diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/judge/rules.go b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/judge/rules.go
index 9a56f0a7..c41edf39 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/judge/rules.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/judge/rules.go
@@ -2845,19 +2845,6 @@ func parseManifest(raw []byte, predefined catalogue.PredefinedList) (catalogue.M
 	problems = append(problems, movedProblems(m)...)
 	problems = append(problems, collectionProblems(m)...)
 	problems = append(problems, undeliveredBundles(m)...)
-	// **What provides the artifact store cannot be delivered through it** (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/029).
-	//
-	// Building publishes to the store, and the builder will not start without one. So a module
-	// that provides the store and also builds something asks the mesh to put an artifact into the
-	// thing that artifact is needed to create.
-	//
-	// It is the question the foundation record asks of every candidate — can it grant itself the
-	// thing it provides? The store cannot create its own database, the broker cannot create its
-	// own virtual host, and a registry cannot grant itself a repository. Such a module names its
-	// image, exactly as the bundle names the three a first node starts from.
-	//
-	// Refused here because the alternative is a build that never returns, on a mesh new enough
-	// that nobody is watching it yet.
 	if m.Build != nil && len(m.Bundles) > 0 {
 		// The output of a build, written beside the build that produces it (ADR 0175). A resource
 		// naming a digest beside an `artifact` would be the same mistake, and is caught the same way:
@@ -2867,21 +2854,12 @@ func parseManifest(raw []byte, predefined catalogue.PredefinedList) (catalogue.M
 				"produced; a manifest states `build.artifacts` and nothing about what came out",
 			m.Module))
 	}
-	if m.Build != nil && len(m.Build.Artifacts) > 0 {
-		for _, o := range m.Offers() {
-			if o != catalogue.ArtifactStoreProvision {
-				continue
-			}
-			problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf(
-				"%s provides %q and also builds %d artifact(s), which cannot both be true: "+
-					"building publishes to the artifact store, so this asks the mesh to put an "+
-					"artifact into the thing that artifact is needed to create. A module that "+
-					"provides the store names its image instead. One that wants more beside it "+
-					"— an interface, a tool server — is a second module, mirrored in the "+
-					"ordinary way once this one is running",
-				m.Module, catalogue.ArtifactStoreProvision, len(m.Build.Artifacts)))
-		}
-	}
+	// **A store holder that builds is not refused by its manifest** (the operator, 2026-11-04, issue 1966; this rule
+	// came from novox/hq 04-ISSUES/029). A rule here refused a module that provides `artifact-store` and also builds an
+	// artifact: building publishes to the store, so on a fresh mesh with no store yet such a build would wait for the
+	// module it belongs to. The registry seats' holder builds the program it runs in front of the store (design 51),
+	// so it publishes through itself; that circle is a fact of a mesh's first start, not of a manifest. It is caught where
+	// a fresh mesh starts, by the genesis fix of issue 1152, and no rule refuses the manifest for it.
 	for to := range m.Serves {
 		var offered bool
 		for _, o := range m.Offers() {
diff --git a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/judge/rules_test.go b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/judge/rules_test.go
index 7fbffcd9..614b7883 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/judge/rules_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-delivery-indexer/judge/rules_test.go
@@ -4239,24 +4239,17 @@ func TestTakesSettingsIsRefusedWhereItCannotMeanAnything(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// The module that provides the artifact store may not be delivered through it.
-//
-// Building publishes to the store and the builder will not start without one, so a module that
-// provides the store and also builds something asks the mesh to put an artifact into the thing
-// that artifact is needed to create. On a mesh new enough to have no registry, that is a build
-// that never returns (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/029).
-func TestTheArtifactStoreCannotBeDeliveredThroughItself(t *testing.T) {
+// A store holder that builds is not refused by its manifest (the operator, 2026-11-04, issue 1966). The fresh-mesh
+// circle the rule of novox/hq 04-ISSUES/029 refused, a holder whose build publishes through itself, is caught where a
+// fresh mesh starts (issue 1152), not here.
+func TestAStoreHolderThatBuildsIsNotRefusedByItsManifest(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err := ParseManifest([]byte(`{"module":"registry","version":"1",` +
 		`"provides":[{"name":"artifact-store","scope":"mesh"}],` +
 		`"build":{"artifacts":[{"name":"registry","kind":"upstream","from":"registry:2"}]},` +
 		`"resources":[{"id":"store","type":"container","name":"mesh-registry",` +
 		`"artifact":"registry","ports":["5000:5000"]}]}`))
-	if err == nil {
-		t.Fatal("a registry module that builds its own image was accepted; the build has " +
-			"nowhere to publish until the module it belongs to is already running")
-	}
-	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "artifact-store") {
-		t.Fatalf("refused without naming the provision the cycle turns on: %v", err)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a module that provides the artifact store and builds was refused: %v", err)
 	}
 }