diff --git a/cmd/mesh-bootstrap/main.go b/cmd/mesh-bootstrap/main.go
index c001e7a..fb8c777 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-bootstrap/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-bootstrap/main.go
@@ -140,6 +140,10 @@ const usage = `mesh-bootstrap — make a bare machine into a mesh
               firewall stay as they are, the foundation's filter is not loaded and
               the mesh guards its own ports instead, and each module is taken on it
               one at a time. Without it, a machine in use is refused
+  --tunnel    adopted: the interface of the tunnel the private network takes over
+              (its key, port, range and peers); found by itself when one is up, and
+              needed only when several are. --hub-port and --overlay-range then
+              follow the tunnel
 
 The installer carries a builder, not a control plane. What raises a mesh is therefore
 the same thing that will maintain it, and the control plane a mesh ends up running is
@@ -334,6 +338,8 @@ func newFlagSet(opts *bootstrap.Options, jsonOut *bool) *flag.FlagSet {
 		"raise this machine adopted: keep what it runs and its firewall until each module is taken")
 	set.StringVar(&opts.OverlayRange, "overlay-range", opts.OverlayRange,
 		"the private network's address range; must not overlap a tunnel the machine already runs")
+	set.StringVar(&opts.Tunnel, "tunnel", "",
+		"adopted: the found tunnel's interface the private network takes over; found by itself when one is up")
 	if opts.Answers == nil {
 		opts.Answers = map[string]string{}
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/main.go b/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
index 681eb3c..a8f420a 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/reachable"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/store"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/system"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/tunnel"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/upgrade"
 )
 
@@ -88,6 +89,7 @@ type options struct {
 	state    string
 	token    string
 	nodeName string
+	tunnel   string
 	dryRun   bool
 	file     string
 }
@@ -116,6 +118,8 @@ func parseArgs(args []string) (string, options, error) {
 	set.BoolVar(&opts.dryRun, "dry-run", false, "read and check the declaration, change nothing")
 	set.StringVar(&opts.token, "token", "", "enrol: the one-time token, carried here by a person")
 	set.StringVar(&opts.nodeName, "name", "", "enrol: override the name the token carries")
+	set.StringVar(&opts.tunnel, "tunnel", "", "enrol, adopted: the found tunnel's interface whose key "+
+		"this node takes as its own; found by itself when one is up")
 
 	// Parsed in a loop, because the standard library stops at the FIRST non-flag argument.
 	// `mesh-host inventory --json` hit that once, and taking the subcommand off the front
@@ -478,14 +482,39 @@ func enrol(ctx context.Context, opts options) error {
 	}
 	fmt.Printf("generated this node's identity: %s\n", mine.PublicBase64())
 
-	// Its key on the private network, generated here and now for the same reason: the private
+	// Its key on the private network. Generated here and now, for the same reason: the private
 	// half must never have been anywhere else. The mesh receives only the public half and uses it
 	// to compute a graph it cannot impersonate.
-	mine.Overlay, err = identity.GenerateOverlayKey()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
+	//
+	// **Except on an adopted node with a tunnel** (novox/hq ADR 0105): the found interface's key
+	// becomes this node's, so the peers that know the tunnel by that key keep reaching it once
+	// the mesh's interface takes the tunnel over. The one case where the mesh takes a credential
+	// it did not mint — read from the found configuration, written where a generated one is
+	// written, never printed, never sent.
+	var found *link.Tunnel
+	if token.Adopted {
+		tun, err := tunnel.Find(ctx, apply.ExecRunner, opts.tunnel)
+		switch {
+		case errors.Is(err, tunnel.ErrNone):
+			fmt.Println("no tunnel is up on this machine; the private network's key is generated")
+		case err != nil:
+			return err
+		default:
+			mine.Overlay, err = identity.OverlayKeyFrom(tun.PrivateKey())
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			found = carried(tun)
+			fmt.Printf("this node's overlay key is the found tunnel's (%s): %s\n", tun, mine.Overlay.Public)
+		}
+	}
+	if found == nil {
+		mine.Overlay, err = identity.GenerateOverlayKey()
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("generated this node's overlay key:  %s\n", mine.Overlay.Public)
 	}
-	fmt.Printf("generated this node's overlay key:  %s\n", mine.Overlay.Public)
 
 	// And the key secrets are sealed to. Here, with the others, because the mesh cannot seal
 	// anything to a key it has not been told about — a key made later would leave a node that
@@ -519,7 +548,8 @@ func enrol(ctx context.Context, opts options) error {
 	proof := mine.Sign(link.EnrolProof(token.Secret, mine.Public, mine.Overlay.Public,
 		sealing.Public, serving.Public))
 	reply, err := link.Enrol(ctx, token.Broker, token.Fingerprint, *name, token.Secret,
-		mine.Public, mine.Overlay.Public, sealing.Public, serving.Public, reported, proof, opts.timeout)
+		mine.Public, mine.Overlay.Public, sealing.Public, serving.Public, reported, proof, found,
+		opts.timeout)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -578,6 +608,16 @@ func enrol(ctx context.Context, opts options) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// carried is a found tunnel as it is presented to the mesh: everything but its private key.
+func carried(t tunnel.Found) *link.Tunnel {
+	out := &link.Tunnel{Interface: t.Interface, Unit: t.Unit, Config: t.Config, Port: t.Port,
+		Address: t.Address, Range: t.Range, PublicKey: t.PublicKey}
+	for _, p := range t.Peers {
+		out.Peers = append(out.Peers, link.TunnelPeer{PublicKey: p.PublicKey, Address: p.Address})
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
 func firstNonEmpty(values ...string) string {
 	for _, v := range values {
 		if strings.TrimSpace(v) != "" {
@@ -891,6 +931,11 @@ func applyAndKeep(ctx context.Context, opts options, raw []byte, signed *store.D
 		if updated.Firewall != nil {
 			report.Firewall = updated.Firewall.Kind
 		}
+		// And the tunnel the private network took over, as this apply found it (novox/hq ADR 0105).
+		if t := outcome.Tunnel; t != nil {
+			report.Tunnel = &link.CarriedTunnel{Interface: t.Interface, Port: t.Port, Range: t.Range,
+				Peers: t.Peers, Taken: t.Taken, Kept: t.Kept}
+		}
 		reached, err := reachable.Collect(ctx, apply.ExecRunner)
 		if err != nil {
 			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "mesh-host: applied, and could not read what is reachable here: %v\n", err)
diff --git a/internal/apply/apply.go b/internal/apply/apply.go
index d473f3f..c2fd918 100644
--- a/internal/apply/apply.go
+++ b/internal/apply/apply.go
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ type Outcome struct {
 // Report is what an apply did, in the order it did it.
 type Report struct {
 	Outcomes []Outcome `json:"outcomes"`
+	// Tunnel is what this apply says about the tunnel the private network took over, when the
+	// declaration names one (novox/hq ADR 0105).
+	Tunnel *TakenTunnel `json:"tunnel,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Changed reports whether anything about the machine actually moved. An apply that changed
@@ -153,6 +156,11 @@ func ApplyKeeping(
 	for _, r := range d.Resources {
 		declared[r.Identity()] = true
 	}
+	if svc := takesOver(d); svc != nil {
+		// The found tunnel's configuration is held under an id of its own, declared for as long
+		// as the service that took it over is (novox/hq ADR 0105).
+		declared[takeOverID(svc)] = true
+	}
 
 	// Which firewall is found here, before anything else, since an unsupported one refuses the
 	// whole declaration (novox/hq ADR 0100). Nothing for a converged node.
@@ -327,6 +335,29 @@ func ApplyKeeping(
 			}
 		}
 
