diff --git a/internal/apply/apply.go b/internal/apply/apply.go
index ecb4d26..6435005 100644
--- a/internal/apply/apply.go
+++ b/internal/apply/apply.go
@@ -270,6 +270,8 @@ func applyOne(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, r declaration.Resource, ru
 		return applyUser(ctx, sys, res, run)
 	case *declaration.Archive:
 		return applyArchive(ctx, res, previous)
+	case *declaration.Daemon:
+		return applyDaemon(ctx, res, run, changed, previous)
 	case *declaration.Action:
 		return applyAction(ctx, res, run)
 	case *declaration.Network:
diff --git a/internal/apply/daemon.go b/internal/apply/daemon.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d7d0dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/apply/daemon.go
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+package apply
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/store"
+)
+
+// Running the mesh's own code, without the module choosing how.
+//
+// **A daemon is an intent and this is one answer to it.** A module says what to run and the
+// machine's own supervisor is how — which means the module is not writing a unit file, and not
+// choosing between a container and a service before it can declare anything
+// (novox/hq 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/18-building-a-module.md).
+//
+// What this does, in order: fetch the bundle, refuse it unless it hashes to what was declared,
+// unpack it where the mesh keeps such things, write the unit, and put it in the state asked for.
+// The unit is the mesh's — an operator editing it loses the edit at the next declaration, which is
+// the same rule every managed file on a machine follows (ADR 0011).
+
+// daemonRoot is where unpacked daemons live.
+//
+// Under the mesh's own directory rather than somewhere a distribution owns: these are files the
+// mesh puts there and replaces, and putting them where a package manager also writes is how two
+// owners end up disagreeing about one path.
+const daemonRoot = "/var/lib/mesh/daemons"
+
+// unitDir is where the mesh writes the units it owns.
+const unitDir = "/etc/systemd/system"
+
+func applyDaemon(ctx context.Context, r *declaration.Daemon, run Runner,
+	changed map[string]bool, previous store.Applied) (Outcome, error) {
+	out := begin(r)
+	out.Action = "unchanged"
+
+	body, err := fetch(ctx, r.Source)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	sum := sha256.Sum256(body)
+	got := "sha256:" + hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+	if got != r.Digest {
+		// Refused before anything is written or started. What is at that address is not what was
+		// declared, and running it would be running something nobody reviewed.
+		return out, fmt.Errorf(
+			"%s was declared as %s and what arrived is %s; nothing was unpacked or started",
+			r.Source, r.Digest, got)
+	}
+
+	// **The identity of a daemon is its bytes AND how it is run.** Two daemons from one bundle
+	// differing only in their command are different daemons, and a record that tracked the digest
+	// alone would call the second one unchanged.
+	want := got + " " + unitFor(r)
+	at := filepath.Join(daemonRoot, r.Name)
+
+	// **Something it reads changed, so it must be restarted even though it is unchanged.** A
+	// running process does not re-read its configuration: replace the file, find the daemon
+	// already up, do nothing, and the machine keeps behaving the way it did before while every
+	// check passes. The same rule a service follows, for the same reason.
+	var because string
+	for _, id := range r.RestartOn {
+		if changed[id] {
+			because = id
+			break
+		}
+	}
+
+	if previous.Wrote == want && because == "" {
+		// Everything about it is as declared. Still asked whether it is RUNNING, because a
+		// declaration that is satisfied by a record rather than by the machine is how a stopped
+		// service reports success.
+		if active, err := run(ctx, "systemctl", "is-active", "--quiet", r.Name+".service"); err == nil {
+			_ = active
+			return out, nil
+		}
+		if _, err := run(ctx, "systemctl", "start", r.Name+".service"); err != nil {
+			return out, fmt.Errorf("%s is installed and would not start: %w", r.Name, err)
+		}
+		out.Action = "updated"
+		out.Detail = "restarted a daemon that had stopped"
+		out.wrote = want
+		return out, nil
+	}
+
+	// Replaced rather than merged: the bundle is the whole of what it runs, and files left from a
+	// previous version would be loaded by a runtime that walks a directory.
+	if err := os.RemoveAll(at); err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(at, 0o755); err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	written, err := unpack(body, at)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	if err := ownAll(at, r.User); err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+
+	unit := filepath.Join(unitDir, r.Name+".service")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(unit, []byte(unitFor(r)), 0o644); err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "systemctl", "daemon-reload"); err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	// Enabled and restarted, in that order: enabled so it survives a reboot, restarted rather than
+	// started because this path is also how a new version arrives and the old one is still running.
