErrNoResponders):
+		return HandOverAnswer{}, fmt.Errorf("nothing on %s answers a hand-over: its node-engine is not running, is not "+
+			"on the bus, or is older than this ask (novox/hq issue 356); nothing was handed over", node)
+	case errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded), errors.Is(err, nats.ErrTimeout):
+		return HandOverAnswer{}, fmt.Errorf("%s did not answer the hand-over within %s; whether it was recorded is not "+
+			"known — the module's condition says whether the directory is still used as found", node, timeout)
+	case err != nil:
+		return HandOverAnswer{}, err
+	}
+	var answer HandOverAnswer
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(reply.Data, &answer); err != nil {
+		return HandOverAnswer{}, fmt.Errorf("%s answered the hand-over with something unreadable: %w", node, err)
+	}
+	if answer.Said == "" && answer.Refused == "" {
+		return HandOverAnswer{}, fmt.Errorf("%s answered the hand-over with neither a record nor a refusal", node)
+	}
+	return answer, nil
+}
+
+// SignHandOver fills the ask's expiry and nonce and signs it with the mesh's key, over HandOverContext and the
+// ask's bytes exactly as they travel.
+func SignHandOver(ctx context.Context, signer Signer, ask HandOverAsk) ([]byte, error) {
+	if signer == nil {
+		return nil, errors.New("no signing key, so no hand-over can be asked")
+	}
+	nonce := make([]byte, 16)
+	if _, err := rand.Read(nonce); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	ask.Nonce = hex.EncodeToString(nonce)
+	ask.Expires = time.Now().UTC().Add(HandOverGood)
+	raw, err := json.Marshal(ask)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	signature, err := signer.Sign(ctx, append([]byte(HandOverContext), raw...))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot sign the hand-over: %w", err)
+	}
+	return json.Marshal(SignedHandOver{Ask: raw, Signature: signature})
+}