+		// The private network takes over the tunnel it found, ahead of the service that replaces
+		// it (novox/hq ADR 0105): its configuration kept, its unit stopped and disabled, never
+		// flushed. A failure here fails the service too — the mesh's interface is not started on a
+		// port the found one still holds.
+		if svc, ok := resource.(*declaration.Service); ok && svc.TakesOver != nil {
+			var outcome Outcome
+			var facts TakenTunnel
+			var err error
+			if d.Adoption == nil {
+				err = errNotAdopted
+			} else {
+				outcome, facts, err = takeOver(ctx, sys, svc, d, &known, run, keep, time.Now().UTC())
+			}
+			if err != nil {
+				failures = append(failures, &Error{Resource: svc.Identity(), Err: err, Done: report})
+				log(fmt.Sprintf("  failed %s (%s): %v", svc.Identity(), svc.Unit, err))
+				continue
+			}
+			report.Outcomes = append(report.Outcomes, outcome)
+			report.Tunnel = &facts
+			log(fmt.Sprintf("  held %s (%s): %s", outcome.ID, outcome.Target, outcome.Detail))
+		}
+
 		was, _ := known.Find(resource.Identity())
 		var outcome Outcome
 		var err error
@@ -393,6 +424,11 @@ func ApplyKeeping(
 			known.Release(held.ID)
 			outcome.Detail = takenDetail(held)
 		}
+		if svc, ok := resource.(*declaration.Service); ok && svc.TakesOver != nil && report.Tunnel != nil {
+			// The found interface is down and the mesh's is up in its place: the tunnel changed
+			// hands (novox/hq ADR 0105).
+			report.Tunnel.Taken = true
+		}
 		report.Outcomes = append(report.Outcomes, outcome)
 		if outcome.Action != "unchanged" {
 			changed[resource.Identity()] = true
diff --git a/internal/apply/hold_test.go b/internal/apply/hold_test.go
index 0651f4f..3e95e36 100644
--- a/internal/apply/hold_test.go
+++ b/internal/apply/hold_test.go
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ import (
 type machine struct {
 	containers map[string]*fakeContainer
 	asked      []string
+	// wgUp is what `wg show interfaces` answers: the tunnels up on the machine.
+	wgUp string
 
