diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/images.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/images.yaml
index 3d027bc..6170fe4 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/images.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/images.yaml
@@ -41,6 +41,15 @@
 # not checked by Gitea (basic.go resolves the owner from the token), so `vars.REGISTRY_PUSH_USER`
 # is optional and only labels the login.
 #
+# ┌─ BLOCKER, MEASURED ON PR #81 (run 325): THIS RUNNER CANNOT BUILD IMAGES YET ───────────────┐
+# │ The job container gets no Docker daemon. act_runner 0.2.11 forces container.docker_host to  │
+# │ "-" whenever DOCKER_HOST is tcp:// (internal/app/cmd/daemon.go), and with valid_volumes: []  │
+# │ gitea/act strips every bind including the socket (pkg/container/docker_run.go             │
+# │ sanitizeConfig). So this job fails at its first check, loudly, until the operator chooses   │
+# │ how workflow code may reach a daemon — see decisions/2026-10-29-image-pipeline.md. It is    │
+# │ not a required check, so it does not block merges; it is red, which is the honest state.   │
+# └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
+#
 # THE RUNNER (apps/wave-1/gitea-actions.yaml): act_runner 0.2.11, one job at a time, Docker
 # executor on a privileged `docker:27-dind` sidecar whose image store is an emptyDir on the node
 # (no sizeLimit) and whose memory limit is 2Gi — shared by the job container AND every build
diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/scripts/images.sh b/.gitea/workflows/scripts/images.sh
index 2d83fb4..a36a950 100755
--- a/.gitea/workflows/scripts/images.sh
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/scripts/images.sh
@@ -200,8 +200,13 @@ push_one() { # <image> -> sets DIGEST[image] to the registry-returned digest
 log "image pipeline: MODE=${MODE} IMAGES=${IMAGES} HEAD=${HEAD_SHA}"
 command -v "${ENGINE}" >/dev/null || die "${ENGINE} is not on PATH in the job container"
 "${ENGINE}" info >/dev/null 2>&1 \
-  || die "the ${ENGINE} daemon is not reachable from the job container — the runner did not
-       hand it a Docker socket (act_runner container.docker_host). Nothing can be built."
+  || die "the ${ENGINE} daemon is not reachable from the job container, so nothing can be built.
+       MEASURED ON THIS RUNNER (PR #81, 2026-10-29): act_runner 0.2.11 never gives a job a
+       daemon. Its DOCKER_HOST is tcp:// (the DinD sidecar), and internal/app/cmd/daemon.go then
+       forces container.docker_host to '-' (\"can't be mounted\"); separately, with
+       valid_volumes: [] gitea/act's sanitizeConfig drops EVERY bind, the socket included.
+       Fixing it means handing workflow code the privileged DinD daemon — an operator security
+       decision, set out in decisions/2026-10-29-image-pipeline.md. Not a fault in this script."
 "${ENGINE}" version 2>/dev/null | sed -n '1,12p' || true
 "${ENGINE}" system df || true
 
diff --git a/decisions/2026-10-29-image-pipeline.md b/decisions/2026-10-29-image-pipeline.md
index 7fa2979..32e5a68 100644
--- a/decisions/2026-10-29-image-pipeline.md
+++ b/decisions/2026-10-29-image-pipeline.md
@@ -83,6 +83,56 @@ both `build-image.sh` scripts said "publishing is an operator action".
   `infra/devcontainer/README.md`, and a new "How images are built" section in
   `.gitea/workflows/README.md`.
 