internal/link/handover_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,177 @@
+package link
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"crypto/ed25519"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/broker"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/testbus"
+)
+
+// The hand-over's ask and answer hold these field names; the engine's side holds the same list (mesh-host
+// internal/link, TestTheHandOverAskAndAnswerKeepTheirFieldNames).
+func TestTheHandOverAskAndAnswerKeepTheirFieldNames(t *testing.T) {
+	body, _ := json.Marshal(HandOverAsk{Node: "laptop", Path: "/srv/notes", By: "jo through mesh-cli on anchor",
+		Expires: time.Now(), Nonce: "n"})
+	if got := keysIn(t, body); got != "by expires node nonce path" {
+		t.Fatalf("the ask's fields are %q", got)
+	}
+	body, _ = json.Marshal(SignedHandOver{Ask: []byte("{}"), Signature: []byte("s")})
+	if got := keysIn(t, body); got != "ask signature" {
+		t.Fatalf("the signed ask's fields are %q", got)
+	}
+	body, _ = json.Marshal(HandOverAnswer{Said: "s", Refused: "r"})
+	if got := keysIn(t, body); got != "refused said" {
+		t.Fatalf("the answer's fields are %q", got)
+	}
+	if broker.AskHandOverSubject("laptop") != "mesh.node.laptop.ask.hand-over" {
+		t.Fatalf("the subject is %q", broker.AskHandOverSubject("laptop"))
+	}
+	if HandOverContext != "novox-mesh hand-over v1\n" {
+		t.Fatalf("the signing context is %q; the engine holds the same words", HandOverContext)
+	}
+}
+
+// keySigner signs with one key, as the controller's identity does.
+type keySigner struct{ key ed25519.PrivateKey }
+
+func (k keySigner) Sign(_ context.Context, message []byte) ([]byte, error) {
+	return ed25519.Sign(k.key, message), nil
+}
+
+func testSigner(t *testing.T) (keySigner, ed25519.PublicKey) {
+	t.Helper()
+	public, private, err := ed25519.GenerateKey(nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return keySigner{private}, public
+}
+
+// **The ask is signed over the context and its bytes, with a fresh nonce and a short expiry** (review of issue
+// 356): the signature verifies over HandOverContext and the ask's bytes, and not over the bytes alone — so it is
+// never a declaration's — and two asks never share a nonce.
+func TestAHandOverIsSignedWithAContextANonceAndAnExpiry(t *testing.T) {
+	signer, public := testSigner(t)
+	body, err := SignHandOver(context.Background(), signer, HandOverAsk{Node: "laptop", Path: "/srv/notes", By: "jo"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var signed SignedHandOver
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(body, &signed); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !ed25519.Verify(public, append([]byte(HandOverContext), signed.Ask...), signed.Signature) {
+		t.Fatal("the signature does not verify over the context and the ask")
+	}
+	if ed25519.Verify(public, signed.Ask, signed.Signature) {
+		t.Fatal("the signature verifies over the ask's bytes alone, as a declaration's would")
+	}
+	var ask HandOverAsk
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(signed.Ask, &ask); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if ask.Node != "laptop" || ask.Path != "/srv/notes" || ask.By != "jo" || len(ask.Nonce) != 32 {
+		t.Fatalf("signed %+v", ask)
+	}
+	if left := time.Until(ask.Expires); left <= 0 || left > HandOverGood {
+		t.Fatalf("the ask is good for %s", left)
+	}
+	again, _ := SignHandOver(context.Background(), signer, HandOverAsk{Node: "laptop", Path: "/srv/notes", By: "jo"})
+	var other SignedHandOver
+	_ = json.Unmarshal(again, &other)
+	var second HandOverAsk
+	_ = json.Unmarshal(other.Ask, &second)
+	if second.Nonce == ask.Nonce {
+		t.Fatal("two asks share a nonce")
+	}
+	if _, err := SignHandOver(context.Background(), nil, HandOverAsk{}); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("an ask was made with no key")
+	}
+}
+
+// The ask reaches the machine's engine on its own subject and its answer comes back whole: what it recorded, or
+// its refusal as the engine worded it. A machine with no engine listening is said as not answering, and an
+// answer that is neither is refused rather than read as a record.
+func TestAHandOverIsAskedOfTheMachineAndItsAnswerComesBack(t *testing.T) {
+	url := testbus.URL(t)
+	conn, err := nats.Connect(url)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(conn.Close)
+
+	signer, public := testSigner(t)
+	var heard HandOverAsk
+	engine, err := conn.Subscribe(broker.AskHandOverSubject("laptop"), func(msg *nats.Msg) {
+		var signed SignedHandOver
+		_ = json.Unmarshal(msg.Data, &signed)
+		if !ed25519.Verify(public, append([]byte(HandOverContext), signed.Ask...), signed.Signature) {
+			_ = msg.Respond([]byte(`{"refused":"not the mesh's signature"}`))
+			return
+		}
+		_ = json.Unmarshal(signed.Ask, &heard)
+		switch heard.Path {
+		case "/srv/notes":
+			body, _ := json.Marshal(HandOverAnswer{Said: "/srv/notes (notes.data) is handed to the mesh by " + heard.By})
+			_ = msg.Respond(body)
+		case "/srv/empty":
+			_ = msg.Respond([]byte(`{}`))
+		default:
+			body, _ := json.Marshal(HandOverAnswer{Refused: heard.Path + " is not a directory this machine uses as found; nothing was handed over"})
+			_ = msg.Respond(body)
+		}
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { _ = engine.Unsubscribe() })
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	a, err := AskHandOver(ctx, conn, signer, "laptop", "/srv/notes", "jo through mesh-cli on anchor", 5*time.Second)
+	if err != nil || a.Refused != "" || !strings.Contains(a.Said, "handed to the mesh by jo through mesh-cli on anchor") {
+		t.Fatalf("answered %+v, %v", a, err)
+	}
+	if heard.Node != "laptop" || heard.Path != "/srv/notes" || heard.By != "jo through mesh-cli on anchor" {
+		t.Fatalf("the engine heard %+v", heard)
+	}
+	a, err = AskHandOver(ctx, conn, signer, "laptop", "/srv/other", "jo", 5*time.Second)
+	if err != nil || a.Said != "" || !strings.Contains(a.Refused, "nothing was handed over") {
+		t.Fatalf("a refusal came back as %+v, %v", a, err)
+	}
+	if _, err := AskHandOver(ctx, conn, signer, "laptop", "/srv/empty", "jo", 5*time.Second); err == nil ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "neither") {
+		t.Fatalf("an empty answer was taken: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := AskHandOver(ctx, conn, signer, "anchor", "/srv/notes", "jo", 5*time.Second); err == nil ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "node-engine") {
+		t.Fatalf("a machine with no engine listening: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, err := AskHandOver(ctx, nil, signer, "anchor", "/srv/notes", "jo", time.Second); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("asked with no bus")
+	}
+}
+
+// A machine's grant hears its own hand-over ask and nobody else's, and may answer it: the one request a node is
+// asked (novox/hq issue 356).
+func TestAMachineHearsItsOwnHandOverAskAndMayAnswerIt(t *testing.T) {
+	perms, err := broker.PermissionsFor(broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindNode, Node: "laptop", PasswordHash: "x"})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var hears, other bool
+	for _, s := range perms.Subscribe {
+		hears = hears || s == "mesh.node.laptop.ask.hand-over"
+		other = other || s == "mesh.node.anchor.ask.hand-over"
+	}
+	if !hears || other || !perms.AllowResponses {
+		t.Fatalf("a machine's grant: hears its own %v, another's %v, answers %v (%v)", hears, other, perms.AllowResponses,
+			perms.Subscribe)
+	}
+}