 	// units are service units by name, as systemd would report them; volumes are the runtime's
 	// named volumes.
@@ -94,6 +96,9 @@ func (m *machine) run(_ context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, e
 	if name == "systemctl" {
 		return m.systemctl(args)
 	}
+	if name == "wg" {
+		return m.wgUp, nil
+	}
 	if name == "getent" {
 		if m.users[args[len(args)-1]] {
 			return args[len(args)-1] + ":x:1500:1500::/home/" + args[len(args)-1] + ":/bin/bash\n", nil
diff --git a/internal/apply/takeover.go b/internal/apply/takeover.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bff4935
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/apply/takeover.go
@@ -0,0 +1,159 @@
+package apply
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/store"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/system"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/tunnel"
+)
+
+// The private network takes over the tunnel it found (novox/hq ADR 0105).
+//
+// The controller says so on the interface's service: `takes-over` names the found interface, the
+// unit that raised it and its configuration file. Before the mesh's unit is started, the host keeps
+// that file like any held file — the original recorded before anything else happens to it — and
+// stops and disables the found unit. Never a flush: `wg set … peer … remove` is never run, the
+// file is never written, and the found interface goes down the way its own unit takes it down.
+// Then the mesh's interface comes up, with the found key the node took at enrolment, on the found
+// port, with the found peers in its list — and a peer of the tunnel cannot tell it changed hands.
+//
+// Every apply, not once: a found unit somebody starts again would take the port back from the
+// mesh's interface, so it is stopped again and said so. That is the one place an adopted node
+// undoes something done by hand, and it is because the tunnel is the mesh's now.
+
+// TakenTunnel is what an apply says about a tunnel it took over, for the node's report.
+type TakenTunnel struct {
+	Interface string
+	Port      int
+	Range     string
+	Peers     int
+	// Taken is whether the found interface is down and disabled and the mesh's up in its place.
+	Taken bool
+	Kept  string
+}
+
+// takeOverID is the held record's id for the found configuration: the service's own with a suffix,
+// so it is declared for as long as the service is and never mistaken for the service itself.
+func takeOverID(svc *declaration.Service) string { return svc.ID + ".takes-over" }
+
+// takeOver keeps the found tunnel's configuration and stops its unit, ahead of the service that
+// replaces it. Returned is the hold's outcome, and what was found for the report.
+func takeOver(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, svc *declaration.Service, d *declaration.Declaration,
+	known *store.State, run Runner, keep Keep, now time.Time) (Outcome, TakenTunnel, error) {
+	t := svc.TakesOver
+	id := takeOverID(svc)
+	module, _ := d.Adoption.UntakenModuleOf(svc.ID)
+	if module == "" {
+		module = "the private network"
+	}
+	facts := TakenTunnel{Interface: t.Interface}
+
+	// 1. The configuration, kept like any held file. A synthetic file resource stands for it, so
+	//    the same code keeps its original, digests it and notices it changing.
+	file := &declaration.File{ID: id, Type: declaration.TypeFile, Path: t.Config}
+	was, already := known.HeldAt(id)
+	out, held, err := hold(ctx, sys, file, module, was, already,
+		"the configuration of the tunnel "+t.Interface+", taken over by "+svc.Unit, run, keep, now)
+	if err != nil {
+		return begin(file), facts, fmt.Errorf("keeping the found tunnel's configuration: %w", err)
+	}
+	known.RecordHeld(held)
+	facts.Kept = held.Kept
+	// What the file says, for the report: read from the machine, or from the kept original when
+	// the machine's copy is gone. The private key stays in the file; nothing here keeps it.
+	unread := ""
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(t.Config)
+	if err != nil && held.Kept != "" {
+		raw, err = os.ReadFile(held.Kept)
+	}
+	if err == nil {
+		if found, perr := tunnel.Parse(raw); perr == nil {
+			facts.Port, facts.Range, facts.Peers = found.Port, found.Range, len(found.Peers)
+		} else {
+			unread = perr.Error()
+		}
+	} else {
+		unread = err.Error()
+	}
+
+	// 2. The found unit: stopped if it runs, disabled if it starts at boot. A unit that is not
+	//    there is not an error — the interface may have been raised another way, which the check
+	//    below catches — and neither is one already down.
+	var did []string
+	state, err := sys.ServiceState(ctx, run, t.Unit)
+	switch {
+	case err != nil:
+		did = append(did, t.Unit+" is not a unit here")
+	case state == "running":
+		if err := sys.SetServiceState(ctx, run, t.Unit, "stopped"); err != nil {
+			return out, facts, fmt.Errorf("stopping the found %s: %w", t.Unit, err)
+		}
+		after, err := sys.ServiceState(ctx, run, t.Unit)
+		if err != nil {
+			return out, facts, err
+		}
+		if after != "stopped" {
+			return out, facts, fmt.Errorf("%s was asked to stop and is %s", t.Unit, after)
+		}
+		did = append(did, "stopped "+t.Unit)
+	}
+	if err == nil {
+		if boot, err := sys.ServiceBoot(ctx, run, t.Unit); err == nil && boot == "enabled" {
+			if err := sys.SetServiceBoot(ctx, run, t.Unit, "disabled"); err != nil {
+				return out, facts, fmt.Errorf("disabling the found %s at boot: %w", t.Unit, err)
+			}
+			did = append(did, "disabled it at boot")
+		}
+	}
+
+	// 3. The interface is gone. If it is still up, something other than its unit raised it, and
+	//    starting the mesh's on the same port and address would fail or, worse, half work.
+	if up, err := run(ctx, "wg", "show", "interfaces"); err == nil {
+		for _, iface := range strings.Fields(up) {
+			if iface == t.Interface {
+				return out, facts, fmt.Errorf("%s is still up after its unit %s was stopped: something other "+
+					"than that unit raises it, and the mesh's interface cannot take its port and address "+
+					"while it does. Nothing was flushed", t.Interface, t.Unit)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	out.Detail = "the tunnel " + t.Interface + "'s configuration, kept as found"
+	if held.Kept != "" {
+		out.Detail += " (original at " + held.Kept + ")"
+	}
+	if len(did) > 0 {
+		out.Detail += "; " + strings.Join(did, ", ") + " — never flushed"
+	}
+	if held.Changed != "" {
+		out.Detail += "; " + held.Changed + " by something other than the mesh since it was found"
+	}
+	if unread != "" {
+		// Said, not swallowed: the report would otherwise say a tunnel with no port and no
+		// peers was carried, which reads as a tunnel that was not one.
+		out.Detail += "; what it says could not be read as a tunnel's: " + unread
+	}
+	return out, facts, nil
+}
+
+// takesOver is the service in a declaration that takes over a tunnel, if any: one per node, since
+// a machine has one private network.
+func takesOver(d *declaration.Declaration) *declaration.Service {
+	for _, r := range d.Resources {
+		if svc, ok := r.(*declaration.Service); ok && svc.TakesOver != nil {
+			return svc
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// errNotAdopted is a takeover on a declaration that does not say the node is adopted, which the
+// parser refuses already; kept as a second line of defence at the point of acting.
+var errNotAdopted = errors.New("a tunnel is taken over on an adopted node only")
diff --git a/internal/apply/takeover_test.go b/internal/apply/takeover_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ca9abf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/apply/takeover_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+package apply
+
+import (
+	"crypto/ecdh"
+	"crypto/rand"
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/store"
+)
+
+// novox/hq ADR 0105: the host raises the mesh's interface with the found key and peers, stops the
+// found interface without flushing it, and keeps its configuration.
+
+// foundConf is the predecessor's configuration, with a real key made once per run: the key is
+// what the takeover must never print or copy, so it had better be one.
+var foundConf = func() string {
+	k, err := ecdh.X25519().GenerateKey(rand.Reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic(err)
+	}
+	return "[Interface]\nPrivateKey = " + base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(k.Bytes()) + "\n" +
+		"ListenPort = 51900\nAddress = 192.0.2.1/24\n\n[Peer]\nPublicKey = PEER-A=\nAllowedIPs = 192.0.2.2/32\n" +
+		"\n[Peer]\nPublicKey = PEER-B=\nAllowedIPs = 192.0.2.3/32\n"
+}()
+
+// aTakeover is the private network's declaration for an adopted hub whose interface takes over
+// the found tunnel: the mesh's configuration — with the found key set from the node's own key file
+// and the found peers in its list — and the interface's service naming what it replaces.
+func aTakeover(t *testing.T, config, mesh string) *declaration.Declaration {
+	t.Helper()
+	return adopted(t,
+		`{"taken":[],"untaken":{"mesh-wireguard":["mesh-wireguard.overlay-config","mesh-wireguard.overlay-up"]}}`,
+		`{"id":"mesh-wireguard.overlay-config","type":"file","path":"`+mesh+`","mode":"0600",
+		  "content":"[Interface]\nAddress = 192.0.2.1/32\nListenPort = 51900\nPostUp = wg set %i private-key /var/lib/mesh-host/overlay.key\n\n[Peer]\nPublicKey = PEER-A=\nAllowedIPs = 192.0.2.2/32\n"},
+		 {"id":"mesh-wireguard.overlay-up","type":"service","unit":"wg-quick@mesh0","state":"running","boot":"enabled",
+		  "restart-on":["mesh-wireguard.overlay-config"],
+		  "takes-over":{"interface":"wg0","unit":"wg-quick@wg0","config":"`+config+`"}}`)
+}
+
+// aHubInUse is a machine with the predecessor's tunnel up and the mesh's not yet.
+func aHubInUse(t *testing.T) (dir, config, mesh string, m *machine) {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir = t.TempDir()
+	config = filepath.Join(dir, "wg0.conf")
+	mesh = filepath.Join(dir, "mesh0.conf")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(config, []byte(foundConf), 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	m = &machine{containers: map[string]*fakeContainer{}, units: map[string]*fakeUnit{
+		"wg-quick@wg0":   {active: "active", enabled: "enabled"},
+		"wg-quick@mesh0": {active: "inactive", enabled: "disabled", fragment: "/usr/lib/systemd/system/wg-quick@.service"},
+	}}
+	return dir, config, mesh, m
+}
+
+func TestTheFoundTunnelIsStoppedNeverFlushedAndItsConfigurationKept(t *testing.T) {
+	dir, config, mesh, m := aHubInUse(t)
+	report, state := applyAdopted(t, aTakeover(t, config, mesh), store.State{}, m, dir)
+
+	// The found interface: its unit stopped and disabled, and nothing else done to it.
+	if u := m.units["wg-quick@wg0"]; u.active != "inactive" || u.enabled != "disabled" {
+		t.Fatalf("the found unit was not stopped and disabled: %+v", u)
+	}
+	for _, asked := range m.asked {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(asked, "wg ") && !strings.HasPrefix(asked, "wg show interfaces") {
+			t.Errorf("the found interface was touched with %q; it is stopped, never flushed", asked)
+		}
+		if strings.HasPrefix(asked, "wg-quick") || strings.Contains(asked, "peer remove") {
+			t.Errorf("the found interface was flushed: %q", asked)
+		}
+	}
+	// Its configuration: on disk as it was, its original kept, held for the module.
+	if got, _ := os.ReadFile(config); string(got) != foundConf {
+		t.Fatalf("the found configuration was changed:\n%s", got)
+	}
+	held, ok := state.HeldAt("mesh-wireguard.overlay-up.takes-over")
+	if !ok || held.Kind != "file" || held.Target != config || held.Kept == "" || held.Module != "mesh-wireguard" {
+		t.Fatalf("the found configuration is not held: %+v", held)
+	}
+	if kept, _ := os.ReadFile(held.Kept); string(kept) != foundConf {
+		t.Fatalf("the original was not kept as found: %q", kept)
+	}
+	// The mesh's interface: up, enabled, with the found peers in the file the mesh wrote.
+	if u := m.units["wg-quick@mesh0"]; u.active != "active" || u.enabled != "enabled" {
+		t.Fatalf("the mesh's interface was not raised: %+v", u)
+	}
+	if got, _ := os.ReadFile(mesh); !strings.Contains(string(got), "PEER-A=") || strings.Contains(string(got), "PrivateKey") {
+		t.Fatalf("the mesh's configuration does not carry the found peer, or carries a key:\n%s", got)
+	}
+	// And the report says so, with what was found — port, range, peers — and never the key.
+	if report.Tunnel == nil || !report.Tunnel.Taken || report.Tunnel.Port != 51900 ||
+		report.Tunnel.Range != "192.0.2.0/24" || report.Tunnel.Peers != 2 || report.Tunnel.Kept != held.Kept {
+		t.Fatalf("the report does not say what was carried: %+v", report.Tunnel)
+	}
+	private := strings.TrimSpace(strings.SplitN(strings.SplitN(foundConf, "PrivateKey = ", 2)[1], "\n", 2)[0])
+	for _, o := range report.Outcomes {
+		if strings.Contains(o.Detail, private) {
+			t.Errorf("the found key was printed in an outcome: %+v", o)
+		}
+	}
+	if o := outcomeOf(report, "mesh-wireguard.overlay-up.takes-over"); o.Action != "held" ||
+		!strings.Contains(o.Detail, "stopped wg-quick@wg0") || !strings.Contains(o.Detail, "never flushed") {
+		t.Errorf("the takeover was not reported as a hold that stopped the found unit: %+v", o)
+	}
+	if _, recorded := state.Find("mesh-wireguard.overlay-up.takes-over"); recorded {
+		t.Error("the found configuration was recorded as applied, so it would be removed as an orphan")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestATakeoverIsSteadyAndTheFoundUnitStaysDown(t *testing.T) {
+	dir, config, mesh, m := aHubInUse(t)
+	d := aTakeover(t, config, mesh)
+	_, state := applyAdopted(t, d, store.State{}, m, dir)
+	m.asked = nil
+
+	report, again := applyAdopted(t, d, state, m, dir)
+	if report.Changed() {
+		t.Errorf("a second apply moved the machine: %+v", report.Outcomes)
+	}
+	if _, still := again.HeldAt("mesh-wireguard.overlay-up.takes-over"); !still {
+		t.Error("the hold on the found configuration was forgotten while the service still declares it")
+	}
+	if m.did("systemctl stop wg-quick@wg0") {
+		t.Error("a found unit already down was stopped again")
+	}
+
+	// Somebody starts the found unit again: it would take the port back, so it is stopped again
+	// — the one thing on an adopted node the mesh undoes, because the tunnel is the mesh's now.
+	m.units["wg-quick@wg0"].active = "active"
+	m.asked = nil
+	_, _ = applyAdopted(t, d, again, m, dir)
+	if m.units["wg-quick@wg0"].active != "inactive" || !m.did("systemctl stop wg-quick@wg0") {
+		t.Error("a found unit started again was left holding the mesh's port")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAFoundInterfaceStillUpAfterItsUnitStoppedRefusesTheTakeover(t *testing.T) {
+	dir, config, mesh, m := aHubInUse(t)
+	m.wgUp = "wg0 mesh0\n"
+	_, state, err := ApplyKeeping(t.Context(), archHost(t), aTakeover(t, config, mesh), store.State{},
+		store.OriginDeclared, m.run, nil, nil, KeepIn(dir))
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "still up") || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Nothing was flushed") {
+		t.Fatalf("an interface something else raises was taken over anyway: %v", err)
+	}
+	if m.units["wg-quick@mesh0"].active == "active" {
+		t.Error("the mesh's interface was started on a port the found one still holds")
+	}
+	if _, held := state.HeldAt("mesh-wireguard.overlay-up.takes-over"); !held {
+		t.Error("the found configuration was not kept before the refusal")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestATakeoverIsRefusedOnAConvergedDeclaration(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := declaration.Parse([]byte(`{"declaration":1,"resources":[
+	  {"id":"up","type":"service","unit":"wg-quick@mesh0","state":"running",
+	   "takes-over":{"interface":"wg0","unit":"wg-quick@wg0","config":"/etc/wireguard/wg0.conf"}}]}`))
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "adopted") {
+		t.Fatalf("a takeover on a converged node was accepted: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/bootstrap.go b/internal/bootstrap/bootstrap.go
index 4349bcc..12089b0 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/bootstrap.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/bootstrap.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/firewall"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/tunnel"
 )
 
