The controller follows the subject it decodes

The decoder named the forge's merge subject as the fourth thing followed and the
list was three long: every message that fell through to that switch panicked the
control plane (2026-09-28). The entry was written and lost between two attempts
at the same edit. A test now walks the list; the composed grants and the genesis
template carry the subject.

cmd/mesh-builder/main.go

@@ -135,6 +135,16 @@ func run() error {
 // machine told about both would take work from one and answer on the other, and every log line would
 // say it was fine.
 func takeWorkFrom(credential Credential, on string) (link.BuildMachine, error) {
+	// **The credential decides, before any variable does.** A machine moved to the new bus was
+	// handed a credential for it and nothing else changed in its environment; that credential
+	// names the bus by scheme, so it is enough to know which bus to take work from.
+	if credential.onTheNewBus() {
+		js, err := broker.DialPinned(credential.natsURL(), credential.Fingerprint)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		return link.MachineOverNATS(js, on), nil
+	}
 	address, onNATS, err := broker.OnNATS()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -460,10 +470,26 @@ func brokerFrom() (Credential, error) {
 // **The same shape a node gets, for the same reason** (novox/hq ADR 0004): the fingerprint travels
 // out of band — here, sealed with the credential — and the endpoint is verified once at connect.
 type Credential struct {
-	URL string `json:"url"`
-	// Fingerprint is SHA-256 over the broker certificate's DER bytes, or empty to verify the
-	// ordinary way.
+	URL         string `json:"url"`
 	Fingerprint string `json:"fingerprint,omitempty"`
+	// User and Password ride beside the address on the bus being built (design 25): a credential
+	// embedded in a URL leaks into every log line that prints a connection, so the mesh seals them
+	// as two fields and this machine joins them once, here, to dial.
+	User     string `json:"user,omitempty"`
+	Password string `json:"password,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// onTheNewBus is whether a credential is for the bus being built: its address says so, and the
+// mesh only ever seals such a credential with the user and password beside it.
+func (c Credential) onTheNewBus() bool { return strings.HasPrefix(strings.TrimSpace(c.URL), "nats://") }
+
+// natsURL is the address with this machine's credential in it, for the one dial that needs it.
+func (c Credential) natsURL() string {
+	rest := strings.TrimPrefix(strings.TrimSpace(c.URL), "nats://")
+	if c.User == "" {
+		return "nats://" + rest
+	}
+	return "nats://" + c.User + ":" + c.Password + "@" + rest
 }
 
 // dial opens the connection, pinning the broker's certificate when there is one to pin.

cmd/mesh-builder/stdout_test.go

@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ func TestBuilderDiagnosticsStayOffStdout(t *testing.T) {
 	allowed := map[string]bool{
 		"string(body)": true, // once.go: the result JSON, which IS stdout
 		"version)":     true, // --version
-		`"stopping")`: true,  // the loop.s shutdown line
-		"usage)":       true,  // --help text, for a human
+		`"stopping")`:  true, // the loop.s shutdown line
+		"usage)":       true, // --help text, for a human
 	}
 	for _, file := range []string{"once.go", "main.go"} {
 		src, err := os.ReadFile(file)

cmd/mesh-controller/ask.go

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ func askCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		arguments = json.RawMessage(positionals[2])
 	}
 
-	server, err := link.Connect(nil, nil)
+	server, err := connectLink(ctx, nil, nil, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}

cmd/mesh-controller/build.go

@@ -31,6 +31,53 @@ import (
 // control plane may send a machine is bounded by the declaration language. This is the shape the
 // builder module will take when it is given work over the broker; today a person runs it, and the
 // mesh records the result the same way either way.
+// buildOn rebuilds every module the mesh holds that stands on the named module's artifacts — the
+// rebuild a changed base needs, which nothing else asks for: their sources did not move, and
+// "behind" does not see a base that did (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/131). Bases first among them too.
+func buildOn(ctx context.Context, base string, wait time.Duration) error {
+	open, err := openStores(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer open.Close()
+	held, err := open.inventory.Catalogued(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	var on []inventory.Entry
+	for _, e := range held {
+		if e.Manifest.Build == nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		for _, b := range e.Manifest.Build.On {
+			if b.Module == base {
+				on = append(on, e)
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if len(on) == 0 {
+		fmt.Printf("nothing the mesh holds stands on %s\n", base)
+		return nil
+	}
+	on = orderByBases(on)
+	fmt.Printf("%d module(s) stand on %s:\n", len(on), base)
+	var failed []string
+	for _, e := range on {
+		fmt.Printf("--- %s\n", e.Manifest.Module)
+		source := buildSource{Repository: e.Source.Repository, Seat: e.Source.Seat}
+		if err := buildOne(ctx, source, e.Source.Path, e.Source.Ref, wait); err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("  %v\n", err)
+			failed = append(failed, e.Manifest.Module)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(failed) > 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%d of %d could not be built: %s", len(failed), len(on), strings.Join(failed, ", "))
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("\n%d module(s) rebuilt on %s. `push --behind` sends them on\n", len(on), base)
+	return nil
+}
+
 func buildCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	set := flag.NewFlagSet("build", flag.ContinueOnError)
 	ref := set.String("ref", "", "the branch, tag or commit to build")
@@ -46,6 +93,7 @@ func buildCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	// retype each repository is asking them to be the loop. Naming a repository and asking which
 	// ones need building are different requests, so they are not combined.
 	behind := set.Bool("behind", false, "every module the mesh holds older than its source has")
+	on := set.String("on", "", "rebuild every module that stands on this module's artifacts — the rebuild a changed base needs")
 	// A repository on the mesh's own forge, named by its path there (novox/hq ADR 0111). Without it
 	// the repository is external, cloned exactly as given — see source.go.
 	self := set.Bool("self", false, "the repository is a path on the forge holding the git seat")
@@ -53,6 +101,13 @@ func buildCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	if *on != "" {
+		if len(positionals) != 0 || *behind || *self {
+			return errors.New("build --on <module> names a base and nothing else")
+		}
+		return buildOn(ctx, *on, *wait)
+	}
+
 	if *behind {
 		if len(positionals) != 0 || *self {
 			return errors.New("build <repository> or build --behind, not both: one names a " +
@@ -61,7 +116,7 @@ func buildCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		return buildBehind(ctx, *wait)
 	}
 	if len(positionals) != 1 {
-		return errors.New("build <repository> [--self] [--path P] [--ref R] [--wait D] [--dry-run]")
+		return errors.New("build <repository> [--self] [--path P] [--ref R] [--wait D] [--dry-run]  |  build --behind  |  build --on <module>")
 	}
 	source := buildSource{Repository: positionals[0]}
 	if *self {
@@ -329,6 +384,10 @@ func buildBehind(ctx context.Context, wait time.Duration) error {
 	}
 	fmt.Println()
 
