diff --git a/cmd/mesh-bootstrap/main.go b/cmd/mesh-bootstrap/main.go
index 4bc7517..369a744 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-bootstrap/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-bootstrap/main.go
@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ const usage = `mesh-bootstrap — make a bare machine into a mesh
 
   --tools-source     the repository the shared base is built from
   --tools-ref        what of it to build (default main)
+  --tools-go-source  the repository the Go toolchain is built from (default: mesh-tools-go beside --tools-source)
+  --tools-go-ref     what of it to build (default main)
   --catalog-source   the catalogue REPOSITORY, for building its modules;
                      --catalog is the checkout that says what they are
   --catalog-ref      what of it to build (default main)
@@ -308,6 +310,10 @@ func newFlagSet(opts *bootstrap.Options, jsonOut *bool) *flag.FlagSet {
 		"the repository the shared base is built from")
 	set.StringVar(&opts.ToolsSource.Ref, "tools-ref", opts.ToolsSource.Ref,
 		"what of it to build (default main)")
+	set.StringVar(&opts.ToolsGoSource.Repository, "tools-go-source", opts.ToolsGoSource.Repository,
+		"the repository the Go toolchain is built from (default: mesh-tools-go beside --tools-source)")
+	set.StringVar(&opts.ToolsGoSource.Ref, "tools-go-ref", opts.ToolsGoSource.Ref,
+		"what of it to build (default main)")
 	set.StringVar(&opts.CatalogSource.Repository, "catalog-source", opts.CatalogSource.Repository,
 		"the catalogue REPOSITORY, for building its modules — --catalog is the checkout that says what they are")
 	set.StringVar(&opts.CatalogSource.Ref, "catalog-ref", opts.CatalogSource.Ref,
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/local_network_test.go b/cmd/mesh-host/local_network_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3a7af99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/local_network_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/link"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/outward"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/profile"
+)
+
+func reportOn(networks ...outward.Network) link.Report {
+	return link.Report{Outward: []string{"eth0"},
+		Profile: profileAsReported(profile.Profile{Machine: &profile.Machine{Networks: networks}})}
+}
+
+// **A change of the networks a machine is attached to is said unasked** (novox/hq ADR 0340 §7): a port
+// reached from the local network is admitted from them, so a laptop that joins another network is said at
+// the next reconcile, not at the next push — and the same networks again are not news.
+func TestAChangedNetworkIsSaidUnasked(t *testing.T) {
+	w := &adoptionWatch{}
+	home := reportOn(outward.Network{Link: "eth0", Network: "192.168.1.0/24"})
+	w.said(home)
+	if w.differs(reportOn(outward.Network{Link: "eth0", Network: "192.168.1.0/24"})) {
+		t.Fatal("the same networks read as a change, so the machine would speak on every reconcile")
+	}
+	if !w.differs(reportOn(outward.Network{Link: "eth0", Network: "10.20.0.0/16"})) {
+		t.Fatal("a machine that moved to another network does not say so until it is pushed to")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-host/main.go b/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
index 8c79ab3..eb779bd 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-host/main.go
@@ -1399,6 +1399,12 @@ func adoptionFingerprint(r link.Report) string {
 	// it could only speak when a declaration arrived, and a declaration cannot be composed until it
 	// has spoken: a machine waiting for a push that is waiting for the machine.
 	parts := []string{"firewall=" + r.Firewall, "outward=" + strings.Join(r.Outward, ",")}
+	// **And the networks those links are on** (novox/hq ADR 0340 §7): a port reached from the local
+	// network is admitted from them, so a laptop that joins another network, or a lease that moves, is
+	// said at the next reconcile rather than at the next push or the next day.
+	if networks := attachedNetworksOf(r); networks != "" {
+		parts = append(parts, "networks="+networks)
+	}
 	// And a container waiting because it said busy, or replaced after it waited (novox/hq ADR 0335): the walk
 	// waiting on this machine starts its gate at the report that says it replaced. Not its output, which
 	// may change on every ask.
@@ -1436,6 +1442,26 @@ func adoptionFingerprint(r link.Report) string {
 	return strings.Join(parts, "\n")
 }
 
+// attachedNetworksOf is the networks a report's profile says the machine is attached to, as one line: the
+// part of what the machine is made of that the filter is composed from (novox/hq ADR 0340).
+func attachedNetworksOf(r link.Report) string {
+	machine, ok := r.Profile["machine"].(map[string]any)
+	if !ok {
+		return ""
+	}
+	networks, ok := machine["networks"].([]any)
+	if !ok {
+		return ""
+	}
+	said := make([]string, 0, len(networks))
+	for _, n := range networks {
+		if entry, ok := n.(map[string]any); ok {
+			said = append(said, fmt.Sprintf("%v %v", entry["link"], entry["network"]))
+		}
+	}
+	return strings.Join(said, ",")
+}
+
 // applyState is how an apply went, as the fingerprint keeps it: refused, clean, or failed with what it did not
 // apply and which keys its failure is said under.
 func applyState(r link.Report) string {
diff --git a/examples/README.md b/examples/README.md
index 5ad1d1c..a9691ee 100644
--- a/examples/README.md
+++ b/examples/README.md
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ mesh runs on:
 2  a database per context        `inventory`, `identity` and `licences`
 3  those contexts' schemas       mesh-controller migrate
 4  the bus's certificate         mesh-controller broker certificate
-5  the bus runs                  NATS, with the controller's account as its first user
+5  the bus runs                  NATS as mesh-broker-nats, where the nats module keeps it
+                                 (ADR 0333), with the controller's account as its first user
 6  the control plane runs        mesh-controller serve, given the bus (MESH_BUS_NATS)
 ```
 
@@ -26,6 +27,12 @@ rootsecrets.go). A template whose bus connection it does not recognise is refuse
 naming the placeholder it looked for. The bundle that raised the previous broker was deleted with
 ADR 0331; there is one bundle, and every lab bed names it.
 
+**The bus is raised where the `nats` module keeps it** (novox/hq ADR 0333): the container
+`mesh-broker-nats`, its configuration and user list in `/var/lib/nats-module/conf`, its streams in
+`/var/lib/mesh-broker-nats`, its certificate in `/var/lib/mesh-broker-tls`, published on the node's bus
+port. At the installer's broker step the module adopts it: its own image replaces the upstream one, once,
+on the same streams, users and certificate. `internal/bootstrap` holds the bundle to the module's manifest.
+
 Build an installer carrying a builder, and point it at this:
 
 ```
diff --git a/examples/bundle_test.go b/examples/bundle_test.go
index 85fec2d..ca3a346 100644
--- a/examples/bundle_test.go
+++ b/examples/bundle_test.go
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ func TestTheBundleCarriesTheFoundationAndTheControlPlaneAndNothingElse(t *testin
 	}
 	sort.Strings(images)
 
-	want := []string{"mesh-controller", "nats", "postgres"}
+	want := []string{"mesh-controller", "nats", "pgvector"}
 	if strings.Join(images, ",") != strings.Join(want, ",") {
 		t.Fatalf("the bundle carries %v; expected exactly %v.\n\n"+
 			"Adding one is a change to what every first node becomes, and to ADR 0006's "+
diff --git a/examples/foundation-first-node.lock b/examples/foundation-first-node.lock
index 289e3e2..9f59df6 100644
--- a/examples/foundation-first-node.lock
+++ b/examples/foundation-first-node.lock
@@ -28,11 +28,12 @@
 // image, and this file is applied on a machine with no mesh to ask about anything (ADR 0006). The
 // registry prefix is the lab's; the digests are upstream's.
 //
-// The store's data is a NAMED VOLUME, not a directory on the machine. A directory the host
-// creates is owned by root, and the database runs as somebody else inside the container — so it
-// could not write, and the container crash-looped. A named volume lets the image set up its own
-// ownership, and outlives the container, which is what you want for the thing holding the mesh's
-// state.
+// **The store is raised where the `postgres` module keeps it** (novox/hq ADR 0338): the container
+// `postgres`, on the module's pgvector image, its data in the directory /var/lib/mesh-store owned by
+// the image's postgres user, its superuser password read from the module's own-secret file — so the
+// store step adopts it as it runs. Pinned upstream by the module's own digest, not through the lab's
+// registry prefix, because the two must be the same reference (mesh-host internal/bootstrap holds
+// them to each other against the module's manifest).
 
 {
   "declaration": 1,
@@ -83,17 +84,28 @@
       "boot": "enabled",
       "restart-on": ["base-filter"]
     },
+    // The store's data is a directory owned by the image's postgres user (999), made before the
+    // container starts: a directory the runtime made would be root's, and the database could not
+    // write it. Measured on the module's image 2026-10-13: it initialises a new store on a directory
+    // made so (novox/hq ADR 0338 §5).
+    {
+      "id": "store-data",
+      "type": "directory",
+      "path": "/var/lib/mesh-store",
+      "mode": "0700",
+      "owner": "999:70"
+    },
     {
       "id": "store",
       "type": "container",
-      "name": "mesh-store",
-      "image": "192.0.2.250:5000/postgres@sha256:7abf537131b66ed5af448d90653abf1679b0c7e9a1f07efdd4c3108a401b259a",
+      "name": "postgres",
+      "image": "pgvector/pgvector@sha256:cf134a767f474095eeba57e0117be8e568e011a63f33fbf252f14c9b760f8e6f",
       "env": {
         "POSTGRES_PASSWORD": "bootstrap",
         "PGDATA": "/var/lib/postgresql/data/pgdata"
       },
       "ports": ["5432:5432"],
-      "volumes": ["mesh-store-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data"]
+      "volumes": ["/var/lib/mesh-store:/var/lib/postgresql/data"]
     },
     // Over TCP, not the socket. While the store initialises it runs a temporary server on the
     // socket ONLY, then stops it and starts the real one — so a socket check passes, the action
@@ -102,21 +114,21 @@
     {
       "id": "store-ready",
       "type": "action",
-      "in": "mesh-store",
+      "in": "postgres",
       "command": ["sh", "-c", "for i in $(seq 1 180); do pg_isready -h 127.0.0.1 -U postgres >/dev/null 2>&1 && exit 0; sleep 1; done; echo 'the store did not answer within 180s; its own last words follow'; pg_isready -h 127.0.0.1 -U postgres; tail -n 20 /var/lib/postgresql/data/log/*.log 2>/dev/null; exit 1"],
 "verify": ["pg_isready", "-h", "127.0.0.1", "-U", "postgres"]
     },
     {
       "id": "inventory-database",
       "type": "action",
-      "in": "mesh-store",
+      "in": "postgres",
       "command": ["sh", "-c", "psql -U postgres -c 'CREATE DATABASE inventory'"],
       "verify": ["sh", "-c", "psql -U postgres -lqt | cut -d'|' -f1 | grep -qw inventory"]
     },
     {
       "id": "identity-database",
       "type": "action",
-      "in": "mesh-store",
+      "in": "postgres",
       "command": ["sh", "-c", "psql -U postgres -c 'CREATE DATABASE identity'"],
       "verify": ["sh", "-c", "psql -U postgres -lqt | cut -d'|' -f1 | grep -qw identity"]
     },
@@ -126,20 +138,44 @@
     {
       "id": "licences-database",
       "type": "action",
-      "in": "mesh-store",
+      "in": "postgres",
       "command": ["sh", "-c", "psql -U postgres -c 'CREATE DATABASE licences'"],
       "verify": ["sh", "-c", "psql -U postgres -lqt | cut -d'|' -f1 | grep -qw licences"]
     },
     {
       "id": "context-schemas",
       "type": "action",
-      "command": ["docker", "run", "--rm", "--network", "container:mesh-store",
+      "command": ["docker", "run", "--rm", "--network", "container:postgres",
                   "-e", "MESH_STORE_INVENTORY=postgres://postgres:bootstrap@127.0.0.1:5432/inventory?sslmode=disable",
                   "-e", "MESH_STORE_IDENTITY=postgres://postgres:bootstrap@127.0.0.1:5432/identity?sslmode=disable",
         "-e", "MESH_STORE_LICENCES=postgres://postgres:bootstrap@127.0.0.1:5432/licences?sslmode=disable",
                   "192.0.2.250:5000/mesh-controller@sha256:c67db38439ff0aee242b467486765467bb95801f52175fc5727cc4e437338ace",
                   "migrate"],
-      "verify": ["sh", "-c", "docker exec mesh-store psql -U postgres -d inventory -tAc \"select to_regclass('public.node')\" | grep -qx node && docker exec mesh-store psql -U postgres -d identity -tAc \"select to_regclass('public.signing_key')\" | grep -qx signing_key && docker exec mesh-store psql -U postgres -d licences -tAc \"select to_regclass('public.licence')\" | grep -qx licence"]
+      "verify": ["sh", "-c", "docker exec postgres psql -U postgres -d inventory -tAc \"select to_regclass('public.node')\" | grep -qx node && docker exec postgres psql -U postgres -d identity -tAc \"select to_regclass('public.signing_key')\" | grep -qx signing_key && docker exec postgres psql -U postgres -d licences -tAc \"select to_regclass('public.licence')\" | grep -qx licence"]
+    },
+    // **The bus is raised where the `nats` module keeps it** (novox/hq ADR 0333 §1): the container
+    // `mesh-broker-nats`, its configuration and user list in /var/lib/nats-module/conf, its streams in
+    // /var/lib/mesh-broker-nats and its certificate in /var/lib/mesh-broker-tls — the names and paths the
+    // catalogue's module declares. So adopting it as that module at the broker step keeps it: the
+    // module's built image takes the place of the upstream one below, once, on the same streams, users
+    // and certificate, and nothing else moves. mesh-host's internal/bootstrap holds the two to each other
+    // against the module's own manifest (busLayout), at the broker step and in its tests.
+    //
+    // Directories on the machine, not volumes the runtime names: the module mounts these paths, and the
+    // control plane, once it runs as the mesh's process, reads the certificate at its path on the machine.
+    // The certificate's directory is readable by everyone because the certificate is public and the control
+    // plane runs as nobody; its key is written 0600 by the program that makes it.
+    {
+      "id": "bus-tls-dir",
+      "type": "directory",
+      "path": "/var/lib/mesh-broker-tls",
+      "mode": "0755"
+    },
+    {
+      "id": "bus-data-dir",
+      "type": "directory",
+      "path": "/var/lib/mesh-broker-nats",
+      "mode": "0700"
     },
     {
       "id": "bus-certificate",
@@ -151,49 +187,63 @@
       // it, and asking nothing of the image it writes into. Self-signed on purpose: a host pins
       // this server's exact certificate (novox/hq ADR 0004), and at this moment there is no mesh
       // to ask an authority of.
-      // `--user 0:0` because the volume is root's and this image runs as nobody, which is right
-      // for the long-running control plane and wrong for a one-shot writing into a fresh volume.
-      "command": ["docker", "run", "--rm", "--user", "0:0", "-v", "mesh-broker-tls:/tls",
+      // `--user 0:0` because the directory is root's and this image runs as nobody, which is right
+      // for the long-running control plane and wrong for a one-shot writing into a fresh directory.
+      "command": ["docker", "run", "--rm", "--user", "0:0", "-v", "/var/lib/mesh-broker-tls:/tls",
                   "192.0.2.250:5000/mesh-controller@sha256:c67db38439ff0aee242b467486765467bb95801f52175fc5727cc4e437338ace",
                   "broker", "certificate", "--into", "/tls"],
-      "verify": ["docker", "run", "--rm", "--user", "0:0", "-v", "mesh-broker-tls:/tls",
+      "verify": ["docker", "run", "--rm", "--user", "0:0", "-v", "/var/lib/mesh-broker-tls:/tls",
                  "192.0.2.250:5000/mesh-controller@sha256:c67db38439ff0aee242b467486765467bb95801f52175fc5727cc4e437338ace",
                  "broker", "certificate", "--check", "--into", "/tls"]
     },
+    // **Seeds, written only where nothing is** (create-once). The bus's configuration and user list are
+    // the bundle's until the bus is adopted, and the module's from then on (ADR 0333 §4): an installer
+    // run again after the adoption applies this bundle again, and an ordinary file would put the
+    // bundle's one user back over every user the mesh composed, and leave the node unable to reach its
+    // bus. Until the adoption the installer places the composed list over the seed (enrol.go).
     {
       "id": "bus-conf-dir",
       "type": "directory",
-      "path": "/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf",
+      "path": "/var/lib/nats-module/conf",
       "mode": "0700"
     },
     {
       "id": "bus-conf",
       "type": "file",
-      "path": "/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf/nats.conf",
+      "path": "/var/lib/nats-module/conf/nats.conf",
       "mode": "0644",
-      "content": "port: 4222\nhttp: 127.0.0.1:8222\n\ntls {\n  cert_file: \"/tls/tls.crt\"\n  key_file: \"/tls/tls.key\"\n}\n\njetstream {\n  store_dir: \"/data\"\n}\n\ninclude accounts.conf\n"
+      "create-once": true,
+      "content": "port: 4222\nhttp: 0.0.0.0:8222\n\ntls {\n  cert_file: \"/tls/tls.crt\"\n  key_file: \"/tls/tls.key\"\n}\n\njetstream {\n  store_dir: \"/data\"\n}\n\ninclude accounts.conf\n"
     },
     {
       "id": "bus-accounts",
       "type": "file",
-      "path": "/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf/accounts.conf",
+      "path": "/var/lib/nats-module/conf/accounts.conf",
       "mode": "0600",
+      "create-once": true,
       "content": "// The first user list, carried by the installer because at genesis there is no mesh to\n// compose one. A bootstrap credential, rotated with the store's and replaced by the\n// controller's own composition from its first start onward.\naccounts {\n  MESH {\n    jetstream: enabled\n    users = [\n      { user: \"controller\", password: \"$2a$10$AHqJgOifIVbU41KmATiMhuXFs8xa7Wl2HuN4UVBCXdN2jIQzjqApy\", permissions: {\n        publish: { allow: [\"$JS.ACK.CONTROL.controller.>\", \"$JS.ACK.EVENTS.controller.>\", \"$JS.ACK.DEAD_LETTER_NOTICES.controller.>\", \"$JS.API.>\", \"$KV.mesh-controller_asked.>\", \"$KV.mesh-controller_calls.>\", \"$KV.mesh-controller_hand-acts.>\", \"$KV.mesh-controller_conditions.>\", \"$KV.mesh-controller_condition-history.>\", \"$KV.mesh-controller_lease.>\", \"$KV.SEAT_MESH_BUILD_MACHINE_cancelled.>\", \"$KV.SEAT_NODE_BUILD_AGENT_cancelled.>\", \"_INBOX.enrol.>\", \"mesh.assignment.>\", \"mesh.mod.*.tool.>\", \"mesh.node.>\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.accept.>\", \"mesh.seat.node-build-agent.accept.>\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.tool.>\", \"mesh.seat.node-build-agent.tool.>\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.applied\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.built-before\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.refused\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.rolled-back\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.checked\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.plan-moved\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-raised\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-changed\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.condition-cleared\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.doctor-heartbeat\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.secret-replaced\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.event.healer-acted\", \"$SRV.INFO\", \"mesh.seat.node-intrusion-prevention.tool.banned.*\", \"mesh.seat.node-backup.tool.backed-up.*\", \"mesh.seat.node-backup.tool.now.*\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.stalled\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.close\", \"mesh.seat.node-launcher.tool.secret.*\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.release\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.stop\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.times\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-delivery.tool.groups\", \"mesh.seat.node-service-manager.tool.restart.*\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.tool.plans\", \"mesh.events.dead.>\", \"mesh.again.>\"] }\n        subscribe: { allow: [\"$JS.API.>\", \"$JS.EVENT.ADVISORY.CONSUMER.MAX_DELIVERIES.>\", \"$JS.EVENT.ADVISORY.CONSUMER.DELETED.>\", \"_DELIVER.controller\", \"_DELIVER.controller.>\", \"_INBOX.controller.>\", \"mesh.control.>\", \"mesh.mod.*.event.provisioner.failing\", \"mesh.mod.*.event.provisioner.recovered\", \"mesh.mod.*.event.provisioner.retirement\", \"mesh.mod.gitea.event.pull.merged\", \"mesh.mod.gitea.event.pull.updated\", \"mesh.mod.mesh-catalog.event.catching-up\", \"mesh.mod.mesh-catalog.event.upgraded\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-build-machine.event.built\", \"mesh.seat.node-build-agent.event.built\", \"mesh.seat.operator-channel.event.decided.mesh-controller\", \"mesh.seat.mesh-controller.tool.>\", \"$SRV.PING\", \"$SRV.INFO\", \"$SRV.PING.mesh-controller\", \"$SRV.PING.mesh-controller.>\", \"$SRV.INFO.mesh-controller\", \"$SRV.INFO.mesh-controller.>\", \"$SRV.STATS\", \"$SRV.STATS.mesh-controller\", \"$SRV.STATS.mesh-controller.>\"] }\n        allow_responses: { max: 1, ttl: \"1m\" }\n      } }\n    ]\n  }\n}\n"
     },
+    // The upstream server, until the broker step adopts it: the `nats` module's own image, built by the
+    // mesh, takes its place there once, on these same directories (ADR 0333 §3), as the bus's planned
+    // step (ADR 0236). The release is the one the module's image is built on (its NATS_BASE, 2.11.17),
+    // pinned upstream by that same digest: the adoption changes no server release, so it can be undone
+    // by putting the old image back and is said reversible. The published port is the
+    // node's bus port, 5671 unless given, which every enrolment token names; the installer gives the
+    // module the setting that maps its declared 4222 to it (ADR 0333 §2).
     {
       "id": "broker",
       "type": "container",
-      "name": "mesh-broker",
-      "image": "192.0.2.250:5000/nats@sha256:b83efabe3e7def1e0a4a31ec6e078999bb17c80363f881df35edc70fcb6bb927",
+      "name": "mesh-broker-nats",
+      "image": "nats@sha256:e4bf19f15fd3218814a4e3c9e0064e1334bd8aa20d5984b9f1a0afd084f8cc00",
       "ports": ["5671:4222", "127.0.0.1:8222:8222"],
-      "volumes": ["mesh-broker-data:/data", "mesh-broker-tls:/tls:ro", "/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf:/etc/nats:ro"],
+      "volumes": ["/var/lib/mesh-broker-nats:/data", "/var/lib/nats-module/conf:/etc/nats:ro", "/var/lib/mesh-broker-tls:/tls:ro"],
       "args": ["-c", "/etc/nats/nats.conf", "-js"]
     },
     {
       "id": "broker-ready",
       "type": "action",
-      "command": ["sh", "-c", "for i in $(seq 1 60); do docker run --rm --network host --entrypoint sh 192.0.2.250:5000/nats@sha256:b83efabe3e7def1e0a4a31ec6e078999bb17c80363f881df35edc70fcb6bb927 -c 'nc -z 127.0.0.1 5671' >/dev/null 2>&1 && exit 0; sleep 1; done; exit 1"],
-      "verify": ["sh", "-c", "docker run --rm --network host --entrypoint sh 192.0.2.250:5000/nats@sha256:b83efabe3e7def1e0a4a31ec6e078999bb17c80363f881df35edc70fcb6bb927 -c 'nc -z 127.0.0.1 5671'"]
+      "command": ["sh", "-c", "for i in $(seq 1 60); do docker run --rm --network host --entrypoint sh nats@sha256:e4bf19f15fd3218814a4e3c9e0064e1334bd8aa20d5984b9f1a0afd084f8cc00 -c 'nc -z 127.0.0.1 5671' >/dev/null 2>&1 && exit 0; sleep 1; done; exit 1"],
+      "verify": ["sh", "-c", "docker run --rm --network host --entrypoint sh nats@sha256:e4bf19f15fd3218814a4e3c9e0064e1334bd8aa20d5984b9f1a0afd084f8cc00 -c 'nc -z 127.0.0.1 5671'"]
     },
     {
       "id": "control-plane",
@@ -202,7 +252,7 @@
       "image": "192.0.2.250:5000/mesh-controller@sha256:c67db38439ff0aee242b467486765467bb95801f52175fc5727cc4e437338ace",
       "network": "host",
       "args": ["serve"],
-      "volumes": ["mesh-broker-tls:/broker-tls:ro"],
+      "volumes": ["/var/lib/mesh-broker-tls:/broker-tls:ro"],
       "env": {
         "MESH_STORE_INVENTORY": "postgres://postgres:bootstrap@127.0.0.1:5432/inventory?sslmode=disable",
         "MESH_STORE_IDENTITY": "postgres://postgres:bootstrap@127.0.0.1:5432/identity?sslmode=disable",
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/bootstrap.go b/internal/bootstrap/bootstrap.go
index 21a1dee..dbb2e08 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/bootstrap.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/bootstrap.go
@@ -174,6 +174,10 @@ type Options struct {
 	// ToolsSource is where the shared base is built from. Everything with code of its own
 	// compiles against it, so it is the first thing the mesh builds for itself.
 	ToolsSource Source
+	// ToolsGoSource is where the Go toolchain is built from (`mesh-tools-go`, ADR 0142): every Go
+	// bundle compiles in it, and genesis's own modules have Go code (issue 616). Empty means the
+	// repository beside ToolsSource named mesh-tools-go, as the mesh keeps it.
+	ToolsGoSource Source
 	// CatalogSource is where the catalogue REPOSITORY is, for building its modules. The catalogue
 	// CHECKOUT (Catalogue, above) says what a module is; this is where a builder clones it.
 	CatalogSource Source
@@ -734,7 +738,7 @@ func Run(ctx context.Context, o Options, d Deps, say func(string)) (Result, erro
 
