chore(pm-agent): turn PM_DRY_RUN off (operator-approved), bump config-generation to 4

The run-383 worker image (df36d9b, pinned in #96) bakes imagePullSecrets: pm-agent-registry,
which admission requires, and the dispatcher's dry-run triage of #97 was read and approved.
PM_REQUIRE_LABEL=agent and the worker caps are unchanged. The dry-run status text in the
configmap comments, the README and the plan's follow-up 3 is updated to match.

Pre-flight (read-only, k3s-prod): pm-agent-job-shape Ready+Enforce; SA/Role/RoleBinding
present and can-i create jobs = yes; pm-agent-registry and pm-agent-credentials exist; both
egress CNPs Valid.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <[email protected]>

decisions/2026-10-06-pm-agent-registry-pull-secret.md

@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+---
+date: 2026-10-06
+branch: feat/pm-agent-registry-pull-secret
+title: The kubelet's pull credential — the second half of making agent-runner pullable, and the seventh field the admission policy had not read
+---
+
+## What changed
+
+The registry had two blockers. The first — the nodes resolving the registry hostname to the
+non-hairpinned WAN and failing TLS against the router's `CN=%D` certificate — was diagnosed
+and fixed by an `/etc/hosts` pin, merged in #59 and applied by the operator. This is the
+second: **the pull is unauthenticated, and this registry refuses unauthenticated clients
+outright.**
+
+`pm-agent-registry` is a new `kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson` Secret, SOPS-encrypted with
+placeholder values, referenced by `imagePullSecrets` on both the dispatcher Deployment and
+the committed worker Job template. It is a **second Secret holding the same Gitea token** as
+`pm-agent-credentials`, because the two consumers need two formats: the application reads a
+raw token from env, the kubelet reads a dockerconfigjson before any container starts. That
+duplication is the established pattern here (the Keycloak client secret is mirrored the same
+way, for the same reason) and it is documented in both `.example` files.
+
+The operator's part is the value, and one scope: the Gitea token must now carry
+**`read:package`** alongside `write:repository` and `write:issue`. Steps are in
+`platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example`, including the trap that
+`.dockerconfigjson`'s registry key must be the bare host as the image reference spells it —
+with a scheme or a port it matches nothing, the kubelet pulls anonymously, and the failure is
+indistinguishable from the Secret being absent.
+
+**The admission policy gained a seventh rule.** `imagePullSecrets` is a pod-spec field that
+no container references, which is exactly why it is easy to leave unread — the same shape of
+omission as `initContainers`, `ephemeralContainers`, `env` and `envFrom` before it. The
+kubelet reads the named Secret, in this namespace, before anything runs. Rule 1's pattern now
+REQUIRES the committed entry and rule 7 forbids any other or any second one; both halves are
+needed because a `foreach` over an absent list yields no result.
+
+The leverage is small and worth saying so: the image is digest-pinned, so a different pull
+credential cannot change *what* runs, and the only Secrets in this namespace are the agent's
+own. It is pinned anyway, because "only the committed shape" is this policy's whole premise
+and the rule costs four lines.
+
+## What I verified
+
+- **`kyverno test platform/kyverno/tests/pm-agent` → 33 passed, 0 failed** under the pinned
+  CLI (was 28 before this change). Three new fixtures, each a real path rather than a style
+  violation: `extra-pull-secret` (the committed entry PLUS a second one — rule 1's array
+  pattern is satisfied by the first element, which is why the count is asserted separately),
+  `wrong-pull-secret` (a different Secret in this namespace), and `no-pull-secret` (absent
+  entirely, refused by rule 1's pattern because rule 7's foreach cannot see it).
+- **`PM_SELFTEST=1 pm-dispatch` → exit 0**, now also asserting that the committed Job
+  template names exactly `pm-agent-registry` — so the template and the policy cannot drift
+  apart without the image build failing.