+	// Bases first: a module built before the module it stands on is built against the old one
+	// and reports success (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/131).
+	stale = orderByBases(stale)
+
 	var failed []string
 	for _, e := range stale {
 		fmt.Printf("--- %s\n", e.Manifest.Module)
@@ -368,7 +427,7 @@ func buildOne(ctx context.Context, source buildSource, path, ref string, wait ti
 	}
 	defer ident.Close()
 
-	server, err := link.Connect(nil, nil)
+	server, err := connectLink(ctx, nil, nil, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -472,7 +531,7 @@ func buildAndShow(ctx context.Context, source buildSource, path, ref string, wai
 		return err
 	}
 	defer ident.Close()
-	server, err := link.Connect(nil, nil)
+	server, err := connectLink(ctx, nil, nil, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}

cmd/mesh-controller/main.go

@@ -184,6 +184,7 @@ func usage() {
   operator key show                         the operator key, and what it can recover
   build <repository> [--ref R]   have a build machine build it, and record what came out
   build --behind                 build every module the mesh holds older than its source
+  build --on <module>            rebuild every module that stands on this module's artifacts, bases first
   builds [<module>]              what has been built lately, and what came of it
   builder issue <name>           a broker account for a build machine, scoped to build work,
                                  delivered as the builder module's broker secret (module add it first)

cmd/mesh-controller/order_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/catalogue"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
+)
+
+func entry(module string, on ...string) inventory.Entry {
+	b := &catalogue.Build{}
+	for _, o := range on {
+		b.On = append(b.On, catalogue.BuildsOn{Arg: "X", Module: o, Artifact: "runtime"})
+	}
+	return inventory.Entry{Manifest: catalogue.Manifest{Module: module, Build: b}}
+}
+
+// A module built before the module it stands on is built against the old one and reports success
+// (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/131). So bases come first, however the set arrived.
+func TestBasesAreBuiltBeforeWhatStandsOnThem(t *testing.T) {
+	in := []inventory.Entry{entry("app", "runtime"), entry("runtime", "base"), entry("other"), entry("base")}
+	got := orderByBases(in)
+	pos := map[string]int{}
+	for i, e := range got {
+		pos[e.Manifest.Module] = i
+	}
+	if !(pos["base"] < pos["runtime"] && pos["runtime"] < pos["app"]) {
+		t.Fatalf("bases not first: %v", pos)
+	}
+	if len(got) != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("an entry was lost or doubled: %d", len(got))
+	}
+	// A base outside the set is not waited for: it is not being rebuilt.
+	got = orderByBases([]inventory.Entry{entry("app", "elsewhere")})
+	if len(got) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("a dependency outside the set changed the set: %v", got)
+	}
+}
+
+// A merge names a repository the way the forge does; a source is recorded the way a build was
+// asked for. The two meet on owner/repo and branch, whichever form the record took.
+func TestAMergeMatchesTheSourcesBuiltFromIt(t *testing.T) {
+	m := link.SourceMoved{Owner: "novox", Repo: "mesh-controller", Base: "main",
+		CloneURL: "http://forge.internal:20000/novox/mesh-controller.git"}
+	for _, s := range []inventory.Source{
+		{Repository: "http://forge.internal:20000/novox/mesh-controller.git", Ref: "main"},
+		{Repository: "novox/mesh-controller", Seat: "git", Ref: ""},
+		{Repository: "https://elsewhere.example/novox/mesh-controller", Ref: "main"},
+	} {
+		if !sourceIs(s, m) {
+			t.Errorf("%+v was not matched by the merge", s)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, s := range []inventory.Source{
+		{Repository: "novox/mesh-host", Seat: "git"},
+		{Repository: "http://forge.internal:20000/novox/mesh-controller.git", Ref: "release"},
+	} {
+		if sourceIs(s, m) {
+			t.Errorf("%+v was matched by a merge that is not its", s)
+		}
+	}
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/push.go

@@ -38,6 +38,33 @@ func reportUnhostable(node string, plan catalogue.Resolution) {
 // nothing in it was wrong, and no one edit was the one that should have been a new file.
 
 // serve is the control plane running: one connection to the broker, one queue, one consumer.
+// connectLink opens the controller's link over whichever bus this process is on (design 25: one
+// variable moves it). The streams and this controller's consumers are raised first on the new bus,
+// so nothing served here finds them missing.
+func connectLink(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, enroller link.Enroller, listener link.Listener) (*link.Server, error) {
+	busAddress, onNATS, err := broker.OnNATS()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if err := broker.MustBeOneBus(os.Getenv(broker.AMQPVarName), busAddress); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if !onNATS {
+		return link.Connect(enroller, listener)
+	}
+	if inv != nil {
+		if err := raiseTheBus(ctx, inv, busAddress); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+	js, err := broker.Dial(busAddress)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("the mesh is on the bus at %s and this control plane cannot reach it: %w",
+			broker.BareAddress(busAddress), err)
+	}
+	return link.ConnectNats(js, enroller, listener), nil
+}
+
 func serve(ctx context.Context) error {
 	open, err := openStores(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -90,7 +117,7 @@ func serve(ctx context.Context) error {
 
 	work := link.Enrolment{Inventory: inv, Identity: ident, Management: management, Broker: known,
 		OnNATS: onNATS}
-	server, err := link.Connect(work, work)
+	server, err := connectLink(ctx, inv, work, work)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -100,11 +127,6 @@ func serve(ctx context.Context) error {
 	// somebody deleted, a mesh raised from a restored backup, or a bus whose data directory was
 	// replaced all have records and no objects — and a node whose consumer is missing hears nothing
 	// while everything else about it looks correct.
-	if onNATS {
-		if err := raiseTheBus(ctx, inv, busAddress); err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-	}
 	// And build results nobody was waiting for. A build triggered any other way than `build`
 	// would otherwise be reported into the void, which is the same as not reporting it.
 	server.Records(builds{inv})
@@ -158,13 +180,13 @@ func declare(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	server, err := link.Connect(nil, nil)
+	server, err := connectLink(ctx, nil, nil, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	defer server.Close()
 
