diff --git a/internal/apply/apply.go b/internal/apply/apply.go
index b3f6a36..5958d18 100644
--- a/internal/apply/apply.go
+++ b/internal/apply/apply.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ package apply
 import (
 	"context"
 	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/base64"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
@@ -168,6 +169,10 @@ func applyOne(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, r declaration.Resource, ru
 		return applyPackage(ctx, sys, res, run)
 	case *declaration.Container:
 		return applyContainer(ctx, res, run)
+	case *declaration.User:
+		return applyUser(ctx, sys, res, run)
+	case *declaration.Archive:
+		return applyArchive(ctx, res, previous)
 	case *declaration.Action:
 		return applyAction(ctx, res, run)
 	default:
@@ -234,9 +239,21 @@ func applyDirectory(r *declaration.Directory) (Outcome, error) {
 		return out, fmt.Errorf("%s is mode %o after setting %o", r.Path, after.Mode().Perm(), mode.Perm())
 	}
 
+	ownedAlready, err := ownedBy(r.Path, r.Owner)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	if !ownedAlready {
+		if err := own(r.Path, r.Owner); err != nil {
+			return out, err
+		}
+	}
+
 	out.Action = "unchanged"
 	if !existed {
 		out.Action = "created"
+	} else if !ownedAlready {
+		out.Action = "updated"
 	} else if before.Mode().Perm() != mode.Perm() {
 		out.Action = "updated"
 		out.Detail = fmt.Sprintf("mode %o to %o", before.Mode().Perm(), mode.Perm())
@@ -250,6 +267,16 @@ func applyFile(r *declaration.File, previous store.Applied, unseal Unseal) (Outc
 	// What actually goes on disk. For a sealed file the mesh never had this, and neither did
 	// whatever carried the declaration here.
 	content := r.Content
+	if r.Bytes != "" {
+		// Not text. Decoded here rather than written as base64, because what a declaration says
+		// is in a file has to be what ends up in it — a wallpaper stored as its own encoding is
+		// a wallpaper nothing can open.
+		decoded, err := base64.StdEncoding.DecodeString(r.Bytes)
+		if err != nil {
+			return out, fmt.Errorf("%s carries bytes that are not base64: %w", r.Path, err)
+		}
+		content = string(decoded)
+	}
 	// A secret written world-readable is a secret. The default differs from an ordinary file's
 	// for that reason alone; an explicit mode still wins, because a module may need its own user
 	// to read it and only the module knows which.
@@ -324,6 +351,19 @@ func applyFile(r *declaration.File, previous store.Applied, unseal Unseal) (Outc
 		return out, fmt.Errorf("%s is mode %o after setting %o", r.Path, info.Mode().Perm(), mode.Perm())
 	}
 
+	// And who it belongs to. Checked before setting, so a file already owned correctly is not
+	// reported as changed on every apply — which would make every reconcile look like work.
+	ownedAlready, err := ownedBy(r.Path, r.Owner)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	if !ownedAlready {
+		if err := own(r.Path, r.Owner); err != nil {
+			return out, err
+		}
+		contentSame = false
+	}
+
 	switch {
 	case !existed:
 		out.Action = "created"
diff --git a/internal/apply/archive.go b/internal/apply/archive.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..490891a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/apply/archive.go
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+package apply
+
+import (
+	"archive/tar"
+	"compress/gzip"
+	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/store"
+)
+
+// A set of files, fetched by digest and unpacked.
+//
+// For what inlining cannot serve: a theme, an icon set, a tree of configuration. Hundreds of
+// files inlined would make every declaration enormous and rewrite all of them when one changed.
+//
+// **This is the one place the host reaches out on its own.** Everywhere else it holds a single
+// outbound connection to the broker and fetches nothing; a container image is pulled by the
+// runtime rather than by this process. So the discipline has to be explicit and it is the same
+// one the bootstrap uses for images: **pinned by digest, and the digest is checked before
+// anything is written.** What is fetched is bytes from a network the mesh does not control, and
+// the only thing making them safe to unpack is that they hash to what was declared.
+
+// maxArchive is how much will be read before giving up.
+//
+// Because a fetch with no limit is a machine somebody can fill up from the far end. Chosen large
+// enough for a desktop theme and small enough to notice.
+const maxArchive = 512 << 20
+
+func applyArchive(ctx context.Context, r *declaration.Archive, previous store.Applied) (Outcome, error) {
+	out := begin(r)
+	out.Action = "unchanged"
+
+	body, err := fetch(ctx, r.Source)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	sum := sha256.Sum256(body)
+	got := "sha256:" + hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+	if got != r.Digest {
+		// Refused before a single file is written. A digest that does not match means the thing
+		// at that address is not the thing that was declared, and unpacking it would be applying
+		// something nobody reviewed.
+		return out, fmt.Errorf(
+			"%s was declared as %s and what arrived is %s; nothing was unpacked",
+			r.Source, r.Digest, got)
+	}
+	out.wrote = got
+
+	// Already what it should be. The digest is the whole identity of an archive, so a matching
+	// record means the unpacked tree came from these exact bytes.