+- **`./ci/gate.sh` in the pinned toolbox, from a §0 worktree → exit 3 (UNDETERMINED)**, with
+  `gitea-settings` the only stage that did not run (no `SETTINGS_API_TOKEN` on this
+  workstation). Every other stage green, `spec-immutability` included. rc 3 is not a pass.
+- **The gate caught me shipping the Secret in plaintext.** I wrote the placeholder
+  `pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml` and never ran `sops -e -i` on it. `no-plaintext-secrets`
+  refused it with both halves named — "has no top-level `sops:` block with a mac" and
+  "Secret value '.dockerconfigjson' is not SOPS ciphertext" — which is exactly the check
+  earning its place: the file looked finished, and the value was a placeholder, so nothing
+  about reading the diff would have made it obvious. Encrypted, and the stage is green.
+- **The registry really does refuse anonymous clients**, measured before building this
+  (2026-10-05): the anonymous registry token's `access` claim is `null`, every `/v2/…`
+  path answers 401 whether it exists or not, and `/api/v1/packages/Home-Network` replies
+  `{"message":"token is required"}`. That is why this is a credential and not a posture
+  tweak.
+
+## What I did NOT verify
+
+- **That the pull now works.** Nothing has been pushed to that registry and the committed
+  digest is still the all-zero placeholder, so neither half of the registry fix has been
+  exercised end to end. The first real pull is what proves both at once — and if it fails, the
+  error names which half: `x509 … not valid for any names` is the resolution pin, `401` /
+  `unauthorized` is this credential.
+- **That the `/etc/hosts` pin from #59 took effect.** The operator applied it; I could not
+  confirm the effect, because the dispatcher pod's retained events are all repeating
+  `BackOff` with no fresh `Pulling`, so the `x509` message still visible is the one from
+  before the play ran. Not evidence either way.
+- **Whether `read:package` is sufficient** for a pull from a Gitea package of this type. It is
+  the documented read scope for packages; nothing here has exercised it, because no package
+  exists yet.
+- **The dockerconfigjson placeholder is not a valid credential and is not meant to be.** Its
+  `auth` field is a `REPLACE-ME` string rather than base64, so a pull with it will fail at
+  authentication rather than be mistaken for working.
+- **Anything about runtime.** Unchanged from the previous entries: the image has never been
+  built or pushed, no dispatcher has authenticated to Gitea, no issue has been triaged, no
+  worker Job has ever been created, and the admission policy — live, `Enforce`, now seven
+  rules — has still never admitted or refused a real Job.
+
+**Addendum 2026-10-30 (rebased onto #81/#82/#83; see `decisions/2026-10-30-pm-agent-live.md`).**
+Three statements above are now out of date, and one was wrong when written:
+- *"Nothing has been pushed to that registry"* — no longer true. CI published agent-runner in
+  images run 340 (`sha-523cd9118f95` = `main`, digest `sha256:c4eba5b3…6eb42`), and this
+  branch now pins it.
+- *"That the `/etc/hosts` pin from #59 took effect"* — now measured: all three prod nodes
+  carry the line, resolve the name to `192.168.2.20`, and get `401` with `ssl_verify_result=0`
+  from `https://gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/v2/` (see the new entry).
+- *"Whether `read:package` is sufficient"* — the scope is necessary but not the whole answer:
+  org-package access is decided by account permission (team Packages unit, or org
+  visibility). Handled in the registry `.example`.
+- **Wrong when written:** the scope list. Gitea 1.24.3 puts `GET /api/v1/user` — the
+  dispatcher's first call — behind the `user` scope category, so a token with only
+  `write:repository`, `write:issue` and `read:package` CrashLoops the dispatcher on startup.
+  The token needs `read:user` too.

decisions/2026-10-30-pm-agent-live.md

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+---
+date: 2026-10-30
+branch: feat/pm-agent-registry-pull-secret
+title: PM agent — #61 rebased onto the CI image pipeline, first published digest pinned, and the remaining path to live audited
+---
+
+## What changed
+
+PR #61 (`feat/pm-agent-registry-pull-secret`, the kubelet pull credential and admission rule
+7) was rebased onto `origin/main` after #81 (CI image pipeline), #82 and #83. Conflicts in
+`docs/plans/pm-agent-issue-to-pr.md`, `platform/pm-agent/README.md` and
+`runbooks/pm-agent.md` were resolved keeping both sides: #61's "pull credential now wired"
+and #81's "CI publishes, Renovate bumps". No manual build-and-push text came back.