-	if err := link.Declare(ctx, link.OverCurrent{Channel: server.Channel()}, ident, node, raw, 15*time.Second); err != nil {
+	if err := link.Declare(ctx, server.Bus(), ident, node, raw, 15*time.Second); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	fmt.Printf("sent %s a signed declaration (%d bytes)\n", node, len(raw))
@@ -271,7 +293,7 @@ func pushCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	server, err := link.Connect(nil, nil)
+	server, err := connectLink(ctx, nil, nil, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -332,7 +354,7 @@ func pushCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		if err := link.Declare(ctx, link.OverCurrent{Channel: server.Channel()}, ident, s.node, body, 15*time.Second); err != nil {
+		if err := link.Declare(ctx, server.Bus(), ident, s.node, body, 15*time.Second); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 		// After it is away, not before. A digest recorded for something that failed to send would
@@ -415,7 +437,7 @@ func pushCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 					return declarationWith(held, open, node, plan, settings, gens, Allocating)
 				},
 				func(s readyNode, body []byte) error {
-					if err := link.Declare(ctx, link.OverCurrent{Channel: server.Channel()}, ident, s.node, body,
+					if err := link.Declare(ctx, server.Bus(), ident, s.node, body,
 						15*time.Second); err != nil {
 						return err
 					}
@@ -628,7 +650,7 @@ func sendTo(ctx context.Context, open *stores, names []string) error {
 			len(refusals), strings.Join(refusals, "\n\n"))
 	}
 
-	server, err := link.Connect(nil, nil)
+	server, err := connectLink(ctx, nil, nil, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -639,7 +661,7 @@ func sendTo(ctx context.Context, open *stores, names []string) error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		if err := link.Declare(ctx, link.OverCurrent{Channel: server.Channel()}, ident, s.node, body, 15*time.Second); err != nil {
+		if err := link.Declare(ctx, server.Bus(), ident, s.node, body, 15*time.Second); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 		record, err := inv.NodeByName(ctx, s.node)
@@ -704,7 +726,7 @@ func raiseTheBus(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, address string)
 	js, err := broker.Dial(address)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("the mesh is on the bus at %s and this control plane cannot reach it: %w",
-			address, err)
+			broker.BareAddress(address), err)
 	}
 	defer js.Close()
 
@@ -739,10 +761,52 @@ func raiseTheBus(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory, address string)
 	// The work queues of the mesh's own roles (novox/hq ADR 0121). The queue before the holder,
 	// deliberately: work queues until somebody arrives to do it, so assigning a build machine a week
 	// after something started asking for builds flushes the backlog instead of having lost it.
-	if err := broker.RaiseSeats(js, inventory.MeshSeats(), nil); err != nil {
+	// With the seats' holders, so each role's work queue gets the consumer its holder takes
+	// work from. Passed as nil until the first live raise, which left the build machine bound to a
+	// consumer nothing had created (2026-09-28).
+	holders, err := seatHolders(ctx, inv)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := broker.RaiseSeats(js, inventory.MeshSeats(), holders); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	fmt.Printf("the bus at %s has its streams, and %d machine(s) can hear a declaration\n",
-		address, len(names))
+		broker.BareAddress(address), len(names))
 	return nil
 }
+
+// seatHolders is who holds each of the mesh's seats, by seat name: the record where a handover
+// wrote one, and the assigned module claiming the seat otherwise — the same derivation the
+// resolver makes, read from the catalogue rather than re-resolved.
+func seatHolders(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory) (map[string]broker.Holder, error) {
+	out := map[string]broker.Holder{}
+	entries, err := inv.Catalogued(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		if len(e.On) == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+		for _, c := range e.Manifest.Claims {
+			seat, known := catalogue.SeatNamed(c.Name)
+			if !known {
+				continue
+			}
+			if _, taken := out[seat.Name]; !taken {
+				out[seat.Name] = broker.Holder{Node: e.On[0], Module: e.Manifest.Module}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	recorded, err := inv.Holdings(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	for _, h := range recorded {
+		if seat, known := catalogue.SeatNamed(h.Claim); known {
+			out[seat.Name] = broker.Holder{Node: h.Node, Module: h.Module}
+		}
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/rollout.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ import (
 // ability to change things, not the services its modules are serving — measured on 2026-09-27, when
 // a seat emptied mid-change and the control plane looped for two hours while every service stayed up.
 
-const rolloutUsage = "rollout check | rollout mint [--again] | rollout --confirm"
+const rolloutUsage = "rollout check | rollout mint [--again] | rollout hand <node> | rollout --confirm"
 
 func rolloutCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 	switch {
@@ -41,6 +42,8 @@ func rolloutCommand(ctx context.Context, args []string) error {
 		return rolloutCheck(ctx)
 	case len(args) == 1 && args[0] == "mint":
 		return rolloutMint(ctx, false)
+	case len(args) == 2 && args[0] == "hand":
+		return rolloutHand(ctx, args[1])
 	case len(args) == 2 && args[0] == "mint" && args[1] == "--again":
 		// Every credential minted afresh, whether or not one exists — for a mint that was wrong
 		// before anything was pushed. Afterwards nothing that received the old one still works,
@@ -340,6 +343,14 @@ func rolloutMint(ctx context.Context, again bool) error {
 			machines++
 
 		case broker.KindModule:
+			if p.Module == "mesh-controller" {
+				// The control plane is a module too, and its `broker` secret is the old bus's
+				// credential it is still using while this runs. Writing the new bus's blob there
+				// cut the mesh off from its own old bus mid-move (2026-09-28). Its new-bus credential
+				// is the controller principal's `bus` secret above; nothing else is needed here.
+				skipped++
+				continue
+			}
 			m, inShelf := shelf[p.Module]
 			if !inShelf {
 				skipped++
@@ -379,3 +390,62 @@ func providesBus(m catalogue.Manifest) bool {
 	}
 	return false
 }
+
+// rolloutHand mints a machine its credential for the new bus afresh and prints its membership
+// once, for an operator to carry by hand — the rescue for a machine that cannot be reached over
+// any bus: rotated while it still held the old password, or reachable only by ssh. The plaintext
+// exists on this terminal and then only where it is written; the store keeps the hash, and the
+// sealed copy in the machine's declaration is replaced too, so the next push says the same.
+func rolloutHand(ctx context.Context, node string) error {
+	open, err := openStores(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer open.Close()
+	inv := open.inventory
+
+	known, err := broker.FromEnvironment()
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("the bus's certificate is not known to this process: %w", err)
+	}
+	busAddress, _, err := broker.OnNATS()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if busAddress == "" {
+		return errors.New("this control plane is not on the new bus, so there is no membership to hand out")
+	}
+	_, _, bare := broker.CredentialIn(busAddress)
+	if _, after, has := strings.Cut(bare, "://"); has {
+		bare = after
+	}
+	if _, err := inv.NodeByName(ctx, node); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	p := broker.Principal{Kind: broker.KindNode, Node: node}
+	password, err := inv.MintBusPassword(ctx, inventory.BusUser{Username: p.Username(), Kind: inventory.BusNode, Node: node})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	membership, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{
+		"broker": bare, "fingerprint": known.Fingerprint, "password": password, "transport": "nats",
+	})
+	key, err := inv.SealingKeyOf(ctx, node)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	sealed, err := secrets.Seal(key, membership)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := inv.PutBusMembership(ctx, node, sealed); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	// The one line of output is the membership itself, so it can be piped to the machine without
+	// being read on the way. Everything else goes to stderr.
+	fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%s's credential is minted afresh. Write this to %s on it and restart its host; "+
+		"then push the machine running the bus so the user list carries the new hash.\n",
+		node, catalogue.BusMembershipPath)
+	fmt.Println(string(membership))
+	return nil
+}