 	// ---- broker ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 	say("broker — the foundation's bus, adopted as the nats module: one bus, not two")
-	if err := InstallBroker(ctx, o, permanentControl, rewritten.Declaration, say); err != nil {
+	if err := InstallBroker(ctx, o, permanentControl, rewritten.Declaration, d.Fetch, say); err != nil {
 		return result, failed(StepBroker, err)
 	}
 
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/builder.go b/internal/bootstrap/builder.go
index b86c1b1..3c650c0 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/builder.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/builder.go
@@ -1,13 +1,16 @@
 package bootstrap
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"strings"
 )
 
-// BuilderModule is the module that lets a mesh produce anything at all.
-const BuilderModule = "builder"
+// BuilderModule is the module that lets a mesh produce anything at all: the build agent, which holds
+// the node seat `node-build-agent` (novox/hq ADR 0190). The one-holder `builder` module it replaced
+// left the catalogue on 2026-10-03, and genesis went on asking for it (issue 596).
+const BuilderModule = "build-agent"
 
 // BuilderRepository is what its image is called in this mesh's own registry.
 const BuilderRepository = "mesh-builder"
@@ -50,10 +53,10 @@ func InstallBuilder(ctx context.Context, o Options, d Deps, control controlPlane
 	manifest, err := readManifest(o.Catalogue, BuilderModule)
 	if err != nil {
 		return out, fmt.Errorf("%w\n"+
-			"This is the manifest that makes the builder an ordinary module. Without it the mesh "+
+			"This is the manifest that makes the build agent an ordinary module. Without it the mesh "+
 			"has the image and no way to run it, so nothing can be built here", err)
 	}
-	pinned, places, err := pinPlaceholder(manifest, published.Reference, BuilderModule)
+	pinned, places, err := pinTheCarriedBuilder(manifest, published.Reference)
 	if err != nil {
 		return out, err
 	}
@@ -66,21 +69,72 @@ func InstallBuilder(ctx context.Context, o Options, d Deps, control controlPlane
 	}
 
 	// Before the push, so the account is in the declaration the machine receives rather than in
-	// the one after it. A builder that arrives without its credential starts, finds nothing it may
-	// read, and waits — which looks exactly like a builder with no work.
-	account := o.Node + "-" + BuilderModule
-	if _, err := control.tell(ctx, "builder", "issue", account, "--node", o.Node); err != nil {
-		// Said and carried on. An account that already exists is the ordinary case on a re-run,
-		// and the push below is what makes either state true on the machine.
-		if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "already") {
-			return out, fmt.Errorf("the builder has no broker account, so it can take no work: %w", err)
-		}
-		say("  broker account    " + account + " — already issued")
-	} else {
-		out.Account = true
-		say("  broker account    " + account + ", scoped to what it consumes and emits")
+	// the one after it. A build agent that arrives without its credential starts, finds nothing it
+	// may read, and waits — which looks exactly like an agent with no work. The same act as any
+	// module's account (`module issue`), which a re-run repeats harmlessly.
+	if _, err := control.tell(ctx, "module", "issue", BuilderModule, "--node", o.Node); err != nil {
+		return out, fmt.Errorf("the build agent has no account on the bus, so it can take no work: %w", err)
 	}
+	out.Account = true
+	say("  bus account       " + BuilderModule + " on " + o.Node + ", scoped to what it consumes and emits")
 
 	out.Installed.Pushed, err = pushNode(ctx, o, control, say)
 	return out, err
 }
+
+// pinTheCarriedBuilder names the image this installer carried and published in the build agent's
+// manifest, in place of the artifact the mesh would build for it.
+//
+// **The one module genesis cannot have built** (novox/hq ADR 0073): the build agent is what builds,
+// and at this step the mesh has no build agent. The catalogue's manifest names its server container by
+// the artifact it builds (`"artifact": "server"`, an image built from mesh-controller's
+// cmd/mesh-builder); the image this installer carries is that build, made from the same program. So
+// every container built from that image artifact runs the published reference instead, and the rest
+// of the manifest — its build, its seat, its requirements — is the catalogue's as written. The mesh
+// rebuilds it from the catalogue like any module from then on.
+//
+// A manifest still carrying the old placeholder digest is pinned the old way. One naming neither an
+// image artifact nor a placeholder is refused: there would be nothing to put the carried image in.
+func pinTheCarriedBuilder(manifest []byte, reference string) ([]byte, int, error) {
+	if bytes.Contains(manifest, []byte(placeholderDigest)) {
+		return pinPlaceholder(manifest, reference, BuilderModule)
+	}
+	var m map[string]any
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(manifest, &m); err != nil {
+		return nil, 0, fmt.Errorf("the %s module's manifest is not readable: %w", BuilderModule, err)
+	}
+	images := map[string]bool{}
+	if build, ok := m["build"].(map[string]any); ok {
+		artifacts, _ := build["artifacts"].([]any)
+		for _, a := range artifacts {
+			if art, ok := a.(map[string]any); ok && art["kind"] == "image" {
+				if name, ok := art["name"].(string); ok {
+					images[name] = true
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	places := 0
+	resources, _ := m["resources"].([]any)
+	for _, r := range resources {
+		res, ok := r.(map[string]any)
+		if !ok || res["type"] != "container" {
+			continue
+		}
+		if name, ok := res["artifact"].(string); ok && images[name] {
+			delete(res, "artifact")
+			res["image"] = reference
+			places++
+		}
+	}
+	if places == 0 {
+		return nil, 0, fmt.Errorf(
+			"the %s module's manifest runs no container from an image it builds, so there is nowhere to "+
+				"put the builder this installer carried and published (%s)", BuilderModule, reference)
+	}
+	pinned, err := json.MarshalIndent(m, "", "  ")
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, 0, err
+	}
+	return append(pinned, '\n'), places, nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/builder_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/builder_test.go
index 26368e9..f4158f1 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/builder_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/builder_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package bootstrap
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -37,27 +38,6 @@ func recording(t *testing.T) (*controlRecorder, controlPlane) {
 	return c, controlPlane{container: "temp-mesh-controller", run: c.run, timeout: time.Second}
 }
 