+
+On top of the rebase, as a second commit:
+
+- **The first published digest is pinned**: `deployment.yaml` and `PM_WORKER_IMAGE` in
+  `configmap.yaml` now name
+  `gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:c4eba5b3c508bf456a03391ac76f8275e7ea28a829da1450d99f6f6f25c6eb42`
+  (images run 340, tag `sha-523cd9118f95`, which is also `main`). The `# renovate-digest:`
+  markers are unchanged and still sit on the line directly above each value, so later bumps
+  stay Renovate's. Pinning by hand once removes the dependency on Renovate's first-ever run.
+- **The first run is dry, and scoped to a label**: `PM_DRY_RUN: "true"`,
+  `PM_REQUIRE_LABEL: "agent"` (the plan's follow-up 3); `config-generation` bumped to `2`.
+  Dry run is also a *correctness* requirement, not only caution: the pinned digest was
+  built before this PR added `imagePullSecrets` to the worker Job template, which is baked
+  into the image. Admission now requires that entry, so a worker Job built from the run-340
+  image would be denied. Merging this PR touches `infra/agent/**`, so `images.yaml`
+  re-publishes agent-runner; Renovate's bump to that digest is what makes workers
+  admissible. Only then flip `PM_DRY_RUN` to `false`.
+- **The token scope list was wrong; it is fixed.** Gitea 1.24.3's `routers/api/v1/api.go`
+  closes the `/user` route group with `tokenRequiresScopes(AccessTokenScopeCategoryUser)`,
+  and the dispatcher's first call is `GET /user`. The documented scopes are now
+  `read:user`, `write:repository`, `write:issue`, `read:package` everywhere (both
+  `.example`s, README, runbook row).
+- **Org-package permission is documented separately from the scope.** Per
+  `services/context/package.go` `determineAccessMode` (v1.24.3), a non-admin's access to an
+  org-owned package is the highest Packages-unit mode across its org teams, else read if the
+  org is visible to it. Home-Network is `public`, so it works today by visibility alone; the
+  registry `.example` now has the operator create a `pm-agent-pull` team (no repositories,
+  Packages = Read) so it does not depend on that.
+- **`sops` is toolbox-only**: both `.example`s now say so and give the in-place
+  `./infra/devcontainer/dev.sh run sops <file>` edit (the same procedure
+  `runbooks/vpn-remote-access.md` documents), which writes no plaintext file.
+- The runbook's Secret-key check used `-o jsonpath='{.data}'`, which prints values before the
+  pipe trims them; it is now a `go-template` that emits key names only. Two new runbook
+  rows: the `read:user` 403, and the admission denial from a pre-#61 digest.
+
+## What I verified
+
+- **Registry digest**, read-only from the registry API (bearer token from `/v2/token`,
+  `HEAD /v2/home-network/agent-runner/manifests/<tag>` with OCI and Docker accept headers):
+  `main` and `sha-523cd9118f95` both answer `200`,
+  `Docker-Content-Digest: sha256:c4eba5b3…6eb42`, `application/vnd.oci.image.manifest.v1+json`.
+  Tags list: `[main, sha-523cd9118f95]`. The admission pattern
+  `gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:*` matches the pinned value.
+- **#81's claim that the template's digest needs no tracking holds**: `pm-dispatch.build_job`
+  sets `containers[0].image = cfg.worker_image` (from `PM_WORKER_IMAGE`) on every Job.
+  Renovate's `renovate-digest` custom manager only matches `platform/pm-agent/*.yaml` and
+  `versions.env`, so the template is not touched by it.