 // Step names one stage. A failure says which one, because "the bootstrap failed" is a sentence
@@ -201,6 +202,11 @@ type Options struct {
 	// until each module is taken, its firewall stays in force, and the mesh guards its own ports
 	// in a table that only refuses. Without it, a machine in use is refused.
 	Adopted bool
+	// Tunnel names the found tunnel's interface an adopted hub takes over (novox/hq ADR 0105), when
+	// more than one is up and the machine cannot say which. Empty finds the one that is up. Once
+	// found, the tunnel's port is the hub's and its range the private network's; --hub-port and
+	// --overlay-range may agree with it or be left unsaid.
+	Tunnel string
 }
 
 // pivots reports whether this run goes past the foundation.
@@ -311,6 +317,9 @@ type Result struct {
 	// Filter is the packet filter chosen for when the node converges; an adopted genesis loads
 	// none, and the flip assigns this one.
 	Filter string `json:"filter-on-converge,omitempty"`
+	// Tunnel is the found tunnel an adopted genesis takes over (novox/hq ADR 0105): what was read
+	// from it, never its key.
+	Tunnel *tunnel.Found `json:"tunnel,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Run performs the bootstrap, saying what it is doing as it goes.
@@ -394,6 +403,23 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, o Options, d Deps, say func(string)) (Result, erro
 		}
 		result.Firewall = string(kind)
 		say("  adopted           what is on this machine is kept; its firewall (" + string(kind) + ") stays in force")
+
+		// The tunnel the predecessor left, which the private network takes over (novox/hq ADR
+		// 0105): its port is the hub's and its range is the mesh's from here on, so both are
+		// settled before the ports are checked free and the bundle rewritten.
+		found, err := TakeTheTunnel(&o, d.Run)
+		if err != nil {
+			return result, failed(StepPreflight, err)
+		}
+		if found != nil {
+			result.Tunnel = found
+			result.Ports = o.Ports
+			say(fmt.Sprintf("  tunnel            %s — the private network takes it over: its port %d is "+
+				"the hub's, its range %s the mesh's, and its %d peer(s) are carried until they enrol",
+				found.Interface, found.Port, found.Range, len(found.Peers)))
+		} else {
+			say("  tunnel            none up on this machine; the private network is raised on its own port and range")
+		}
 	}
 
 	sys, err := WorkOutSystem(ctx, d.Run, o.System)
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/enrol.go b/internal/bootstrap/enrol.go
index 7ee3b71..0137c3b 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/enrol.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/enrol.go
@@ -112,7 +112,14 @@ func Enrol(ctx context.Context, o Options, sys system.System, control controlPla
 			return out, err
 		}
 		joining, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, o.Wait)
-		joined, err := control.run(joining, o.Host, "enrol", "--token", token, "--state", o.State)
+		args := []string{"enrol", "--token", token, "--state", o.State}
+		if o.Tunnel != "" {
+			// The found tunnel's key becomes this node's overlay key, and the tunnel travels with
+			// the enrolment (novox/hq ADR 0105). Named, so the host takes the one genesis settled
+			// its ports and range on and not another that came up since.
+			args = append(args, "--tunnel", o.Tunnel)
+		}
+		joined, err := control.run(joining, o.Host, args...)
 		cancel()
 		if err != nil {
 			return out, fmt.Errorf(
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/ports.go b/internal/bootstrap/ports.go
index c3c1ed8..cb09372 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/ports.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/ports.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"net"
 	"sort"
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/reachable"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/store"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/tunnel"
 )
 
 // FoundationPorts are the machine's ports the foundation binds (novox/hq ADR 0100).
@@ -321,6 +323,36 @@ func PortsFree(ctx context.Context, run Runner, p FoundationPorts, ours func(rea
 	return nil
 }
 
+// TakeTheTunnel finds the tunnel an adopted machine's private network takes over (novox/hq ADR
+// 0105) and settles the options on it: the hub's port is the tunnel's, the mesh's range is the
+// tunnel's, and the interface is named for the enrolment that takes its key. Nil when no tunnel is
+// up, which is an ordinary machine. A --hub-port or --overlay-range that disagrees with the
+// tunnel is refused: the peers dial the tunnel's port and live in its range, and a mesh raised
+// beside them on other numbers is the two-tunnel shape the record rejects.
+func TakeTheTunnel(o *Options, run Runner) (*tunnel.Found, error) {
+	found, err := tunnel.Find(context.Background(), tunnel.Runner(run), o.Tunnel)
+	if errors.Is(err, tunnel.ErrNone) {
+		return nil, nil
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%w. An adopted hub takes over the tunnel it finds; nothing was changed", err)
+	}
+	if o.Ports.Hub != 0 && o.Ports.Hub != DefaultPorts().Hub && o.Ports.Hub != found.Port {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("--hub-port %d disagrees with the tunnel %s, which listens on %d: the "+
+			"private network takes over that tunnel on its own port, so leave --hub-port unsaid or "+
+			"say %d", o.Ports.Hub, found.Interface, found.Port, found.Port)
+	}
+	if o.OverlayRange != "" && o.OverlayRange != DefaultOverlayRange && o.OverlayRange != found.Range {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("--overlay-range %s disagrees with the tunnel %s, whose range is %s: the "+
+			"private network takes over that tunnel with its range, so leave --overlay-range unsaid "+
+			"or say %s", o.OverlayRange, found.Interface, found.Range, found.Range)
+	}
+	o.Tunnel = found.Interface
+	o.Ports.Hub = found.Port
+	o.OverlayRange = found.Range
+	return &found, nil
+}
+
 // OverlayClear refuses a private-network range that overlaps an address or a route the machine
 // already has — a predecessor's tunnel still running — naming the interface. The mesh's own
 // interface is not counted.
@@ -459,12 +491,26 @@ func CheckTheMachine(ctx context.Context, o Options, run Runner, bundle *declara
 		}
 		return false
 	}
+	if o.Tunnel != "" {
+		// The hub's port is the found tunnel's, held by that tunnel until the mesh's interface
+		// takes it over (novox/hq ADR 0105): held by design, not by something else.
+		inner := ours
+		ours = func(r reachable.Reach) bool {
+			return inner(r) || (r.Protocol == "udp" && r.Port == p.Hub)
+		}
+	}
 	if err := PortsFree(ctx, run, p, ours); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	say(fmt.Sprintf("  ports free        store %d, bus %d, amqp %d, management %d, registry %d, packages %d, hub %d/udp",
 		p.Store, p.Bus, p.AMQP, p.Management, p.Registry, p.Packages, p.Hub))
-	if err := OverlayClear(ctx, run, o.OverlayRange); err != nil {
+	if o.Tunnel != "" {
+		// One tunnel and one range: the mesh's range IS the found tunnel's, so the rule that the
+		// two must not overlap applies only where a found tunnel is left running beside the mesh's
+		// (ADR 0100, narrowed by ADR 0105).
+		say(fmt.Sprintf("  range             %s is the tunnel %s's, taken over; not checked against it",
+			o.OverlayRange, o.Tunnel))
+	} else if err := OverlayClear(ctx, run, o.OverlayRange); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	if err := NamesFree(ctx, run, names, known); err != nil {
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go
index 366a3dd..ac0ec92 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ package bootstrap
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"crypto/ecdh"
+	"crypto/rand"
+	"encoding/base64"
 	"errors"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -12,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/reachable"
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/store"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/tunnel"
 )
 