+	if previous.Wrote == got {
+		if _, err := os.Stat(r.Path); err == nil {
+			owned, err := ownedBy(r.Path, r.Owner)
+			if err == nil && owned {
+				return out, nil
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(r.Path, 0o755); err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	written, err := unpack(body, r.Path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	if err := ownAll(r.Path, r.Owner); err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	out.Action = "updated"
+	if previous.Wrote == "" {
+		out.Action = "created"
+	}
+	out.Detail = fmt.Sprintf("%d file(s)", written)
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+func fetch(ctx context.Context, source string) ([]byte, error) {
+	request, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, source, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	response, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(request)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot fetch %s: %w", source, err)
+	}
+	defer response.Body.Close()
+	if response.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s answered %s", source, response.Status)
+	}
+	body, err := io.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(response.Body, maxArchive+1))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	if len(body) > maxArchive {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s is larger than %d bytes, which is not an archive this host "+
+			"will unpack", source, maxArchive)
+	}
+	return body, nil
+}
+
+// unpack writes a gzipped tar into a directory, refusing anything that would land outside it.
+func unpack(body []byte, into string) (int, error) {
+	zipped, err := gzip.NewReader(strings.NewReader(string(body)))
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, fmt.Errorf("this is not a gzipped tar: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer zipped.Close()
+
+	root, err := filepath.Abs(into)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, err
+	}
+	reader := tar.NewReader(zipped)
+	written := 0
+	for {
+		header, err := reader.Next()
+		if err == io.EOF {
+			return written, nil
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			return written, err
+		}
+
+		// The oldest bug in unpacking: an entry named ../../etc/passwd writes outside the
+		// directory it was unpacked into.
+		//
+		// **Refused, not sanitised.** Rewriting the name so it lands inside would put a file
+		// somewhere nobody asked for and report success — the "looks configured and is not"
+		// failure this host exists to prevent. An archive that names a path outside itself is
+		// either hostile or broken, and both want the same answer.
+		cleaned := filepath.Clean(header.Name)
+		if filepath.IsAbs(cleaned) || cleaned == ".." || strings.HasPrefix(cleaned, ".."+string(os.PathSeparator)) {
+			return written, fmt.Errorf(
+				"%s names a path outside the archive; nothing more was unpacked", header.Name)
+		}
+		// And the same question asked of the result, because a name can be made to resolve
+		// outside without saying so.
+		target := filepath.Join(root, cleaned)
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(target, root+string(os.PathSeparator)) && target != root {
+			return written, fmt.Errorf(
+				"%s would land outside %s; nothing more was unpacked", header.Name, into)
+		}
+
+		switch header.Typeflag {
+		case tar.TypeDir:
+			if err := os.MkdirAll(target, os.FileMode(header.Mode)&os.ModePerm); err != nil {
+				return written, err
+			}
+		case tar.TypeReg:
+			if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Dir(target), 0o755); err != nil {
+				return written, err
+			}
+			file, err := os.OpenFile(target,
+				os.O_CREATE|os.O_TRUNC|os.O_WRONLY, os.FileMode(header.Mode)&os.ModePerm)
+			if err != nil {
+				return written, err
+			}
+			if _, err := io.Copy(file, io.LimitReader(reader, maxArchive)); err != nil {
+				file.Close()
+				return written, err
+			}
+			if err := file.Close(); err != nil {
+				return written, err
+			}
+			written++
+		default:
+			// Symlinks, devices, fifos. Refused rather than skipped: a theme that needed one
+			// would silently arrive incomplete, and a device node in an archive is not something
+			// to unpack quietly onto a machine.
+			return written, fmt.Errorf(
+				"%s is a %c, and this host unpacks only files and directories",
+				header.Name, header.Typeflag)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/apply/sealed_test.go b/internal/apply/sealed_test.go
index 8f6db5a..77df034 100644
--- a/internal/apply/sealed_test.go
+++ b/internal/apply/sealed_test.go
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ func TestContentAndSealedTogetherIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
 	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatal("a file that is both literal and sealed was accepted")
 	}
-	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not both") {
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "exactly once") {
 		t.Fatalf("unhelpful refusal: %v", err)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/apply/user.go b/internal/apply/user.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f61519e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/apply/user.go
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+package apply
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	osuser "os/user"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strconv"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/system"
+)
+
+// Logins, and the files that belong to them.
+//
+// Most of what a person installs is not a service. A shell, a terminal, a chat client, a desktop
+// are a package plus configuration **in somebody's home** — so a mesh with no notion of a user
+// can manage /etc and nothing anybody looks at.
+
+// applyUser makes a login match what was declared.
+//
+// Reconciling, like everything else here: it is not told whether the user is new. Creating,
+// setting a shell and adding groups are each done only when the machine does not already agree.
+func applyUser(ctx context.Context, sys system.System, r *declaration.User, run Runner) (Outcome, error) {
+	out := begin(r)
+	out.Action = "unchanged"
+
+	login, exists, err := system.LookUpUser(ctx, system.Runner(run), r.Name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, err
+	}
+	if !exists {
+		if err := sys.CreateUser(ctx, system.Runner(run), r.Name, r.Home, r.Shell); err != nil {
+			return out, err
+		}
+		// Read back from the machine, not from the call that made it. A useradd that returns
+		// success and leaves no entry is exactly the failure this host takes trouble over.
+		login, exists, err = system.LookUpUser(ctx, system.Runner(run), r.Name)
+		if err != nil {
+			return out, err
+		}
+		if !exists {
+			return out, fmt.Errorf("created the user %q and the user database does not have it",
+				r.Name)
+		}
+		out.Action = "created"
+	}
+
+	// The shell, only when it differs. Absent means the host asserts nothing — a field that
+	// always asserts cannot express "leave it alone", which is the difference between managing a
+	// machine and taking it over.