cmd/mesh-controller/upgrades.go

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/inventory"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/link"
@@ -218,3 +219,127 @@ func notNow(err error) error {
 	}
 	return err
 }
+
+// SourceMoved is the forge announcing a merge: every module recorded as built from that
+// repository and branch is marked as moved to the merge commit, and built — bases first, so a
+// module that stands on another's artifact is built after it and not against the old one
+// (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/131). Nothing is pushed here: what a finished build does to the machines
+// running the module is the upgrade's decision, taken when the catalogue announces it.
+func (f following) SourceMoved(ctx context.Context, m link.SourceMoved) error {
+	inv := f.open.inventory
+	entries, err := inv.Catalogued(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return notNow(err)
+	}
+	var moved []inventory.Entry
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		if !sourceIs(e.Source, m) {
+			continue
+		}
+		if e.Source.BuiltFrom == m.Commit {
+			continue
+		}
+		if err := inv.SourceMoved(ctx, e.Manifest.Module, m.Commit); err != nil {
+			return notNow(err)
+		}
+		moved = append(moved, e)
+	}
+	if len(moved) == 0 {
+		fmt.Printf("%s/%s merged into %s (%.8s); nothing the mesh holds is built from it\n",
+			m.Owner, m.Repo, m.Base, m.Commit)
+		return nil
+	}
+	ordered := orderByBases(moved)
+	names := make([]string, 0, len(ordered))
+	for _, e := range ordered {
+		names = append(names, e.Manifest.Module)
+	}
+	fmt.Printf("%s/%s merged into %s (%.8s); building %s\n",
+		m.Owner, m.Repo, m.Base, m.Commit, strings.Join(names, ", "))
+	var failed []string
+	for _, e := range ordered {
+		source := buildSource{Repository: e.Source.Repository, Seat: e.Source.Seat}
+		if err := buildOne(ctx, source, e.Source.Path, e.Source.Ref, 20*time.Minute); err != nil {
+			fmt.Printf("  %s: %v\n", e.Manifest.Module, err)
+			failed = append(failed, e.Manifest.Module)
+			// A base that failed is a reason to stop: what stands on it would be built against
+			// the old one, and report success (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/131).
+			if standsOn(ordered, e.Manifest.Module) {
+				fmt.Printf("  stopping: %s is a base of what was still to build\n", e.Manifest.Module)
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if len(failed) > 0 {
+		fmt.Printf("%d of %d not built: %s\n", len(failed), len(ordered), strings.Join(failed, ", "))
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// sourceIs is whether a recorded source is the repository and branch a merge announced. A source on
+// the git seat is recorded as its path on the forge; one elsewhere as the URL it was cloned from.
+// An empty recorded ref is the repository's default branch, which is what a merge into the base
+// branch of the forge's default means.
+func sourceIs(s inventory.Source, m link.SourceMoved) bool {
+	want := strings.ToLower(m.Owner + "/" + m.Repo)
+	repo := strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSuffix(s.Repository, ".git"))
+	matches := repo == want || strings.HasSuffix(repo, "/"+want) ||
+		(m.CloneURL != "" && strings.EqualFold(strings.TrimSuffix(s.Repository, ".git"), strings.TrimSuffix(m.CloneURL, ".git")))
+	if !matches {
+		return false
+	}
+	return s.Ref == "" || s.Ref == m.Base
+}
+
+// orderByBases is the entries with every base before what stands on it: a module whose build names
+// another's artifact under build.on comes after that module. Entries outside the set are not
+// waited for — they are not being rebuilt. Stable for what has no order between it.
+func orderByBases(entries []inventory.Entry) []inventory.Entry {
+	inSet := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		inSet[e.Manifest.Module] = true
+	}
+	var out []inventory.Entry
+	placed := map[string]bool{}
+	var place func(e inventory.Entry, seen map[string]bool)
+	place = func(e inventory.Entry, seen map[string]bool) {
+		name := e.Manifest.Module
+		if placed[name] || seen[name] {
+			return
+		}
+		seen[name] = true
+		if e.Manifest.Build != nil {
+			for _, on := range e.Manifest.Build.On {
+				if on.Module == "" || on.Module == name || !inSet[on.Module] {
+					continue
+				}
+				for _, base := range entries {
+					if base.Manifest.Module == on.Module {
+						place(base, seen)
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		placed[name] = true
+		out = append(out, e)
+	}
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		place(e, map[string]bool{})
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// standsOn is whether anything in the set is built on the named module's artifacts.
+func standsOn(entries []inventory.Entry, module string) bool {
+	for _, e := range entries {
+		if e.Manifest.Build == nil {
+			continue
+		}
+		for _, on := range e.Manifest.Build.On {
+			if on.Module == module {
+				return true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}

internal/broker/jetstream.go

@@ -1,8 +1,14 @@
 package broker
 
 import (
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"crypto/tls"
+	"crypto/x509"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
@@ -24,21 +30,78 @@ type JetStream struct {
 
 // Dial connects and returns the controller's JetStream handle.
 func Dial(url string, opts ...nats.Option) (*JetStream, error) {
-	// A name, because a connection nobody can identify in the server's own monitoring is one
-	// nobody can attribute a problem to.
 	opts = append(opts, nats.Name("mesh-controller"), nats.Timeout(10*time.Second))
+	// **Pinned, not named.** The bus presents the mesh's own certificate, which names nothing a
+	// public verifier would accept (design 25 §4: a host pins the server's exact certificate and
+	// checks nothing else, and so does this). Without this, the first connection failed with
+	// "certificate is not valid for any names" against a bus that was answering (2026-09-28).
+	if path := strings.TrimSpace(os.Getenv(CertificateVar)); path != "" {
+		pinned, err := pinnedTo(path)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		opts = append(opts, nats.Secure(pinned))
+	}
+	// **Its own inbox, and nothing wider.** Every principal is granted `_INBOX.<its user>.>` and
+	// no other inbox; the client's default prefix is random, and the server refused the first
+	// subscription to it (2026-09-28). The user is in the URL, so the prefix follows from it.
+	if user, _, _ := CredentialIn(url); user != "" {
+		opts = append(opts, nats.CustomInboxPrefix("_INBOX."+user))
+	}
+	// The address in an error is the address alone. The URL carries this controller's password,
+	// and an error here is written on the assumption it will be logged.
+	where := BareAddress(url)
 	conn, err := nats.Connect(url, opts...)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("connecting to the bus at %s: %w", url, err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("connecting to the bus at %s: %w", where, err)
 	}
 	js, err := conn.JetStream()
 	if err != nil {
 		conn.Close()
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("the bus at %s has no JetStream: %w", url, err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("the bus at %s has no JetStream: %w", where, err)
 	}
 	return &JetStream{conn: conn, js: js}, nil
 }
 