+- **Node path to the registry, read-only over SSH, all three prod nodes**: `/etc/hosts` line 9
+  is `192.168.2.20 keycloak.home.keithjackson.dev gitea.home.keithjackson.dev`, nsswitch is
+  `hosts: files dns`, and `curl https://gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/v2/` from the node answers
+  `401` with `ssl_verify_result=0` and `remote_ip=192.168.2.20`. That is the host resolver,
+  which is what containerd (a node process) uses; a pod's view would not have shown it.
+- **Network path from the namespace**: dispatcher and worker both use
+  `PM_GITEA_URL=http://gitea.gitea.svc.cluster.local:3000` (ConfigMap, Job template, and
+  `pm-worker`'s hard allowlist, which refuses anything else); the git remote and the API base
+  are both derived from it. So nothing goes through the Gateway and #83's
+  `toEndpoints`-through-Gateway issue does not apply. Egress: `toEndpoints` gitea pods `:3000`
+  (both CNPs), `kube-apiserver` (dispatcher only), `world:443` (the model). Ingress on the
+  Gitea side: `gitea-allow-pm-agent-ingress` exists live and is `VALID True`.
+- **Live state (read-only, `--context k3s-prod`)**: namespace `pm-agent` exists; Deployment
+  `0/1`, pod `ImagePullBackOff` for 24d on the all-zero digest; Secret `pm-agent-credentials`
+  (2 keys) exists, `pm-agent-registry` does not yet (it ships in this PR); Flux Kustomization
+  `pm-agent` Ready at `main@dfc432c`; ClusterPolicy `pm-agent-job-shape` Ready.
+- **Gitea state (read-only API)**: 1.24.3; org Home-Network `public`; no user `pm-agent`
+  exists; teams are `Owners` and `registry-push`; collaborators are `jakman85` (owner) and
+  `renovate-bot` (write); the repository has **no labels** and **no open issues**.
+- **Placeholders, without decrypting**: the registry ciphertext decodes to 155 bytes, exactly
+  the length of the `.example`'s placeholder JSON. The credentials values decode to 57 and 39
+  bytes — neither a 40-char Gitea token nor a ~100-char Claude OAuth token. Both files'
+  `lastmodified` is the commit that created them as placeholders.
+- `kyverno test`, `PM_SELFTEST=1 pm-dispatch` and the gate: numbers in the PR description and
+  the final handoff report for this run.
+
+## What I did NOT verify
+
+- **Any authenticated pull, poll or worker.** No `pm-agent` account or token exists, so the
+  scope set has not been exercised end to end. The `read:user` requirement is read from
+  Gitea's v1.24.3 source, not from a live 403.
+- **That the credentials ciphertext is a placeholder.** Lengths are strong evidence, not
+  proof; I did not decrypt.
+- **That Renovate will open the post-merge bump.** Its token was being re-minted at the time
+  of writing and it has never completed a run here. Renovate's `kubernetes` manager also
+  scans `infra/agent/*.yaml` and `platform/**`; what it does with a digest-only reference
+  with no tag (the template) is unmeasured.
+- **The dispatcher's `claude --print` call to `api.anthropic.com`** through `world:443`, and
+  whether the run-340 image's dispatcher behaves as this tree's code does (it predates #61's
+  selftest line, nothing else in `pm-dispatch.py`).
+- **The admission policy against a real Job.** Still never admitted or refused one live.

decisions/2026-10-31-pm-agent-go-live.md

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+---
+date: 2026-10-31
+branch: chore/pm-agent-go-live
+title: Take pm-agent out of dry run (operator-approved); label scope and worker caps unchanged
+---
+
+## What changed
+
+- `platform/pm-agent/configmap.yaml`: `PM_DRY_RUN` `"true"` -> `"false"`. The operator approved
+  this after reading the dry-run triage of issue #97. `PM_REQUIRE_LABEL: agent`,
+  `PM_MAX_ACTIVE_WORKERS: 2`, `PM_MAX_NEW_WORKERS_PER_CYCLE: 1`, the worker image digest and every
+  other knob are unchanged. The two comments that said dry run was the only mode that worked
+  (because the run-340 digest lacked `imagePullSecrets`) now describe the run-383 digest that
+  PR #96 pinned.