 // Defends novox/hq ADR 0100: the foundation's ports are the node's — inputs to genesis, checked free,
@@ -130,9 +134,9 @@ func TestTwoThingsOnOnePortAreRefused(t *testing.T) {
 
 // machineRunner answers ss, docker ps, docker inspect and ip from fixtures.
 type machineRunner struct {
-	ss, ps, addrs, routes string
-	unlabelled            map[string]bool
-	labelled              map[string]bool
+	ss, ps, addrs, routes, wg string
+	unlabelled                map[string]bool
+	labelled                  map[string]bool
 }
 
 func (m machineRunner) run(_ context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error) {
@@ -154,6 +158,8 @@ func (m machineRunner) run(_ context.Context, name string, args ...string) (stri
 		return m.addrs, nil
 	case name == "ip" && args[1] == "route":
 		return m.routes, nil
+	case name == "wg":
+		return m.wg, nil
 	}
 	return "", nil
 }
@@ -295,3 +301,76 @@ func TestARerunOfGenesisFindsItsOwnPackageRegistry(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error("a container under the package registry's name on a fresh machine was not refused")
 	}
 }
+
+// novox/hq ADR 0105: an adopted genesis takes over the tunnel it finds — its port is the hub's,
+// its range the mesh's, and neither is refused for being held by it.
+func TestAnAdoptedGenesisSettlesOnTheTunnelItFinds(t *testing.T) {
+	private, err := aFoundKey()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	conf := "[Interface]\nPrivateKey = " + private + "\nListenPort = 51900\nAddress = 192.0.2.1/24\n" +
+		"[Peer]\nPublicKey = PEER=\nAllowedIPs = 192.0.2.2/32\n"
+	tunnel.ReadFile = func(path string) ([]byte, error) {
+		if path == tunnel.ConfigDir+"/wg0.conf" {
+			return []byte(conf), nil
+		}
+		return nil, errors.New("no such file")
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() { tunnel.ReadFile = os.ReadFile })
+	m := machineRunner{
+		wg:     "wg0\n",
+		ss:     "udp UNCONN 0 0 0.0.0.0:51900 0.0.0.0:*\n",
+		addrs:  "5: wg0    inet 192.0.2.1/24 scope global wg0\n",
+		routes: "192.0.2.0/24 dev wg0 proto kernel scope link src 192.0.2.1\n",
+	}
+
+	o := Options{Adopted: true, Ports: DefaultPorts(), OverlayRange: DefaultOverlayRange, State: filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "state.json")}
+	found, err := TakeTheTunnel(&o, m.run)
+	if err != nil || found == nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the tunnel was not found and taken: %+v %v", found, err)
+	}
+	if o.Tunnel != "wg0" || o.Ports.Hub != 51900 || o.OverlayRange != "192.0.2.0/24" {
+		t.Fatalf("genesis did not settle on the tunnel's port and range: %+v", o)
+	}
+	// Its port is held by the tunnel and its range overlaps the tunnel's — by design, not refused.
+	if err := CheckTheMachine(context.Background(), o, m.run, producedBundle(t).Declaration, func(string) {}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the machine was refused for the tunnel it takes over: %v", err)
+	}
+	// Whereas the same machine not taking it over is refused on both counts (ADR 0100).
+	plain := o
+	plain.Tunnel = ""
+	if err := CheckTheMachine(context.Background(), plain, m.run, producedBundle(t).Declaration, func(string) {}); err == nil ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "51900") {
+		t.Fatalf("a tunnel not taken over stopped being refused for holding the hub's port: %v", err)
+	}
+	plain.Ports.Hub = 51821
+	if err := CheckTheMachine(context.Background(), plain, m.run, producedBundle(t).Declaration, func(string) {}); err == nil ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "wg0") {
+		t.Fatalf("a tunnel not taken over stopped being refused for overlapping the range: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// Numbers that disagree with the tunnel are refused, naming the tunnel's.
+	for name, given := range map[string]Options{
+		"--hub-port":      {Adopted: true, Ports: FoundationPorts{Hub: 51821}, OverlayRange: DefaultOverlayRange},
+		"--overlay-range": {Adopted: true, Ports: DefaultPorts(), OverlayRange: "10.77.0.0/16"},
+	} {
+		if _, err := TakeTheTunnel(&given, m.run); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), name) {
+			t.Errorf("a %s disagreeing with the tunnel was accepted: %v", name, err)
+		}
+	}
+	// And no tunnel up is an ordinary machine.
+	m.wg = "mesh0\n"
+	none := Options{Adopted: true, Ports: DefaultPorts(), OverlayRange: DefaultOverlayRange}
+	if found, err := TakeTheTunnel(&none, m.run); err != nil || found != nil || none.Ports.Hub != DefaultPorts().Hub {
+		t.Errorf("a machine with no tunnel was not left as it was: %+v %v", found, err)
+	}
+}
+
+func aFoundKey() (string, error) {
+	k, err := ecdh.X25519().GenerateKey(rand.Reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(k.Bytes()), nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/declaration/adoption_test.go b/internal/declaration/adoption_test.go
index 1ca0d3b..e422516 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/adoption_test.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/adoption_test.go
@@ -105,3 +105,28 @@ func TestACarriedBundleCannotSayTheNodeIsAdopted(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("a bundle claiming adoption was not refused: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// novox/hq ADR 0105: a service may take over a found tunnel, said whole and on an adopted node.
+func TestTakingOverATunnelIsSaidWholeAndForARunningService(t *testing.T) {
+	adoptedWith := func(service string) error {
+		_, err := Parse([]byte(`{"declaration":1,"adoption":{"taken":[]},"resources":[` + service + `]}`))
+		return err
+	}
+	good := `{"id":"up","type":"service","unit":"wg-quick@mesh0","state":"running",
+	  "takes-over":{"interface":"wg0","unit":"wg-quick@wg0","config":"/etc/wireguard/wg0.conf"}}`
+	if err := adoptedWith(good); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a whole takeover on an adopted node was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+	for name, bad := range map[string]string{
+		"its own unit": `{"id":"up","type":"service","unit":"wg-quick@wg0","state":"running",
+		  "takes-over":{"interface":"wg0","unit":"wg-quick@wg0","config":"/etc/wireguard/wg0.conf"}}`,
+		"no config": `{"id":"up","type":"service","unit":"wg-quick@mesh0","state":"running",
+		  "takes-over":{"interface":"wg0","unit":"wg-quick@wg0"}}`,
+		"a stopped service": `{"id":"up","type":"service","unit":"wg-quick@mesh0","state":"stopped",
+		  "takes-over":{"interface":"wg0","unit":"wg-quick@wg0","config":"/etc/wireguard/wg0.conf"}}`,
+	} {
+		if err := adoptedWith(bad); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("a takeover naming %s was accepted", name)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration.go b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
index c0bc7af..237d6ae 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
@@ -617,6 +617,21 @@ type Service struct {
 	// container runtime, whose restart stops every container on the machine (novox/hq ADR 0102).
 	// A change that is also in RestartOn restarts it, which covers a reload.
 	ReloadOn []string `json:"reload-on,omitempty"`
+
+	// TakesOver names the found tunnel this service replaces (novox/hq ADR 0105): before this unit
+	// is started, the named unit is stopped and disabled — never flushed — and its configuration
+	// file is kept like any held file. Only on an adopted node, and only said by the controller,
+	// which knows the found tunnel's key is this node's own: without that, starting this unit on
+	// the found one's port would drop every peer's packets.
+	TakesOver *TakeOver `json:"takes-over,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// TakeOver is a found tunnel a service replaces: its interface, the unit that raised it, and its
+// configuration file.
+type TakeOver struct {
+	Interface string `json:"interface"`
+	Unit      string `json:"unit"`
+	Config    string `json:"config"`
 }
 