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "systemctl", "enable", r.Name+".service"); err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "systemctl", "restart", r.Name+".service"); err != nil {
+		return out, fmt.Errorf("%s was installed and would not start: %w", r.Name, err)
+	}
+
+	out.Action = "updated"
+	if previous.Wrote == "" {
+		out.Action = "created"
+	}
+	out.Detail = fmt.Sprintf("%d file(s), running as %s.service", written, r.Name)
+	if because != "" {
+		out.Detail += ", restarted because " + because + " changed"
+	}
+	out.wrote = want
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+// unitFor is the unit the mesh writes for a daemon.
+//
+// **Generated whole and never edited in place**, the same rule as every other managed file: an
+// edit survives until the next declaration and then vanishes, which is worse than not being
+// allowed at all, so the file says so.
+//
+// Deterministic — environment sorted — because this string is half the daemon's identity, and a
+// map iterated in Go's order would make every apply look like a change.
+func unitFor(r *declaration.Daemon) string {
+	var b strings.Builder
+	b.WriteString("# Generated by the mesh. Do not edit — this file is replaced whenever the\n")
+	b.WriteString("# declaration changes, and an edit would survive until then and vanish.\n")
+	b.WriteString("[Unit]\n")
+	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "Description=%s, a mesh daemon\n", r.Name)
+	b.WriteString("After=network-online.target\n")
+	b.WriteString("Wants=network-online.target\n\n")
+
+	b.WriteString("[Service]\n")
+	b.WriteString("Type=simple\n")
+	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "WorkingDirectory=%s\n", filepath.Join(daemonRoot, r.Name))
+	for _, file := range r.EnvFile {
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "EnvironmentFile=%s\n", file)
+	}
+	for _, key := range sortedKeys(r.Env) {
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "Environment=%s=%s\n", key, r.Env[key])
+	}
+	if r.User != "" {
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "User=%s\n", r.User)
+	}
+	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "ExecStart=%s\n", strings.Join(r.Run, " "))
+	// Restarted when it exits, because a daemon that stops is not a daemon. Delayed, so a process
+	// that fails at once does not spin the machine.
+	b.WriteString("Restart=always\nRestartSec=5\n\n")
+
+	b.WriteString("[Install]\nWantedBy=multi-user.target\n")
+	return b.String()
+}
diff --git a/internal/apply/daemon_test.go b/internal/apply/daemon_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2103818
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/apply/daemon_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+package apply
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+)
+
+func aDaemon() *declaration.Daemon {
+	return &declaration.Daemon{
+		ID: "server", Type: declaration.TypeDaemon, Name: "greeter",
+		Source: "https://store.invalid/greeter/daemon",
+		Digest: "sha256:" + strings.Repeat("a", 64),
+		Run:    []string{"node", "index.js"},
+		Env:    map[string]string{"MESH_NODE": "anchor", "A_FIRST": "1"},
+	}
+}
+
+// The unit the mesh writes says what it runs, where, and that it comes back.
+func TestTheUnitRunsWhatTheDaemonSaid(t *testing.T) {
+	unit := unitFor(aDaemon())
+	for _, want := range []string{
+		"ExecStart=node index.js",
+		"WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/mesh/daemons/greeter",
+		"Restart=always",
+		"WantedBy=multi-user.target",
+	} {
+		if !strings.Contains(unit, want) {
+			t.Fatalf("the unit does not say %q:\n%s", want, unit)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// **Generated whole and saying so.** Every managed file on a machine carries this, because an edit
+// that survives until the next declaration and then vanishes is worse than one that is refused.
+func TestTheUnitSaysItIsTheMeshs(t *testing.T) {
+	unit := unitFor(aDaemon())
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(unit, "#") || !strings.Contains(unit, "Do not edit") {
+		t.Fatalf("the unit does not say it is generated:\n%s", unit)
+	}
+}
+
+// **Deterministic, because the unit is half the daemon's identity.** Environment held in a map
+// would be written in Go's iteration order, so every apply would see a different unit and call an
+// unchanged daemon changed — restarting it on every declaration for ever.