-func TestTheBuildersPackageRegistryPortIsASettingAndNotTheManifest(t *testing.T) {
-	c, control := recording(t)
-	o := Options{Node: "anchor", Ports: FoundationPorts{Packages: 3100}, Wait: time.Second}
-	if _, err := installModule(context.Background(), o, control, BuilderModule,
-		[]byte(theBuildersBinding), quietly); err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
-	if got := c.settings["builder-settings.json"]; got != `{"serves":{"port":3100}}` {
-		t.Errorf("the builder was told %q about the package registry's port", got)
-	}
-	// The manifest reaches the mesh as the catalogue wrote it. A port rewritten into it here is a
-	// port the next registration from the catalogue silently takes back.
-	if got := c.settings["builder-module.json"]; got != theBuildersBinding {
-		t.Errorf("the installer changed the builder's manifest:\n%s", got)
-	}
-	set, push := c.index("settings set builder"), c.index("push anchor")
-	if set < 0 || push < 0 || set > push {
-		t.Fatalf("the port was not set before the push that raises the builder: %v", c.told)
-	}
-}
-
 func TestTheBuilderOnTheDefaultPackagesPortIsToldNothing(t *testing.T) {
 	c, control := recording(t)
 	o := Options{Node: "anchor", Wait: time.Second}
@@ -167,3 +147,73 @@ func TestAForgeManifestTheCatalogueDoesNotHaveIsNamed(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("a missing forge manifest was not explained: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+// theCataloguesModule is the catalogue's own manifest of a module, never a copy: the clone beside a merge
+// check (MESH_CHECK_BESIDE), where it must be; else a checkout beside this one; else the test skips aloud.
+func theCataloguesModule(t *testing.T, module string) []byte {
+	t.Helper()
+	inside := filepath.Join("mesh-catalog", "modules", module, "module.json")
+	if root := os.Getenv("MESH_CHECK_BESIDE"); root != "" {
+		raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(root, inside))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("the catalogue beside this check (MESH_CHECK_BESIDE=%s) has no %s: %v", root, inside, err)
+		}
+		return raw
+	}
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join("..", "..", "..", inside))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("NOT JUDGED: no catalogue beside this checkout and no MESH_CHECK_BESIDE; the merge check judges it")
+	}
+	return raw
+}
+
+// **Genesis installs the build agent the catalogue holds** (novox/hq issue 596, ADR 0190): the
+// one-holder `builder` left the catalogue on 2026-10-03, and genesis stopped at step 13 asking for it.
+// The catalogue's own manifest is read, and the image the installer carried is put where the manifest
+// names the image it builds.
+func TestGenesisInstallsTheCataloguesBuildAgent(t *testing.T) {
+	manifest := theCataloguesModule(t, BuilderModule)
+	const reference = "127.0.0.1:5000/mesh-builder@sha256:" + "4444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444"
+	pinned, places, err := pinTheCarriedBuilder(manifest, reference)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var m struct {
+		Module string `json:"module"`
+		Claims []struct {
+			Name string `json:"name"`
+		} `json:"claims"`
+		Resources []map[string]any `json:"resources"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(pinned, &m); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if m.Module != BuilderModule || len(m.Claims) == 0 || m.Claims[0].Name != "node-build-agent" {
+		t.Fatalf("genesis installs %q claiming %v; the build agent holds node-build-agent (ADR 0190)", m.Module, m.Claims)
+	}
+	running := 0
+	for _, r := range m.Resources {
+		if r["type"] != "container" {
+			continue
+		}
+		if _, still := r["artifact"]; still {
+			t.Errorf("the container %v still names an artifact nothing has built yet", r["name"])
+		}
+		if r["image"] == reference {
+			running++
+		}
+	}
+	if places != 1 || running != 1 {
+		t.Errorf("the carried builder runs in %d container(s) (%d place(s) said); the build agent runs one", running, places)
+	}
+}
+
+// A manifest that runs nothing from an image it builds has nowhere to put the carried builder, and is
+// refused rather than registered running nothing.
+func TestABuildAgentManifestWithNowhereForTheCarriedBuilderIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	_, _, err := pinTheCarriedBuilder([]byte(`{"module":"build-agent","resources":[{"id":"server","type":"container","name":"x","artifact":"server"}],"build":{"artifacts":[{"name":"server","kind":"bundle"}]}}`),
+		"127.0.0.1:5000/mesh-builder@sha256:"+strings.Repeat("4", 64))
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "nowhere to put") {
+		t.Fatalf("a manifest with no image artifact was pinned: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/bus_adoption.go b/internal/bootstrap/bus_adoption.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f26ea0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/bus_adoption.go
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
+package bootstrap
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"encoding/pem"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"regexp"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+)
+
+// Adopting the bus is the mesh's planned step for replacing it (novox/hq ADR 0333 §3, ADR 0236).
+//
+// The adoption replaces the bus's image once: the module's built image takes the place of the upstream
+// one the bundle raised, on the same streams, users and certificate. The controller refuses a push that
+// would replace the bus — "a planned step: `bus upgrade --why …` snapshots its streams first and checks
+// them after" — so genesis stopped at step 18 (issue 590). The installer takes that step: it snapshots the
+// streams itself, because at genesis no backup holder exists to be asked, and hands the snapshot to
+// `bus upgrade`, which sends the machine, opens `bus-maintenance`, and ends the step done only once the
+// bus answers healthy again — every stream, every durable consumer, a round trip (H-bus). The installer
+// waits for that end.
+
+// adoptionWhy is what the step is recorded as, for the record of hand acts and the bus's step.
+const adoptionWhy = "genesis adopts its bus as the nats module (ADR 0333)"
+
+// Where the installer keeps the streams' snapshot before the adoption, and the credential the snapshot
+// program reads while it runs. Beside genesis's own credentials; variables so a test writes elsewhere.
+var (
+	busSnapshotFile       = "/var/lib/mesh-genesis/bus-before-adoption.tar"
+	busSnapshotCredential = "/var/lib/mesh-genesis/bus-snapshot.credential"
+	busCertificateFile    = "/var/lib/mesh-broker-tls/tls.crt"
+	busControllerSecret   = BusControllerFile
+	// busStepWithin bounds the wait for the controller to say the step ended: its own bound (15 min,
+	// mesh-controller busStepBound), and its doctor's next look after that.
+	busStepWithin = 17 * time.Minute
+)
+
+// adoptTheBus sends the nats module to this machine through the bus's planned step. A bus already on the
+// module's image is the module's: it is sent like any module, and nothing is replaced.
+func adoptTheBus(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, bus *declaration.Container,
+	say func(string)) error {
+
+	if running := runningImage(ctx, control, bus.Name); running != "" && running != bus.Image {
+		say("  already adopted   " + bus.Name + " — it runs the module's image")
+		_, err := pushNode(ctx, o, control, say)
+		return err
+	}
+	image, err := theModulesBusImage(ctx, o, control)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := snapshotTheBus(ctx, o, control, image, say); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	say("  restarting        " + bus.Name + " — once, onto the " + BusModule + " module's image, as the bus's " +
+		"planned step; its streams, users and certificate stay where they are (novox/hq ADR 0333 §3, ADR 0236)")
+	if _, err := control.within(2*o.Wait).tell(ctx, "bus", "upgrade", "--why", adoptionWhy,
+		"--reversible", "--snapshot-taken", busSnapshotFile); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("the bus's planned step was refused, so the bus is not replaced: %w", err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// meshBuiltImage is an image the mesh built, as it records it: `artifact-store://<module>/<artifact>@sha256:…`.
+var meshBuiltImage = regexp.MustCompile(`artifact-store://([a-z0-9][a-z0-9-]*/[a-z0-9][a-z0-9-]*@sha256:[0-9a-f]{64})`)
+
+// theModulesBusImage is the nats module's server image, as the build just made it, pulled from this
+// mesh's registry: the image that carries the snapshot program.
+func theModulesBusImage(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane) (string, error) {
+	said, err := control.tell(ctx, "builds", BusModule, "-n", "1")
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	for _, m := range meshBuiltImage.FindAllStringSubmatch(said, -1) {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(m[1], BusModule+"/") {
+			return strings.TrimSuffix(o.Registry, "/") + "/" + m[1], nil
+		}
+	}
+	return "", fmt.Errorf("the mesh says no image it built for the %s module, so its snapshot program cannot "+
+		"be run before the bus is replaced:\n%s", BusModule, indent(strings.TrimSpace(said)))
+}
+
+// snapshotTheBus writes every stream of the running bus to busSnapshotFile with the module's own snapshot
+// program (mesh-catalog modules/nats, ADR 0235), as the controller's account, pinned to the bus's
+// certificate. The credential is written for the program's one run and removed after it.
+func snapshotTheBus(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, image string, say func(string)) error {
+	password, err := readCredentialFile(busControllerSecret)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("the controller's bus credential is not at %s, so the streams cannot be snapshotted "+
+			"before the bus is replaced: %w", busControllerSecret, err)
+	}
+	fingerprint, err := certificateFingerprint(busCertificateFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	port := o.Ports.orDefaults().Bus
+	server := "tls://127.0.0.1:" + strconv.Itoa(port)
+	credential, err := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"url": server, "fingerprint": fingerprint,
+		"user": busControllerUser, "password": password})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := os.WriteFile(busSnapshotCredential, credential, 0o600); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("the snapshot's credential could not be written: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer os.Remove(busSnapshotCredential)
+
+	script := "docker run --rm -i --network host --entrypoint /usr/local/bin/mesh-nats-snapshot " + image +
+		" snapshot --server " + server + " --credential - < " + busSnapshotCredential + " > " + busSnapshotFile +
+		".partial && mv " + busSnapshotFile + ".partial " + busSnapshotFile
+	running, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, busStepWithin)
+	defer cancel()
+	if out, err := control.run(running, "sh", "-c", script); err != nil {
+		_, _ = control.run(ctx, "rm", "-f", busSnapshotFile+".partial")
+		return fmt.Errorf("the bus's streams could not be snapshotted, so the bus is not replaced: %w\n%s",
+			err, indent(strings.TrimSpace(out)))
+	}
+	say("  snapshotted       every stream of the bus, at " + busSnapshotFile + " (its module's snapshot program)")
+	return nil
+}
+
+// certificateFingerprint is the pin of the bus's certificate: sha256 of its DER, as every machine pins it.
+func certificateFingerprint(path string) (string, error) {
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("the bus's certificate is not at %s, so it cannot be pinned for the snapshot: %w", path, err)
+	}
+	block, _ := pem.Decode(raw)
+	if block == nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("%s holds no PEM certificate", path)
+	}
+	sum := sha256.Sum256(block.Bytes)
+	return "sha256:" + hex.EncodeToString(sum[:]), nil
+}
+
+// waitForTheBusStep waits until the controller says the bus's planned step ended: done once the bus
+// answered healthy — every stream, every durable consumer, a round trip — or failed, with its snapshot as
+// the way back. The step's own bound is the controller's; this waits a little past it.
+func waitForTheBusStep(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, say func(string)) error {
+	deadline := time.Now().Add(busStepWithin)
+	var last string
+	for {
+		said, err := control.tell(ctx, "bus")
+		if err == nil {
+			for _, line := range strings.Split(said, "\n") {
+				if strings.HasPrefix(strings.TrimSpace(line), "last step ") {
+					last = strings.TrimSpace(line)
+				}
+			}
+			switch {
+			case strings.Contains(last, ": done at "):
+				say("  bus step done     " + last)
+				return nil
+			case strings.Contains(last, ": failed at "):
+				return fmt.Errorf("the bus's planned step ended failed: %s\n%s", last, indent(strings.TrimSpace(said)))
+			}
+		}
+		if !time.Now().Before(deadline) {
+			break
+		}
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return ctx.Err()
+		case <-time.After(answerEvery):
+		}
+	}
+	if last == "" {
+		return errors.New("the controller says no bus step after the adoption was sent; `mesh-controller bus` says how it stands")
+	}
+	return fmt.Errorf("the bus's planned step did not end within %s: %s", busStepWithin, last)
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/bus_adoption_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/bus_adoption_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbb52e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/bus_adoption_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+package bootstrap
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Defends novox/hq issue 590 at its broker step (ADR 0333 §3, ADR 0236): the adoption replaces the bus's
+// image, and the mesh replaces its bus only as a planned step. A plain push was refused — "sending anchor
+// would replace the bus … a planned step: `bus upgrade --why …`" — and genesis stopped at step 18.
+
+func TestTheBrokerStepAdoptsTheBusThroughItsPlannedStep(t *testing.T) {
+	catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule(theModulesLayout)})
+	rewritten, err := Rewrite(theRealBundle(t), held)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	bundleImage := containerNamed(rewritten.Declaration, "mesh-broker-nats").Image
+	upgraded := false
+	var credential []byte
+	runtime := &asked{}
+	agrees := aMeshThatAgrees(nil)
+	runtime.answer = func(name string, args []string) (string, error) {
+		joined := strings.Join(args, " ")
+		switch {
+		case name == "sh" && strings.Contains(joined, "mesh-nats-snapshot"):
+			credential, _ = os.ReadFile(busSnapshotCredential) // as the program reads it
+		case strings.Contains(joined, "bus upgrade --why"):
+			upgraded = true
+		case strings.Contains(joined, "inspect --format {{.Config.Image}} mesh-broker-nats"):
+			if upgraded {
+				return theModulesImage + "\n", nil
+			}
+			return bundleImage + "\n", nil
+		}
+		return agrees(name, args)
+	}
+	_, fetch := aBusThatAdopts()
+	o := installing(t, catalogue)
+	o.CatalogSource = Source{Repository: "git://forge/mesh-catalog.git"}
+	o.Wait = 5 * time.Second
+	said, err := busStepWith(t, o, runtime, fetch)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	snapshot, upgrade := -1, -1
+	for i, c := range runtime.commands {
+		switch {
+		case strings.HasPrefix(c, "sh -c") && strings.Contains(c, "mesh-nats-snapshot"):
+			snapshot = i
+			for _, want := range []string{"127.0.0.1:5000/nats/server@sha256:" + strings.Repeat("4", 64),
+				"snapshot --server tls://127.0.0.1:5671 --credential - < " + busSnapshotCredential,
+				"> " + busSnapshotFile + ".partial && mv " + busSnapshotFile + ".partial " + busSnapshotFile} {
+				if !strings.Contains(c, want) {
+					t.Errorf("the snapshot is not taken with %q: %s", want, c)
+				}
+			}
+		case strings.Contains(c, "/mesh-controller bus upgrade"):
+			upgrade = i
+			if want := "bus upgrade --why " + adoptionWhy + " --reversible --snapshot-taken " + busSnapshotFile; !strings.HasSuffix(c, want) {
+				t.Errorf("the planned step is asked as %q; want it to end %q", c, want)
+			}
+		case strings.HasSuffix(c, "/mesh-controller push anchor"):
+			t.Errorf("the bus's module was sent by a plain push, which the mesh refuses for the bus: %v", runtime.commands)
+		}
+	}
+	if snapshot < 0 || upgrade < 0 || snapshot > upgrade {
+		t.Fatalf("the streams were not snapshotted before the bus's planned step (snapshot %d, upgrade %d): %v",
+			snapshot, upgrade, runtime.commands)
+	}
+	var cred map[string]string
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(credential, &cred); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the snapshot program was given no credential: %v", err)
+	}
+	fingerprint, _ := certificateFingerprint(busCertificateFile)
+	if cred["user"] != "controller" || cred["password"] != "BUS-PW" || cred["fingerprint"] != fingerprint ||
+		cred["url"] != "tls://127.0.0.1:5671" {
+		t.Errorf("the snapshot's credential is %v", cred)
+	}
+	if _, err := os.Stat(busSnapshotCredential); !os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		t.Error("the snapshot's credential was left on the machine")
+	}
+	text := strings.Join(said, "\n")
+	for _, want := range []string{"snapshotted       every stream", "restarting        mesh-broker-nats — once",
+		"bus answers       mesh-broker-nats", "bus step done     last step 1", "adopted           mesh-broker-nats"} {
+		if !strings.Contains(text, want) {
+			t.Errorf("the step did not say %q:\n%s", want, text)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// A planned step the controller ends failed is the broker step failing, with the controller's words.
+func TestABusStepThatEndsFailedIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	aGenesisBusOnDisk(t)
+	runtime := &asked{answer: func(name string, args []string) (string, error) {
+		return "last step 1: not known → 53e51864 on anchor by installer (x): failed at 2026-10-13 11:59; snapshot s\n" +
+			"  stream KV_x has no messages\n", nil
+	}}
+	control := controlPlane{container: "mesh-controller", run: runtime.run, timeout: time.Second}
+	err := waitForTheBusStep(context.Background(), Options{}, control, quietly)
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed at") || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "KV_x") {
+		t.Fatalf("a failed bus step was not refused with its words: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// The bundle's bus runs the release the module's image is built on, pinned by the same digest, so the
+// adoption changes no server release and is reversible as the step says (ADR 0333 §3).
+func TestTheBundlesBusRunsTheReleaseTheModulesImageIsBuiltOn(t *testing.T) {
+	var m struct {
+		Build struct {
+			On []struct{ Arg, Image string } `json:"on"`
+		} `json:"build"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(theCataloguesModule(t, BusModule), &m); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	base := ""
+	for _, on := range m.Build.On {
+		if on.Arg == "NATS_BASE" {
+			base = on.Image
+		}
+	}
+	rewritten, err := Rewrite(theRealBundle(t), held)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if got := containerNamed(rewritten.Declaration, "mesh-broker-nats").Image; got != base {
+		t.Errorf("the bundle raises the bus on %s; the nats module's image is built on %s", got, base)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/control.go b/internal/bootstrap/control.go
index bcade8b..a0c509b 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/control.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/control.go
@@ -311,6 +311,17 @@ func secretsByVariableIn(manifest []byte) (map[string]string, error) {
 	for name, path := range m.OwnSecrets {
 		secretAt[path] = name
 	}
+	// **A file the module itself declares is its own, not a secret** (novox/hq issue 597). The
+	// controller reads its merge window's settings from a file its manifest writes from its settings
+	// (MESH_MERGE_WINDOW_FILE, ADR 0276): the mesh writes it with the module's declaration, and there
+	// is nothing for genesis to carry in. Only a `…_FILE` naming neither an own-secret nor a file of
+	// the module is refused.
+	declared := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, r := range m.Resources {
+		if r.Type == "file" && r.Path != "" {
+			declared[r.Path] = true
+		}
+	}
 
 	wanted := map[string]string{}
 	for _, r := range m.Resources {
@@ -333,10 +344,13 @@ func secretsByVariableIn(manifest []byte) (map[string]string, error) {
 					on = from
 				}
 				secret, named := secretAt[on]
+				if !named && declared[on] {
+					continue
+				}
 				if !named {
 					return nil, fmt.Errorf(
-						"the %s module's container reads %s from %s, and no own-secret of that "+
-							"module writes that file.\n"+
+						"the %s module's container reads %s from %s, and neither an own-secret nor "+
+							"a file of that module writes that file.\n"+
 							"So the mesh would seal nothing there and the control plane would find "+
 							"an empty file where a connection string has to be. The manifest has to "+
 							"name the two ends the same, directly or through a mount",
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/enrol.go b/internal/bootstrap/enrol.go
index b0d13d2..89e1228 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/enrol.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/enrol.go
@@ -94,10 +94,10 @@ func Enrol(ctx context.Context, o Options, sys system.System, control controlPla
 	switch mine, err := identity.Load(where); {
 	case err == nil && mine.Node == o.Node:
 		say("  already enrolled  " + o.Node + " — " + where)
-		// **Enrolled is not adopted** (novox/hq ADR 0331 §5). This run's apply wrote the bundle's
-		// user list again — the controller's entry and nobody else's — over the list placed when
-		// the machine enrolled. Until the bus is the nats module, that list is still the
-		// installer's to place, so it is placed again, before anything dials the bus as a node.
+		// **Enrolled is not adopted** (novox/hq ADR 0331 §5). Until the bus is the nats module, its
+		// user list is the installer's to place, so it is placed again, before anything dials the
+		// bus as a node: the controller's composition is the one that is right, whatever an earlier
+		// run left there. The bundle seeds the list only where none is (create-once, ADR 0333 §4).
 		if err := placeUntilAdopted(ctx, control, say); err != nil {
 			return out, err
 		}
@@ -168,9 +168,14 @@ func Enrol(ctx context.Context, o Options, sys system.System, control controlPla
 // configuration includes, and the container that reads it. The installer raised them, so it is the
 // one that knows them (examples/foundation-first-node.lock). A bridge until the bus is adopted as the
 // nats module, which receives the list in its declaration from then on (novox/hq ADR 0331 §5).
+//
+// **The module's path and the module's container** (novox/hq ADR 0333 §4): the bundle raises the bus
+// where the `nats` module keeps it, so the list placed here is the one the module goes on writing, in
+// the same file, read by the same container. The tests hold both to the bundle and to the module's
+// manifest (`bus-users` and its server container).
 const (
-	busAccounts  = "/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf/accounts.conf"
-	busContainer = "mesh-broker"
+	busAccounts  = "/var/lib/nats-module/conf/accounts.conf"
+	busContainer = "mesh-broker-nats"
 )
 