internal/link/meshcli.go

@@ -41,6 +41,30 @@ type CLIAsked struct {
 	// (`session-<id>.scope` under the account's own slice), or empty: a service, a user unit. Only a login session is
 	// the terminal (novox/hq ADR 0272).
 	Session string `json:"session,omitempty"`
+	// Stdin is what mesh-cli's standard input held, at most CLIMaxStdin: given to a line that runs as the terminal,
+	// as its standard input, and refused with any other (novox/hq ADR 0259 §10, ADR 0272). It is kept nowhere: not in
+	// the calls record (cliRecorded), not in the journal, not in the answer.
+	Stdin []byte `json:"stdin,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// CLIMaxStdin bounds the standard input a mesh-cli line carries (mesh-sdk go/cli MaxStdin).
+const CLIMaxStdin = 64 << 10
+
+// cliRecorded is the request as the calls record keeps it: everything but the standard input, which the record
+// never holds in any form. The line itself is cut to its command word by the record's own rule (kept).
+func cliRecorded(raw json.RawMessage) json.RawMessage {
+	var m map[string]json.RawMessage
+	if json.Unmarshal(raw, &m) != nil {
+		return json.RawMessage(`{}`)
+	}
+	if _, given := m["stdin"]; given {
+		// Said as given, under a key of its own: the record still reads as the request it was (followCLI decodes
+		// it), and holds nothing of the input.
+		delete(m, "stdin")
+		m["stdin-given"] = json.RawMessage(`true`)
+	}
+	body, _ := json.Marshal(m)
+	return body
 }
 
 // CLIAnswer is what the controller answers, as the `result` of a call's answer: what the command printed, how it
@@ -135,6 +159,10 @@ func (b OverNATS) answerCLI(msg *nats.Msg, calls *CallLog, slots chan struct{},
 	case len(asked.Line) == 0:
 		respond(cliEnvelope(CLIRefusal("the request names no command, so nothing ran")))
 		return
+	case len(asked.Stdin) > CLIMaxStdin:
+		respond(cliEnvelope(CLIRefusal(fmt.Sprintf("standard input of more than %d bytes is not taken, so nothing ran",
+			CLIMaxStdin))))
+		return
 	}
 	select {
 	case slots <- struct{}{}:
@@ -145,7 +173,7 @@ func (b OverNATS) answerCLI(msg *nats.Msg, calls *CallLog, slots chan struct{},
 		return
 	}
 	limit := b.Conn.MaxPayload()
-	calls.serveCallWithin(CLISeat, node, msg.Data, msg.Reply, func(ctx context.Context, _ json.RawMessage) (any, error) {
+	calls.serveCallWithin(CLISeat, node, cliRecorded(msg.Data), msg.Reply, func(ctx context.Context, _ json.RawMessage) (any, error) {
 		return fitCLI(handle(ctx, node, asked), limit-4096), nil
 	}, msg.Respond, limit, logger)
 }

