diff --git a/internal/apply/apply.go b/internal/apply/apply.go
index 5936b66..2dba033 100644
--- a/internal/apply/apply.go
+++ b/internal/apply/apply.go
@@ -247,6 +247,8 @@ func applyOne(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, r declaration.Resource, ru
 		return applyArchive(ctx, res, previous)
 	case *declaration.Action:
 		return applyAction(ctx, res, run)
+	case *declaration.Network:
+		return applyNetwork(ctx, res, run)
 	default:
 		// Unreachable: the declaration refused this already. Present because "unreachable"
 		// stops being true the moment someone adds a kind and forgets this switch.
@@ -657,6 +659,24 @@ func remove(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, a store.Applied, run Runner)
 		// to whatever it acted on.
 		return "forgotten", "an action leaves nothing the host owns", nil
 
+	case declaration.TypeNetwork:
+		// **The reason this is a shape at all** (novox/hq ADR 0029). Orphans are removed in
+		// reverse declaration order, so a network written before the containers that join it is
+		// removed after they are gone — and a runtime refusing to remove one still in use is
+		// reported rather than swallowed, because that means something the mesh did not declare
+		// is holding it.
+		cri, err := containerRuntime(ctx, run)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", "", fmt.Errorf("%w, so the network %q cannot be removed", err, a.Target)
+		}
+		if _, err := run(ctx, cri, "network", "inspect", a.Target); err != nil {
+			return "forgotten", "no longer there", nil
+		}
+		if _, err := run(ctx, cri, "network", "rm", a.Target); err != nil {
+			return "", "", fmt.Errorf("cannot remove the network %q: %w", a.Target, err)
+		}
+		return "removed", "no longer declared", nil
+
 	default:
 		return "", "", fmt.Errorf("no way to remove a %q", a.Type)
 	}
@@ -775,6 +795,45 @@ func containerState(ctx context.Context, name string, run Runner) (state struct
 // There is no "update" for a container: a container's configuration is fixed when it is
 // created, so any change is a replacement. Saying that plainly is better than a partial
 // in-place update that leaves the running thing half-declared.
+// applyNetwork creates a named network if the machine does not already have one.
+//
+// **Existence is the whole of the state.** A network the mesh declared and a network somebody
+// made by hand are indistinguishable by name, and that is deliberate: the mesh owns the name, not
+// the thing, so it will not tear down and rebuild one that is already there and working. What it
+// records is that this resource is now present, which is what lets it be removed later.
+//
+// Nothing is reconciled beyond presence. A driver or a subnet changed underneath would not be
+// noticed — and is not declarable either (novox/hq ADR 0029), so there is nothing to disagree
+// with.
+func applyNetwork(ctx context.Context, r *declaration.Network, run Runner) (Outcome, error) {
+	out := begin(r)
+
+	cri, err := containerRuntime(ctx, run)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, fmt.Errorf("%w, so nothing can be said about the network %q", err, r.Name)
+	}
+
+	if _, err := run(ctx, cri, "network", "inspect", r.Name); err == nil {
+		out.Action = "unchanged"
+		out.Detail = "already there"
+		return out, nil
+	}
+
+	if _, err := run(ctx, cri, "network", "create", r.Name); err != nil {
+		return out, fmt.Errorf("cannot create the network %q: %w", r.Name, err)
+	}
+	// Read back rather than trusting the exit status (novox/hq ADR 0018). A runtime that reports
+	// success and made nothing leaves every container that joins it failing to start, with the
+	// cause one step away.
+	if _, err := run(ctx, cri, "network", "inspect", r.Name); err != nil {
+		return out, fmt.Errorf(
+			"the network %q was created and is not there afterwards: %w", r.Name, err)
+	}
+	out.Action = "created"
+	out.Detail = "a network for this module's own containers"
+	return out, nil
+}
+
 func applyContainer(ctx context.Context, r *declaration.Container, run Runner) (Outcome, error) {
 	out := begin(r)
 	want := containerSpec(r)
diff --git a/internal/apply/vocabulary_test.go b/internal/apply/vocabulary_test.go
index d654093..aacf596 100644
--- a/internal/apply/vocabulary_test.go
+++ b/internal/apply/vocabulary_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/base64"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"os"
@@ -248,3 +249,71 @@ func TestAnArchiveMustBePinned(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("unhelpful refusal: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// Defends novox/hq ADR 0029: a network is a shape so that it can be removed.
+//
+// The whole argument for widening the vocabulary is lifecycle — an action could create one and
+// nothing could ever take it away — so removal is the assertion that matters, not creation.
+func TestANetworkIsCreatedAndThenRemovedWhenNoLongerDeclared(t *testing.T) {
+	var calls []string
+	there := map[string]bool{}
+	run := func(_ context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error) {
+		calls = append(calls, name+" "+strings.Join(args, " "))
+		if name != "docker" || len(args) < 2 || args[0] != "network" {
+			return "", nil // the runtime probe
+		}
+		switch args[1] {
+		case "inspect":
+			if !there[args[2]] {
+				return "", fmt.Errorf("no such network")
+			}
+		case "create":
+			there[args[2]] = true
+		case "rm":
+			delete(there, args[2])
+		}
+		return "", nil
+	}
+
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"private","type":"network","name":"mail"}`)
+	_, state, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{},
+		store.OriginDeclared, run, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !there["mail"] {
+		t.Fatal("the network was not created")
+	}
+
+	// The module is unassigned: the mesh now declares nothing.
+	empty := declare(t, `{"id":"unrelated","type":"directory","path":"`+t.TempDir()+`"}`)
+	if _, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), empty, state,
+		store.OriginDeclared, run, nil, nil); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if there["mail"] {
+		t.Fatal("the network outlived the module that declared it, which is the entire reason " +
+			"this is a shape rather than an action")
+	}
+}
+
+// A network is created once and left alone when it is already there.
+func TestANetworkAlreadyThereIsNotRebuilt(t *testing.T) {
+	var created int
+	run := func(_ context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error) {
+		if name == "docker" && len(args) > 1 && args[0] == "network" && args[1] == "create" {
+			created++
+		}
+		return "", nil // inspect succeeds: it is already there
+	}
+
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"private","type":"network","name":"mail"}`)
+	if _, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{},
+		store.OriginDeclared, run, nil, nil); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if created != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("a network that was already there was created %d time(s); the mesh owns the "+
+			"name and not the thing, so it does not tear one down and rebuild it", created)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration.go b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
index 5b235ad..0d4041e 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
@@ -42,6 +42,12 @@ const (
 	// of files; inlining them would make every declaration enormous and rewrite the lot whenever
 	// one changed.
 	TypeArchive Type = "archive"
+
+	// TypeNetwork is a named network on this machine, for a module whose containers must reach
+	// each other by name. Created if absent, removed when no longer declared — which is the whole
+	// reason it is a shape rather than an action, because an action leaves nothing the host can
+	// undo and the network would outlive the module (novox/hq ADR 0029).
+	TypeNetwork Type = "network"
 )
 