+### BLOCKER — the runner cannot build images, and fixing that is a security decision
+
+**Measured on this PR's own CI run (images run 325): the job failed in 6 s** with
+`failed to connect to the docker API at unix:///var/run/docker.sock ... no such file`. The job
+container is given **no Docker daemon at all**, for two independent reasons, both read from the
+exact versions deployed:
+
+- act_runner **v0.2.11** `internal/app/cmd/daemon.go`: when `DOCKER_HOST` has a scheme other than
+  `unix`/`npipe` — here `tcp://localhost:2376`, the DinD sidecar — it sets
+  `cfg.Container.DockerHost = "-"`, which means "never mount into job containers".
+- gitea/act **v0.261.2** (act_runner's `go.mod` replace) `pkg/container/docker_run.go`
+  `sanitizeConfig`: with `valid_volumes` empty (the runner has no config file, so the default
+  `[]`), `hostConfig.Binds = []string{}`. **Every** bind is dropped, the daemon socket included,
+  and so is any `volumes:` a workflow asks for.
+
+I assumed the opposite while designing (from act's `getDockerDaemonSocketMountPath`, which never
+gets the chance to run). That was wrong, and the PR run is what showed it.
+
+**Why I did not fix it in this PR.** Any fix gives workflow code the DinD daemon. That daemon is
+`privileged: true`, so `docker run --privileged -v /:/host` from a job is **root on the node**.
+Today a malicious workflow — for example one pushed by a prompt-injected pm-agent worker, which
+holds a repo write token — runs in an unprivileged container and holds no cluster credential.
+After the fix it does not. That is a change to the security boundary, and it is the operator's
+call. It also cannot be tested from a PR anyway: the runner only changes after merge + Flux.
+
+**Options, for the operator:**
+
+1. **Socket to every job (smallest change):** in `apps/wave-1/gitea-actions.yaml`,
+   - mount a shared `emptyDir` at `/var/run` in both the `dind` sidecar and the `runner`, so
+     dockerd's own `unix:///var/run/docker.sock` is visible at the same path in both;
+   - set the runner's `DOCKER_HOST=unix:///var/run/docker.sock`, and drop `DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY`
+     and `DOCKER_CERT_PATH`, because TLS over a unix socket breaks the client;
+   - add an act_runner config file (`CONFIG_FILE`) with `container.valid_volumes:
+     ["/var/run/docker.sock"]` and `runner.file: /data/.runner`, so the existing registration
+     is kept.
+
+   Consequence: any workflow on any branch can reach node root.
+2. **Option 1 on a SECOND runner** with its own label (e.g. `image-builder`) and its own DinD,
+   with `images.yaml` `runs-on` that label. The gate runner stays socket-less, and image builds
+   stop competing with the gate for the single slot and its 7 GB node disk. **It is not a
+   security boundary**: Gitea cannot restrict which workflow may target a label, so any branch
+   could still `runs-on: image-builder`.
+3. **A builder that is not a privileged daemon**, e.g. a rootless BuildKit sidecar exposed to
+   jobs. That bounds a job to BuildKit's rootless sandbox instead of node root. It needs the
+   verification steps rewritten, because they *run* the image (as uid 65532, `--read-only`),
+   which BuildKit alone does not do. This is a larger piece of work.
+
+Nothing in this PR has to change for options 1 or 2 except `runs-on` for option 2. The driver
+already produced verified images with a stock docker 27 CLI (see *What I verified*).
+
 ### Decisions and pushback
 
 - **The push credential is a PAT secret, `REGISTRY_PUSH_TOKEN`; the Actions token cannot push.**
@@ -156,6 +206,14 @@ both `build-image.sh` scripts said "publishing is an operator action".
   - agent-runner: `PM_SELFTEST=1 pm-dispatch` OK, and the stdin-fed `probe-validation.sh`
     gave "20 refusal(s), 0 failure(s)";
   - conformance-runner: all seven `conformance-clone` refusals.
+- **The docker-CLI code path**, i.e. what CI runs. I ran the same driver inside
+  `docker:27-cli` (`ENGINE=docker`, `DOCKER_BUILDKIT=0`) against podman's Docker-compatible API
+  socket. Exit code 0; all three images built and verified (selftest OK; probe OK, 20 refusals).
+  This covers the docker-specific calls (`image inspect` formats, `run -i` with stdin,
+  `--tmpfs`, `--read-only`, `--user`). It does **not** cover BuildKit or a real DinD daemon.
+- **This PR's CI, run 325 (`images`): FAILED in 6 s**, because there is no Docker daemon in the
+  job container (see BLOCKER). Gate run 324 failed only on `approval-policy` (expected,
+  sensitive paths). Every other stage passed there, including `gitea-settings`.
 - **Other driver paths, run locally:**
   - agent-runner alone builds the toolbox as its base;
   - an empty diff builds nothing;
@@ -198,13 +256,16 @@ both `build-image.sh` scripts said "publishing is an operator action".
   finalising a blob: copying the upload into package storage on Longhorn. A ~250 MB compressed
   layer should finish well inside 15 s, but I could not measure it without pushing. If the first
   publish shows 504s on blob PUTs, set `timeouts.request` on the gitea HTTPRoute.
-- **DinD fit is estimated, not measured** (until the PR run reports):
+- **DinD fit is estimated, not measured** (no build has run there, see the BLOCKER):
   - memory: 2Gi is shared by the job container and every build container;
   - disk: the toolbox, agent-runner, conformance-runner, Fedora base and build cache should
     total roughly 3 GB on top of the 1.5 GB act image, against 7 GB free on the node, with
     `dind-storage` having no sizeLimit.
-- **That act_runner hands the job container a Docker socket is inferred** from act_runner's
-  DOCKER_HOST handling, not measured. The driver fails loudly if it does not.
+- **No image has been built in this runner's DinD**, because it cannot be done until the BLOCKER
+  is resolved. Two things are therefore unmeasured until then:
+  - DinD memory (2Gi) and disk fit;
+  - BuildKit (`buildx` v0.20.1 is on the daemon) as opposed to the legacy builder I tested
+    with.
 - **Renovate has still never completed a run here.** Three things block it:
   - #80, the `configurationFile` name;
   - `RENOVATE_TOKEN` gaining `read:package`;