+	if r.Shell != "" && login.Shell != r.Shell {
+		if err := sys.SetUserShell(ctx, system.Runner(run), r.Name, r.Shell); err != nil {
+			return out, err
+		}
+		if back, _, err := system.LookUpUser(ctx, system.Runner(run), r.Name); err != nil {
+			return out, err
+		} else if back.Shell != r.Shell {
+			return out, fmt.Errorf("set %q's shell to %q and the user database says %q",
+				r.Name, r.Shell, back.Shell)
+		}
+		if out.Action == "unchanged" {
+			out.Action = "updated"
+		}
+	}
+
+	if len(r.Groups) > 0 {
+		in, err := system.GroupsOf(ctx, system.Runner(run), r.Name)
+		if err != nil {
+			return out, err
+		}
+		already := map[string]bool{}
+		for _, g := range in {
+			already[g] = true
+		}
+		for _, want := range r.Groups {
+			if already[want] {
+				continue
+			}
+			if err := sys.AddUserToGroup(ctx, system.Runner(run), r.Name, want); err != nil {
+				return out, err
+			}
+			if out.Action == "unchanged" {
+				out.Action = "updated"
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}
+
+// own sets a path's owner, when one was declared.
+//
+// Looked up by name every time rather than cached: a user's numeric id is not stable across
+// machines, and the whole reason this exists is that the same declaration lands on several.
+func own(path, owner string) error {
+	if owner == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	found, err := osuser.Lookup(owner)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s should belong to %q and this machine has no such user: %w",
+			path, owner, err)
+	}
+	uid, err := strconv.Atoi(found.Uid)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	gid, err := strconv.Atoi(found.Gid)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := os.Chown(path, uid, gid); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot give %s to %q: %w", path, owner, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// ownedBy reports whether a path already belongs to a user, so applying twice changes nothing.
+func ownedBy(path, owner string) (bool, error) {
+	if owner == "" {
+		return true, nil
+	}
+	found, err := osuser.Lookup(owner)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+	info, err := os.Stat(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, err
+	}
+	uid, gid, ok := ownerOf(info)
+	if !ok {
+		return false, nil
+	}
+	return strconv.Itoa(uid) == found.Uid && strconv.Itoa(gid) == found.Gid, nil
+}
+
+// ownAll gives a whole tree to a user, for an archive that was unpacked into it.
+func ownAll(root, owner string) error {
+	if owner == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return filepath.Walk(root, func(path string, _ os.FileInfo, err error) error {
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		return own(path, owner)
+	})
+}
+
+// ownerOf is the numeric owner of a file, where the platform reports one.
+func ownerOf(info os.FileInfo) (uid, gid int, ok bool) {
+	return statOwner(info)
+}
diff --git a/internal/apply/user_unix.go b/internal/apply/user_unix.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb6765d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/apply/user_unix.go
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+//go:build unix
+
+package apply
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"syscall"
+)
+
+// statOwner reads a file's numeric owner. Split out because the field is platform-specific and
+// the rest of this package should not have to know that.
+func statOwner(info os.FileInfo) (uid, gid int, ok bool) {
+	stat, ok := info.Sys().(*syscall.Stat_t)
+	if !ok {
+		return 0, 0, false
+	}
+	return int(stat.Uid), int(stat.Gid), true
+}
diff --git a/internal/apply/vocabulary_test.go b/internal/apply/vocabulary_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94e95ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/apply/vocabulary_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,245 @@
+package apply
+
+import (
+	"archive/tar"
+	"bytes"
+	"compress/gzip"
+	"context"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/base64"
+	"encoding/hex"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/declaration"
+	"github.com/novox/mesh-host/internal/store"
+)
+
+// The shapes added so that most of what a person installs is expressible.
+//
+// A shell, a chat client, a desktop are a package plus configuration in somebody's home, and a
+// mesh with no user can manage /etc and nothing anybody looks at.
+
+func declare(t *testing.T, resources string) *declaration.Declaration {
+	t.Helper()
+	d, err := declaration.Parse([]byte(`{"declaration":1,"resources":[` + resources + `]}`))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return d
+}
+
+func TestAFileMayBeBytesRatherThanText(t *testing.T) {
+	// A wallpaper, a font, an icon. Stored as its own encoding it would be a wallpaper nothing
+	// can open.
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	original := []byte{0x89, 'P', 'N', 'G', 0x0d, 0x0a, 0x1a, 0x0a, 0x00, 0xff}
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"w","type":"file","path":"`+dir+`/wall.png","bytes":"`+
+		base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(original)+`"}`)
+
+	if _, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{},
+		store.OriginCarried, noServices, nil, nil); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	on, err := os.ReadFile(dir + "/wall.png")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !bytes.Equal(on, original) {
+		t.Fatalf("the bytes did not survive: %x", on)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAFileSaysWhatIsInItExactlyOnce(t *testing.T) {
+	// Three ways of saying it and no precedence between them, so "what is in this file" is
+	// answerable by looking rather than by knowing which field wins.