 // placeTheBusUsers writes the mesh's composed user list beside the bus the installer raised, and makes
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/enrol_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/enrol_test.go
index 111d000..031b823 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/enrol_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/enrol_test.go
@@ -315,8 +315,8 @@ func TestAFirstNodeIsLetOntoTheBusItRaised(t *testing.T) {
 
 	placed, enrol := []int{}, -1
 	for i, c := range runtime.commands {
-		if strings.HasPrefix(c, "sh -c") && strings.Contains(c, "kill -s HUP mesh-broker") &&
-			strings.Contains(c, "/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf/accounts.conf") {
+		if strings.HasPrefix(c, "sh -c") && strings.Contains(c, "kill -s HUP mesh-broker-nats") &&
+			strings.Contains(c, "/var/lib/nats-module/conf/accounts.conf") {
 			placed = append(placed, i)
 		}
 		if strings.HasPrefix(c, "/usr/local/bin/mesh-host enrol") {
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ func TestARerunOnAnEnrolledMachineWhoseBusIsNotAdoptedPlacesTheUsersAgain(t *tes
 	placed := false
 	for _, c := range runtime.commands {
 		if strings.HasPrefix(c, "sh -c") && strings.Contains(c, "node.anchor") &&
-			strings.Contains(c, "/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf/accounts.conf") && strings.Contains(c, "kill -s HUP mesh-broker") {
+			strings.Contains(c, "/var/lib/nats-module/conf/accounts.conf") && strings.Contains(c, "kill -s HUP mesh-broker-nats") {
 			placed = true
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/genesis_form_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/genesis_form_test.go
index e009568..b22da3a 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/genesis_form_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/genesis_form_test.go
@@ -180,3 +180,85 @@ func TestAProcessFormNamingNoOneReplacementIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// theStepNineSecretsOf is what step 9 delivers for a process-form controller manifest: its genesis
+// container made, pinned, and its secrets read from that container's environment.
+func theStepNineSecretsOf(t *testing.T, manifest []byte) (map[string]string, error) {
+	t.Helper()
+	form, err := processFormOf(manifest)
+	if err != nil || !form.Found {
+		t.Fatalf("the manifest has no process form: %v", err)
+	}
+	genesis, err := genesisForm(manifest, form, builtImage)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	pinned, _, err := pinImage(genesis, builtImage, "registry.internal:5000/mesh-controller@sha256:"+strings.Repeat("e", 64), ControlPlaneModule)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return secretsByVariableIn(pinned)
+}
+
+// **A file the controller's manifest writes itself is not a secret** (novox/hq issue 597). The merge
+// window's settings reach the controller in a file its manifest declares from its settings
+// (MESH_MERGE_WINDOW_FILE, ADR 0276); genesis refused it as a secret nobody writes, and stopped at
+// step 11 of 24.
+func TestAFileTheControllersManifestWritesIsNotASecret(t *testing.T) {
+	manifest := strings.Replace(processFormManifest,
+		`{"id": "controller", "type": "process",`,
+		`{"id": "merge-window", "type": "file", "path": "${dir:mesh-state}/merge-window.json", "mode": "0600",
+      "owner": "mesh-controller", "content": "{\"merge-window\": \"${setting:merge-window}\"}\n"},
+    {"id": "controller", "type": "process",`, 1)
+	manifest = strings.Replace(manifest, `"MESH_BUS_NATS_FILE": "${dir:mesh-state}/bus"}`,
+		`"MESH_BUS_NATS_FILE": "${dir:mesh-state}/bus",
+             "MESH_MERGE_WINDOW_FILE": "${dir:mesh-state}/merge-window.json"}`, 1)
+	if !strings.Contains(manifest, "MESH_MERGE_WINDOW_FILE") || !strings.Contains(manifest, `"id": "merge-window"`) {
+		t.Fatal("the fixture was not changed")
+	}
+	wanted, err := theStepNineSecretsOf(t, []byte(manifest))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("step 9 refuses a file the manifest writes itself: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, asked := wanted["MESH_MERGE_WINDOW"]; asked {
+		t.Errorf("the merge window's settings are delivered as a secret: %v", wanted)
+	}
+	if wanted["MESH_STORE_INVENTORY"] != "inventory" || wanted["MESH_BUS_NATS"] != "bus" {
+		t.Errorf("step 9 delivers %v; the store's and the bus's secrets are still wanted", wanted)
+	}
+}
+
+// And a `…_FILE` that neither an own-secret nor a file of the module writes is still refused.
+func TestAFileNothingOfTheControllerWritesIsStillRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	manifest := strings.Replace(processFormManifest, `"MESH_BUS_NATS_FILE": "${dir:mesh-state}/bus"}`,
+		`"MESH_BUS_NATS_FILE": "${dir:mesh-state}/bus",
+             "MESH_MERGE_WINDOW_FILE": "${dir:mesh-state}/merge-window.json"}`, 1)
+	if _, err := theStepNineSecretsOf(t, []byte(manifest)); err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "MESH_MERGE_WINDOW_FILE") {
+		t.Fatalf("a file nothing writes was accepted, or refused without its name: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// The controller's own manifest, as the mesh runs it, passes step 9 (issue 597): in a merge check the
+// node-engine's check has the controller cloned beside it (MESH_CHECK_BESIDE), where it must be; else a
+// checkout beside this one; else it skips aloud.
+func TestTheControllersOwnManifestPassesStepNine(t *testing.T) {
+	var manifest []byte
+	if root := os.Getenv("MESH_CHECK_BESIDE"); root != "" {
+		raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(root, "mesh-controller", "module.json"))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("the controller is not beside this check in MESH_CHECK_BESIDE=%s: %v", root, err)
+		}
+		manifest = raw
+	} else if raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join("..", "..", "..", "mesh-controller", "module.json")); err == nil {
+		manifest = raw
+	} else {
+		t.Skip("NOT JUDGED: no controller beside this checkout and no MESH_CHECK_BESIDE; the merge check judges it")
+	}
+	wanted, err := theStepNineSecretsOf(t, manifest)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("genesis's step 9 refuses the controller the mesh runs: %v", err)
+	}
+	if wanted["MESH_STORE_INVENTORY"] != "inventory" {
+		t.Errorf("step 9 delivers %v", wanted)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/genesis_registry_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/genesis_registry_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7cd3448
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/genesis_registry_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+package bootstrap
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Genesis seals the build agent the forge it raised (novox/hq ADR 0336 §3, issue 121): the agent's
+// npm-package-registry requirement is optional and binds only once the gitea module is assigned, after
+// the base, so until then the packages step's genesis document is how the sdk and base steps reach the
+// forge.
+
+func TestThePackagesStepSealsTheGenesisDocumentToTheBuildAgent(t *testing.T) {
+	if BuilderModule != "build-agent" {
+		t.Fatalf("genesis installs %q; the document is the build agent's", BuilderModule)
+	}
+	c, control := recording(t)
+	o := Options{Node: "anchor", Ports: FoundationPorts{Packages: 3100}, Wait: time.Second}
+	doc := genesisRegistry(o.Ports.orDefaults(), "builder-password")
+	if err := deliverGenesisRegistry(context.Background(), o, control, doc, quietly); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	carried := c.settings["accepting-"+GenesisRegistrySecret]
+	var got GenesisRegistry
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(carried), &got); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the genesis document carried is not JSON: %q", carried)
+	}
+	want := GenesisRegistry{Scheme: "http", At: "127.0.0.1", Port: 3100, NpmPath: "/api/packages/novox/npm/",
+		As: "mesh-builder", Password: "builder-password"}
+	if got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("the genesis document says %+v, want %+v", got, want)
+	}
+	accept := c.index("secret accept anchor build-agent genesis-package-registry --from /accepting-genesis-package-registry")
+	push := c.index("push anchor")
+	if accept < 0 || push < 0 || accept > push {
+		t.Fatalf("the genesis document was not sealed to the build agent before the push: %v", c.told)
+	}
+}
+
+// What the retired builder was given and the build agent declares neither of: an `npm-password`
+// own-secret and a `serves` setting for its carried binding (ADR 0336 §3).
+func TestNoStepGivesTheBuildAgentAServesSettingOrAnNpmPassword(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, module := range []string{BuilderModule} {
+		c, control := recording(t)
+		o := Options{Node: "anchor", Ports: FoundationPorts{Packages: 3100}, Wait: time.Second}
+		if _, err := installModule(context.Background(), o, control, module, []byte(`{"module":"`+module+`"}`), quietly); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if got, set := c.settings[module+"-settings.json"]; set {
+			t.Errorf("%s was given a setting on a node with a non-default packages port: %s", module, got)
+		}
+		if err := deliverGenesisRegistry(context.Background(), o, control,
+			genesisRegistry(o.Ports.orDefaults(), "p"), quietly); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		for _, told := range c.told {
+			if strings.Contains(told, "npm-password") || strings.Contains(told, "serves") {
+				t.Errorf("genesis told the controller %q", told)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/genesis_toolchains_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/genesis_toolchains_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8523054
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/genesis_toolchains_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+package bootstrap
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Defends novox/hq issue 616: genesis's base step builds the toolchain of every language a module
+// genesis installs is compiled in. It built only mesh-tools, and the store's module, with Go code,
+// stopped genesis at step 17: "this mesh holds no copy of it. Build mesh-tools-go first".
+
+// genesisModules is every catalogue module genesis installs on its own, read from the steps that
+// install them: the registry, the build agent, the store, the bus, the vault, the catalogue and the
+// filter (extras are the operator's choice and come after the base too, but are not genesis's own).
+var genesisModules = []string{RegistryModule, BuilderModule, "postgres", BusModule, "mesh-vault", "mesh-catalog", "nftables"}
+
+// Every genesis module's bundles are compiled in a toolchain the base step builds, read from the real
+// catalogue's manifests: a module that gains a language genesis does not build fails here, not at a
+// genesis.
+func TestTheBaseStepBuildsEveryToolchainAGenesisModuleIsCompiledIn(t *testing.T) {
+	built := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, tc := range genesisToolchains {
+		built[tc.Language] = true
+	}
+	for _, module := range genesisModules {
+		var m struct {
+			Build struct {
+				Artifacts []struct {
+					Name, Kind, Language string
+				} `json:"artifacts"`
+			} `json:"build"`
+		}
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(theCataloguesModule(t, module), &m); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("%s: %v", module, err)
+		}
+		for _, a := range m.Build.Artifacts {
+			if a.Kind != "bundle" {
+				continue // an image builds on the bases its Dockerfile names, pinned upstream
+			}
+			if !built[a.Language] {
+				t.Errorf("%s's %q is a %s bundle, and genesis's base step builds no %s toolchain",
+					module, a.Name, a.Language, a.Language)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// And the base step asks for each toolchain's build: the base, then the Go toolchain beside it.
+func TestTheBaseStepBuildsTheGoToolchainBesideTheBase(t *testing.T) {
+	runtime := &asked{answer: aMeshThatAgrees(nil)}
+	control := controlPlane{container: "mesh-controller", run: runtime.run, timeout: time.Second}
+	o := Options{ToolsSource: Source{Repository: "git://192.0.2.30/mesh-tools.git"}}
+	if err := BuildBase(context.Background(), o, control, quietly); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	var builds []string
+	for _, c := range runtime.commands {
+		if strings.Contains(c, "/mesh-controller build ") {
+			builds = append(builds, c[strings.Index(c, "build "):])
+		}
+	}
+	want := []string{
+		"build git://192.0.2.30/mesh-tools.git --ref main --wait 1200s",
+		"build git://192.0.2.30/mesh-tools-go.git --ref main --wait 1200s",
+	}
+	if strings.Join(builds, "\n") != strings.Join(want, "\n") {
+		t.Fatalf("the base step built\n%s\nand not\n%s", strings.Join(builds, "\n"), strings.Join(want, "\n"))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTheGoToolchainIsAsGivenOrBesideTheBase(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, c := range []struct{ tools, given, want string }{
+		{"http://forge/novox/mesh-tools.git", "", "http://forge/novox/mesh-tools-go.git"},
+		{"http://forge/novox/mesh-tools", "", "http://forge/novox/mesh-tools-go"},
+		{"http://forge/other/base.git", "http://forge/other/go.git", "http://forge/other/go.git"},
+	} {
+		got, err := toolsGoSource(Options{ToolsSource: Source{Repository: c.tools}, ToolsGoSource: Source{Repository: c.given}})
+		if err != nil || got.Repository != c.want {
+			t.Errorf("tools %s, given %q: %q %v; want %s", c.tools, c.given, got.Repository, err, c.want)
+		}
+	}
+	if _, err := toolsGoSource(Options{ToolsSource: Source{Repository: "http://forge/other/base.git"}}); err == nil ||
+		!strings.Contains(err.Error(), "--tools-go-source") {
+		t.Errorf("a base not named mesh-tools, and no Go toolchain given, was not refused naming the flag: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/module.go b/internal/bootstrap/module.go
index 6352d4d..6b46dd0 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/module.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/module.go
@@ -137,7 +137,26 @@ func registerAndAssign(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, mod
 // should hold, seals every secret in them and publishes them, and on a first node that is the
 // slowest thing the mesh does.
 func pushNode(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, say func(string)) (string, error) {
-	said, err := control.within(o.Wait).tell(ctx, "push", o.Node)
+	return pushing(ctx, o, control, false, say)
+}
+
+// pushNodeApplied is pushNode that returns only once the node reports it applied exactly what it was
+// sent (`push <node> --wait`, novox/hq ADR 0010): for a push whose content the very next step reads
+// on the machine. A plain push returns as soon as the declaration is sent, and the node applies it a
+// moment later (issue 615).
+func pushNodeApplied(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, say func(string)) (string, error) {
+	return pushing(ctx, o, control, true, say)
+}
+
+func pushing(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, applied bool, say func(string)) (string, error) {
+	args := []string{"push", o.Node}
+	patience := o.Wait
+	if applied {
+		args = append(args, "--wait", o.Wait.String())
+		// The controller's own wait, and time to compose and send before it starts.
+		patience = 2 * o.Wait
+	}
+	said, err := control.within(patience).tell(ctx, args...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf(
 			"%w\n\nWhat was registered and assigned is registered and assigned, and this node has "+
@@ -145,7 +164,20 @@ func pushNode(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, say func(str
 				"at all. Fix what it named and run this installer again: it will find the module "+
 				"already registered and try the push again", err)
 	}
-	say("  pushed            " + o.Node)
+	if applied {
+		say("  pushed            " + o.Node + ", and it applied it")
+	} else {
+		say("  pushed            " + o.Node)
+	}
+	// **Every push may carry a new bus user, and until the adoption the bus hears of it only from here**
+	// (novox/hq issue 608, ADR 0331 §5, ADR 0333 §4). A module's account is minted into the mesh's
+	// records and sealed to this node with the push; the bus reads its user list from a file, and until
+	// the broker step adopts the bus as the nats module nothing but this installer writes that file. The
+	// list was placed only when the node enrolled, so the build agent's account (step 13) never reached
+	// the bus and the agent was refused ("Authorization Violation") until the sdk step gave up.
+	if err := placeUntilAdopted(ctx, control, say); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
 	return strings.TrimSpace(said), nil
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/phase2.go b/internal/bootstrap/phase2.go
index 615191a..e49eb1b 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/phase2.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/phase2.go
@@ -25,20 +25,62 @@ import (
 // buildWait bounds one module build. Generous, because the first build compiles a toolchain.
 const buildWait = 20 * time.Minute
 
-// BuildBase asks the mesh to build the shared base every module with code of its own stands on.
+// BuildBase asks the mesh to build the shared base every module with code of its own stands on, and
+// the toolchain of every language genesis's own modules are written in.
 //
 // **First, because until it exists nothing else with code can be built.** Not registered as a
 // module here: it is never assigned — it runs nowhere — and the build itself records what was
 // made, which is all anything downstream reads.
+//
+// **Every toolchain a genesis module compiles in** (novox/hq issue 616). A bundle is compiled in its
+// language's base (mesh-controller internal/builder toolchain.go): TypeScript in mesh-tools, Go in
+// mesh-tools-go. The store's and the bus's modules carry Go code, so a genesis that built only
+// mesh-tools stopped at the store step: "this mesh holds no copy of it. Build mesh-tools-go first".
+// The bases are the ones genesisToolchains names, and a test holds them to the languages of every
+// module genesis installs, read from the catalogue.
 func BuildBase(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, say func(string)) error {
 	if o.ToolsSource.Repository == "" {
 		return fmt.Errorf("phase two needs --tools-source: the shared base is built from its " +
 			"own repository, and an installer told nothing cannot know where that is")
 	}
-	say("  building          " + o.ToolsSource.Repository + " at " + refOr(o.ToolsSource.Ref))
-	_, err := control.within(buildWait).tell(ctx,
-		"build", o.ToolsSource.Repository, "--ref", refOr(o.ToolsSource.Ref), "--wait", "1200s")
-	return err
+	goSource, err := toolsGoSource(o)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	for _, src := range []Source{o.ToolsSource, goSource} {
+		say("  building          " + src.Repository + " at " + refOr(src.Ref))
+		if _, err := control.within(buildWait).tell(ctx,
+			"build", src.Repository, "--ref", refOr(src.Ref), "--wait", "1200s"); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// genesisToolchains is the base each language's bundles compile in, for the languages genesis's own
+// modules are written in — the same pairs as mesh-controller internal/builder toolchain.go — in the
+// order BuildBase builds them.
+var genesisToolchains = []struct{ Language, Base string }{
+	{"typescript", "mesh-tools"},
+	{"go", "mesh-tools-go"},
+}
+
+// toolsGoSource is where the Go toolchain is built from: as given, or the repository beside the base's
+// named mesh-tools-go, which is how the mesh keeps its repositories side by side.
+func toolsGoSource(o Options) (Source, error) {
+	if o.ToolsGoSource.Repository != "" {
+		return o.ToolsGoSource, nil
+	}
+	repo := strings.TrimSuffix(o.ToolsSource.Repository, "/")
+	suffix := ""
+	if strings.HasSuffix(repo, ".git") {
+		repo, suffix = strings.TrimSuffix(repo, ".git"), ".git"
+	}
+	if !strings.HasSuffix(repo, "mesh-tools") {
+		return Source{}, fmt.Errorf("the Go toolchain is built from mesh-tools-go, and --tools-source (%s) is not a "+
+			"repository named mesh-tools to find it beside; give --tools-go-source", o.ToolsSource.Repository)
+	}
+	return Source{Repository: repo + "-go" + suffix, Ref: o.ToolsGoSource.Ref}, nil
 }
 