internal/link/meshcli_test.go

@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ func TestTheMeshCLIRequestAndAnswerKeepTheirFieldNames(t *testing.T) {
 	if got := keysIn(t, body); got != "cut exit refused stderr stdout terminal why" {
 		t.Fatalf("the answer's fields are %q", got)
 	}
+	body, _ = json.Marshal(CLIAsked{Line: []string{"secret"}, Account: "a", UID: 1, Stdin: []byte("x")})
+	if got := keysIn(t, body); got != "account line stdin uid" {
+		t.Fatalf("a request with standard input has the fields %q", got)
+	}
 	body, _ = json.Marshal(CLIAsked{Follow: "call-1", Account: "a", UID: 1})
 	if got := keysIn(t, body); got != "account follow uid" {
 		t.Fatalf("a follow's fields are %q", got)
@@ -267,3 +271,26 @@ func TestTheWithholdingTestsHoldSomething(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("a record carrying the answer is not found carrying it: %s", body)
 	}
 }
+
+// novox/hq ADR 0259 §10: mesh-cli's standard input — a secret given at the terminal — is never in the calls record,
+// in any form, whichever way the request reaches it.
+func TestAMeshCLIRecordNeverKeepsItsStandardInput(t *testing.T) {
+	secret := "123456789:AAEhBOweik6ad9r_QxGivenAtTheTerminal"
+	raw, _ := json.Marshal(CLIAsked{Line: []string{"secret", "accept", "anchor", "telegram", "telegram-token", "--from", "-"},
+		Account: "operator", UID: 1000, Stdin: []byte(secret)})
+	for name, got := range map[string]json.RawMessage{"as answerCLI records it": kept(cliRecorded(raw)),
+		"as the record alone would keep it": kept(raw)} {
+		if carries(got, secret) || strings.Contains(string(got), base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(secret))[:20]) {
+			t.Fatalf("%s, the record keeps %s", name, got)
+		}
+		if !strings.Contains(string(got), "secret") || !strings.Contains(string(got), "given, not kept") &&
+			!strings.Contains(string(got), "stdin-given") {
+			t.Fatalf("%s, the record does not say a line was asked with standard input: %s", name, got)
+		}
+	}
+	// The record still reads as the request, so the asker can follow its call.
+	var asked CLIAsked
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(kept(cliRecorded(raw)), &asked); err != nil || asked.Account != "operator" || len(asked.Stdin) > 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("the recorded request reads as %+v (%v)", asked, err)
+	}
+}

internal/link/protocol.go

@@ -471,8 +471,9 @@ const KindUnit = "unit"
 const KindAccount = "account"
 
 // KindDirectory is a directory of a module that the node-engine uses as found (novox/hq issue 339): there before
-// the mesh, with another owner or mode than declared, and left so until a person hands it over at the machine
-// (`mesh-host hand-over`). Stated unhealthy with a reason that starts ReasonUsedAsFound.
+// the mesh, with another owner or mode than declared, and left so until the operator hands it over at the
+// controller's terminal (`nox node hand-over <node> <path>`, issue 356). Stated unhealthy with a reason that starts
+// ReasonUsedAsFound.
 const KindDirectory = "directory"
 
 // ReasonUsedAsFound starts the reason of a directory used as found.