+- `platform/pm-agent/deployment.yaml`: `config-generation` `"3"` -> `"4"`. Without the bump the
+  dispatcher keeps its startup config and stays in dry run.
+- `platform/pm-agent/README.md` and `docs/plans/pm-agent-issue-to-pr.md` (follow-up 3): the
+  "currently dry run" status text now says dry run is off. `runbooks/pm-agent.md` is unchanged.
+  Its "stop it: set `PM_DRY_RUN: "true"`" step and its admission-refusal troubleshooting row
+  are still accurate.
+
+## What I verified
+
+Read-only, `kubectl --context k3s-prod` through the toolbox, 2026-10-31 ~11:45 local, with Flux
+`pm-agent` and `platform-config` both at `main@1126740`:
+
+- ClusterPolicy `pm-agent-job-shape`: `Ready=True`, `validationFailureAction=Enforce`,
+  `background=false`. It has seven rules, including `worker-pull-secret-must-be-the-committed-one`.
+- RBAC: ServiceAccounts `pm-agent` and `pm-agent-worker`, Role `pm-agent` and RoleBinding
+  `pm-agent` (roleRef `pm-agent`, subject `ServiceAccount/pm-agent`) all exist. `auth can-i`
+  as `system:serviceaccount:pm-agent:pm-agent` returned `yes` for `create jobs.batch` and `no`
+  for `delete jobs.batch`.
+- Secrets (key names only): `pm-agent-registry` is `kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson` with key
+  `.dockerconfigjson`. `pm-agent-credentials` is `Opaque` with keys `claude-code-oauth-token`
+  and `gitea-token`.
+- Egress: `default-deny` NetworkPolicy exists. CiliumNetworkPolicies `pm-agent-allow-egress`
+  and `pm-agent-worker-allow-egress` both report `Valid=True`.
+- Deployment `pm-agent` is 1/1 on `agent-runner@sha256:df36d9b7…` with
+  `config-generation: "3"` live. No Jobs exist in the namespace.
+- `platform/pm-agent/{configmap,deployment}.yaml`, README and docs do not match any
+  `sensitive_paths` glob in `infra/gitea/approval-policy.json`, so no review or override applies.
+
+## What I did NOT verify
+
+- **That a real worker Job is admitted and completes.** Nothing can show this until a labelled
+  issue gets a `start` decision after the merge. The L0 Kyverno suite shows the policy accepts
+  the committed template. Whether the API server admits the Job built from the df36d9b image's
+  baked template has not been tested live.
+- That the worker pod can pull its image with `pm-agent-registry`, reach Gitea and the model
+  through its egress policy, and push a branch and open a PR. None of this has run before.
+- The pod list also shows a stale `pm-agent-65db599649-v678g` (25d, `ContainerStatusUnknown`,
+  from an old ReplicaSet). It does not block anything, but I did not investigate it. Clearing
+  it is an operator action.
+- CI: see the PR for the gate result. Locally the best possible result is rc 3, with only
+  `gitea-settings` not run.

decisions/2026-10-31-pm-agent-runner-digest.md

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+---
+date: 2026-10-31
+branch: chore/pm-agent-runner-digest
+title: Bump pm-agent to the run-383 agent-runner digest by hand; Renovate saw it but the schedule withheld it
+---
+
+## What changed
+
+`platform/pm-agent/deployment.yaml` (the dispatcher `image:`) and `platform/pm-agent/configmap.yaml`
+(`PM_WORKER_IMAGE`) move:
+
+- from `agent-runner@sha256:c4eba5b3c508bf456a03391ac76f8275e7ea28a829da1450d99f6f6f25c6eb42`, the
+  run-340 publish;
+- to `agent-runner@sha256:df36d9b7fef56d141220a387f64fb864cede8e5af30513ebfeb3ab566d3f771d`, the
+  images run 383 publish of ddd04d4.