 // InstallFromCatalogue builds a catalogue module and installs it on this machine.
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/phase3.go b/internal/bootstrap/phase3.go
index c8aadbc..ae45e01 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/phase3.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/phase3.go
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
 	"strings"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
 )
@@ -82,7 +84,7 @@ func InstallStore(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane,
 		say); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	say("  adopted           mesh-store — the foundation's store is now the " + module + " module")
+	say("  adopted           " + store.Name + " — the foundation's store is now the " + module + " module")
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -91,7 +93,8 @@ func InstallStore(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane,
 // be in it. InstallFromCatalogue is the same sequence without that moment; the store, the broker
 // and the vault each need it or need the shape, and three copies of it drifted.
 func installProvider(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, module string,
-	manifest []byte, buildNote string, beforePush func() error, say func(string)) error {
+	manifest []byte, buildNote string, beforePush func() error, say func(string),
+	send ...func() error) error {
 
 	remote := "/" + module + "-module.json"
 	if err := control.carrying(ctx, module+"-module.json", manifest, remote); err != nil {
@@ -130,6 +133,11 @@ func installProvider(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, modul
 			return err
 		}
 	}
+	// A module whose first send is not a plain push says how it is sent: the bus, whose replacement is a
+	// planned step (ADR 0236), is sent by that step (adoptTheBus).
+	if len(send) > 0 && send[0] != nil {
+		return send[0]()
+	}
 	_, err := pushNode(ctx, o, control, say)
 	return err
 }
@@ -165,13 +173,22 @@ const BusModule = "nats"
 // (ADR 0331 §1, §5). The installer's own placing of that list (enrol.go placeTheBusUsers) was the
 // bridge to here and is not run again.
 //
-// **What is compared is the container's name, not its image.** The store's module pins the upstream
-// postgres the foundation runs; the bus's module builds its server image (it carries the mesh's
-// snapshot tool), so no pinned reference can be equal to the foundation's. A module whose server is
-// not the foundation's container by name would raise a second bus beside the first, and is refused
-// by name before anything is registered.
+// **The bundle raises the bus where the module keeps it** (novox/hq ADR 0333 §1): the same container
+// name, the same streams directory, configuration directory, user list and certificate. That is checked
+// here against the module's own manifest before anything is registered, and a difference is refused
+// naming each one — under another name or on other paths the module would raise a second bus beside the
+// first, or an empty one in its place.
+//
+// **The image is the one thing that changes, once** (ADR 0333 §3). The store's module pins the upstream
+// postgres the foundation runs; the bus's module builds its server image (it carries the mesh's snapshot
+// tool), so no pinned reference can be equal to the foundation's. The applier recreates the container on
+// the module's image, on the same streams, users and certificate. The mesh replaces its bus only as a
+// planned step (ADR 0236), so the module is sent by that step: its streams snapshotted first, the restart
+// said, and the installer waits until the container runs the module's image, the bus answers, and the
+// controller ends the step done (bus_adoption.go), so nothing after this step dials a bus that is restarting.
 func InstallBroker(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane,
-	foundation *declaration.Declaration, say func(string)) error {
+	foundation *declaration.Declaration, fetch func(context.Context, string) (int, string, error),
+	say func(string)) error {
 
 	const module = BusModule
 	manifest, err := readManifest(o.Catalogue, module)
@@ -182,12 +199,18 @@ func InstallBroker(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane,
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if err := busServerIsTheFoundations(manifest, bus, module); err != nil {
+	if err := busLayoutIsTheModules(manifest, foundation, module); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	say("  adopting          " + bus.Name + " — the bus the foundation raised, its streams kept")
 	if err := installProvider(ctx, o, control, module, manifest, "(the server, adopting the foundation's bus)",
-		nil, say); err != nil {
+		nil, say, func() error { return adoptTheBus(ctx, o, control, bus, say) }); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := waitForTheAdoptedBus(ctx, o, control, bus, fetch, say); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := waitForTheBusStep(ctx, o, control, say); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	say("  adopted           " + bus.Name + " — the foundation's bus is now the " + module +
@@ -195,41 +218,190 @@ func InstallBroker(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane,
 	return nil
 }
 
-// busServerIsTheFoundations checks that the bus module's server container is the one the
-// foundation raised, by name, so the applier takes it over rather than raising a second bus.
-func busServerIsTheFoundations(manifest []byte, bus *declaration.Container, module string) error {
+// busMonitor is where the bus says it is healthy: its monitoring port, published on the machine's own
+// loopback by the bundle and by the module alike (both "127.0.0.1:8222:8222"). /healthz answers ok only
+// once the server is up and JetStream has its streams back.
+const busMonitor = "http://127.0.0.1:8222/healthz"
+
+// runningImage is the image the named container was created from, or "" when there is none.
+func runningImage(ctx context.Context, control controlPlane, name string) string {
+	asking, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, control.timeout)
+	defer cancel()
+	out, err := control.run(asking, "docker", "inspect", "--format", "{{.Config.Image}}", name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return strings.TrimSpace(out)
+}
+
+// waitForTheAdoptedBus waits until the bus container runs an image other than the one the bundle raised
+// it from — the module's, after the applier's one recreate — and the bus answers on its monitor.
+//
+// Bounded by --wait, and asked at least once. A bus still on the bundle's image when it runs out is
+// refused, naming what it runs: the push was sent and the node has not applied it, and every step after
+// this one reaches the mesh through that bus.
+func waitForTheAdoptedBus(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, bus *declaration.Container,
+	fetch func(context.Context, string) (int, string, error), say func(string)) error {
+
+	deadline := time.Now().Add(o.Wait)
+	var running, said string
+	for {
+		running = runningImage(ctx, control, bus.Name)
+		if running != "" && running != bus.Image {
+			code, body, err := fetch(ctx, busMonitor)
+			if err == nil && code == http.StatusOK {
+				say("  bus answers       " + bus.Name + " on " + running)
+				return nil
+			}
+			said = strings.TrimSpace(body)
+			if err != nil {
+				said = err.Error()
+			}
+		}
+		if !time.Now().Before(deadline) {
+			break
+		}
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return ctx.Err()
+		case <-time.After(answerEvery):
+		}
+	}
+	switch {
+	case running == "":
+		return fmt.Errorf("the bus container %s is not there after the %s module was pushed, so nothing "+
+			"after this step could reach the mesh. The node-engine's journal says why it did not raise it",
+			bus.Name, BusModule)
+	case running == bus.Image:
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s still runs the bundle's image %s %s after the %s module was pushed: the node "+
+			"has not applied it. Its streams are untouched; run this installer again once the node-engine "+
+			"applies (its journal says why it did not)", bus.Name, bus.Image, o.Wait, BusModule)
+	}
+	return fmt.Errorf("%s runs the %s module's image %s and its monitor (%s) did not answer ok within %s: %s",
+		bus.Name, BusModule, running, busMonitor, o.Wait, orUnknown(said))
+}
+
+// BusUsersID is the bundle's resource for the bus's first user list.
+const BusUsersID = "bus-accounts"
+
+// busLayout is where a bus lives: its container, the machine's directories it mounts as its streams,
+// its configuration and its certificate, and the file its user list is.
+type busLayout struct {
+	Container, Streams, Conf, Certificate, Users string
+}
+
+// Where the server reads each, inside its container: the same in the bundle and the module, since both
+// run the same server with the same configuration.
+const (
+	busStreamsInside     = "/data"
+	busConfInside        = "/etc/nats"
+	busCertificateInside = "/tls"
+)
+
+// foundationBusLayout reads the layout of the bus the bundle raises.
+func foundationBusLayout(foundation *declaration.Declaration) (busLayout, error) {
+	bus, err := brokerIn(foundation)
+	if err != nil {
+		return busLayout{}, err
+	}
+	at := mountedFrom(bus.Volumes)
+	l := busLayout{Container: bus.Name, Streams: at[busStreamsInside], Conf: at[busConfInside],
+		Certificate: at[busCertificateInside]}
+	for _, r := range foundation.Resources {
+		if f, ok := r.(*declaration.File); ok && r.Identity() == BusUsersID {
+			l.Users = f.Path
+		}
+	}
+	return l, nil
+}
+
+// moduleBusLayout reads the layout of the bus the module declares: its server container, the mounts of
+// that container with every `${access:<id>}` resolved to the access's path, and its `bus-users`.
+func moduleBusLayout(manifest []byte, module string) (busLayout, error) {
 	var m struct {
+		BusUsers  string `json:"bus-users"`
 		Resources []struct {
-			Type string `json:"type"`
-			Name string `json:"name"`
+			ID      string   `json:"id"`
+			Type    string   `json:"type"`
+			Name    string   `json:"name"`
+			Volumes []string `json:"volumes"`
 		} `json:"resources"`
+		Accesses []struct {
+			ID   string `json:"id"`
+			Path string `json:"path"`
+		} `json:"accesses"`
 	}
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(manifest, &m); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("the %s module's manifest is not readable: %w", module, err)
+		return busLayout{}, fmt.Errorf("the %s module's manifest is not readable: %w", module, err)
 	}
-	var names []string
-	for _, r := range m.Resources {
-		if r.Type != "container" {
-			continue
+	var containers []int
+	for i, r := range m.Resources {
+		if r.Type == "container" {
+			containers = append(containers, i)
 		}
-		if r.Name == bus.Name {
-			return nil
+	}
+	if len(containers) != 1 {
+		var names []string
+		for _, i := range containers {
+			names = append(names, m.Resources[i].Name)
 		}
-		names = append(names, r.Name)
+		return busLayout{}, fmt.Errorf("the %s module declares %s; the bus it adopts is one server, so it "+
+			"declares one container", module, describeNames(names))
+	}
+	server := m.Resources[containers[0]]
+	resolved := make([]string, 0, len(server.Volumes))
+	for _, v := range server.Volumes {
+		for _, a := range m.Accesses {
+			v = strings.ReplaceAll(v, "${access:"+a.ID+"}", a.Path)
+		}
+		resolved = append(resolved, v)
+	}
+	at := mountedFrom(resolved)
+	return busLayout{Container: server.Name, Streams: at[busStreamsInside], Conf: at[busConfInside],
+		Certificate: at[busCertificateInside], Users: m.BusUsers}, nil
+}
+
+// busLayoutIsTheModules checks that the bus the bundle raised is where the module keeps it, field by
+// field, so the applier takes it over rather than raising a second bus beside it or an empty one in its
+// place (novox/hq ADR 0333 §1). Every difference is named, with both sides.
+func busLayoutIsTheModules(manifest []byte, foundation *declaration.Declaration, module string) error {
+	theirs, err := moduleBusLayout(manifest, module)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	ours, err := foundationBusLayout(foundation)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	var differ []string
+	for _, f := range []struct{ what, module, bundle string }{
+		{"the server container", theirs.Container, ours.Container},
+		{"its streams (" + busStreamsInside + ")", theirs.Streams, ours.Streams},
+		{"its configuration (" + busConfInside + ")", theirs.Conf, ours.Conf},
+		{"its certificate (" + busCertificateInside + ")", theirs.Certificate, ours.Certificate},
+		{"its user list", theirs.Users, ours.Users},
+	} {
+		if f.module == "" || f.module != f.bundle {
+			differ = append(differ, fmt.Sprintf("%s: the module's is %q, the bundle's %q", f.what,
+				f.module, f.bundle))
+		}
+	}
+	if len(differ) == 0 {
+		return nil
 	}
 	return fmt.Errorf(
-		"the %s module's server is %s, and the foundation's bus is the container %q.\n"+
-			"The module adopts the foundation's bus in place, so its server has to carry the name the "+
-			"foundation raised; under another name it would raise a second bus beside the first, and "+
-			"the mesh would run two (novox/hq ADR 0331 §1). Nothing has been registered",
-		module, describeNames(names), bus.Name)
+		"the bus the foundation raised is not where the %s module keeps it:\n  - %s\n"+
+			"The module adopts the foundation's bus in place, so the bundle raises it with the module's "+
+			"name and paths; otherwise adopting it would raise a second bus beside the first, or an empty "+
+			"one on other paths (novox/hq ADR 0333 §1). Nothing has been registered",
+		module, strings.Join(differ, "\n  - "))
 }
 
 func describeNames(names []string) string {
 	if len(names) == 0 {
 		return "no container at all"
 	}
-	return "the container " + strings.Join(names, ", ")
+	return "the containers " + strings.Join(names, ", ")
 }
 
 // InstallVault installs the vault as a foundation module (novox/hq ADR 0085, amended). Nothing to
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/phase3_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/phase3_test.go
index e5de53d..d0eafc1 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/phase3_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/phase3_test.go
@@ -2,10 +2,16 @@ package bootstrap
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
 )
 
 // aCatalogue is a catalogue checkout holding these modules' manifests.
@@ -24,32 +30,74 @@ func aCatalogue(t *testing.T, manifests map[string]string) string {
 	return dir
 }
 
-// aBusModule is the nats module's manifest as far as adoption reads it: a server container by name.
-func aBusModule(server string) string {
+// aBusModule is the nats module's manifest as far as adoption reads it: its server container, the
+// directories it mounts, its certificate through an access, and its user list — the shape of the
+// catalogue's modules/nats/module.json.
+func aBusModule(l busLayout) string {
 	return `{"module": "nats", "version": "1",
   "claims": [{"name": "mesh-broker", "scope": "mesh"}],
-  "bus-users": "/var/lib/nats-module/conf/accounts.conf",
-  "resources": [{"id": "server", "type": "container", "name": "` + server + `", "ports": ["4222:4222"], "artifact": "server"}],
+  "bus-users": "` + l.Users + `",
+  "resources": [
+    {"id": "server", "type": "container", "name": "` + l.Container + `", "ports": ["4222:4222", "127.0.0.1:8222:8222"],
+     "volumes": ["` + l.Streams + `:/data", "` + l.Conf + `:/etc/nats:ro", "${access:tls}:/tls:ro"], "artifact": "server"}],
+  "accesses": [{"id": "tls", "path": "` + l.Certificate + `", "mode": "read"}],
   "build": {"artifacts": [{"name": "server", "kind": "image", "from": "Dockerfile"}]}}`
 }
 
-func busStep(t *testing.T, catalogue string) (*asked, error) {
+// theModulesLayout is where the catalogue's nats module keeps its bus (mesh-catalog modules/nats).
+var theModulesLayout = busLayout{Container: "mesh-broker-nats", Streams: "/var/lib/mesh-broker-nats",
+	Conf: "/var/lib/nats-module/conf", Certificate: "/var/lib/mesh-broker-tls",
+	Users: "/var/lib/nats-module/conf/accounts.conf"}
+
+// theModulesImage is what the bus runs once the applier recreated it on the module's built image.
+const theModulesImage = "127.0.0.1:5000/nats@sha256:3333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333"
+
+// aBusThatAdopts answers the broker step as a node that applied the push: the bus container runs the
+// module's image, and its monitor says ok.
+func aBusThatAdopts() (*asked, func(context.Context, string) (int, string, error)) {
+	runtime := &asked{answer: aMeshThatAgrees(map[string]string{
+		"inspect --format {{.Config.Image}} mesh-broker-nats": theModulesImage + "\n",
+	})}
+	return runtime, func(_ context.Context, url string) (int, string, error) {
+		if url != busMonitor {
+			return 0, "", fmt.Errorf("asked %s", url)
+		}
+		return http.StatusOK, `{"status":"ok"}`, nil
+	}
+}
+
+func busStepWith(t *testing.T, o Options, runtime *asked,
+	fetch func(context.Context, string) (int, string, error)) ([]string, error) {
 	t.Helper()
+	aGenesisBusOnDisk(t)
 	rewritten, err := Rewrite(theRealBundle(t), held)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	runtime := &asked{answer: aMeshThatAgrees(nil)}
-	control := controlPlane{container: "mesh-controller", run: runtime.run, timeout: 0}
-	err = InstallBroker(context.Background(), installing(t, catalogue), control, rewritten.Declaration, func(string) {})
+	control := controlPlane{container: "mesh-controller", run: runtime.run, timeout: time.Second}
+	var said []string
+	err = InstallBroker(context.Background(), o, control, rewritten.Declaration, fetch,
+		func(line string) { said = append(said, line) })
+	return said, err
+}
+
+func busStep(t *testing.T, catalogue string) (*asked, error) {
+	t.Helper()
+	runtime, fetch := aBusThatAdopts()
+	o := installing(t, catalogue)
+	o.CatalogSource = Source{Repository: "git://forge/mesh-catalog.git"}
+	_, err := busStepWith(t, o, runtime, fetch)
 	return runtime, err
 }
 