+// pinnedTo is a TLS configuration that accepts exactly the certificate in the file and no other:
+// the leaf's SHA-256, compared on every handshake, with the name and the chain deliberately not
+// consulted — a self-signed certificate with no names is the ordinary case for a mesh's bus.
+func pinnedTo(path string) (*tls.Config, error) {
+	want, err := FingerprintOf(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return PinnedToFingerprint(want), nil
+}
+
+// DialPinned is Dial with the server's certificate pinned by a fingerprint the caller already holds
+// — a module or a build machine that was handed one beside its credential, and has no file.
+func DialPinned(url, fingerprint string, opts ...nats.Option) (*JetStream, error) {
+	if strings.TrimSpace(fingerprint) != "" {
+		opts = append(opts, nats.Secure(PinnedToFingerprint(fingerprint)))
+	}
+	return Dial(url, opts...)
+}
+
+// PinnedToFingerprint accepts exactly the certificate with this SHA-256 and no other.
+func PinnedToFingerprint(want string) *tls.Config {
+	return &tls.Config{
+		InsecureSkipVerify: true, //nolint:gosec // replaced by the pin below, which is stricter
+		MinVersion:         tls.VersionTLS12,
+		VerifyPeerCertificate: func(rawCerts [][]byte, _ [][]*x509.Certificate) error {
+			if len(rawCerts) == 0 {
+				return errors.New("the bus presented no certificate")
+			}
+			sum := sha256.Sum256(rawCerts[0])
+			got := "sha256:" + hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+			if got != want {
+				return fmt.Errorf("the bus presented a certificate this mesh does not know (%s…), expected %s…", got[:23], want[:23])
+			}
+			return nil
+		},
+	}
+}
+
 // Conn is the connection itself, for what the mesh keeps off JetStream on purpose — a heartbeat,
 // a tool call — where a lost message is answered by the next one or by a timeout the caller
 // already handles (design 25 §3).

internal/broker/nats.go

@@ -169,7 +169,11 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 		// The controller owns the mesh's own traffic and the streams. It is the only writer of
 		// stream definitions (design 25 §3), so it alone reaches the JetStream API.
 		pub = []string{"mesh.control.>", "mesh.node.>", "$JS.API.>"}
-		sub = []string{"mesh.control.>", "$JS.API.>"}
+		// **And where its consumers deliver.** A push consumer delivers on `_DELIVER.<its name>`,
+		// and a client bound to it subscribes exactly that; the server refused it for every
+		// principal the first time one bound a consumer (2026-09-28). Each kind below is granted
+		// its own consumers' delivery subjects and no other's.
+		sub = []string{"mesh.control.>", "$JS.API.>", "_DELIVER." + ControllerName, "_DELIVER." + ControllerName + ".>"}
 
 		// Work the mesh's own flows submit to a role, and the outcomes they wait on (ADR 0121). A
 		// build is the one today: the controller asks, and reads the answer from the seat's event
@@ -244,8 +248,15 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 	case KindNode:
 		// A host publishes its own node's control traffic and subscribes its own declaration —
 		// and nothing of any other node's.
-		pub = []string{"mesh.control." + p.Node + ".>"}
-		sub = []string{"mesh.node." + p.Node + ".declare"}
+		// And binding to its consumer, which asks the server about it (CONSUMER.INFO) — the one
+		// thing the host does that nothing granted. Found the first time a machine dialled a
+		// permissioned server: "this node cannot read its declarations" (2026-09-28). The ack and
+		// the inbox are granted below with every principal's.
+		pub = []string{
+			"mesh.control." + p.Node + ".>",
+			"$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO.NODES." + p.Node,
+		}
+		sub = []string{"mesh.node." + p.Node + ".declare", "_DELIVER." + p.Node}
 
 	case KindModule:
 		// 1. Its own namespace: it publishes its events there and serves its tools there. Nothing
@@ -278,7 +289,18 @@ func PermissionsFor(p Principal) (Permissions, error) {
 		}
 
 		// 3. Seats it holds: full participation.
+		// Its consumer's name, not ConsumerFor: that asks for these permissions to build the
+		// consumer, and would ask forever. A subject for a consumer that turns out not to exist
+		// grants nothing anybody can use.
+		sub = append(sub, "_DELIVER."+consumerDurable(p))
 		for _, s := range p.Holds {
+			// Taking work from the role's queue: the worker consumer it binds (asked about,
+			// delivered on, acknowledged), each on the seat's own stream. The first machine to
+			// take work over the new bus was refused the asking (2026-09-28).
+			worker := "SEAT_" + upperSnake(s.Name) + "_worker"
+			stream := seatStreamName(s.Name)
+			sub = append(sub, "_DELIVER."+worker)
+			pub = append(pub, "$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO."+stream+"."+worker, "$JS.ACK."+stream+"."+worker+".>")
 			for _, a := range s.Accepts {
 				sub = append(sub, seatSubject(s, "accept", a))
 			}
@@ -514,7 +536,10 @@ func ComposeAccounts(principals []Principal) (string, error) {
 	// One account for the mesh: accounts in NATS isolate subject spaces entirely, and the mesh is
 	// one space (design 25 §4). The cost of that — that permissions are the only isolation — is
 	// paid in the scoping of every inbox and every ack subject.
-	b.WriteString("accounts {\n  MESH {\n    users = [\n")
+	// JetStream is enabled per account once accounts exist at all: with only the global block set,
+	// a user in MESH is told "JetStream not enabled for account" the first time it binds a
+	// consumer, which is the first thing every host does (2026-09-28).
+	b.WriteString("accounts {\n  MESH {\n    jetstream: enabled\n    users = [\n")
 	for _, p := range sorted {
 		perms, err := PermissionsFor(p)
 		if err != nil {

internal/broker/streams.go

@@ -175,6 +175,9 @@ var ControllerFollows = []string{
 	// message on the control branch. Same three audiences, one publish: whoever asked, this, and the
 	// catalogue.
 	seatEventSubject("mesh-build-machine", "built"),
+	// The forge's merges: what moved a source, so the mesh builds what that source produces
+	// without anybody telling it (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/131). Appended, because the index is a name.
+	moduleEventSubject("gitea", "pull.merged"),
 }
 