+	_, err := declaration.Parse([]byte(`{"declaration":1,"resources":[
+		{"id":"f","type":"file","path":"/etc/x","content":"a","bytes":"YQ=="}]}`))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a file that was both text and bytes was accepted")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "exactly once") {
+		t.Fatalf("unhelpful refusal: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestBytesThatAreNotBase64AreRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"w","type":"file","path":"`+dir+`/x","bytes":"not base64!!"}`)
+	_, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{},
+		store.OriginCarried, noServices, nil, nil)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a file carrying nonsense was written")
+	}
+	if _, statErr := os.Stat(dir + "/x"); statErr == nil {
+		t.Fatal("something was written before the failure")
+	}
+}
+
+// A gzipped tar, and its digest, built here so the test does not depend on a fixture nobody can
+// regenerate.
+func anArchive(t *testing.T, files map[string]string) ([]byte, string) {
+	t.Helper()
+	var raw bytes.Buffer
+	zipped := gzip.NewWriter(&raw)
+	writer := tar.NewWriter(zipped)
+	for name, body := range files {
+		if err := writer.WriteHeader(&tar.Header{
+			Name: name, Mode: 0o644, Size: int64(len(body)), Typeflag: tar.TypeReg,
+		}); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if _, err := writer.Write([]byte(body)); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	}
+	if err := writer.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := zipped.Close(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	sum := sha256.Sum256(raw.Bytes())
+	return raw.Bytes(), "sha256:" + hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+}
+
+func serving(t *testing.T, body []byte) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+		_, _ = w.Write(body)
+	}))
+	t.Cleanup(server.Close)
+	return server.URL + "/theme.tar.gz"
+}
+
+func TestAnArchiveIsUnpacked(t *testing.T) {
+	body, digest := anArchive(t, map[string]string{
+		"config/theme.conf": "dark", "config/icons/one.svg": "<svg/>",
+	})
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"theme","type":"archive","source":"`+serving(t, body)+
+		`","digest":"`+digest+`","path":"`+dir+`/theme"}`)
+
+	report, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{},
+		store.OriginCarried, noServices, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if !report.Changed() {
+		t.Fatal("nothing changed")
+	}
+	on, err := os.ReadFile(dir + "/theme/config/theme.conf")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if string(on) != "dark" {
+		t.Fatalf("got %q", on)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAnArchiveThatIsNotWhatWasDeclaredIsRefusedBeforeAnythingIsWritten(t *testing.T) {
+	// The only thing making bytes from a network the mesh does not control safe to unpack is
+	// that they hash to what was declared.
+	body, _ := anArchive(t, map[string]string{"a": "b"})
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"theme","type":"archive","source":"`+serving(t, body)+
+		`","digest":"sha256:`+strings.Repeat("ab", 32)+`","path":"`+dir+`/theme"}`)
+
+	_, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{},
+		store.OriginCarried, noServices, nil, nil)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("an archive that was not what was declared was unpacked")
+	}
+	if entries, _ := os.ReadDir(dir); len(entries) != 0 {
+		t.Fatal("something was written before the digest was checked")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAnArchiveCannotWriteOutsideWhereItWasUnpacked(t *testing.T) {
+	// The oldest bug in unpacking. Checked against the resolved root rather than by looking for
+	// "..", because there is more than one way to name a path that escapes.
+	body, digest := anArchive(t, map[string]string{"../../escaped": "no"})
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"theme","type":"archive","source":"`+serving(t, body)+
+		`","digest":"`+digest+`","path":"`+dir+`/theme"}`)
+
+	_, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{},
+		store.OriginCarried, noServices, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil && !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "outside") {
+		t.Fatalf("refused for the wrong reason: %v", err)
+	}
+	if _, statErr := os.Stat(dir + "/escaped"); statErr == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a file landed outside the directory it was unpacked into")
+	}
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("an escaping entry was accepted")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAnUnpackedArchiveIsNotFetchedAgainForNothing(t *testing.T) {
+	// The digest is the whole identity of an archive, so a matching record means the tree came
+	// from these exact bytes. Applying twice must not report work.
+	body, digest := anArchive(t, map[string]string{"a": "b"})
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"theme","type":"archive","source":"`+serving(t, body)+
+		`","digest":"`+digest+`","path":"`+dir+`/theme"}`)
+
+	_, state, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{},
+		store.OriginCarried, noServices, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	again, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, state,
+		store.OriginCarried, noServices, nil, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if again.Changed() {
+		said, _ := json.Marshal(again)
+		t.Fatalf("the second apply did work: %s", said)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAnArchiveWithSomethingThatIsNotAFileIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	// A theme needing a symlink would otherwise arrive silently incomplete, and a device node in
+	// an archive is not something to unpack quietly onto a machine.
+	var raw bytes.Buffer
+	zipped := gzip.NewWriter(&raw)
+	writer := tar.NewWriter(zipped)
+	if err := writer.WriteHeader(&tar.Header{
+		Name: "link", Typeflag: tar.TypeSymlink, Linkname: "/etc/passwd", Mode: 0o777,
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	writer.Close()
+	zipped.Close()
+	sum := sha256.Sum256(raw.Bytes())
+	digest := "sha256:" + hex.EncodeToString(sum[:])
+
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	d := declare(t, `{"id":"theme","type":"archive","source":"`+serving(t, raw.Bytes())+
+		`","digest":"`+digest+`","path":"`+dir+`/theme"}`)
+	_, _, err := Apply(context.Background(), archHost(t), d, store.State{},
+		store.OriginCarried, noServices, nil, nil)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a symlink was unpacked")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "files and directories") {
+		t.Fatalf("refused for the wrong reason: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAnArchiveMustBePinned(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := declaration.Parse([]byte(`{"declaration":1,"resources":[
+		{"id":"t","type":"archive","source":"https://example.invalid/a.tgz","path":"/opt/t"}]}`))
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("an unpinned archive was accepted")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "digest") {
+		t.Fatalf("unhelpful refusal: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration.go b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
index 3b46d05..6b60c71 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration.go
@@ -30,6 +30,17 @@ const (
 	TypePackage   Type = "package"
 	TypeContainer Type = "container"
 	TypeAction    Type = "action"
+
+	// TypeUser is a login on the machine. Added because most of what a person actually installs
+	// is not a service: a shell, a terminal, a chat client, a desktop. All of those are a package
+	// plus configuration **in somebody's home**, and a mesh with no notion of a user can only
+	// manage /etc.