 func (s *Service) Identity() string { return s.ID }
@@ -637,6 +652,19 @@ func (s *Service) validate(where string, _ bool) []string {
 			"%s: boot %q; a service is \"enabled\" or \"disabled\" at boot, or omits it to "+
 				"leave the machine's own setting alone", where, s.Boot))
 	}
+	if t := s.TakesOver; t != nil {
+		switch {
+		case t.Unit == "" || t.Config == "" || t.Interface == "":
+			problems = append(problems, where+": takes-over names the found tunnel's interface, unit "+
+				"and config, and this leaves one out")
+		case t.Unit == s.Unit:
+			problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf("%s: takes-over names %s, which is this service's own unit",
+				where, t.Unit))
+		case s.State != "running":
+			problems = append(problems, where+": a service that takes over a tunnel is running — stopping "+
+				"the found one for a service that will not run would leave the peers with nothing")
+		}
+	}
 	return problems
 }
 
@@ -1167,6 +1195,14 @@ func parse(raw []byte, allowActions bool) (*Declaration, error) {
 					"resource %q: an opening is for an adopted node, and this declaration does not "+
 						"say the node is adopted", r.Identity()))
 			}
+			if svc, ok := r.(*Service); ok && svc.TakesOver != nil {
+				// A tunnel is taken over on an adopted node, where what is found is kept: on a
+				// converged one there is nothing found to take over, and stopping a unit the
+				// mesh did not declare would be the host deciding (novox/hq ADR 0105).
+				problems = append(problems, fmt.Sprintf(
+					"resource %q: taking over a tunnel is for an adopted node, and this declaration "+
+						"does not say the node is adopted", r.Identity()))
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/identity/overlay.go b/internal/identity/overlay.go
index 4c3eb39..bc1342c 100644
--- a/internal/identity/overlay.go
+++ b/internal/identity/overlay.go
@@ -43,6 +43,27 @@ func GenerateOverlayKey() (OverlayKey, error) {
 	}, nil
 }
 
+// OverlayKeyFrom makes this node's overlay key from a private key it did not generate: the found
+// tunnel's, on an adopted node whose private network takes that tunnel over (novox/hq ADR 0105).
+// The one case where the mesh takes a credential it did not mint. From here on it is stored and
+// sealed exactly as a generated one — in the identity file and the key file, readable by root
+// alone — and the mesh receives only the public half, derived here from the private one so the
+// two cannot disagree.
+func OverlayKeyFrom(privateBase64 string) (OverlayKey, error) {
+	raw, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(privateBase64)
+	if err != nil {
+		return OverlayKey{}, fmt.Errorf("the found tunnel's private key is not base64: %w", err)
+	}
+	private, err := ecdh.X25519().NewPrivateKey(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		return OverlayKey{}, fmt.Errorf("the found tunnel's private key is not a Curve25519 key: %w", err)
+	}
+	return OverlayKey{
+		Public:  base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(private.PublicKey().Bytes()),
+		Private: base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(private.Bytes()),
+	}, nil
+}
+
 // OverlayKeyPath is where the private half lives: a file of its own, referenced by the interface
 // configuration rather than embedded in it.
 //
diff --git a/internal/identity/overlay_test.go b/internal/identity/overlay_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9ce8a76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/identity/overlay_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+package identity
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// novox/hq ADR 0105: the found tunnel's private key becomes the node's overlay key, stored as a
+// generated one is, and the public half the mesh records is derived from it — so the peers that
+// know the tunnel by that key keep reaching it.
+func TestAnOverlayKeyTakenFromAFoundTunnelIsTheSameKey(t *testing.T) {
+	generated, err := GenerateOverlayKey()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	taken, err := OverlayKeyFrom(generated.Private)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if taken.Public != generated.Public || taken.Private != generated.Private {
+		t.Fatalf("a key taken from a private half is not that key: %+v vs %+v", taken, generated)
+	}
+	for _, bad := range []string{"", "not base64!", "c2hvcnQ="} {
+		if _, err := OverlayKeyFrom(bad); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "found tunnel") {
+			t.Errorf("%q was taken as a key: %v", bad, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/link/enrol.go b/internal/link/enrol.go
index 6cf839b..8f755c8 100644
--- a/internal/link/enrol.go
+++ b/internal/link/enrol.go
@@ -52,6 +52,30 @@ type EnrolRequest struct {
 	// holds the private half of PublicKey. The mesh asks for it before letting an enrolment finish
 	// on a token this key already spent (novox/hq issue 083).
 	Proof []byte `json:"proof,omitempty"`
+
+	// Tunnel is the tunnel this node found and whose key it took as its overlay key (novox/hq ADR
+	// 0105): everything about it but that key. Sent with the keys because it is one of them —
+	// OverlayKey above IS this tunnel's public key when this is set — and the mesh composes the
+	// hub's address, the range and the carried peers from it before the first declaration.
+	Tunnel *Tunnel `json:"tunnel,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// Tunnel is a found tunnel as it travels: no private key.
+type Tunnel struct {
+	Interface string       `json:"interface"`
+	Unit      string       `json:"unit"`
+	Config    string       `json:"config"`
+	Port      int          `json:"port"`
+	Address   string       `json:"address"`
+	Range     string       `json:"range"`
+	PublicKey string       `json:"public_key"`
+	Peers     []TunnelPeer `json:"peers,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// TunnelPeer is one peer of a found tunnel: its key, and the address the tunnel routes to it.
+type TunnelPeer struct {
+	PublicKey string `json:"public_key"`
+	Address   string `json:"address"`
 }
 
 // EnrolReply is what the mesh says back.
@@ -125,7 +149,7 @@ func answered(reply EnrolReply, asking time.Duration) (again bool, err error) {
 // the broker who connected.
 func Enrol(ctx context.Context, address, pin, node, secret string, public []byte,
 	overlayKey, sealingKey, servingKey string, profile map[string]any, proof []byte,
-	timeout time.Duration) (EnrolReply, error) {
+	tunnel *Tunnel, timeout time.Duration) (EnrolReply, error) {
 
 	config, err := PinnedConfig(pin)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -172,7 +196,7 @@ func Enrol(ctx context.Context, address, pin, node, secret string, public []byte
 