+func TestTheUnitIsTheSameEveryTime(t *testing.T) {
+	first := unitFor(aDaemon())
+	for i := 0; i < 20; i++ {
+		if again := unitFor(aDaemon()); again != first {
+			t.Fatalf("two renderings of one daemon differ:\n%s\n---\n%s", first, again)
+		}
+	}
+	// And sorted, so the order is a decision rather than luck.
+	if strings.Index(first, "A_FIRST") > strings.Index(first, "MESH_NODE") {
+		t.Fatalf("environment is not in a stable order:\n%s", first)
+	}
+}
+
+// **Two daemons from one bundle differing only in their command are different daemons.** Tracking
+// the digest alone would call the second one unchanged and leave the first one running.
+func TestADaemonsIdentityIncludesHowItIsRun(t *testing.T) {
+	one := aDaemon()
+	two := aDaemon()
+	two.Run = []string{"node", "other.js"}
+	if unitFor(one) == unitFor(two) {
+		t.Fatal("two daemons with different commands render one unit, so a change would be missed")
+	}
+}
+
+// A daemon that runs as somebody says so, and one that does not says nothing — rather than naming
+// root explicitly, which would be a claim the mesh does not need to make.
+func TestADaemonRunsAsWhoItSaid(t *testing.T) {
+	as := aDaemon()
+	as.User = "greeter"
+	if !strings.Contains(unitFor(as), "User=greeter") {
+		t.Fatalf("the unit does not run as the user it named:\n%s", unitFor(as))
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(unitFor(aDaemon()), "User=") {
+		t.Fatalf("a daemon that named no user had one written for it:\n%s", unitFor(aDaemon()))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/declaration/daemon_test.go b/internal/declaration/daemon_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d741753
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/declaration/daemon_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+package declaration
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func aDaemon() *Daemon {
+	return &Daemon{
+		ID: "server", Type: TypeDaemon, Name: "greeter",
+		Source: "https://store.invalid/greeter/daemon",
+		Digest: "sha256:" + strings.Repeat("a", 64),
+		Run:    []string{"node", "index.js"},
+	}
+}
+
+// A daemon is part of the vocabulary, or a declaration carrying one is refused whole.
+func TestADaemonIsSomethingTheHostSpeaks(t *testing.T) {
+	var found bool
+	for _, kind := range Vocabulary() {
+		if kind == TypeDaemon {
+			found = true
+		}
+	}
+	if !found {
+		t.Fatal("a daemon cannot be declared, so a module that declares one is refused")
+	}
+	if newOf(TypeDaemon) == nil {
+		t.Fatal("the decoder has no daemon, so one would be refused as an unknown kind")
+	}
+}
+
+// **Pinned by digest, like everything else that crosses a network.** A bundle fetched by a
+// reference somebody can repoint is not pinned, and it is the one thing on a machine that would
+// then be running code nobody reviewed.
+func TestADaemonsBundleMustBePinned(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, bad := range []string{"", "latest", "sha256:short", strings.Repeat("a", 64)} {
+		d := aDaemon()
+		d.Digest = bad
+		if problems := d.validate("a daemon", false); len(problems) == 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("a daemon pinned by %q was accepted", bad)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// What to run is named, never inferred. Guessing an entrypoint from which files are present makes
+// a daemon change what it runs when somebody adds a file.
+func TestADaemonMustSayWhatToRun(t *testing.T) {
+	d := aDaemon()
+	d.Run = nil
+	if problems := d.validate("a daemon", false); len(problems) == 0 {
+		t.Fatal("a daemon with no command was accepted")
+	}
+}
+
+// Its name becomes a unit name and a path, so a separator in it would write somewhere nobody meant.
+func TestADaemonsNameCannotEscapeItsUnit(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, bad := range []string{"", "../escape", "two words", "a/b"} {
+		d := aDaemon()
+		d.Name = bad
+		if problems := d.validate("a daemon", false); len(problems) == 0 {
+			t.Fatalf("a daemon called %q was accepted", bad)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// And a well-formed one is accepted, or the tests above prove only that everything is refused.
+func TestAWellFormedDaemonIsAccepted(t *testing.T) {
+	if problems := aDaemon().validate("a daemon", false); len(problems) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a well-formed daemon was refused: %v", problems)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration.go b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
index 84a6824..26c94a3 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
@@ -59,6 +59,20 @@ const (
 	// (04-ISSUES/026) — and leaves everything about it alone. Several modules declaring one
 	// access is ordinary, because none of them owns it.