+	TypeUser Type = "user"
+
+	// TypeArchive is a set of files fetched by digest and unpacked. A desktop theme is hundreds
+	// of files; inlining them would make every declaration enormous and rewrite the lot whenever
+	// one changed.
+	TypeArchive Type = "archive"
 )
 
 // Resource is one thing that should be true of the machine.
@@ -62,6 +73,9 @@ type Directory struct {
 	Type Type   `json:"type"`
 	Path string `json:"path"`
 	Mode string `json:"mode,omitempty"`
+	// Owner is the user this belongs to, by name. Absent means root, which is what everything
+	// managed was until users existed.
+	Owner string `json:"owner,omitempty"`
 }
 
 func (d *Directory) Identity() string { return d.ID }
@@ -96,6 +110,16 @@ type File struct {
 	// Exclusive with Content: a file is one or the other, so that "was this secret" is answerable
 	// by looking rather than by knowing which field won.
 	Sealed string `json:"sealed,omitempty"`
+
+	// Bytes is content that is not text, base64-encoded — a wallpaper, a font, an icon.
+	//
+	// A third way of saying what is in a file, and the three are exclusive. It would have been
+	// tempting to let Content carry base64 and add a flag, and then "what is in this file" would
+	// depend on a field somewhere else.
+	Bytes string `json:"bytes,omitempty"`
+
+	// Owner is the user this belongs to, by name. Absent means root.
+	Owner string `json:"owner,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // Secret reports whether this file arrived sealed, which is what decides both that it must be
@@ -111,14 +135,113 @@ func (f *File) validate(where string, _ bool) []string {
 	if f.Path == "" {
 		problems = append(problems, where+": a file needs a path")
 	}
-	if f.Content != "" && f.Sealed != "" {
+	var said []string
+	for name, value := range map[string]string{
+		"content": f.Content, "sealed": f.Sealed, "bytes": f.Bytes,
+	} {
+		if value != "" {
+			said = append(said, name)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(said) > 1 {
+		sort.Strings(said)
 		problems = append(problems, where+
-			": a file has content or is sealed, not both — otherwise nobody can tell by looking "+
-			"whether what landed on the machine was the secret or the placeholder")
+			": a file says what is in it exactly once, and this says it as "+
+			strings.Join(said, " and ")+
+			" — otherwise nobody can tell by looking which one landed on the machine")
 	}
 	return append(problems, checkMode(where, f.Mode)...)
 }
 
+// User is a login on the machine.
+//
+// The thing that makes a shell, a chat client or a desktop expressible at all: each is a package
+// plus configuration in somebody's home, and until this the mesh could only own /etc.
+//
+// It also makes "zsh is my login shell" **declared state** rather than an action. `chsh` is a
+// command, the link may not carry one (novox/hq ADR 0005), and a shell that could only be set by
+// hand would be a shell the mesh cannot manage — which is most of the reason to manage a machine
+// at all.
+type User struct {
+	ID   string `json:"id"`
+	Type Type   `json:"type"`
+	Name string `json:"name"`
+
+	// Shell this user logs in with. Absent means the host asserts nothing and leaves whatever is
+	// there — the same rule Service.Boot follows, for the same reason: a field that always
+	// asserts cannot express "I do not care".
+	Shell string `json:"shell,omitempty"`
+
+	// Groups this user must be in. Additive: the host puts the user in these and does not remove
+	// it from others, because a machine's own groups are not the mesh's to know about.
+	Groups []string `json:"groups,omitempty"`
+
+	// Home directory. Absent means the system's default for a new user, and is not changed for
+	// one that exists — moving somebody's home is not something a declaration should do quietly.
+	Home string `json:"home,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func (u *User) Identity() string { return u.ID }
+func (u *User) Kind() Type       { return TypeUser }
+func (u *User) Target() string   { return u.Name }
+
+func (u *User) validate(where string, _ bool) []string {
+	var problems []string
+	if u.Name == "" {
+		problems = append(problems, where+": a user needs a name")
+	}
+	if u.Shell != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(u.Shell, "/") {
+		problems = append(problems, where+
+			": a login shell is an absolute path, and "+u.Shell+" is not one")
+	}
+	if u.Home != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(u.Home, "/") {
+		problems = append(problems, where+": a home directory is an absolute path")
+	}
+	return problems
+}
+
+// Archive is a set of files, fetched by digest and unpacked.
+//
+// For the case inlining cannot serve: a theme, an icon set, a tree of configuration. Hundreds of
+// files inlined would make every declaration enormous and rewrite all of it when one changed.