 // The broker step adopts the foundation's bus as the nats module (novox/hq ADR 0331 §1): the module
 // the mesh goes on managing, registered from the catalogue — never lavinmq, which left it.
 func TestTheBrokerStepAdoptsTheBusAsTheNatsModule(t *testing.T) {
-	catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule("mesh-broker")})
-	runtime, _ := busStep(t, catalogue)
+	catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule(theModulesLayout)})
+	runtime, err := busStep(t, catalogue)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
 	if !runtime.ran("module add /nats-module.json") {
 		t.Fatalf("the nats module was not registered: %v", runtime.commands)
 	}
@@ -74,15 +122,23 @@ func TestTheBrokerStepFailsForAModuleTheCatalogueDoesNotHold(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// A bus module whose server is not the foundation's container by name would raise a second bus
-// beside the first; it is refused naming both, before anything is registered.
-func TestABusModuleWhoseServerIsNotTheFoundationsIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
-	catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule("mesh-broker-nats")})
+// A bus module that keeps its bus anywhere else than the bundle raised it would raise a second bus
+// beside the first, or an empty one on other paths (novox/hq ADR 0333 §1). It is refused naming every
+// difference with both sides, before anything is registered. The layout is the one the bundle had
+// before ADR 0333, kept as a module's here: the refusal genesis stopped at, at step 18 (issue 590).
+func TestABusModuleWhoseLayoutIsNotTheFoundationsIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	before := busLayout{Container: "mesh-broker", Streams: "mesh-broker-data", Conf: "/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf",
+		Certificate: "mesh-broker-tls", Users: "/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf/accounts.conf"}
+	catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule(before)})
 	runtime, err := busStep(t, catalogue)
 	if err == nil {
-		t.Fatal("a bus module with another server was adopted")
+		t.Fatal("a bus module kept elsewhere was adopted")
 	}
-	for _, named := range []string{"mesh-broker-nats", `"mesh-broker"`} {
+	for _, named := range []string{
+		`"mesh-broker"`, `"mesh-broker-nats"`, `"mesh-broker-data"`, `"/var/lib/mesh-broker-nats"`,
+		`"/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf"`, `"/var/lib/nats-module/conf"`, `"mesh-broker-tls"`, `"/var/lib/mesh-broker-tls"`,
+		`"/var/lib/mesh-bus-conf/accounts.conf"`, `"/var/lib/nats-module/conf/accounts.conf"`,
+	} {
 		if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), named) {
 			t.Errorf("the refusal does not name %s: %v", named, err)
 		}
@@ -91,3 +147,301 @@ func TestABusModuleWhoseServerIsNotTheFoundationsIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("something was registered: %v", runtime.commands)
 	}
 }
+
+// One field moved is refused as surely as all of them: a module whose streams are elsewhere would be
+// raised empty on the bus's own name.
+func TestABusModuleWithItsStreamsElsewhereIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	moved := theModulesLayout
+	moved.Streams = "/srv/nats"
+	catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule(moved)})
+	runtime, err := busStep(t, catalogue)
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), `"/srv/nats"`) || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "streams") {
+		t.Fatalf("a module with its streams elsewhere was not refused naming them: %v", err)
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "certificate") {
+		t.Errorf("the refusal names what agrees: %v", err)
+	}
+	if runtime.ran("module add") {
+		t.Errorf("something was registered: %v", runtime.commands)
+	}
+}
+
+// The node's bus port is kept (novox/hq ADR 0333 §2): the module declares 4222, and the broker step
+// gives it the setting that maps that to the port the bundle published, 5671 unless given — before the
+// push, so the first declaration already names it.
+func TestTheBrokerStepGivesTheModuleTheNodesBusPort(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, c := range []struct {
+		given int
+		want  string
+	}{{0, `{"ports":{"4222":5671}}`}, {5771, `{"ports":{"4222":5771}}`}} {
+		catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule(theModulesLayout)})
+		runtime, fetch := aBusThatAdopts()
+		o := installing(t, catalogue)
+		o.CatalogSource = Source{Repository: "git://forge/mesh-catalog.git"}
+		o.Ports = FoundationPorts{Bus: c.given}
+		said, err := busStepWith(t, o, runtime, fetch)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		set, pushed := -1, -1
+		for i, command := range runtime.commands {
+			if strings.Contains(command, "settings set nats /nats-settings.json --node anchor") && set < 0 {
+				set = i
+			}
+			if strings.Contains(command, "push anchor") && pushed < 0 {
+				pushed = i
+			}
+		}
+		if set < 0 || pushed < 0 || set > pushed {
+			t.Fatalf("bus port %d: the module's port setting was not given before the push: %v", c.given, runtime.commands)
+		}
+		if !strings.Contains(strings.Join(said, "\n"), "settings          nats on anchor: "+c.want) {
+			t.Errorf("bus port %d: the setting given is not %s:\n%s", c.given, c.want, strings.Join(said, "\n"))
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The one restart is said before it happens, and the step goes on only once the bus runs the module's
+// image and answers (novox/hq ADR 0333 §3).
+func TestTheBrokerStepSaysTheRestartAndWaitsForTheBusToAnswer(t *testing.T) {
+	previous := answerEvery
+	answerEvery = time.Millisecond
+	defer func() { answerEvery = previous }()
+
+	catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule(theModulesLayout)})
+	rewritten, err := Rewrite(theRealBundle(t), held)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	bundleImage := containerNamed(rewritten.Declaration, "mesh-broker-nats").Image
+
+	// The push is sent; the node takes a few passes to recreate the bus, and the server a few more to
+	// answer.
+	pushed, inspected, monitored := false, 0, 0
+	runtime := &asked{}
+	agrees := aMeshThatAgrees(nil)
+	runtime.answer = func(name string, args []string) (string, error) {
+		joined := strings.Join(args, " ")
+		switch {
+		case strings.Contains(joined, "bus upgrade --why"):
+			pushed = true
+		case strings.Contains(joined, "inspect --format {{.Config.Image}} mesh-broker-nats"):
+			if !pushed {
+				return bundleImage + "\n", nil
+			}
+			inspected++
+			if inspected < 3 {
+				return bundleImage + "\n", nil
+			}
+			return theModulesImage + "\n", nil
+		}
+		return agrees(name, args)
+	}
+	fetch := func(context.Context, string) (int, string, error) {
+		monitored++
+		if monitored < 3 {
+			return http.StatusServiceUnavailable, `{"status":"unavailable","error":"JetStream stream catching up"}`, nil
+		}
+		return http.StatusOK, `{"status":"ok"}`, nil
+	}
+	o := installing(t, catalogue)
+	o.CatalogSource = Source{Repository: "git://forge/mesh-catalog.git"}
+	o.Wait = 10 * time.Second
+	said, err := busStepWith(t, o, runtime, fetch)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	text := strings.Join(said, "\n")
+	restart := strings.Index(text, "restarting        mesh-broker-nats — once")
+	answers := strings.Index(text, "bus answers       mesh-broker-nats on "+theModulesImage)
+	adopted := strings.Index(text, "adopted           mesh-broker-nats")
+	if restart < 0 || answers < restart || adopted < answers {
+		t.Fatalf("the step did not say the restart, then the bus answering, then the adoption:\n%s", text)
+	}
+	if inspected < 3 || monitored < 3 {
+		t.Errorf("the step went on before the bus ran the module's image and answered (asked its image %d "+
+			"times, its monitor %d)", inspected, monitored)
+	}
+}
+
+// A bus still on the bundle's image when the wait runs out is refused, naming the image: every step after
+// this one reaches the mesh through that bus, and the push was not applied.
+func TestABusTheNodeDidNotRecreateIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	previous := answerEvery
+	answerEvery = time.Millisecond
+	defer func() { answerEvery = previous }()
+
+	catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule(theModulesLayout)})
+	rewritten, err := Rewrite(theRealBundle(t), held)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	bundleImage := containerNamed(rewritten.Declaration, "mesh-broker-nats").Image
+	runtime := &asked{answer: aMeshThatAgrees(map[string]string{
+		"inspect --format {{.Config.Image}} mesh-broker-nats": bundleImage + "\n",
+	})}
+	fetch := func(context.Context, string) (int, string, error) { return http.StatusOK, `{"status":"ok"}`, nil }
+	o := installing(t, catalogue)
+	o.CatalogSource = Source{Repository: "git://forge/mesh-catalog.git"}
+	o.Wait = 20 * time.Millisecond
+	_, err = busStepWith(t, o, runtime, fetch)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a bus the node never recreated was taken as adopted")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), bundleImage) || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not applied") {
+		t.Errorf("the refusal does not say the bus still runs the bundle's image: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// A re-run after the adoption finds the bus on the module's image already, and says so rather than
+// announcing a restart that does not happen.
+func TestARerunAfterTheAdoptionSaysTheBusIsTheModulesAlready(t *testing.T) {
+	catalogue := aCatalogue(t, map[string]string{BusModule: aBusModule(theModulesLayout)})
+	runtime, fetch := aBusThatAdopts()
+	o := installing(t, catalogue)
+	o.CatalogSource = Source{Repository: "git://forge/mesh-catalog.git"}
+	said, err := busStepWith(t, o, runtime, fetch)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	text := strings.Join(said, "\n")
+	if strings.Contains(text, "restarting") || !strings.Contains(text, "already adopted   mesh-broker-nats") {
+		t.Errorf("a re-run announced a restart, or did not say the bus is the module's already:\n%s", text)
+	}
+}
+
+// theCataloguesBusModule is the catalogue's own nats manifest, never a copy of it (novox/hq ADR 0333,
+// "How it is checked"): in a merge check the clone the build seat puts beside this repository
+// (MESH_CHECK_BESIDE, the catalogue at its main), where it must be; elsewhere a checkout of the catalogue
+// beside this one. With neither, the test says so and skips — a skip is not a pass, and the merge check
+// never skips it.
+func theCataloguesBusModule(t *testing.T) []byte {
+	t.Helper()
+	const inside = "mesh-catalog/modules/nats/module.json"
+	if root := os.Getenv("MESH_CHECK_BESIDE"); root != "" {
+		raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(root, inside))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("the catalogue is not beside this check in MESH_CHECK_BESIDE=%s, so the bundle's bus "+
+				"cannot be held to the module's: %v", root, err)
+		}
+		t.Logf("judged against %s as cloned beside this check", filepath.Join(root, inside))
+		return raw
+	}
+	beside := filepath.Join("..", "..", "..", inside)
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(beside)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("NOT JUDGED: no catalogue beside this checkout (%s) and no MESH_CHECK_BESIDE, so the bundle's "+
+			"bus is not held to the nats module's manifest here; the merge check holds it", beside)
+	}
+	t.Logf("judged against the catalogue checked out at %s", beside)
+	return raw
+}
+
+// **The genesis bundle takes the nats module's layout** (novox/hq ADR 0333 §1), read from the module's
+// manifest: the bus's container, its streams, its configuration, its certificate and its user list are
+// where the module keeps them, so adopting the bus keeps it. Before ADR 0333 the bundle raised
+// `mesh-broker` on volumes the module never mounts, and genesis stopped at step 18 (issue 590).
+func TestTheBundleRaisesTheBusWhereTheCataloguesModuleKeepsIt(t *testing.T) {
+	manifest := theCataloguesBusModule(t)
+	rewritten, err := Rewrite(theRealBundle(t), held)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := busLayoutIsTheModules(manifest, rewritten.Declaration, BusModule); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	// And the port the installer's setting maps is the one the module declares (ADR 0333 §2).
+	var m struct {
+		Resources []struct {
+			Type  string   `json:"type"`
+			Ports []string `json:"ports"`
+		} `json:"resources"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(manifest, &m); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	declared := false
+	for _, r := range m.Resources {
+		for _, p := range r.Ports {
+			if p == fmt.Sprintf("%d:4222", busModulePort) {
+				declared = true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	if !declared {
+		t.Errorf("the nats module does not publish its server on %d, the port the installer's setting maps "+
+			"to the node's bus port", busModulePort)
+	}
+}
+
+// The bundle as the installer reads it agrees with the module's layout as this repository states it,
+// and with where the installer's bridge writes (ADR 0333 §4): the bridge places the users in the file the
+// bus reads, and makes the container that reads it re-read it.
+func TestTheBridgeWritesWhereTheBundleRaisesTheBus(t *testing.T) {
+	rewritten, err := Rewrite(theRealBundle(t), held)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	ours, err := foundationBusLayout(rewritten.Declaration)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if ours != theModulesLayout {
+		t.Errorf("the bundle raises the bus at %+v; the nats module keeps it at %+v", ours, theModulesLayout)
+	}
+	if ours.Users != busAccounts || ours.Container != busContainer {
+		t.Errorf("the bridge writes %s and signals %s; the bundle's bus reads %s and is %s",
+			busAccounts, busContainer, ours.Users, ours.Container)
+	}
+	if filepath.Dir(ours.Users) != ours.Conf {
+		t.Errorf("the user list %s is not in the configuration directory %s the bus reads", ours.Users, ours.Conf)
+	}
+}
+
+// The bundle's bus configuration and user list are seeds (create-once): an installer run again after
+// the adoption applies the bundle again, and must not put the bundle's one user back over the users the
+// module writes there (ADR 0333 §4).
+func TestTheBundlesBusFilesAreSeeds(t *testing.T) {
+	rewritten, err := Rewrite(theRealBundle(t), held)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	seeds := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, r := range rewritten.Declaration.Resources {
+		if f, ok := r.(*declaration.File); ok && f.CreateOnce {
+			seeds[f.Path] = true
+		}
+	}
+	for _, path := range []string{busAccounts, theModulesLayout.Conf + "/nats.conf"} {
+		if !seeds[path] {
+			t.Errorf("the bundle writes %s over whatever is there; it is a seed, written only where nothing is", path)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// aGenesisBusOnDisk puts what the adoption reads on the machine in a test's own directory: the bus's
+// certificate, the controller's bus credential, and where the snapshot goes. The step's wait is short.
+func aGenesisBusOnDisk(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	cert := filepath.Join(dir, "tls.crt")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(cert, []byte(aCertificatePEM), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	secret := filepath.Join(dir, "bus-controller.secret")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(secret, []byte("BUS-PW"), 0o600); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	was := []string{busSnapshotFile, busSnapshotCredential, busCertificateFile, busControllerSecret}
+	wasWithin := busStepWithin
+	busSnapshotFile, busSnapshotCredential = filepath.Join(dir, "bus.tar"), filepath.Join(dir, "bus.credential")
+	busCertificateFile, busControllerSecret = cert, secret
+	busStepWithin = 50 * time.Millisecond
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		busSnapshotFile, busSnapshotCredential, busCertificateFile, busControllerSecret = was[0], was[1], was[2], was[3]
+		busStepWithin = wasWithin
+	})
+}
+
+// aCertificatePEM is a PEM block standing for the bus's certificate; its pin is the sha256 of these bytes.
+const aCertificatePEM = "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nAAECAwQFBgcICQ==\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----\n"
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/phase_packages.go b/internal/bootstrap/phase_packages.go
index cb3541d..e60036b 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/phase_packages.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/phase_packages.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package bootstrap
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ import (
 const (
 	// foundationStore is the foundation's postgres container — the mesh's own memory, raised from the
 	// bundle. gitea's bootstrap database lives here too, so a mesh runs one postgres (issue 051).
-	foundationStore = "mesh-store"
+	foundationStore = "postgres"
 	// giteaBootstrap is the gitea server raised directly at genesis, before gitea is a module —
 	// under the name the gitea MODULE declares for its container, so the module finds it and holds
 	// it rather than raising a second forge beside it (novox/hq ADR 0163, rule 7; issue 090).
@@ -49,8 +50,8 @@ const (
 	packagesTeam = "packages"
 	// giteaAdminUser is the admin the bootstrap creates and the provisioner later authenticates as.
 	giteaAdminUser = "mesh-admin"
-	// builderGiteaUser is the gitea account the builder publishes and pulls with at genesis. It is
-	// the `as` the builder's static package binding names.
+	// builderGiteaUser is the gitea account the build agent publishes and pulls with at genesis: the
+	// `as` of the genesis document (novox/hq ADR 0336 §3). Retiring it is issue 602.
 	builderGiteaUser = "mesh-builder"
 	// giteaDBRole/giteaDBName is gitea's own database in the foundation store.
 	giteaDBRole = "mesh_gitea"
@@ -133,8 +134,8 @@ func RaisePackageRegistry(ctx context.Context, o Options, d Deps, control contro
 		return err
 	}
 
-	say("  delivering the builder its registry credential")
-	if err := deliverBuilderNpm(ctx, o, control, builderPassword, say); err != nil {
+	say("  sealing the build agent the genesis document for the forge it raised")
+	if err := deliverGenesisRegistry(ctx, o, control, genesisRegistry(ports, builderPassword), say); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -362,27 +363,69 @@ func packagePasswords() (db, admin, builder string, err error) {
 	return db, admin, builder, nil
 }
 
-// deliverBuilderNpm seals the builder's registry password to this node as its `npm-password`
-// own-secret, the same way the control plane's store connections are delivered — carry the value in,
-// `secret accept`, and the next push writes it sealed where the builder reads it.
-func deliverBuilderNpm(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, password string,
-	say func(string)) error {
-	at := "/accepting-npm-password"
-	if err := control.carryingSecret(ctx, "mesh-accepting-npm-password", []byte(password), at); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	if _, err := control.tell(ctx, "secret", "accept", o.Node, BuilderModule, "npm-password", "--from", at); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	// Push so the sealed secret reaches the builder, which restarts on it and comes back credentialed.
-	if _, err := control.tell(ctx, "push", o.Node); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-	return nil
+// GenesisRegistrySecret is the build agent's own-secret the genesis document is sealed as (novox/hq
+// ADR 0336 §3). The build-agent manifest declares it, issued outside the mesh: only this installer
+// gives one, on genesis's node.
+const GenesisRegistrySecret = "genesis-package-registry"
+
+// GenesisRegistry is the genesis document (novox/hq ADR 0336 §3): the forge this step raised, the port
+// this node gave the package registry, its npm path, and the account this step made with its password.
+// mesh-controller's cmd/mesh-builder reads it under the same field names while the build agent's
+// npm-package-registry requirement is unbound, and prefers the binding once the gitea module is
+// assigned and it binds.
+type GenesisRegistry struct {
+	Scheme   string `json:"scheme"`
+	At       string `json:"at"`
+	Port     int    `json:"port"`
+	NpmPath  string `json:"npm-path"`
+	As       string `json:"as"`
+	Password string `json:"password"`
 }
 
-// PublishTheSDK dispatches a build of the SDK to the builder. The builder has its registry
-// credential by now, so the build's `npm publish` authenticates; the artifact is a `package`, built
+// genesisRegistry is the document for the forge raised here: on the machine's own loopback, where it
+// answers on the host network and where its ROOT_URL says it is (raiseGiteaServer), on the port this
+// node gave the package registry.
+func genesisRegistry(ports FoundationPorts, password string) GenesisRegistry {
+	return GenesisRegistry{Scheme: "http", At: "127.0.0.1", Port: ports.Packages,
+		NpmPath: "/api/packages/" + packagesOrg + "/npm/", As: builderGiteaUser, Password: password}
+}
+
+// deliverGenesisRegistry seals the genesis document to the build agent on this node as its
+// `genesis-package-registry` own-secret (novox/hq ADR 0336 §3), the same way the control plane's store
+// connections are delivered — carry the value in, `secret accept`, and the next push writes it sealed
+// where the build agent reads it.
+//
+// **The build agent's one way to the forge until the registry binds.** Its npm-package-registry
+// requirement is optional (ADR 0336 §1), and nothing provides it until the gitea module is assigned
+// after the base, so the sdk step (15) publishes and the base step (16) resolves with the account in
+// this document. It replaces the retired builder's `npm-password` own-secret and the `serves.port`
+// setting its carried binding took, neither of which the build agent declares.
+func deliverGenesisRegistry(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, doc GenesisRegistry,
+	say func(string)) error {
+	raw, err := json.Marshal(doc)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	at := "/accepting-" + GenesisRegistrySecret
+	if err := control.carryingSecret(ctx, "mesh-accepting-"+GenesisRegistrySecret, raw, at); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if _, err := control.tell(ctx, "secret", "accept", o.Node, BuilderModule, GenesisRegistrySecret, "--from", at); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	// Push so the sealed document reaches the build agent, which reads it at its next build — and,
+	// like every push before the adoption, the bus hears the users it carries (issue 608).
+	//
+	// **Waited for until the node applied it** (issue 615). The next step asks the build agent to
+	// publish the SDK, and the agent reads the document from the file the node writes when it applies
+	// this push. A push that returned on sending let the ask race the apply: one genesis found the
+	// document in time, the next was refused, "neither its binding nor the genesis document".
+	_, err = pushNodeApplied(ctx, o, control, say)
+	return err
+}
+
+// PublishTheSDK dispatches a build of the SDK to the build agent. The agent has the genesis document by
+// now (novox/hq ADR 0336 §7), so the build's `npm publish` authenticates; the artifact is a `package`, built
 // on a public base, so this needs no toolchain — which is the whole point of doing it before the base.
 func PublishTheSDK(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane, say func(string)) error {
 	if o.SDKSource.Repository == "" {
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/ports.go b/internal/bootstrap/ports.go
index efbe5e9..dbedf50 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/ports.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/ports.go
@@ -117,24 +117,6 @@ const busModulePort = 4222
 // PortsSetting is the controller's settings key for a module's given ports.
 const PortsSetting = "ports"
 