 	TypeAccess Type = "access"
+
+	// TypeDaemon is a long-running process the mesh keeps running, named by what it runs rather
+	// than by how it is hosted.
+	//
+	// **The intent, not the mechanism.** Until this, an author decided the hosting before they
+	// could declare anything: code of their own meant a `container` built from an image, a script
+	// meant a `service` and a unit somebody else had to install. Same intent — run this and keep
+	// it running — expressed two unrelated ways, and the choice baked into which kind was picked.
+	//
+	// A daemon names an artifact and what to run. The mesh unpacks the artifact where it keeps
+	// such things, writes the unit, and puts it in the state asked for. One module may declare
+	// several, in different languages, because a module is one piece of software and not one
+	// process (novox/hq ADR 0040).
+	TypeDaemon Type = "daemon"
 )
 
 // Resource is one thing that should be true of the machine.
@@ -393,6 +407,81 @@ func (a *Archive) validate(where string, _ bool) []string {
 	return problems
 }
 
+// Daemon is a long-running process the mesh installs, keeps running, and owns the unit for.
+//
+// The difference from Service is who owns the unit: a Service puts an EXISTING unit into a state
+// and deliberately does not install one, which is right for software that ships its own. A Daemon
+// is the mesh's own code — a bundle it built — so there is no unit until the mesh writes it, and
+// nothing else will.
+//
+// The difference from Container is the hosting, and a module should not have to choose: what a
+// daemon says is what to run, and the machine's own process supervisor is how. A module whose code
+// genuinely needs a container's isolation declares a container and says so.
+type Daemon struct {
+	ID   string `json:"id"`
+	Type Type   `json:"type"`
+	// Name is what the unit is called, and what an operator will see in the process table.
+	Name string `json:"name"`
+	// Source is where to fetch the bundle from, and Digest is what it must hash to. The same
+	// discipline as an archive, for the same reason: this crosses a network the mesh does not
+	// control.
+	Source string `json:"source"`
+	Digest string `json:"digest"`
+	// Run is the command, relative to the unpacked bundle. The first element is the program.
+	//
+	// **Named by the module, never inferred.** Guessing an entrypoint from which files exist makes
+	// a daemon change what it runs when somebody adds a file.
+	Run []string `json:"run"`
+	// Env and EnvFile are what it runs with. A file rather than inline values is how a credential
+	// reaches a daemon without passing through the declaration.
+	Env     map[string]string `json:"env,omitempty"`
+	EnvFile []string          `json:"env-file,omitempty"`
+	// User is who it runs as. Absent means root, which is what the mesh's own modules need for
+	// the things they do to a machine.
+	User string `json:"user,omitempty"`
+	// RestartOn names resources whose change means this must be restarted — the same rule a
+	// service follows, and for the same reason: a running process does not re-read its
+	// configuration, so replacing a file and finding the process already up leaves the machine
+	// behaving the way it did before while every check passes.
+	RestartOn []string `json:"restart-on,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func (d *Daemon) Identity() string { return d.ID }
+func (d *Daemon) Kind() Type       { return TypeDaemon }
+func (d *Daemon) Target() string   { return d.Name }
+
+func (d *Daemon) validate(where string, _ bool) []string {
+	var problems []string
+	if d.Name == "" {
+		problems = append(problems, where+": a daemon needs a name, which is what its unit is called")
+	}
+	if strings.ContainsAny(d.Name, "/ \t") {
+		// It becomes a unit name and a file on disk. A name with a separator in it would write
+		// somewhere nobody meant.
+		problems = append(problems, where+": a daemon's name becomes a unit name, so it cannot "+
+			"contain a path separator or a space")
+	}
+	if d.Source == "" {
+		problems = append(problems, where+": a daemon needs somewhere to fetch its bundle from")
+	}
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(d.Digest, "sha256:") || len(d.Digest) != len("sha256:")+64 {
+		// The same rule an archive follows, and for the same reason: this crosses a network the
+		// mesh does not control, and a reference that can be made to point elsewhere is not one.
