diff --git a/test/integration/mesh.test.ts b/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
index bde9368..bb44396 100644
--- a/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
+++ b/test/integration/mesh.test.ts
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ async function settled(node: string, withinMs = 240_000): Promise<void> {
       wrong: { node: string; outcome: string; refused?: string;
                failed?: { id: string; error: string }[] }[];
       waiting: { node: string; never: boolean }[];
+      reported: { node: string; outcome: string; at?: string; sent?: string }[];
     } | undefined;
     let said = "";
     try {
@@ -160,7 +161,15 @@ async function settled(node: string, withinMs = 240_000): Promise<void> {
         .filter(Boolean).join("\n  ");
       throw new Error(`${node} did not apply what it was sent (${bad.outcome}):\n  ${why}`);
     }
-    if (!state.waiting.some((w) => w.node === node)) return;
+    // Current is not caught up. The sent digest is recorded at send, so "not waiting" holds
+    // from the moment push returns, while the machine is still applying — this test asserted on
+    // containers the instant the declaration was current and found them not created yet. Caught
+    // up is the machine's own report being newer than what was sent to it: two timestamps the
+    // mesh recorded itself, compared.
+    const word = state.reported.find((r) => r.node === node);
+    const acted = word?.outcome === "applied" && !!word.at && !!word.sent &&
+      Date.parse(word.at) > Date.parse(word.sent);
+    if (!state.waiting.some((w) => w.node === node) && acted) return;
     last = said;
     // Unhurried on purpose: each poll is an exec into a container on the machine that is busy
     // applying, and asking four times a minute rather than thirty is the difference between