 // moduleEventSubject is where one module's event lands. The same derivation PermissionsFor uses, so

internal/broker/testdata/composed.conf

@@ -21,10 +21,11 @@ jetstream {
 
 accounts {
   MESH {
+    jetstream: enabled
     users = [
       { user: "controller", password: "$2a$11$cccccccccccccccccccccc", permissions: {
         publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.CONTROL.controller.>", "$JS.ACK.EVENTS.controller.>", "$JS.API.>", "_INBOX.enrol.>", "mesh.control.>", "mesh.node.>", "mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.accept.>"] }
-        subscribe: { allow: ["$JS.API.>", "_INBOX.controller.>", "mesh.control.>", "mesh.mod.mesh-catalog.event.catching-up", "mesh.mod.mesh-catalog.event.upgraded", "mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.event.built"] }
+        subscribe: { allow: ["$JS.API.>", "_DELIVER.controller", "_DELIVER.controller.>", "_INBOX.controller.>", "mesh.control.>", "mesh.mod.gitea.event.pull.merged", "mesh.mod.mesh-catalog.event.catching-up", "mesh.mod.mesh-catalog.event.upgraded", "mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.event.built"] }
         allow_responses: { max: 1, ttl: "1m" }
       } }
       { user: "enrol.one", password: "$2a$11$eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee", permissions: {
@@ -32,21 +33,21 @@ accounts {
         subscribe: { allow: ["_INBOX.enrol.one.>"] }
       } }
       { user: "node.one", password: "$2a$11$nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn", permissions: {
-        publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.NODES.one.>", "mesh.control.one.>"] }
-        subscribe: { allow: ["_INBOX.node.one.>", "mesh.node.one.declare"] }
+        publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.NODES.one.>", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO.NODES.one", "mesh.control.one.>"] }
+        subscribe: { allow: ["_DELIVER.one", "_INBOX.node.one.>", "mesh.node.one.declare"] }
       } }
       { user: "one.telegram", password: "$2a$11$tttttttttttttttttttttt", permissions: {
-        publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.EVENTS.one_telegram.>", "mesh.seat.telegram-sender.event.delivered", "mesh.seat.telegram-sender.event.failed"] }
-        subscribe: { allow: ["_INBOX.one.telegram.>", "mesh.mod.telegram.tool.status", "mesh.seat.telegram-sender.accept.send"] }
+        publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.EVENTS.one_telegram.>", "$JS.ACK.SEAT_TELEGRAM_SENDER.SEAT_TELEGRAM_SENDER_worker.>", "$JS.API.CONSUMER.INFO.SEAT_TELEGRAM_SENDER.SEAT_TELEGRAM_SENDER_worker", "mesh.seat.telegram-sender.event.delivered", "mesh.seat.telegram-sender.event.failed"] }
+        subscribe: { allow: ["_DELIVER.SEAT_TELEGRAM_SENDER_worker", "_DELIVER.one_telegram", "_INBOX.one.telegram.>", "mesh.mod.telegram.tool.status", "mesh.seat.telegram-sender.accept.send"] }
         allow_responses: { max: 1, ttl: "1m" }
       } }
       { user: "two.audit", password: "$2a$11$aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa", permissions: {
         publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.EVENTS.two_audit.>"] }
-        subscribe: { allow: ["_INBOX.two.audit.>", "mesh.mod.shop.event.order.placed"] }
+        subscribe: { allow: ["_DELIVER.two_audit", "_INBOX.two.audit.>", "mesh.mod.shop.event.order.placed"] }
       } }
       { user: "two.shop", password: "$2a$11$ssssssssssssssssssssss", permissions: {
         publish: { allow: ["$JS.ACK.EVENTS.two_shop.>", "mesh.mod.shop.event.order.placed", "mesh.seat.telegram-sender.accept.send"] }
-        subscribe: { allow: ["_INBOX.two.shop.>"] }
+        subscribe: { allow: ["_DELIVER.two_shop", "_INBOX.two.shop.>"] }
       } }
     ]
   }

internal/broker/users_test.go

@@ -186,7 +186,13 @@ func TestWhatTheMeshWritesIsUsersAndNothingAboutTheServer(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	// None of the server's own settings. Each of these in the mesh's file is a value the controller
 	// would then own, and the module could no longer change its own image without the mesh agreeing.
-	for _, absent := range []string{"port:", "http:", "jetstream", "tls {", "store_dir", "cert_file"} {
+	// `jetstream {` is the server's block (its store, its limits); `jetstream: enabled` inside the
+	// account is the account's, and the mesh owns the account — a user in it is told "JetStream
+	// not enabled for account" without it (2026-09-28).
+	if !strings.Contains(got, "jetstream: enabled") {
+		t.Errorf("the account does not enable JetStream, so no user in it can bind a consumer")
+	}
+	for _, absent := range []string{"port:", "http:", "jetstream {", "tls {", "store_dir", "cert_file"} {
 		if strings.Contains(got, absent) {
 			t.Errorf("the accounts file contains %q, which belongs to the module that raises the "+
 				"server, not to the mesh", absent)

internal/catalogue/holdings_test.go

@@ -143,3 +143,18 @@ func TestAMembershipForTheNewBusIsComposedAsASealedFile(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// The store's seat rows have no protocol columns yet; loading them must not drop the protocol the
+// bus is derived from, or no role's work queue is ever raised (found live, 2026-09-28).
+func TestAStoreRowWithoutAProtocolKeepsTheCompiledOne(t *testing.T) {
+	was := Seats()
+	t.Cleanup(func() { UseSeats(was) })
+	UseSeats([]Seat{{Name: "mesh-build-machine", Scope: ScopeMesh, Decision: "row"}})
+	got, ok := SeatNamed("mesh-build-machine")
+	if !ok || len(got.Accepts) == 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("the build machine's seat lost what it accepts when loaded from the store: %+v", got)
+	}
+	if got.Decision != "row" {
+		t.Fatalf("the store's own columns were not kept: %+v", got)
+	}
+}