-// ServesSetting is the settings key that carries what a provider serves, inside the one binding a
-// module carries rather than resolves — the builder's package binding (novox/hq 04-ISSUES/085).
-//
-// **A port given at genesis has to be a setting wherever it is read, or something puts it back.**
-// The builder reaches the package registry through a binding written in its own manifest, because
-// at genesis no module yet provides `package-registry` and so there is nothing for the controller
-// to resolve it from. That binding used to be rewritten, as text, when the installer registered the
-// builder — which a later registration from the catalogue undid silently. Set as a node's setting
-// instead, it is held by the controller rather than by the manifest, so re-registering the builder
-// leaves it where it was.
-//
-// **A settings layer is the module's, not one resource's.** The controller lays it over every file
-// of that module which merges as JSON, so `serves` lands in the package binding only because that
-// binding is the builder's one mergeable file. A second mergeable file added to the builder would
-// be given a `serves` key too, meaning nothing to whatever reads it. Worth knowing before adding
-// one.
-const ServesSetting = "serves"
-
 // setFoundationSettings tells the controller the ports this node gave a foundation module — and,
 // on an adopted node, that the registry is reached from anywhere, as a node pulls from it before it
 // has a private-network address (novox/hq ADR 0100). Done after the module is registered and before
@@ -148,13 +130,8 @@ func setFoundationSettings(ctx context.Context, o Options, control controlPlane,
 	if o.Adopted && module == RegistryModule {
 		values["expose"] = map[string]string{strconv.Itoa(DefaultPorts().Registry): "anywhere"}
 	}
-	if packages := o.Ports.orDefaults().Packages; module == BuilderModule &&
-		packages != DefaultPorts().Packages {
-		// The one binding nothing resolves: the builder dials the forge by a number it carries.
-		// The rest of the binding — the provision, the forge it is from, the account it presents —
-		// is the manifest's and stays there.
-		values[ServesSetting] = map[string]int{"port": packages}
-	}
+	// No `serves` setting for the build agent: the port given for the package registry reaches it in
+	// the genesis document (novox/hq ADR 0336 §3), and from the binding once the registry binds.
 	if len(values) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go
index fed87dd..661fdce 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/ports_test.go
@@ -68,11 +68,11 @@ func TestGivenPortsMoveOnlyTheMachinesSide(t *testing.T) {
 	if got.Places == 0 {
 		t.Fatal("nothing was rewritten")
 	}
-	storeC := containerNamed(r.Declaration, "mesh-store")
+	storeC := containerNamed(r.Declaration, "postgres")
 	if len(storeC.Ports) != 1 || storeC.Ports[0] != "5433:5432" {
 		t.Errorf("the store publishes %v", storeC.Ports)
 	}
-	bus := containerNamed(r.Declaration, "mesh-broker")
+	bus := containerNamed(r.Declaration, "mesh-broker-nats")
 	if strings.Join(bus.Ports, " ") != "5771:4222 127.0.0.1:8222:8222" {
 		t.Errorf("the bus publishes %v", bus.Ports)
 	}
@@ -239,6 +239,12 @@ func (c *controlRecorder) run(_ context.Context, name string, args ...string) (s
 	}
 	if name == "docker" && args[0] == "exec" {
 		c.told = append(c.told, strings.Join(args[3:], " "))
+		if strings.Join(args[3:], " ") == "broker accounts" {
+			return "accounts {}\n", nil // the composed user list, placed after every push (issue 608)
+		}
+	}
+	if name == "sh" {
+		c.told = append(c.told, "placed the bus's users")
 	}
 	return "", nil
 }
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/push_places_users_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/push_places_users_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d42912a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/push_places_users_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+package bootstrap
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+// Defends novox/hq issue 608 (ADR 0331 §5, ADR 0333 §4): until the bus is adopted as the nats module,
+// every push genesis makes is followed by the installer placing the composed user list where the bus
+// reads it, and making the bus re-read it. The build agent's account was minted at step 13 and sealed
+// with that push, and the list was placed only at enrolment, so the bus refused the agent
+// ("Authorization Violation") and genesis stopped at step 15.
+
+// placing answers the controller as a mesh whose bus is or is not the nats module yet, and records
+// what was run, in order.
+func placing(adopted bool) (*asked, controlPlane) {
+	listed := "build-agent          1\n"
+	if adopted {
+		listed += "nats                 1\n"
+	}
+	runtime := &asked{}
+	runtime.answer = func(name string, args []string) (string, error) {
+		joined := strings.Join(args, " ")
+		switch {
+		case name == "sh":
+			return "", nil
+		case strings.HasSuffix(joined, "module list"):
+			return listed, nil
+		case strings.HasSuffix(joined, "broker accounts"):
+			return "accounts {\n  MESH { users = [ { user: \"anchor.build-agent\" } ] }\n}\n", nil
+		}
+		return "", nil
+	}
+	return runtime, controlPlane{container: "mesh-controller", run: runtime.run, timeout: time.Second}
+}
+
+// placedAfterThePush is whether the bus's users were placed — written at the module's bus-users path,
+// the bus told to re-read them — after the push, and how often.
+func placedAfterThePush(t *testing.T, commands []string) int {
+	t.Helper()
+	pushed, placed := -1, 0
+	for i, c := range commands {
+		if strings.Contains(c, "/mesh-controller push anchor") && pushed < 0 {
+			pushed = i
+		}
+		if strings.HasPrefix(c, "sh -c") && strings.Contains(c, busAccounts) &&
+			strings.Contains(c, "kill -s HUP "+busContainer) {
+			if pushed < 0 || i < pushed {
+				t.Fatalf("the bus's users were placed before the push that carries the account: %v", commands)
+			}
+			placed++
+		}
+	}
+	if pushed < 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("nothing was pushed: %v", commands)
+	}
+	return placed
+}
+
+func TestTheBusHearsTheBuildAgentsAccountAfterItsPush(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv("TMPDIR", t.TempDir())
+	runtime, control := placing(false)
+	o := Options{Node: "anchor", Wait: time.Second}
+	if _, err := installModule(context.Background(), o, control, BuilderModule, []byte(`{}`), quietly); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if n := placedAfterThePush(t, runtime.commands); n != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the bus's users were placed %d time(s) after the build agent's push; once: %v", n, runtime.commands)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestTheGenesisDocumentsPushIsHeardByTheBusToo(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv("TMPDIR", t.TempDir())
+	runtime, control := placing(false)
+	o := Options{Node: "anchor", Wait: time.Second}
+	if err := deliverGenesisRegistry(context.Background(), o, control, genesisRegistry(DefaultPorts(), "pw"), quietly); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if n := placedAfterThePush(t, runtime.commands); n != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("the bus's users were placed %d time(s) after the genesis document's push; once: %v", n, runtime.commands)
+	}
+}
+
+// From the adoption on the nats module writes the list, and the installer does not (ADR 0333 §4).
+func TestOnceTheBusIsTheNatsModulesThePushPlacesNothing(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv("TMPDIR", t.TempDir())
+	runtime, control := placing(true)
+	o := Options{Node: "anchor", Wait: time.Second}
+	if _, err := installModule(context.Background(), o, control, BuilderModule, []byte(`{}`), quietly); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if n := placedAfterThePush(t, runtime.commands); n != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("the installer placed the bus's users over the nats module's: %v", runtime.commands)
+	}
+}
+
+// Defends novox/hq issue 615: the packages step's push is waited for until the node applied it, because
+// the sdk step right after asks the build agent for a build that reads the genesis document from the
+// file that apply writes. A push that returned on sending let the ask race the apply.
+func TestThePackagesStepWaitsUntilTheNodeAppliedTheGenesisDocument(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv("TMPDIR", t.TempDir())
+	runtime, control := placing(false)
+	o := Options{Node: "anchor", Wait: 3 * time.Minute}
+	if err := deliverGenesisRegistry(context.Background(), o, control, genesisRegistry(DefaultPorts(), "pw"), quietly); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, c := range runtime.commands {
+		if strings.Contains(c, "/mesh-controller push anchor") {
+			if !strings.HasSuffix(c, "push anchor --wait 3m0s") {
+				t.Fatalf("the genesis document's push does not wait for the node to apply it: %s", c)
+			}
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	t.Fatalf("the genesis document was never pushed: %v", runtime.commands)
+}
+
+// Every other push of genesis still returns on sending: only a push whose content the next step reads on
+// the machine waits.
+func TestAnOrdinaryPushDoesNotWait(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Setenv("TMPDIR", t.TempDir())
+	runtime, control := placing(false)
+	o := Options{Node: "anchor", Wait: time.Second}
+	if _, err := installModule(context.Background(), o, control, BuilderModule, []byte(`{}`), quietly); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, c := range runtime.commands {
+		if strings.Contains(c, "push anchor --wait") {
+			t.Fatalf("an ordinary push waits: %s", c)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/registry_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/registry_test.go
index d05bb83..0fbc676 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/registry_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/registry_test.go
@@ -58,8 +58,20 @@ func aMeshThatAgrees(answers map[string]string) func(string, []string) (string,
 			}
 		}
 		switch {
+		case name == "sh" && len(args) == 2 && strings.Contains(args[1], "accounts.conf"):
+			return "", nil // the bus's users placed after a push (issue 608)
+		case name == "sh" && len(args) == 2 && strings.Contains(args[1], "mesh-nats-snapshot"):
+			return "", nil // the streams snapshotted before the bus's planned step (issue 590)
+		case name == "docker" && strings.HasSuffix(joined, "/mesh-controller bus"):
+			return "the bus is nats, built 53e51864, on anchor\nlast step 1: not known → 53e51864 on anchor by installer (" +
+				adoptionWhy + "): done at 2026-10-13 11:40; snapshot " + busSnapshotFile + "\n", nil
+		case name == "docker" && strings.Contains(joined, "/mesh-controller builds nats -n 1"):
+			return "nats  built 53e51864 anchor\n    image      artifact-store://nats/server@sha256:" +
+				strings.Repeat("4", 64) + "\n    bundle     artifact-store://nats/tools/blobs/sha256:" + strings.Repeat("5", 64) + "\n", nil
 		case name != "docker":
 			return "", fmt.Errorf("unexpected program %q", name)
+		case strings.HasSuffix(joined, "broker accounts"):
+			return "accounts {}\n", nil
 		case args[0] == "cp":
 			return "", nil
 		case args[0] == "container":
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/rootsecrets.go b/internal/bootstrap/rootsecrets.go
index 9e63874..9f1fa1e 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/rootsecrets.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/rootsecrets.go
@@ -47,6 +47,9 @@ const (
 	// StoreSuperuserFile is where the store's superuser password lives on the machine — the
 	// postgres module's own-secret path, so genesis and adoption write the same file.
 	StoreSuperuserFile = "/var/lib/postgres/superuser.secret"
+	// StoreDataDir is where the store keeps its data — the postgres module's data directory, so
+	// genesis raises the store where the module adopts it (novox/hq ADR 0338 §1).
+	StoreDataDir = "/var/lib/mesh-store"
 	// BusControllerFile is where the controller's password on the bus lives on the machine. Not a
 	// module's path: no module reads it — the permanent controller is handed the address the
 	// temporary one was given — and genesis keeps it only so a second run puts the same account
@@ -62,7 +65,7 @@ const (
 	// What the template says, matched exactly. A template that says something else is a template
 	// this installer does not know how to make safe, and it says so rather than guessing.
 	templateStorePassword = `"POSTGRES_PASSWORD": "bootstrap"`
-	templateStoreVolumes  = `"volumes": ["mesh-store-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data"]`
+	templateStoreVolumes  = `"volumes": ["` + StoreDataDir + `:/var/lib/postgresql/data"]`
 	templateStoreURL      = "postgres:bootstrap@"
 