 	request := EnrolRequest{Node: node, Secret: secret, PublicKey: public,
 		OverlayKey: overlayKey, SealingKey: sealingKey, ServingKey: servingKey, Profile: profile,
-		Proof: proof}
+		Proof: proof, Tunnel: tunnel}
 	body, err := json.Marshal(request)
 	if err != nil {
 		return EnrolReply{}, err
diff --git a/internal/link/messages.go b/internal/link/messages.go
index 953fe6c..fe27ccb 100644
--- a/internal/link/messages.go
+++ b/internal/link/messages.go
@@ -100,6 +100,21 @@ type Report struct {
 	// published container port. Only an adopted node reports it; it is what converging the node
 	// previews, so nothing closes without being named first.
 	Reachable []Reach `json:"reachable,omitempty"`
+
+	// Tunnel is what this adopted node says about the tunnel it found and carried (novox/hq ADR
+	// 0105): which interface, its port, range and peer count, whether the found interface is down
+	// and the mesh's up in its place, and where the found configuration's original was kept.
+	Tunnel *CarriedTunnel `json:"tunnel,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// CarriedTunnel is this node's account of the tunnel it took over.
+type CarriedTunnel struct {
+	Interface string `json:"interface"`
+	Port      int    `json:"port"`
+	Range     string `json:"range"`
+	Peers     int    `json:"peers"`
+	Taken     bool   `json:"taken"`
+	Kept      string `json:"kept,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Held is one file or container found on an adopted node and kept as it was.
diff --git a/internal/tunnel/tunnel.go b/internal/tunnel/tunnel.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53c6bce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/tunnel/tunnel.go
@@ -0,0 +1,274 @@
+// Package tunnel reads the tunnel a predecessor left on a machine, so the mesh's private network
+// can take it over in place (novox/hq ADR 0105).
+//
+// On an adopted node that is the hub, the mesh's interface is raised with the found interface's
+// private key, on its port, with its address and range, and every peer it had. The found interface
+// is stopped, never flushed; its configuration stays on disk. What this package does is the
+// reading: which interface is there, what its file says, and what of that travels to the mesh —
+// everything but the private key, which becomes the node's own overlay key and is stored the way
+// that key is stored.
+package tunnel
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"crypto/ecdh"
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"net"
+	"os"
+	"sort"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// Runner executes a command. The same shape as everywhere else in this host.
+type Runner func(ctx context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error)
+
+// MeshInterface is the private network's own interface, which is never the found one.
+const MeshInterface = "mesh0"
+
+// ConfigDir is where wg-quick keeps an interface's configuration.
+const ConfigDir = "/etc/wireguard"
+
+// Found is a tunnel as found on the machine: everything the mesh is told about it, and the
+// private key, which it is not.
+type Found struct {
+	// Interface, Unit and Config are what the mesh's interface takes over.
+	Interface string `json:"interface"`
+	Unit      string `json:"unit"`
+	Config    string `json:"config"`
+	// Port is the port the interface listens on; Address its own address with prefix length;
+	// Range the network that prefix names.
+	Port    int    `json:"port"`
+	Address string `json:"address"`
+	Range   string `json:"range"`
+	// PublicKey is what every peer knows this tunnel by — derived here from the private key, so
+	// it is the key the file actually holds and not a comment beside it.
+	PublicKey string `json:"public_key"`
+	Peers     []Peer `json:"peers,omitempty"`
+
+	// privateKey never travels and never prints: not in JSON, not in %v. It is read once, to
+	// become the node's overlay key, and the file it came from is kept as found.
+	privateKey string
+}
+
+// Peer is one peer of the found tunnel.
+type Peer struct {
+	PublicKey string `json:"public_key"`
+	// Address is the one address the tunnel routes to the peer, as the file's AllowedIPs said it
+	// (with or without a /32).
+	Address string `json:"address"`
+	// Endpoint is where the found tunnel dialled the peer, if it did. Not carried to the mesh —
+	// a carried peer dials in, as it always did — but kept so a person reading the report sees
+	// what the file said.
+	Endpoint string `json:"endpoint,omitempty"`
+}
+
+// PrivateKey is the found interface's private key, base64 as WireGuard writes it. The one
+// accessor; a caller that has it is taking it as the node's key.
+func (f Found) PrivateKey() string { return f.privateKey }
+
+// String is what a found tunnel prints as: never the key.
+func (f Found) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s on port %d, %s in %s, %d peer(s)", f.Interface, f.Port, f.Address,
+		f.Range, len(f.Peers))
+}
+
+// MarshalJSON writes everything but the private key, whatever a caller passes to an encoder.
+func (f Found) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) {
+	type wire Found
+	return json.Marshal(wire(f))
+}
+
+// ErrNone is a machine with no tunnel to take over.
+var ErrNone = errors.New("no tunnel is up on this machine besides the mesh's own")
+
+// ErrSeveral is a machine with more than one, when nobody said which.
+var ErrSeveral = errors.New("more than one tunnel is up on this machine")
+
+// ReadFile is how a configuration is read; a variable so a test can hand in a file.
+var ReadFile = os.ReadFile
+
+// Find reads the tunnel to take over: the one named, or the one interface up besides the mesh's
+// own. Nothing up is ErrNone — an ordinary answer, the machine has no tunnel to adopt — and two
+// or more with none named is ErrSeveral, naming them, because choosing would be deciding.
+//
+// Read from the interface's configuration file rather than from the running interface: the file
+// is what wg-quick raised and what carries the address, which the kernel does not report per
+// interface the way the key and peers are. The running interface is consulted only to know the
+// tunnel is up — a file for an interface nothing runs is not a tunnel the peers are reaching.
+func Find(ctx context.Context, run Runner, named string) (Found, error) {
+	out, err := run(ctx, "wg", "show", "interfaces")
+	if err != nil {
+		return Found{}, fmt.Errorf("cannot ask which tunnels are up on this machine: %w", err)
+	}
+	var up []string
+	for _, iface := range strings.Fields(out) {
+		if iface != MeshInterface {
+			up = append(up, iface)
+		}
+	}
+	sort.Strings(up)
+	iface := named
+	switch {
+	case named != "":
+		found := false
+		for _, u := range up {
+			if u == named {
+				found = true
+			}
+		}
+		if !found {
+			return Found{}, fmt.Errorf("%s was named as the tunnel to take over and is not up; up: %s",
+				named, orNone(up))
+		}
+	case len(up) == 0:
+		return Found{}, ErrNone
+	case len(up) > 1:
+		return Found{}, fmt.Errorf("%w: %s. Name the one the predecessor's machines reach with --tunnel",
+			ErrSeveral, strings.Join(up, ", "))
+	default:
+		iface = up[0]
+	}
+
+	path := ConfigDir + "/" + iface + ".conf"
+	raw, err := ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Found{}, fmt.Errorf("%s is up and its configuration cannot be read: %w", iface, err)
+	}
+	found, err := Parse(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Found{}, fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", path, err)
+	}
+	found.Interface, found.Unit, found.Config = iface, "wg-quick@"+iface, path
+	return found, nil
+}
+
+func orNone(names []string) string {
+	if len(names) == 0 {
+		return "none"
+	}
+	return strings.Join(names, ", ")
+}
+
+// Parse reads a wg-quick configuration: the interface's key, port and address, and each peer's
+// key and allowed address. Refused when it lacks what the mesh needs — a key, an address with a
+// prefix — because a tunnel taken over without them is one the peers cannot reach.
+func Parse(raw []byte) (Found, error) {
+	var f Found
+	section := ""
+	var peer *Peer
+	closePeer := func() error {
+		if peer == nil {
+			return nil
+		}
+		if peer.PublicKey == "" {
+			return errors.New("a [Peer] section has no PublicKey")
+		}
+		if peer.Address == "" {
+			return fmt.Errorf("the peer %s has no AllowedIPs, so the tunnel routes nothing to it",
+				short(peer.PublicKey))
+		}
+		f.Peers = append(f.Peers, *peer)
+		peer = nil
+		return nil
+	}
+	for n, line := range strings.Split(string(raw), "\n") {
+		line = strings.TrimSpace(line)
+		if i := strings.IndexAny(line, "#;"); i >= 0 {
+			line = strings.TrimSpace(line[:i])
+		}
+		if line == "" {
+			continue
+		}
+		if strings.HasPrefix(line, "[") {
+			if err := closePeer(); err != nil {
+				return Found{}, err
+			}
+			section = strings.ToLower(strings.Trim(line, "[]"))
+			if section == "peer" {
+				peer = &Peer{}
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+		key, value, ok := strings.Cut(line, "=")
+		if !ok {
+			return Found{}, fmt.Errorf("line %d is not `key = value`", n+1)
+		}
+		key, value = strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(key)), strings.TrimSpace(value)