internal/catalogue/seat_into_test.go

@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ func TestASeatPlaceholderAnswersWhereThisMachinePutTheHolder(t *testing.T) {
 		"type": "container", "id": "server", "name": "mesh-controller",
 		"env": map[string]any{
 			"MESH_STORE_INVENTORY_PORT": "${seat:mesh-store:5432}",
-			"MESH_BROKER_AMQP_PORT":     "${seat:mesh-broker:5672}",
 			"MESH_BROKER_ADDRESS_PORT":  "${seat:mesh-broker:5671}",
 			"MESH_STORE_INVENTORY_FILE": "/run/secrets/inventory",
 		},
@@ -27,7 +26,6 @@ func TestASeatPlaceholderAnswersWhereThisMachinePutTheHolder(t *testing.T) {
 	env := control["env"].(map[string]any)
 	for key, want := range map[string]string{
 		"MESH_STORE_INVENTORY_PORT": "6852",
-		"MESH_BROKER_AMQP_PORT":     "5679",
 		"MESH_BROKER_ADDRESS_PORT":  "5671",
 		"MESH_STORE_INVENTORY_FILE": "/run/secrets/inventory",
 	} {
@@ -146,7 +144,6 @@ func TestTheControlPlanesOwnAddressesFollowTheNodesPorts(t *testing.T) {
 		"MESH_STORE_INVENTORY_PORT":   "6852",
 		"MESH_STORE_IDENTITY_PORT":    "6852",
 		"MESH_STORE_LICENCES_PORT":    "6852",
-		"MESH_BROKER_AMQP_PORT":       "5679",
 		"MESH_BROKER_MANAGEMENT_PORT": "15673",
 		"MESH_BROKER_ADDRESS_PORT":    "5671",
 	} {
@@ -164,7 +161,7 @@ func TestTheControlPlanesOwnAddressesFollowTheNodesPorts(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 	env, _ = fileNamed(out, "mesh-controller.server")["env"].(map[string]any)
-	if env["MESH_STORE_INVENTORY_PORT"] != "" || env["MESH_BROKER_AMQP_PORT"] != "" {
+	if env["MESH_STORE_INVENTORY_PORT"] != "" {
 		t.Errorf("with no settings, the control plane is told %v", env)
 	}
 }
@@ -175,7 +172,6 @@ var SeatPorts = map[string]string{
 	"MESH_STORE_INVENTORY_PORT":   "${seat:mesh-store:5432}",
 	"MESH_STORE_IDENTITY_PORT":    "${seat:mesh-store:5432}",
 	"MESH_STORE_LICENCES_PORT":    "${seat:mesh-store:5432}",
-	"MESH_BROKER_AMQP_PORT":       "${seat:mesh-broker:5672}",
 	"MESH_BROKER_MANAGEMENT_PORT": "${seat:mesh-broker:15672}",
 	"MESH_BROKER_ADDRESS_PORT":    "${seat:mesh-broker:5671}",
 }

internal/catalogue/seats.go

@@ -109,9 +109,30 @@ func DefaultSeats() []Seat { return append([]Seat(nil), defaultSeats...) }
 // than running on the set the binary shipped with. So the store can only ever *replace* the set with
 // a non-empty one, never erase it.
 func UseSeats(s []Seat) {
-	if len(s) > 0 {
-		seats = s
+	if len(s) == 0 {
+		return
 	}
+	// **The store's rows carry no protocol yet, and the protocol is what the bus is derived
+	// from.** ADR 0129 gives a seat what it accepts, emits and serves; ADR 0122 moved the set into
+	// a table that has name, scope, delivers and decision and nothing else, and the columns for
+	// the rest are not there yet. So a row replacing a compiled entry would silently drop the
+	// protocol, and the roles' work queues would never be raised — found live as "no response
+	// from stream" the first time a build was submitted over the new bus (2026-09-28). Until the
+	// table gains the columns, a row without a protocol keeps the compiled one of the same name.
+	byName := map[string]Seat{}
+	for _, d := range defaultSeats {
+		byName[d.Name] = d
+	}
+	merged := make([]Seat, 0, len(s))
+	for _, row := range s {
+		if len(row.Accepts)+len(row.Emits)+len(row.Serves) == 0 {
+			if d, known := byName[row.Name]; known {
+				row.Accepts, row.Emits, row.Serves = d.Accepts, d.Emits, d.Serves
+			}
+		}
+		merged = append(merged, row)
+	}
+	seats = merged
 }
 
 // aliases maps a seat's former names to its current canonical name (novox/hq ADR 0122). Loaded from

internal/link/bus_nats.go

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+package link
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/broker"
+)
+
+// OverNats is the controller's outbound on the bus being built: the same three acts the other
+// transport has, on the subjects the permissions were derived for (design 25). A declaration is a
+// JetStream publish into NODES, where the node's own consumer waits for it; an event is announced on
+// the subject its name derives to; a tool is asked by request and reply on the module's tool subject.
+type OverNats struct{ JS *broker.JetStream }
+
+// declareSubject is where one node's declaration lands — the NODES stream's subject for it, and the
+// only subject that node's consumer delivers. The host subscribes exactly this.
+func declareSubject(node string) string { return "mesh.node." + node + ".declare" }
+
+func (b OverNats) PublishDeclaration(ctx context.Context, node string, body []byte) error {
+	publish, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 15*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	if _, err := b.JS.Context().Publish(declareSubject(node), body, nats.Context(publish)); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("declaring to %s: %w", node, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (b OverNats) PublishEvent(ctx context.Context, key, source, node string, body []byte) error {
+	// The key is the subject: the controller's own events are named in full, and what a module
+	// emits is derived before it reaches here. Headers carry the envelope the other transport put
+	// in message properties (ADR 0042), so a consumer reads who and when without the payload.
+	msg := nats.NewMsg(key)
+	msg.Data = body
+	msg.Header.Set("x-source", source)
+	msg.Header.Set("x-node", node)
+	msg.Header.Set("x-time", time.Now().UTC().Format(time.RFC3339Nano))
+	if err := b.JS.Conn().PublishMsg(msg); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("announcing %s: %w", key, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (b OverNats) AskTool(ctx context.Context, module, tool string, args []byte, timeout time.Duration) ([]byte, error) {
+	ask, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, timeout)
+	defer cancel()
+	reply, err := b.JS.Conn().RequestWithContext(ask, "mesh.mod."+module+".tool."+tool, args)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("asking %s.%s: %w", module, tool, err)
+	}
+	return reply.Data, nil
+}
+
+// ConnectNats is Connect for the bus being built: the controller's inbound and outbound over one
+// JetStream connection the caller has already raised the streams on. Nothing is declared here —
+// the streams and the controller's consumers are asserted by Raise, before anything is served.
+func ConnectNats(js *broker.JetStream, enroller Enroller, listener Listener) *Server {
+	return &Server{
+		inbound:  Nats(js),
+		bus:      OverNats{JS: js},
+		js:       js,
+		enroller: enroller,
+		listener: listener,
+		log:      newLog(),
+	}
+}
+
+// Bus is the controller's outbound, whichever transport it connected over. Callers that send a
+// declaration or ask a tool use this rather than the channel, which one transport does not have.
+func (s *Server) Bus() Bus { return s.bus }

internal/link/events.go

@@ -117,6 +117,19 @@ type Announcement struct {
 }
 
 // Upgraded is what the catalogue says when a module's current version moves.
+// SourceMoved is what the forge announces when a pull request is merged: which repository, into
+// which branch, producing which commit. The mesh matches it against every module's recorded
+// source and builds what moved, bases first.
+type SourceMoved struct {
+	Owner    string `json:"owner"`
+	Repo     string `json:"repo"`
+	Base     string `json:"base"`
+	Head     string `json:"head"`
+	Commit   string `json:"merge_commit_sha"`
+	CloneURL string `json:"clone_url"`
+	HTMLURL  string `json:"html_url"`
+}
+
 type Upgraded struct {
 	Module   string `json:"module"`
 	Commit   string `json:"commit"`