+		problems = append(problems, where+
+			": a daemon's bundle is pinned by digest, as sha256:<64 hex characters>")
+	}
+	if len(d.Run) == 0 {
+		problems = append(problems, where+": a daemon needs to say what to run")
+	}
+	for _, part := range d.Run {
+		if part == "" {
+			problems = append(problems, where+": a daemon's command has an empty element")
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	return problems
+}
+
 // Service is a unit the host puts into a state. It does not install the unit.
 //
 // Two states, and they are orthogonal rather than one scale. A unit can be enabled and stopped
@@ -654,6 +743,8 @@ func newOf(t Type) Resource {
 		return &Archive{}
 	case TypeAccess:
 		return &Access{}
+	case TypeDaemon:
+		return &Daemon{}
 	}
 	return nil
 }
@@ -661,8 +752,8 @@ func newOf(t Type) Resource {
 // Vocabulary is every kind this host speaks.
 func Vocabulary() []Type {
 	return []Type{
-		TypeAccess, TypeAction, TypeArchive, TypeContainer, TypeDirectory, TypeFile, TypeNetwork,
-		TypePackage, TypeService, TypeUser,
+		TypeAccess, TypeAction, TypeArchive, TypeContainer, TypeDaemon, TypeDirectory, TypeFile,
+		TypeNetwork, TypePackage, TypeService, TypeUser,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go b/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
index 11244bc..1f3c025 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ func TestAFieldTheNewTypesDoNotUseIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestTheVocabularyIsTheEightShapesTheMeshNeeds(t *testing.T) {
+func TestTheVocabularyIsTheElevenShapesTheMeshNeeds(t *testing.T) {
 	// Six of them the bootstrap uses (novox/hq 07-the-substrate.md), and removing one is a
 	// failing test rather than a discovery during a first-node install.
 	//
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ func TestTheVocabularyIsTheEightShapesTheMeshNeeds(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	for _, want := range []Type{
 		TypeDirectory, TypeFile, TypeService, TypePackage, TypeContainer, TypeAction,
-		TypeUser, TypeArchive, TypeNetwork, TypeAccess,
+		TypeUser, TypeArchive, TypeNetwork, TypeAccess, TypeDaemon,
 	} {
 		if !speaks[want] {
 			t.Errorf("the host no longer speaks %q", want)
@@ -298,8 +298,19 @@ func TestTheVocabularyIsTheEightShapesTheMeshNeeds(t *testing.T) {
 	// `access` is the tenth, and novox/hq ADR 0051 is its decision: shared, pre-existing data is
 	// the operator's, and a module is granted use of it without owning it — a shape the host must
 	// tell apart from a directory precisely because it must NOT create, chown or remove it.
-	if len(speaks) != 10 {
-		t.Errorf("the vocabulary is %d shapes rather than 10; every addition widens what a compromised "+
+	//
+	// `daemon` is the eleventh, and it exists because the mechanism was leaking into every module.
+	// Running code of one's own meant a `container` and therefore an image; running a script meant
+	// a `service` and a unit somebody else had to install. One intent — run this and keep it
+	// running — expressed two unrelated ways, with the hosting chosen before anything could be
+	// declared. A daemon says what to run; the machine's own supervisor is how, and the mesh owns
+	// the unit because it is the mesh's own code (novox/hq 03-DESIGN/01-to-be/18-building-a-module.md).
+	//
+	// It is a full-host shape rather than a portable one: it needs a process supervisor to install
+	// into. It does NOT need a container runtime, which is the point — only software that
+	// genuinely needs isolation asks for a container.
+	if len(speaks) != 11 {
+		t.Errorf("the vocabulary is %d shapes rather than 11; every addition widens what a compromised "+
 			"control plane can express, so a change here is a decision: %s",
 			len(speaks), vocabulary())
 	}
diff --git a/internal/system/system.go b/internal/system/system.go
index 0c2cb96..03c77d3 100644
--- a/internal/system/system.go
+++ b/internal/system/system.go
@@ -173,6 +173,11 @@ func everyShape() []declaration.Type {
 		// bind mount, and a bind mount needs the container runtime a full host has. So it sits
 		// here with the container it guards, not at the portable floor (novox/hq ADR 0051).
 		declaration.TypeAccess,
+		// A daemon needs a process supervisor to install a unit into, which is what separates a
+		// full host from the floor. It does NOT need a container runtime, which is the point of
+		// it: the mesh's own code runs as a process on the machine, and only software that
+		// genuinely needs isolation asks for a container.
+		declaration.TypeDaemon,
 	}
 }