+		switch section {
+		case "interface":
+			switch key {
+			case "privatekey":
+				f.privateKey = value
+			case "listenport":
+				port, err := strconv.Atoi(value)
+				if err != nil || port < 1 || port > 65535 {
+					return Found{}, fmt.Errorf("ListenPort %q is not a port", value)
+				}
+				f.Port = port
+			case "address":
+				// The first address is the interface's; a second family would be a second
+				// tunnel's worth of addressing, which this does not carry.
+				first := strings.TrimSpace(strings.Split(value, ",")[0])
+				ip, network, err := net.ParseCIDR(first)
+				if err != nil {
+					return Found{}, fmt.Errorf("Address %q is not an address with a prefix length, "+
+						"and the range the mesh takes over is read from the prefix", first)
+				}
+				f.Address = first
+				f.Range = network.String()
+				_ = ip
+			}
+		case "peer":
+			switch key {
+			case "publickey":
+				peer.PublicKey = value
+			case "allowedips":
+				peer.Address = strings.TrimSpace(strings.Split(value, ",")[0])
+			case "endpoint":
+				peer.Endpoint = value
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if err := closePeer(); err != nil {
+		return Found{}, err
+	}
+	if f.privateKey == "" {
+		return Found{}, errors.New("no PrivateKey in [Interface]; the mesh takes a tunnel over with its key or not at all")
+	}
+	if f.Address == "" {
+		return Found{}, errors.New("no Address in [Interface], so neither the hub's address nor the range can be read")
+	}
+	if f.Port == 0 {
+		return Found{}, errors.New("no ListenPort in [Interface]: a tunnel with no port is one nothing dials, so there is nothing to take over")
+	}
+	public, err := PublicKeyOf(f.privateKey)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Found{}, err
+	}
+	f.PublicKey = public
+	return f, nil
+}
+
+// PublicKeyOf derives the public half of a WireGuard private key, both base64.
+func PublicKeyOf(privateBase64 string) (string, error) {
+	raw, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(privateBase64)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("the private key is not base64: %w", err)
+	}
+	private, err := ecdh.X25519().NewPrivateKey(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("the private key is not a Curve25519 key: %w", err)
+	}
+	return base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(private.PublicKey().Bytes()), nil
+}
+
+func short(key string) string {
+	if len(key) > 8 {
+		return key[:8] + "…"
+	}
+	return key
+}
diff --git a/internal/tunnel/tunnel_test.go b/internal/tunnel/tunnel_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7272a6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/tunnel/tunnel_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+package tunnel
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"crypto/ecdh"
+	"crypto/rand"
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// novox/hq ADR 0105: the host reads the predecessor's tunnel — key, port, address and range, every
+// peer — and the private key becomes the node's, never printed and never sent.
+
+// aKey is a real WireGuard keypair, made here so a key that stopped being a key is caught.
+func aKey(t *testing.T) (private, public string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	k, err := ecdh.X25519().GenerateKey(rand.Reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(k.Bytes()),
+		base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(k.PublicKey().Bytes())
+}
+
+func aConfig(private string, peers ...string) string {
+	var b strings.Builder
+	fmt.Fprintf(&b, "# the predecessor's hub\n[Interface]\nPrivateKey = %s\nListenPort = 51900\n"+
+		"Address = 192.0.2.1/24\n", private)
+	for i, key := range peers {
+		fmt.Fprintf(&b, "\n[Peer]\nPublicKey = %s\nAllowedIPs = 192.0.2.%d/32\n", key, i+2)
+	}
+	return b.String()
+}
+
+func TestTheConfigurationIsReadWhole(t *testing.T) {
+	private, public := aKey(t)
+	_, peerA := aKey(t)
+	_, peerB := aKey(t)
+	found, err := Parse([]byte(aConfig(private, peerA, peerB) + "PersistentKeepalive = 25 ; a comment\n"))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if found.Port != 51900 || found.Address != "192.0.2.1/24" || found.Range != "192.0.2.0/24" {
+		t.Errorf("port, address or range misread: %+v", found)
+	}
+	if found.PublicKey != public {
+		t.Errorf("the public key is not the one derived from the file's private key")
+	}
+	if found.PrivateKey() != private {
+		t.Error("the private key was not read")
+	}
+	if len(found.Peers) != 2 || found.Peers[0].PublicKey != peerA || found.Peers[0].Address != "192.0.2.2/32" ||
+		found.Peers[1].PublicKey != peerB || found.Peers[1].Address != "192.0.2.3/32" {
+		t.Errorf("the peers were misread: %+v", found.Peers)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestThePrivateKeyNeverPrintsAndNeverTravels(t *testing.T) {
+	private, _ := aKey(t)
+	found, err := Parse([]byte(aConfig(private)))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	raw, err := json.Marshal(found)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for what, said := range map[string]string{
+		"JSON":       string(raw),
+		"String":     found.String(),
+		"%v":         fmt.Sprintf("%v", found),
+		"%+v":        fmt.Sprintf("%+v", found),
+		"%#v via %v": fmt.Sprintf("%v", []Found{found}),
+	} {
+		if strings.Contains(said, private) {
+			t.Errorf("the private key appears in %s: %s", what, said)
+		}
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(string(raw), found.PublicKey) {
+		t.Error("the public key does not travel, so the mesh could not know the tunnel's key")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestATunnelWithoutWhatTheMeshNeedsIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	private, _ := aKey(t)
+	_, peer := aKey(t)
+	for name, conf := range map[string]string{
+		"no key":        "[Interface]\nListenPort = 51900\nAddress = 192.0.2.1/24\n",
+		"no address":    fmt.Sprintf("[Interface]\nPrivateKey = %s\nListenPort = 51900\n", private),
+		"bare address":  fmt.Sprintf("[Interface]\nPrivateKey = %s\nListenPort = 51900\nAddress = 192.0.2.1\n", private),
+		"no port":       fmt.Sprintf("[Interface]\nPrivateKey = %s\nAddress = 192.0.2.1/24\n", private),
+		"peer no route": aConfig(private) + "\n[Peer]\nPublicKey = " + peer + "\n",
+		"peer no key":   aConfig(private) + "\n[Peer]\nAllowedIPs = 192.0.2.9/32\n",
+		"not a key":     "[Interface]\nPrivateKey = not-base64!\nListenPort = 1\nAddress = 192.0.2.1/24\n",
+	} {
+		if _, err := Parse([]byte(conf)); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s was accepted", name)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// aMachine answers `wg show interfaces` and reads configurations from a map.
+type aMachine struct {
+	up    string
+	files map[string]string
+	asked []string
+}
+
+func (m *aMachine) run(_ context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error) {
+	m.asked = append(m.asked, name+" "+strings.Join(args, " "))
+	if name == "wg" && len(args) == 2 && args[0] == "show" && args[1] == "interfaces" {
+		return m.up, nil
+	}
+	return "", errors.New("unexpected: " + name)
+}
+
+func (m *aMachine) read(path string) ([]byte, error) {
+	if raw, ok := m.files[path]; ok {
+		return []byte(raw), nil
+	}
+	return nil, errors.New("no such file: " + path)
+}
+
+func TestTheOneTunnelUpBesidesTheMeshsIsFound(t *testing.T) {
+	private, public := aKey(t)
+	m := &aMachine{up: "mesh0 wg0\n", files: map[string]string{ConfigDir + "/wg0.conf": aConfig(private)}}
+	ReadFile = m.read
+	t.Cleanup(func() { ReadFile = os.ReadFile })
+
+	found, err := Find(context.Background(), m.run, "")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if found.Interface != "wg0" || found.Unit != "wg-quick@wg0" || found.Config != ConfigDir+"/wg0.conf" ||
+		found.PublicKey != public {
+		t.Errorf("the wrong tunnel, or misnamed: %+v", found)
+	}
+	for _, asked := range m.asked {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(asked, "wg set") || strings.Contains(asked, "private-key") {
+			t.Errorf("finding a tunnel ran %q; reading is reading", asked)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNoneUpIsAnOrdinaryAnswerAndSeveralIsAQuestion(t *testing.T) {
+	private, _ := aKey(t)
+	m := &aMachine{up: "mesh0\n", files: map[string]string{
+		ConfigDir + "/wg0.conf": aConfig(private), ConfigDir + "/wg1.conf": aConfig(private)}}
+	ReadFile = m.read
+	t.Cleanup(func() { ReadFile = os.ReadFile })
+
+	if _, err := Find(context.Background(), m.run, ""); !errors.Is(err, ErrNone) {
+		t.Errorf("a machine with only the mesh's interface up was not an ordinary none: %v", err)
+	}
+	m.up = "wg1 mesh0 wg0\n"
+	_, err := Find(context.Background(), m.run, "")
+	if !errors.Is(err, ErrSeveral) || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "wg0, wg1") || strings.Contains(err.Error(), "mesh0") {
+		t.Errorf("two tunnels up were not refused naming both and only them: %v", err)
+	}
+	found, err := Find(context.Background(), m.run, "wg1")
+	if err != nil || found.Interface != "wg1" {
+		t.Errorf("naming one of two did not find it: %+v %v", found, err)
+	}
+	if _, err := Find(context.Background(), m.run, "wg9"); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "wg9") {
+		t.Errorf("naming a tunnel that is not up was not refused: %v", err)
+	}
+}