 // Resource is one thing that should be true of the machine.
@@ -182,6 +188,41 @@ type User struct {
 	Home string `json:"home,omitempty"`
 }
 
+// Network is a named network on this machine.
+//
+// **A name and nothing else.** Not a driver, a subnet or a gateway: each of those is something a
+// module would have to know about the machine it lands on, and a module naming a subnet is a
+// module that collides with whatever else chose the same one. The runtime picks; the mesh names
+// (novox/hq ADR 0029).
+type Network struct {
+	ID   string `json:"id"`
+	Type Type   `json:"type"`
+	Name string `json:"name"`
+}
+
+func (n *Network) Identity() string { return n.ID }
+func (n *Network) Kind() Type       { return TypeNetwork }
+func (n *Network) Target() string   { return n.Name }
+
+func (n *Network) validate(where string, _ bool) []string {
+	var problems []string
+	if n.Name == "" {
+		problems = append(problems, where+": a network needs a name")
+	}
+	// The runtimes accept more than this, and the mesh does not: a name with a slash or a colon
+	// in it reads as a reference to something else entirely wherever it is later printed.
+	for _, r := range n.Name {
+		if (r < 'a' || r > 'z') && (r < 'A' || r > 'Z') && (r < '0' || r > '9') &&
+			r != '-' && r != '_' && r != '.' {
+			problems = append(problems, where+
+				": a network name is letters, digits, dashes, underscores and dots, and "+
+				n.Name+" is not")
+			break
+		}
+	}
+	return problems
+}
+
 func (u *User) Identity() string { return u.ID }
 func (u *User) Kind() Type       { return TypeUser }
 func (u *User) Target() string   { return u.Name }
@@ -429,6 +470,8 @@ func newOf(t Type) Resource {
 		return &Container{}
 	case TypeAction:
 		return &Action{}
+	case TypeNetwork:
+		return &Network{}
 	case TypeUser:
 		return &User{}
 	case TypeArchive:
@@ -440,8 +483,8 @@ func newOf(t Type) Resource {
 // Vocabulary is every kind this host speaks.
 func Vocabulary() []Type {
 	return []Type{
-		TypeAction, TypeArchive, TypeContainer, TypeDirectory, TypeFile, TypePackage,
-		TypeService, TypeUser,
+		TypeAction, TypeArchive, TypeContainer, TypeDirectory, TypeFile, TypeNetwork,
+		TypePackage, TypeService, TypeUser,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go b/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
index 3196ecf..a09df0f 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ func TestTheVocabularyIsTheEightShapesTheMeshNeeds(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 	for _, want := range []Type{
 		TypeDirectory, TypeFile, TypeService, TypePackage, TypeContainer, TypeAction,
-		TypeUser, TypeArchive,
+		TypeUser, TypeArchive, TypeNetwork,
 	} {
 		if !speaks[want] {
 			t.Errorf("the host no longer speaks %q", want)
@@ -265,8 +265,11 @@ func TestTheVocabularyIsTheEightShapesTheMeshNeeds(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Errorf("%q is in the vocabulary and cannot be constructed", want)
 		}
 	}
-	if len(speaks) != 8 {
-		t.Errorf("the vocabulary is %d shapes rather than 8; every addition widens what a compromised "+
+	// `network` is the ninth, and novox/hq ADR 0029 is the decision that made it one: an action
+	// could create a network and nothing could remove it, because an action leaves no footprint
+	// the host can undo — so the network would outlive every module that was ever unassigned.
+	if len(speaks) != 9 {
+		t.Errorf("the vocabulary is %d shapes rather than 9; every addition widens what a compromised "+
 			"control plane can express, so a change here is a decision: %s",
 			len(speaks), vocabulary())
 	}
@@ -344,3 +347,15 @@ func TestSomethingAfterTheDeclarationIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("a declaration with a trailing newline was refused: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// A name that would read as a reference to something else is refused before it reaches a runtime.
+func TestANetworkNameIsRefusedIfItIsNotOne(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, name := range []string{"", "mail/private", "host:mail", "a b"} {
+		refusal := refusalFor(t, `{"declaration":1,"resources":[
+		  {"id":"private","type":"network","name":"`+name+`"}
+		]}`)
+		if len(refusal.Problems) == 0 {
+			t.Errorf("a network named %q was accepted", name)
+		}
+	}
+}