+//
+// **Pinned by digest, and the digest is checked before anything is unpacked.** The same discipline
+// the bootstrap uses for images, and for the same reason — this is fetched over a network the
+// mesh does not control, and a reference that can be made to point elsewhere is not a reference.
+type Archive struct {
+	ID   string `json:"id"`
+	Type Type   `json:"type"`
+	// Source is where to fetch it from.
+	Source string `json:"source"`
+	// Digest is sha256 of the archive, as "sha256:<hex>".
+	Digest string `json:"digest"`
+	// Path is the directory it is unpacked into.
+	Path string `json:"path"`
+	// Owner is the user the unpacked files belong to. Absent means root.
+	Owner string `json:"owner,omitempty"`
+}
+
+func (a *Archive) Identity() string { return a.ID }
+func (a *Archive) Kind() Type       { return TypeArchive }
+func (a *Archive) Target() string   { return a.Path }
+
+func (a *Archive) validate(where string, _ bool) []string {
+	var problems []string
+	if a.Source == "" {
+		problems = append(problems, where+": an archive needs somewhere to fetch it from")
+	}
+	if a.Path == "" {
+		problems = append(problems, where+": an archive needs somewhere to unpack into")
+	}
+	if !strings.HasPrefix(a.Digest, "sha256:") || len(a.Digest) != len("sha256:")+64 {
+		// Refused rather than fetched and trusted. Everything else pinned in this vocabulary is
+		// pinned by digest, and an archive that was not would be the one way in.
+		problems = append(problems, where+
+			": an archive is pinned by digest, as sha256:<64 hex characters>")
+	}
+	return problems
+}
+
 // Service is a unit the host puts into a state. It does not install the unit.
 //
 // Two states, and they are orthogonal rather than one scale. A unit can be enabled and stopped
@@ -288,6 +411,10 @@ func newOf(t Type) Resource {
 		return &Container{}
 	case TypeAction:
 		return &Action{}
+	case TypeUser:
+		return &User{}
+	case TypeArchive:
+		return &Archive{}
 	}
 	return nil
 }
@@ -295,7 +422,8 @@ func newOf(t Type) Resource {
 // Vocabulary is every kind this host speaks.
 func Vocabulary() []Type {
 	return []Type{
-		TypeAction, TypeContainer, TypeDirectory, TypeFile, TypePackage, TypeService,
+		TypeAction, TypeArchive, TypeContainer, TypeDirectory, TypeFile, TypePackage,
+		TypeService, TypeUser,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go b/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
index 08c7cb7..3ed10f7 100644
--- a/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
+++ b/internal/declaration/declaration_test.go
@@ -67,9 +67,9 @@ func TestAnUnknownTypeRefusesTheWholeDeclaration(t *testing.T) {
 func TestAnUnknownFieldIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
 	// A field the host does not know is a thing the control plane believes it asked for.
 	refusal := refusalFor(t, `{"declaration":1,"resources":[
-	  {"id":"conf","type":"file","path":"/etc/x","content":"a","owner":"root"}
+	  {"id":"conf","type":"file","path":"/etc/x","content":"a","immutable":true}
 	]}`)
-	if !strings.Contains(strings.Join(refusal.Problems, "\n"), "owner") {
+	if !strings.Contains(strings.Join(refusal.Problems, "\n"), "immutable") {
 		t.Errorf("the unknown field was not named: %v", refusal.Problems)
 	}
 }
@@ -240,16 +240,23 @@ func TestAFieldTheNewTypesDoNotUseIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func TestTheVocabularyIsTheSixShapesTheBootstrapNeeds(t *testing.T) {
-	// novox/hq 07-the-substrate.md names six shapes and the bootstrap uses all of them.
-	// Asserted so that removing one is a failing test rather than a discovery during a
-	// first-node install.
+func TestTheVocabularyIsTheEightShapesTheMeshNeeds(t *testing.T) {
+	// Six of them the bootstrap uses (novox/hq 07-the-substrate.md), and removing one is a
+	// failing test rather than a discovery during a first-node install.
+	//
+	// Two were added on 2026-08-30 and the count is asserted precisely because adding one is a
+	// decision. `user` and `archive` exist because most of what a person installs is not a
+	// service: a shell, a chat client, a desktop are a package plus configuration **in
+	// somebody's home**, and a mesh with no user can only own /etc. `archive` is for the case
+	// inlining cannot serve — a theme is hundreds of files, and inlining them would rewrite all
+	// of them whenever one changed.
 	speaks := map[Type]bool{}
 	for _, t := range Vocabulary() {
 		speaks[t] = true
 	}
 	for _, want := range []Type{
 		TypeDirectory, TypeFile, TypeService, TypePackage, TypeContainer, TypeAction,
+		TypeUser, TypeArchive,
 	} {
 		if !speaks[want] {
 			t.Errorf("the host no longer speaks %q", want)
@@ -258,8 +265,8 @@ func TestTheVocabularyIsTheSixShapesTheBootstrapNeeds(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Errorf("%q is in the vocabulary and cannot be constructed", want)
 		}
 	}
-	if len(speaks) != 6 {
-		t.Errorf("the vocabulary is %d shapes; every addition widens what a compromised "+
+	if len(speaks) != 8 {
+		t.Errorf("the vocabulary is %d shapes rather than 8; every addition widens what a compromised "+
 			"control plane can express, so a change here is a decision: %s",
 			len(speaks), vocabulary())
 	}
diff --git a/internal/system/alpine.go b/internal/system/alpine.go
index 41cee0b..5c66602 100644
--- a/internal/system/alpine.go
+++ b/internal/system/alpine.go
@@ -131,3 +131,40 @@ func errText(err error) string {
 	}
 	return err.Error()
 }
+
+// CreateUser makes a login with busybox adduser, whose flags are not useradd's.