internal/link/receive.go

@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ const (
 	KindHeartbeat   = "heartbeat"
 	KindBuilt       = "built"
 	KindModuleMoved = "module-moved"
+	// KindSourceMoved is the forge announcing a merge: a source moved, and what it produces is
+	// built without anybody telling the mesh (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/131).
+	KindSourceMoved = "source-moved"
 	KindCatchUp     = "catch-up"
 )
 

internal/link/receive_current.go

@@ -67,6 +67,10 @@ func Current(conn *amqp.Connection, channel *amqp.Channel) Inbound {
 // are events get their own queue each, and only when something is listening.
 func (c *currentInbound) Also(kind string) error {
 	switch kind {
+	case KindSourceMoved:
+		// Not followed on the bus the mesh is leaving: the forge's merges are announced on the
+		// new one, and this transport goes with the move (design 28, task 5.5).
+		return nil
 	case KindModuleMoved:
 		if err := c.bindEvent(UpgradeQueue, KeyModuleUpgraded); err != nil {
 			return err

internal/link/receive_nats.go

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func Nats(js *broker.JetStream) Inbound {
 // whatever was asked for — and not at all when nothing was.
 func (n *natsInbound) Also(kind string) error {
 	switch kind {
-	case KindModuleMoved, KindCatchUp:
+	case KindModuleMoved, KindCatchUp, KindSourceMoved:
 		n.follows[kind] = true
 		return nil
 	default:
@@ -180,6 +180,8 @@ func kindOfSubject(subject string) (string, bool) {
 		return KindModuleMoved, true
 	case broker.ControllerFollows[1]:
 		return KindCatchUp, true
+	case broker.ControllerFollows[3]:
+		return KindSourceMoved, true
 	case BuildOutcome():
 		// A build's outcome is the role's event now, so it arrives on the events stream rather than
 		// the control branch — and is acted on by the same handler, because what the controller does

internal/link/receive_nats_test.go

@@ -374,3 +374,20 @@ func TestNatsAReportIsLetGoOnceTheStoreHasBeenGoneTooLong(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("a report was recorded by a store that never came back")
 	}
 }
+
+// A merge announcement is not what these tests are about; taken and forgotten.
+func (t *toldAbout) SourceMoved(context.Context, SourceMoved) error { return nil }
+
+// Every subject the controller follows decodes to a kind, and decoding never reaches past the
+// list: the day the list was three long and the decoder named a fourth, every message panicked
+// the control plane (2026-09-28).
+func TestEverySubjectTheControllerFollowsDecodesToAKind(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, subject := range broker.ControllerFollows {
+		if _, ok := kindOfSubject(subject); !ok {
+			t.Errorf("%s is followed and decodes to nothing", subject)
+		}
+	}
+	if _, ok := kindOfSubject("mesh.mod.nobody.event.nothing"); ok {
+		t.Error("a subject nobody follows decoded to a kind")
+	}
+}

internal/link/serve.go

@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-controller/internal/broker"
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"time"
@@ -57,6 +58,8 @@ type Upgrader interface {
 	// stop every upgrade behind it — except the store unreachable for the moment, which is asked
 	// again for a bounded time (novox/hq issue 083).
 	Upgraded(ctx context.Context, u Upgraded) error
+	// SourceMoved is a merge on the forge: build what that source produces, bases first.
+	SourceMoved(ctx context.Context, m SourceMoved) error
 }
 
 // Server acts on what nodes and modules say.
@@ -70,6 +73,7 @@ type Server struct {
 	bus     Bus
 	conn    *amqp.Connection
 	channel *amqp.Channel
+	js      *broker.JetStream
 
 	enroller Enroller
 	listener Listener
@@ -99,6 +103,9 @@ func (s *Server) Records(r Recorder) { s.recorder = r }
 
 // Follows says what to do about upgrades, and asks for them to be delivered.
 func (s *Server) Follows(u Upgrader) error {
+	if err := s.inbound.Also(KindSourceMoved); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	if err := s.inbound.Also(KindModuleMoved); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -180,10 +187,12 @@ func Connect(enroller Enroller, listener Listener) (*Server, error) {
 		channel:  channel,
 		enroller: enroller,
 		listener: listener,
-		log:      log.New(os.Stdout, "", log.LstdFlags),
+		log:      newLog(),
 	}, nil
 }
 
+func newLog() *log.Logger { return log.New(os.Stdout, "", log.LstdFlags) }
+
 // Channel is the controller's channel, for the command line's own publishing.
 func (s *Server) Channel() *amqp.Channel { return s.channel }
 
@@ -197,6 +206,9 @@ func (s *Server) Close() {
 	if s.conn != nil {
 		_ = s.conn.Close()
 	}
+	if s.js != nil {
+		s.js.Close()
+	}
 }
 
 // Serve acts on what arrives until the context ends.
@@ -225,6 +237,8 @@ func (s *Server) act(ctx context.Context, m Control) {
 		s.wasBuilt(ctx, m)
 	case KindModuleMoved:
 		s.moved(ctx, m)
+	case KindSourceMoved:
+		s.sourceMoved(ctx, m)
 	case KindCatchUp:
 		s.catchingUp(ctx, m)
 	default:
@@ -596,3 +610,24 @@ func short(commit string) string {
 	}
 	return commit
 }
+
+// sourceMoved acts on the forge's announcement of a merge. Taken whatever happens: a build that
+// fails is reported by the build itself, and re-delivering the merge would only re-fail it.
+func (s *Server) sourceMoved(ctx context.Context, m Control) {
+	var moved SourceMoved
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(m.Body(), &moved); err != nil {
+		s.log.Printf("a merge announcement could not be read: %v", err)
+		_ = m.Took()
+		return
+	}
+	m.About("merge " + moved.Owner + "/" + moved.Repo + " into " + moved.Base)
+	if moved.Commit == "" || moved.Repo == "" {
+		s.log.Printf("a merge announcement named no repository or no commit; ignored")
+		_ = m.Took()
+		return
+	}
+	if err := s.upgrader.SourceMoved(ctx, moved); err != nil {
+		s.log.Printf("%s/%s moved to %.8s and the mesh could not act on it: %v", moved.Owner, moved.Repo, moved.Commit, err)
+	}
+	_ = m.Took()
+}

internal/link/store_window_test.go

@@ -152,3 +152,5 @@ func TestAnUpgradeHandledDuringShutdownIsLeftForTheBus(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("an upgrade was settled during shutdown, and so lost: %+v", *to)
 	}
 }
+
+func (u upgradesWith) SourceMoved(context.Context, SourceMoved) error { return nil }