lab/adopt-the-tunnel/README.md

@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ bed asserts genesis **says** it found and took the tunnel.
 **Review changes (2026-09-24).** A spoke's `wg0.conf` names one peer — the hub — routed the
 whole range; the controller skips range-routed peers, so T2's enrolment carries no peer from the
 spoke. A hub that enrolled *before* this feature (a generated key) takes the tunnel over without
-re-enrolling: `mesh-host overlay take --tunnel wg0` on the machine rekeys the overlay key only and
+re-enrolling: `nox-mesh-host overlay take --tunnel wg0` on the machine rekeys the overlay key only and
 sends a signed rekey; the bed adds **R0** for it below. A takeover is composed only for a hub
 placed at the tunnel's address on the tunnel's port, and the host stops nothing until the declared
 interface matches the found one and the key file holds the found key; a mesh interface that fails
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ to start gives the found unit back. The host's account has three states: `not-ta
 - **R0 — a hub enrolled with its own key takes the tunnel over by rekeying.** Genesis is run
   adopted *without* the tunnel being found (the bed stops `wg-quick@wg0` for the run, so the
   installer sees no tunnel, then starts it again — the pre-feature shape). Then on the anchor:
-  `mesh-host overlay take --tunnel wg0`; `node show anchor` says "tunnel found wg0 …"; `overlay
+  `nox-mesh-host overlay take --tunnel wg0`; `node show anchor` says "tunnel found wg0 …"; `overlay
   place anchor --hub --endpoint 192.0.2.10:51900 --site hosting` (with `:51820` first, which must
   be refused naming 51900); `plan anchor --json` names `Address = 10.10.0.1/32`, `ListenPort =
   51900`, two `/32` peers, `takes-over` wg0 and nothing in 10.42.0.0/16; then `push anchor --wait
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ to start gives the found unit back. The host's account has three states: `not-ta
   - `overlay show` lists `anchor` as the hub over the tunnel it took over, and both peers under
     "peers of the tunnel … not nodes of the mesh", not yet enrolled.
 - **T2 — a peer enrols and keeps its address.** On `peer-a`: `node add peer-a --adopted`,
-  token issued, `mesh-host enrol --token …` **with the broker reached over the tunnel** (the
+  token issued, `nox-mesh-host enrol --token …` **with the broker reached over the tunnel** (the
   broker address in the token is `10.10.0.1:<bus>`, which only the tunnel routes); then `overlay
   place peer-a --site house` and a push. Assert: `node show peer-a` says a tunnel `wg0` was
   found and `overlay show` puts `peer-a` at **10.10.0.2**; the carried-peers list now says

module.json

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
     "unpin",
     "push",
     "rotate",
+    "give",
     "issue",
     "token",
     "settings",
@@ -117,7 +118,8 @@
         "MESH_STORE_LICENCES_PORT": "${seat:mesh-store:5432}",
         "MESH_BROKER_MANAGEMENT_PORT": "${seat:mesh-broker:15672}",
         "MESH_BROKER_ADDRESS_PORT": "${seat:mesh-broker:5671}",
-        "MESH_BUS_NATS_FILE": "${dir:mesh-state}/bus"
+        "MESH_BUS_NATS_FILE": "${dir:mesh-state}/bus",
+        "MESH_CONTROLLER_VERSION": "${version}"
       },
       "replaces": [
         "server"

vendor/modules.txt

@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ github.com/nats-io/nkeys
 # github.com/nats-io/nuid v1.0.1
 ## explicit
 github.com/nats-io/nuid
-# github.com/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0 => git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009103656-1c61b72f354d
+# github.com/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0 => git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009141741-d8ff1540df56
 ## explicit; go 1.26.0
 github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration
 github.com/novox/mesh-host/rootsearch
@@ -135,4 +135,4 @@ golang.org/x/text/width
 # golang.org/x/time v0.15.0
 ## explicit; go 1.25.0
 golang.org/x/time/rate
-# github.com/novox/mesh-host => git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009103656-1c61b72f354d
+# github.com/novox/mesh-host => git.novox.be/novox/mesh-host v0.0.0-20261009141741-d8ff1540df56