+//
+// `-D` is "do not ask for a password", which is what makes it usable without a terminal. A login
+// created this way has no password and cannot be logged into over the network with one, which is
+// correct: what the mesh manages is what a login owns, never a way to become it.
+func (alpine) CreateUser(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name, home, shell string) error {
+	args := []string{"-D"}
+	if home != "" {
+		args = append(args, "-h", home)
+	}
+	if shell != "" {
+		args = append(args, "-s", shell)
+	}
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "adduser", append(args, name)...); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot create the user %q: %w", name, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (alpine) SetUserShell(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name, shell string) error {
+	// busybox has no usermod. `sed`-ing /etc/passwd is what the distribution's own tooling does,
+	// and chsh is the one command that exists for it everywhere.
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "chsh", "-s", shell, name); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot set %q's shell to %q: %w", name, shell, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// AddUserToGroup uses addgroup, which on busybox takes the user and the group and is additive by
+// construction — there is no form of it that replaces the set.
+func (alpine) AddUserToGroup(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name, group string) error {
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "addgroup", name, group); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot put %q in the group %q: %w", name, group, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/system/android.go b/internal/system/android.go
index ec53363..b74e10b 100644
--- a/internal/system/android.go
+++ b/internal/system/android.go
@@ -80,3 +80,21 @@ func (a android) ServiceBoot(context.Context, Runner, string) (string, error) {
 func (a android) SetServiceBoot(context.Context, Runner, string, string) error {
 	return fmt.Errorf("%w: service", ErrUnsupported)
 }
+
+// Users are one of the shapes this host refuses.
+//
+// Android's user database belongs to the framework and is not something an ordinary app may
+// write. Refused with a reason rather than attempted, the same as package, service and container
+// above — and the profile says so, so the control plane never sends one.
+func (android) CreateUser(context.Context, Runner, string, string, string) error {
+	return fmt.Errorf("this host implements no users: Android's user database belongs to the " +
+		"framework and is not writable by an ordinary process")
+}
+
+func (android) SetUserShell(context.Context, Runner, string, string) error {
+	return fmt.Errorf("this host implements no users")
+}
+
+func (android) AddUserToGroup(context.Context, Runner, string, string) error {
+	return fmt.Errorf("this host implements no users")
+}
diff --git a/internal/system/arch.go b/internal/system/arch.go
index b390c7d..880fef3 100644
--- a/internal/system/arch.go
+++ b/internal/system/arch.go
@@ -142,3 +142,38 @@ func (arch) SetServiceBoot(ctx context.Context, run Runner, unit, boot string) e
 	_, err := run(ctx, "systemctl", verb, unit)
 	return err
 }
+
+// CreateUser makes a login with useradd.
+//
+// `--create-home` because a user whose home does not exist is a user nothing can be delivered
+// to, and delivering a shell's configuration is most of why the mesh knows about users at all.
+func (arch) CreateUser(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name, home, shell string) error {
+	args := []string{"--create-home"}
+	if home != "" {
+		args = append(args, "--home-dir", home)
+	}
+	if shell != "" {
+		args = append(args, "--shell", shell)
+	}
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "useradd", append(args, name)...); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot create the user %q: %w", name, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (arch) SetUserShell(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name, shell string) error {
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "usermod", "--shell", shell, name); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot set %q's shell to %q: %w", name, shell, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// AddUserToGroup appends, and `--append` is the whole point: without it usermod REPLACES the
+// user's supplementary groups, so a declaration naming one group would silently remove every
+// other — including the ones that make a login able to use a machine at all.
+func (arch) AddUserToGroup(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name, group string) error {
+	if _, err := run(ctx, "usermod", "--append", "--groups", group, name); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("cannot put %q in the group %q: %w", name, group, err)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/internal/system/system.go b/internal/system/system.go
index c1edebb..1d5daff 100644
--- a/internal/system/system.go
+++ b/internal/system/system.go
@@ -60,6 +60,61 @@ type System interface {
 	// ServiceBoot is "enabled" or "disabled" — whether the unit starts at boot.
 	ServiceBoot(ctx context.Context, run Runner, unit string) (string, error)
 	SetServiceBoot(ctx context.Context, run Runner, unit, boot string) error
+
+	// CreateUser makes a login. Home and shell may be empty, meaning the system's own defaults —
+	// a declaration that says nothing about them must not impose an opinion.
+	CreateUser(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name, home, shell string) error
+	// SetUserShell changes an existing login's shell, which is what makes "zsh is my shell"
+	// declared state rather than a command the link may not carry.
+	SetUserShell(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name, shell string) error
+	// AddUserToGroup is additive and never removes. A machine's own groups are not the mesh's to
+	// know about, and a declaration that pruned them would take away what somebody set by hand.
+	AddUserToGroup(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name, group string) error
+}
+
+// Login is what the machine's user database says about a login.
+type Login struct {
+	Home  string
+	Shell string
+}
+
+// LookUpUser reads a login from the user database.