 	// BusURLPlaceholder is the controller's account in its bus address, as the template names it.
@@ -265,8 +268,8 @@ func Masking(say func(string), c RootCredentials) func(string) {
 // RefuseExistingServers stops a run that would put a made credential in front of a store raised
 // by an earlier installer with the template's.
 //
-// The store's password is set by initdb, once, on an empty volume. A machine that already holds
-// `mesh-store-data` and has no credential file was raised with `bootstrap`, and minting a new
+// The store's password is set by initdb, once, on an empty data directory. A machine that already holds
+// a cluster in the store's data directory and has no credential file was raised with `bootstrap`, and minting a new
 // value here would make a bundle that dials with a password the server does not have — failing
 // three steps later, in the schemas, with nothing pointing back here. Refused by name instead,
 // with the way forward.
@@ -278,11 +281,14 @@ func RefuseExistingServers(ctx context.Context, run Runner, c RootCredentials) e
 	if !c.StoreMade {
 		return nil
 	}
-	if _, err := run(ctx, "docker", "volume", "inspect", "mesh-store-data"); err != nil {
-		return nil // no such volume: a fresh machine, which is the case this installer makes
+	// Where the store keeps its data, as the postgres module does (novox/hq ADR 0338 §2): a cluster
+	// there is one initdb already set a password for. The docker volume genesis used before is not
+	// the store's data any more, and a machine holding only that is not refused.
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "test", "-e", StoreDataDir+"/pgdata/PG_VERSION"); err != nil {
+		return nil // no cluster there: a fresh machine, which is the case this installer makes
 	}
 	return fmt.Errorf(
-		"this machine already holds the store's data (volume mesh-store-data) and no credential at %s, so it was raised "+
+		"this machine already holds the store's data (in "+StoreDataDir+") and no credential at %s, so it was raised "+
 			"by an earlier installer with the template's password. A new one made here would not open it. "+
 			"Put the password the store has into %s (0600, the value alone) and run again; then change it "+
 			"on the server and accept the new value — this installer does not rotate a running store",
@@ -311,7 +317,7 @@ func RewriteRoot(r *Rewritten, c RootCredentials) (RootRewrite, error) {
 		return out, err
 	}
 	if bundle, err = replaceOnce(bundle, templateStoreVolumes,
-		`"volumes": ["mesh-store-data:/var/lib/postgresql/data", "`+StoreSuperuserFile+":"+storeSuperuserMount+`:ro"]`,
+		`"volumes": ["`+StoreDataDir+`:/var/lib/postgresql/data", "`+StoreSuperuserFile+":"+storeSuperuserMount+`:ro"]`,
 		"the store's volumes"); err != nil {
 		return out, err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/rootsecrets_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/rootsecrets_test.go
index c0db52a..29c61e1 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/rootsecrets_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/rootsecrets_test.go
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ func TestTheProducedBundleCarriesNoWellKnownCredential(t *testing.T) {
 		switch x := res.(type) {
 		case *declaration.Container:
 			switch x.Name {
-			case "mesh-store":
+			case "postgres":
 				store = true
 				if _, has := x.Env["POSTGRES_PASSWORD"]; has {
 					t.Error("the store still takes its password from its environment")
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/store_layout_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/store_layout_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..809ded7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/store_layout_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+package bootstrap
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+)
+
+// Defends novox/hq ADR 0338 (issue 609): genesis raises its store as the postgres module's server, so
+// the store step adopts it as it runs. Until then the bundle raised `mesh-store`, on another image, in a
+// docker volume, and genesis stopped at step 17 of 24.
+
+// theStoreGenesisRaises is the store container of the bundle as the installer applies it: rewritten for
+// this machine's credentials, so its password is the file the module reads too.
+func theStoreGenesisRaises(t *testing.T) *declaration.Container {
+	t.Helper()
+	r := producedBundle(t)
+	store, err := storeIn(r.Declaration)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return store
+}
+
+// The bundle's store is exactly the catalogue's postgres module's server, read from the module's own
+// manifest (ADR 0338 §1): its name, its image (so a drift of either pin fails here), where its data is,
+// and the file its superuser password is read from, with the environment that says so.
+func TestTheBundleRaisesTheStoreAsTheCataloguesPostgresModuleDeclaresIt(t *testing.T) {
+	manifest := theCataloguesModule(t, "postgres")
+	var m struct {
+		Resources []struct {
+			ID      string            `json:"id"`
+			Type    string            `json:"type"`
+			Name    string            `json:"name"`
+			Image   string            `json:"image"`
+			Env     map[string]string `json:"env"`
+			Ports   []string          `json:"ports"`
+			Volumes []string          `json:"volumes"`
+		} `json:"resources"`
+	}
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(manifest, &m); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	ours := theStoreGenesisRaises(t)
+	found := false
+	for _, r := range m.Resources {
+		if r.Type != "container" || r.ID != "server" {
+			continue
+		}
+		found = true
+		if ours.Name != r.Name {
+			t.Errorf("the bundle raises the store as %q; the module's server is %q", ours.Name, r.Name)
+		}
+		if ours.Image != r.Image {
+			t.Errorf("the bundle raises the store on %s; the module pins %s — the two pins move together", ours.Image, r.Image)
+		}
+		for _, key := range []string{"POSTGRES_PASSWORD_FILE", "PGDATA"} {
+			if ours.Env[key] != r.Env[key] {
+				t.Errorf("the bundle's store has %s=%q; the module's %q", key, ours.Env[key], r.Env[key])
+			}
+		}
+		if _, has := ours.Env["POSTGRES_PASSWORD"]; has {
+			t.Error("the bundle's store takes its password from its environment; the module reads a file")
+		}
+		// The module's own directory for its state is <data root>/<module>, where genesis keeps the
+		// superuser's file (StoreSuperuserFile).
+		var theirs []string
+		for _, v := range r.Volumes {
+			theirs = append(theirs, strings.ReplaceAll(v, "${dir:state}", "/var/lib/postgres"))
+		}
+		if strings.Join(ours.Volumes, " ") != strings.Join(theirs, " ") {
+			t.Errorf("the bundle's store mounts %v; the module's %v", ours.Volumes, theirs)
+		}
+		if strings.Join(ours.Ports, " ") != strings.Join(r.Ports, " ") {
+			t.Errorf("the bundle publishes the store on %v; the module on %v", ours.Ports, r.Ports)
+		}
+		// And the store step's own check agrees: by name and image, before anything is registered.
+		if err := serverMatchesFoundation(manifest, ours, "postgres"); err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("the store step would refuse the store the bundle raises: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+	if !found {
+		t.Fatal("the postgres module declares no server container")
+	}
+}
+
+// The store's data directory is made by the bundle before the store starts, owned by the image's
+// postgres user, as the module declares it (ADR 0338 §1, and the measurement under its §5).
+func TestTheBundleMakesTheStoresDataDirectoryAsTheModuleDoes(t *testing.T) {
+	r := producedBundle(t)
+	at, store := -1, -1
+	for i, res := range r.Declaration.Resources {
+		if d, ok := res.(*declaration.Directory); ok && d.Path == StoreDataDir {
+			at = i
+			if d.Mode != "0700" || d.Owner != "999:70" {
+				t.Errorf("the store's data directory is made %s %s; the module makes it 0700 999:70", d.Mode, d.Owner)
+			}
+		}
+		if res.Identity() == StoreID {
+			store = i
+		}
+	}
+	if at < 0 || store < 0 || at > store {
+		t.Fatalf("the store's data directory %s is not made before the store (directory at %d, store at %d)", StoreDataDir, at, store)
+	}
+}
+
+// No step of the bundle and no step of the installer names `mesh-store`, which is the seat's name only
+// (ADR 0338 §2): every step that reaches the store reaches the container the bundle raised.
+func TestNoStepReachesTheStoreByTheSeatsName(t *testing.T) {
+	text := string(theRealBundle(t))
+	for _, by := range []string{`"in": "mesh-store"`, `container:mesh-store`, `exec mesh-store`, `"name": "mesh-store"`, `mesh-store-data`} {
+		if strings.Contains(text, by) {
+			t.Errorf("the bundle still reaches the store as %s", by)
+		}
+	}
+	store := theStoreGenesisRaises(t)
+	if foundationStore != store.Name {
+		t.Errorf("the packages step reaches the store as %q; the bundle raises it as %q", foundationStore, store.Name)
+	}
+	r := producedBundle(t)
+	for _, res := range r.Declaration.Resources {
+		if a, ok := res.(*declaration.Action); ok && a.In != "" && a.In != store.Name && strings.Contains(a.ID, "database") {
+			t.Errorf("the step %s reaches the store in %q", a.ID, a.In)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// The installer's refusal to raise a store over data it cannot open looks where the store keeps its data
+// (ADR 0338 §2): a cluster there and no credential is refused; the old docker volume alone is not.
+func TestTheRefusalOverExistingDataLooksInTheStoresDirectory(t *testing.T) {
+	made := RootCredentials{Store: "s", Bus: "b", StoreMade: true}
+	machine := func(cluster, volume bool) Runner {
+		return func(_ context.Context, name string, args ...string) (string, error) {
+			joined := name + " " + strings.Join(args, " ")
+			switch {
+			case joined == "test -e "+StoreDataDir+"/pgdata/PG_VERSION":
+				if cluster {
+					return "", nil
+				}
+			case strings.HasPrefix(joined, "docker volume inspect"):
+				if volume {
+					return "[]", nil
+				}
+			}
+			return "", errors.New("exit status 1")
+		}
+	}
+	err := RefuseExistingServers(context.Background(), machine(true, false), made)
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), StoreDataDir) {
+		t.Fatalf("a cluster in %s and no credential was not refused naming it: %v", StoreDataDir, err)
+	}
+	if err := RefuseExistingServers(context.Background(), machine(false, true), made); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a machine holding only the old volume was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := RefuseExistingServers(context.Background(), machine(true, false), RootCredentials{Store: "s"}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a kept credential was refused: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/verify_test.go b/internal/bootstrap/verify_test.go
index 14617b7..ddd37ab 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/verify_test.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/verify_test.go
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ func TestAFoundationThatIsUpAndAnsweringIsAccepted(t *testing.T) {
 	// run-once and scheduled shapes are excluded on purpose — a step that has exited is not a
 	// fault. The name is `temp-mesh-controller` because the permanent one is a module and takes the
 	// plain name (novox/hq ADR 0067), which is what makes the two of them coexist at all.
-	want := []string{"mesh-store", "mesh-broker", "temp-mesh-controller"}
+	want := []string{"postgres", "mesh-broker-nats", "temp-mesh-controller"}
 	if len(verified.Running) != len(want) {
 		t.Fatalf("confirmed %v running, want %v", verified.Running, want)
 	}
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ func TestAControlPlaneThatIsStillStartingIsWaitedFor(t *testing.T) {
 // than being told only that something is not what it should be.
 func TestAContainerThatExitedIsNamedWithItsState(t *testing.T) {
 	runtime := &asked{answer: func(_ string, args []string) (string, error) {
-		if args[0] == "container" && args[len(args)-1] == "mesh-broker" {
+		if args[0] == "container" && args[len(args)-1] == "mesh-broker-nats" {
 			return "false exited\n", nil
 		}
 		if args[0] == "container" {
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ func TestAContainerThatExitedIsNamedWithItsState(t *testing.T) {
 	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatal("a container that had exited was reported as part of a running foundation")
 	}
-	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "mesh-broker") || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "exited") {
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "mesh-broker-nats") || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "exited") {
 		t.Errorf("the failure does not say which container is in what state: %v", err)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/outward/networks.go b/internal/outward/networks.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8075726
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/outward/networks.go
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+package outward
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"net"
+	"net/netip"
+	"sort"
+)
+
+// Network is one network this machine is directly attached to, and the link it is on (novox/hq ADR
+// 0340 §7): the address and prefix of the network, not of the machine's own address on it.
+//
+// **Every one is said, and the machine judges none of them.** Which count as the machine's local
+// network — private ranges only, never a public subnet, never a link-local one — is the controller's
+// judgement (ADR 0340 §2), made where the filter is composed and shown with why; a machine that left a
+// network out would make that judgement silently.
+type Network struct {
+	Link    string `json:"link"`
+	Network string `json:"network"`
+}
+
+// AddressesOf is the addresses on one link, as address and prefix. A parameter so a test can hold a
+// machine's links without one.
+type AddressesOf func(link string) ([]netip.Prefix, error)
+
+// RealAddresses reads one link's addresses from the kernel.
+func RealAddresses(link string) ([]netip.Prefix, error) {
+	iface, err := net.InterfaceByName(link)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	addrs, err := iface.Addrs()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	var out []netip.Prefix
+	for _, a := range addrs {
+		ipnet, ok := a.(*net.IPNet)
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		addr, ok := netip.AddrFromSlice(ipnet.IP)
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		bits, _ := ipnet.Mask.Size()
+		out = append(out, netip.PrefixFrom(addr.Unmap(), bits))
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+// Networks is the networks on each of these links — the links that face outside (Links) — sorted by link
+// and network, without repeats. A link that has gone since Links read it has no networks rather than
+// failing the rest; a link whose addresses cannot be read fails, so the machine says the fact is unknown
+// rather than reporting a partial account as the whole.
+func Networks(links []string, addressesOf AddressesOf) ([]Network, error) {
+	if addressesOf == nil {
+		addressesOf = RealAddresses
+	}
+	seen := map[Network]bool{}
+	var out []Network
+	for _, link := range links {
+		prefixes, err := addressesOf(link)
+		if err != nil {
+			if isNoSuchInterface(err) {
+				continue
+			}
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot read the addresses on %s: %w", link, err)
+		}
+		for _, p := range prefixes {
+			n := Network{Link: link, Network: p.Masked().String()}
+			if !seen[n] {
+				seen[n] = true
+				out = append(out, n)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	sort.Slice(out, func(i, j int) bool {
+		if out[i].Link != out[j].Link {
+			return out[i].Link < out[j].Link
+		}
+		return out[i].Network < out[j].Network
+	})
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+// isNoSuchInterface is the error net.InterfaceByName gives for a link that is not there.
+func isNoSuchInterface(err error) bool {
+	var op *net.OpError
+	return errors.As(err, &op) && op.Err != nil && op.Err.Error() == "no such network interface"
+}
diff --git a/internal/outward/networks_test.go b/internal/outward/networks_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..182d3a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/outward/networks_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+package outward
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"net/netip"
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func prefixes(s ...string) []netip.Prefix {
+	var out []netip.Prefix
+	for _, p := range s {
+		out = append(out, netip.MustParsePrefix(p))
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// **Each link facing outside says the networks it is attached to** (novox/hq ADR 0340 §7), as the
+// network's address and prefix, never the machine's own address on it — and every one, public and
+// link-local included, because which count is the controller's judgement and said with why.
+func TestEachOutwardLinkSaysTheNetworksItIsOn(t *testing.T) {
+	addrs := map[string][]netip.Prefix{
+		"eth0": prefixes("192.168.1.10/24", "fe80::1/64", "fd12:3456:789a::5/64"),
+		"eth1": prefixes("203.0.113.7/24"),
+		// Not asked: the bridge is not a link facing outside.
+		"docker0": prefixes("172.17.0.1/16"),
+	}
+	got, err := Networks([]string{"eth1", "eth0"}, func(link string) ([]netip.Prefix, error) { return addrs[link], nil })
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	want := []Network{
+		{Link: "eth0", Network: "192.168.1.0/24"},
+		{Link: "eth0", Network: "fd12:3456:789a::/64"},
+		{Link: "eth0", Network: "fe80::/64"},
+		{Link: "eth1", Network: "203.0.113.0/24"},
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, want) {
+		t.Fatalf("got %+v\nwant %+v", got, want)
+	}
+}
+
+// A link whose addresses cannot be read fails the whole, so the machine says the fact is unknown rather
+// than reporting part of its networks as all of them.
+func TestAnUnreadableLinkIsNotAPartialAccount(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := Networks([]string{"eth0"}, func(string) ([]netip.Prefix, error) { return nil, errors.New("denied") })
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("an unreadable link was reported as having no networks")
+	}
+}
+
+// A link gone between reading the routing table and reading its addresses has no networks, and the
+// rest are still said.
+func TestALinkGoneSinceItWasListedHasNoNetworks(t *testing.T) {
+	got, err := Networks([]string{"gone0"}, RealAddresses)
+	if err != nil || len(got) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("got %v, %v", got, err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/profile/machine.go b/internal/profile/machine.go
index f67a168..3e9a807 100644
--- a/internal/profile/machine.go
+++ b/internal/profile/machine.go
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 	"sync"
 	"syscall"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/outward"
 )
 
 // Machine is what this machine is made of, as it says itself (novox/hq issue 160): what somebody
@@ -50,6 +52,11 @@ type Machine struct {
 	// Filesystems is each local filesystem mounted, by where, with its size and what is free.
 	Filesystems []Filesystem `json:"filesystems,omitempty"`
 
+	// Networks is every network the machine is directly attached to on a link facing outside it, as the
+	// link and the network's address and prefix (novox/hq ADR 0340 §7): what a port reached from
+	// `local-network` is resolved from. Every one is said; which count is the controller's judgement.
+	Networks []outward.Network `json:"networks,omitempty"`
+
 	// Unknown names each fact that could not be determined, and why.
 	Unknown map[string]string `json:"unknown,omitempty"`
 }
@@ -79,11 +86,12 @@ const (
 	FactTimezone      = "timezone"
 	FactFilesystems   = "filesystems"
 	FactPublicAddress = "public address"
+	FactNetworks      = "networks"
 )
 
 // MachineFacts is every fact Unknown may name, in the order a reader shows them.
 var MachineFacts = []string{FactKernelRelease, FactDistribution, FactVersion, FactProcessor, FactCores,
-	FactThreads, FactMemory, FactVirtual, FactUptime, FactTimezone, FactFilesystems, FactPublicAddress}
+	FactThreads, FactMemory, FactVirtual, FactUptime, FactTimezone, FactFilesystems, FactNetworks, FactPublicAddress}
 
 // publicAddressUnknown is why the public uplink address is not said. A machine behind a NAT cannot see
 // its public address from itself, and asking a service outside the mesh is a dependency the mesh does not
@@ -101,11 +109,24 @@ type Sources struct {
 	// Statfs is (size, free) in bytes of the filesystem mounted at a path.
 	Statfs func(path string) (size, free int64, err error)
 	Now    func() time.Time
+	// Networks is the networks on the links facing outside this machine (novox/hq ADR 0340).
+	Networks func() ([]outward.Network, error)
 }
 
 // RealSources reads this machine.
 func RealSources() Sources {
-	return Sources{Read: os.ReadFile, Readlink: os.Readlink, Run: ExecRunner, Statfs: statfs, Now: time.Now}
+	return Sources{Read: os.ReadFile, Readlink: os.Readlink, Run: ExecRunner, Statfs: statfs, Now: time.Now,
+		Networks: attachedNetworks}
+}
+
+// attachedNetworks is this machine's networks on the links that face outside it, read the way the report
+// reads those links (novox/hq ADR 0140), so the two never disagree about which links those are.
+func attachedNetworks() ([]outward.Network, error) {
+	links, err := outward.Links("", "")
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return outward.Networks(links, nil)
 }
 
 func statfs(path string) (int64, int64, error) {
@@ -193,6 +214,18 @@ func DescribeMachine(ctx context.Context, src Sources) Machine {
 		}
 	}
 
+	// The networks it is attached to, for the local network (novox/hq ADR 0340): every one on a link facing
+	// outside, or why none is said — never an empty list that reads as a machine on no network.
+	if src.Networks == nil {
+		unknown(FactNetworks, "this node-engine was given no way to read its links")
+	} else if networks, err := src.Networks(); err != nil {
+		unknown(FactNetworks, err.Error())
+	} else if len(networks) == 0 {
+		unknown(FactNetworks, "no link facing outside this machine carries an address")
+	} else {
+		m.Networks = networks
+	}
+
 	unknown(FactPublicAddress, publicAddressUnknown)
 	return m
 }
diff --git a/internal/profile/machine_test.go b/internal/profile/machine_test.go
index 9cf9e17..64c7093 100644
--- a/internal/profile/machine_test.go
+++ b/internal/profile/machine_test.go
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import (
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/outward"
 )
 
 // The parsing layer, with the machine's files given (novox/hq ADR 0017 allows a fake here and only here);
@@ -40,6 +42,9 @@ func given(read map[string]string) Sources {
 		Run:      func(context.Context, string, ...string) (string, error) { return "none\n", errors.New("exited 1") },
 		Statfs:   func(p string) (int64, int64, error) { return 1000, 400, nil },
 		Now:      func() time.Time { return time.Date(2026, 10, 12, 15, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC) },
+		Networks: func() ([]outward.Network, error) {
+			return []outward.Network{{Link: "eth0", Network: "192.168.1.0/24"}, {Link: "eth1", Network: "203.0.113.0/24"}}, nil
+		},
 	}
 }
 
@@ -92,6 +97,7 @@ func TestMachine_aFactItCannotReadIsSaidUnknownNeverZero(t *testing.T) {
 	src := given(map[string]string{})
 	src.Readlink = func(string) (string, error) { return "", os.ErrNotExist }
 	src.Run = func(context.Context, string, ...string) (string, error) { return "", errors.New("not found") }
+	src.Networks = func() ([]outward.Network, error) { return nil, errors.New("cannot read the routing table") }
 	m := DescribeMachine(context.Background(), src)
 
 	raw, _ := json.Marshal(m)
@@ -183,3 +189,26 @@ func TestAgainstThisMachine_machineSaysWhatItIs(t *testing.T) {
 	raw, _ := json.MarshalIndent(m, "", "  ")
 	t.Logf("%s", raw)
 }
+
+// **The networks it is attached to are among its facts** (novox/hq ADR 0340 §7), every one — the public
+// one too, which the controller judges and never counts — and a machine with none on a link facing
+// outside says why rather than reporting an empty list.
+func TestMachine_saysTheNetworksItIsAttachedTo(t *testing.T) {
+	m := DescribeMachine(context.Background(), given(files))
+	raw, _ := json.Marshal(m)
+	var said struct {
+		Networks []map[string]string `json:"networks"`
+	}
+	_ = json.Unmarshal(raw, &said)
+	if len(said.Networks) != 2 || said.Networks[0]["link"] != "eth0" || said.Networks[0]["network"] != "192.168.1.0/24" ||
+		said.Networks[1]["network"] != "203.0.113.0/24" {
+		t.Fatalf("networks said as %s", raw)
+	}
+
+	src := given(files)
+	src.Networks = func() ([]outward.Network, error) { return nil, nil }
+	m = DescribeMachine(context.Background(), src)
+	if len(m.Networks) != 0 || !strings.Contains(m.Unknown[FactNetworks], "no link facing outside") {
+		t.Fatalf("a machine with no network said %v, unknown %q", m.Networks, m.Unknown[FactNetworks])
+	}
+}