diff --git a/internal/apply/apply.go b/internal/apply/apply.go
index 6b2c65d..baba8d4 100644
--- a/internal/apply/apply.go
+++ b/internal/apply/apply.go
@@ -1154,6 +1154,15 @@ func ensureImage(ctx context.Context, cri, image string, run Runner) error {
 	if _, err := run(ctx, cri, "image", "inspect", image); err == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
+	// An image named by the digest of its own configuration is one this machine was supposed to
+	// already hold — built here, or handed over. There is no registry that answers for it, so
+	// pulling would fail somewhere that names a network problem instead of a missing image.
+	if strings.HasPrefix(image, "sha256:") {
+		return fmt.Errorf(
+			"image %s is not on this machine, and an image named by its own digest cannot be "+
+				"fetched: nothing serves it. Build it here, or load it, before applying this",
+			image)
+	}
 	if _, err := run(ctx, cri, "pull", image); err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("pulling image %s: %w", image, err)
 	}
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration.go b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
index 3ffa8cf..84a6824 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
@@ -874,20 +874,41 @@ func checkMode(where, mode string) []string {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// checkImage insists on a digest.
+// checkImage insists on content, not on a name.
 //
 // A tag moves and a digest does not. The bundle's whole claim is that what it names is exact
 // (novox/hq ADR 0006), and a bundle pinning `postgres:17` pins nothing — it names whatever
 // that tag points at on the day the host happens to run.
+//
+// **Two forms say something exact, and only one of them needs a registry.** `name@sha256:…` is a
+// manifest digest, which a registry assigns on push. A bare `sha256:…` is an image the machine
+// already holds, addressed by the digest of its own configuration — equally immutable, equally
+// unforgeable, and requiring nothing to have served it.
+//
+// That second form is what a first machine needs. The mesh's own control plane exists in no public
+// registry and never will: it is built from source, and until this mesh has a registry of its own
+// there is nowhere to push it to and therefore no manifest digest to name it by. Insisting on one
+// would mean a registry has to exist before the thing that lets a mesh have a registry can start —
+// which is not a pin, it is a dependency the rule accidentally created. A machine that built an
+// image, or was handed one, can name it by what it is.
 func checkImage(where, image string) []string {
 	if image == "" {
 		return []string{where + ": a container needs an image"}
 	}
+	// An image this machine holds, named by the digest of its own configuration.
+	if strings.HasPrefix(image, "sha256:") {
+		if len(image) != len("sha256:")+64 {
+			return []string{fmt.Sprintf(
+				"%s: image id %q is not a sha256 digest", where, image)}
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
 	name, digest, found := strings.Cut(image, "@")
 	if !found || name == "" {
 		return []string{fmt.Sprintf(
-			"%s: image %q is not pinned. Write it as name@sha256:... — a tag moves, and a "+
-				"bundle that pinned a tag would not be pinned", where, image)}
+			"%s: image %q is not pinned. Write it as name@sha256:… — or as sha256:… for an image "+
+				"this machine already holds. A tag moves, and a bundle that pinned a tag would "+
+				"not be pinned", where, image)}
 	}
 	if !strings.HasPrefix(digest, "sha256:") || len(digest) != len("sha256:")+64 {
 		return []string{fmt.Sprintf(
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go b/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
index 46734b3..11244bc 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
@@ -219,6 +219,32 @@ func TestAnImageMustBePinnedByDigest(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// An image the machine already holds, addressed by the digest of its own configuration.
+//
+// **The form a first machine needs.** A manifest digest is assigned by a registry on push, so
+// insisting on one means a registry has to exist before the thing that lets a mesh have a registry
+// can start. The mesh's own control plane is built from source and lives in no public registry; a
+// machine that built it, or was handed it, names it by what it is — a content address, not a name,
+// and immutable in exactly the way the rule asks for.
+func TestAnImageTheMachineHoldsIsNamedByItsOwnDigest(t *testing.T) {
+	held := "sha256:" + strings.Repeat("b", 64)
+	if _, err := ParseTrusted([]byte(`{"declaration":1,"resources":[
+	  {"id":"control","type":"container","name":"mesh-control","image":"` + held + `"}
+	]}`)); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("an image named by its own digest was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// Still a digest, though. A truncated one names several images, and which one ran would be
+	// whichever the runtime happened to match first.
+	for _, bad := range []string{"sha256:abc", "sha256:", "sha256:" + strings.Repeat("b", 63)} {
+		if _, err := ParseTrusted([]byte(`{"declaration":1,"resources":[
+		  {"id":"control","type":"container","name":"mesh-control","image":"` + bad + `"}
+		]}`)); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("image id %q was accepted and is not a digest", bad)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestAFieldTheNewTypesDoNotUseIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
 	// The field-set check must cover the types added last, not only the three it was written
 	// for. A package that carries a `content` is a control plane believing it asked for