+//
+// Shared rather than per-system: `getent passwd` gives the same seven colon-separated fields
+// everywhere this host runs, and a second implementation would be a second thing to get wrong in
+// the same way.
+//
+// **Absent is an answer, an error is not.** A user database that cannot be read must not be
+// reported as "no such user" — that is absence read as fact, the exact confusion this package
+// takes trouble over elsewhere. `getent` exits 2 for "not found" and other codes for failures, so
+// the two are distinguished rather than collapsed.
+func LookUpUser(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name string) (Login, bool, error) {
+	out, err := run(ctx, "getent", "passwd", name)
+	if err != nil {
+		// getent's own convention: 2 means the key was not found, which is the only failure that
+		// means "no such user".
+		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "exit status 2") {
+			return Login{}, false, nil
+		}
+		return Login{}, false, fmt.Errorf(
+			"the user database did not answer about %q, so nothing can be said about it: %w",
+			name, err)
+	}
+	fields := strings.Split(strings.TrimSpace(out), ":")
+	if len(fields) < 7 {
+		return Login{}, false, fmt.Errorf("the user database gave %q for %q, which is not a passwd entry",
+			strings.TrimSpace(out), name)
+	}
+	return Login{Home: fields[5], Shell: fields[6]}, true, nil
+}
+
+// GroupsOf is every group a login is in.
+func GroupsOf(ctx context.Context, run Runner, name string) ([]string, error) {
+	out, err := run(ctx, "id", "-nG", name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return strings.Fields(out), nil
 }
 
 // Supports reports whether this host can apply a shape.
@@ -110,6 +165,7 @@ func everyShape() []declaration.Type {
 	return []declaration.Type{
 		declaration.TypeDirectory, declaration.TypeFile, declaration.TypeService,
 		declaration.TypePackage, declaration.TypeContainer, declaration.TypeAction,
+		declaration.TypeUser, declaration.TypeArchive,
 	}
 }
 
@@ -120,6 +176,10 @@ func everyShape() []declaration.Type {
 func portableShapes() []declaration.Type {
 	return []declaration.Type{
 		declaration.TypeDirectory, declaration.TypeFile, declaration.TypeAction,
+		// An archive is a file that arrives in a bundle rather than in the declaration. It needs
+		// only a filesystem and a way to fetch, so a partial host can do it; a user needs a user
+		// database it is allowed to write, which it does not have.
+		declaration.TypeArchive,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/system/system_test.go b/internal/system/system_test.go
index 5c8a312..303a3ac 100644
--- a/internal/system/system_test.go
+++ b/internal/system/system_test.go
@@ -280,3 +280,68 @@ func TestAndroidsUnreachableAppliersFailLoudly(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("android's service applier did not report it as unsupported: %v", err)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestALoginThatIsNotThereIsAnAnswerAndABrokenDatabaseIsNot(t *testing.T) {
+	// The distinction this package takes trouble over everywhere else, applied to users. A user
+	// database that cannot be read must not be reported as "no such user" — absence read as
+	// fact is the fault the whole host exists to prevent.
+	notFound := func(context.Context, string, ...string) (string, error) {
+		return "", errors.New("exit status 2")
+	}
+	if _, exists, err := LookUpUser(context.Background(), notFound, "nobody"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("a missing user was reported as a failure: %v", err)
+	} else if exists {
+		t.Fatal("a missing user was reported as present")
+	}
+
+	broken := func(context.Context, string, ...string) (string, error) {
+		return "", errors.New("exit status 71: cannot read /etc/passwd")
+	}
+	if _, exists, err := LookUpUser(context.Background(), broken, "somebody"); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("a broken user database was reported as an answer")
+	} else if exists {
+		t.Fatal("a broken user database reported a user as present")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestALoginIsReadFromThePasswdEntry(t *testing.T) {
+	answering := func(context.Context, string, ...string) (string, error) {
+		return "worker:x:1001:1001:,,,:/home/worker:/usr/bin/zsh\n", nil
+	}
+	login, exists, err := LookUpUser(context.Background(), answering, "worker")
+	if err != nil || !exists {
+		t.Fatalf("exists=%v err=%v", exists, err)
+	}
+	if login.Home != "/home/worker" || login.Shell != "/usr/bin/zsh" {
+		t.Fatalf("got %+v", login)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestSomethingThatIsNotAPasswdEntryIsRefused(t *testing.T) {
+	// Rather than read as a login with empty fields, which would have the host decide the shell
+	// differs and set it on every apply for ever.
+	nonsense := func(context.Context, string, ...string) (string, error) {
+		return "who knows\n", nil
+	}
+	if _, _, err := LookUpUser(context.Background(), nonsense, "worker"); err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("nonsense was read as a login")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestAPartialHostRefusesUsersAndAllowsArchives(t *testing.T) {
+	// An archive needs a filesystem and a way to fetch; a user needs a user database this host is
+	// allowed to write, which Android does not have.
+	speaks := map[declaration.Type]bool{}
+	for _, shape := range (android{}).Shapes() {
+		speaks[shape] = true
+	}
+	if !speaks[declaration.TypeArchive] {
+		t.Error("a partial host refuses archives, which need only a filesystem")
+	}
+	if speaks[declaration.TypeUser] {
+		t.Error("a partial host claims to manage users")
+	}
+	if err := (android{}).CreateUser(context.Background(), nil, "a", "", ""); err == nil {
+		t.Error("a partial host created a user")
+	}
+}