+
+Both `# renovate-digest:` markers are unchanged, directly above their values.
+
+`pm-agent.homelab.keithjackson.dev/config-generation` goes `"2"` → `"3"`. That is the convention in
+`deployment.yaml`'s own comment: "bump it in the same commit as a change to configmap.yaml". The
+image change alone would roll the pod, but the convention is followed regardless.
+
+No `*.sops.yaml` file is touched. Branched from 06d4a9a, which already contains the operator's #95.
+
+### Why Renovate did not do this: the schedule, not a config defect
+
+- **Run 385** (dispatch, 2026-10-31 16:14 UTC, on ddd04d4) was a **real** run. It logged
+  `Deleting orphan branch (… renovate/pin-dependencies)`, not a `DRY-RUN:` line. It ran at **12:14
+  America/New_York**, outside `"schedule": ["after 3am and before 6am"]`, so it created and updated
+  no branch.
+- **The lookup DID see the new digest.** Dependency Dashboard issue #91 lists, under **"Awaiting
+  Schedule"**:
+  `chore(deps): Update gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner:main Docker digest to df36d9b`.
+- **Nothing else blocked it.** There are no open Renovate PRs and no `renovate/*` branch on Gitea
+  (111 branches listed across all pages). The previous agent-runner PR, #90 (to c4eba5b), was
+  auto-merged by renovate-bot at 08:22 on 10-31. No PR limit was hit, and digests are not
+  dashboard-approval gated.
+- **The registry, read-only, with Docker/OCI `Accept` headers:**
+  - `HEAD …/agent-runner/manifests/main` → `docker-content-digest: sha256:df36d9b7…771d`
+  - `HEAD …/agent-runner/manifests/sha-ddd04d460ef6` → the same digest.
+
+**Without this PR** the next scheduled run (08:15 UTC, 04:15 EDT) would open it, and it would
+auto-merge as a `digest` update. Ticking that "Awaiting Schedule" checkbox on #91 makes the next
+run of any kind create it out of schedule.
+
+### Found on the way: Renovate's labels have never been applied
+
+- The repo has exactly one label, `agent`. The org has none.
+- Every Renovate PR so far (#89, #90, #92, #93) was created with `"labels": []`.
+- On Gitea, Renovate drops a label that does not exist in the repo. So `needs-review`,
+  `blast-radius`, `range-widen`, `own-image`, `dependencies`, `automated-update`, `breaking` and
+  `ci-tooling` are never attached.
+- The **automerge flags still work.** Only the labels, the visible review signal, are missing.
+- **Operator fix:** create those labels on the repo. This was not changed here.
+
+## What I verified
+
+- **The new image carries the fix.** I fetched both images' layers read-only from the registry and
+  read `/etc/pm-agent/worker-job-template.yaml` from each (`infra/agent/Containerfile:116` copies
+  it there):
+  - df36d9b's has `imagePullSecrets:` / `- name: pm-agent-registry`;
+  - c4eba5b's has no `imagePullSecrets` at all.
+
+  This matches `infra/agent/worker-job-template.yaml:76-77` at ddd04d4.
+- **`main` = `sha-ddd04d460ef6` = df36d9b**, both measured.
+- **No other file references c4eba5b.** No admission policy pins it.
+- **No override is needed.** `infra/gitea/approval-policy.json` lists only `platform/kyverno/**`
+  under `platform/`, so `platform/pm-agent/**` is not sensitive.
+- I read the whole job logs of runs 362, 367 and 385.
+
+## What I did NOT verify
+
+- **That the rolled dispatcher starts on df36d9b and that a worker Job is admitted.** That needs
+  Flux to apply this and a real dispatch. Both are operator actions.
+- **That the `pm-agent-registry` Secret exists and decrypts in-cluster** (#95's sops file). I did not
+  read it.
+- **That Renovate will treat this hand bump as current.** It should: its next lookup finds
+  `main` == the pinned digest, so it proposes nothing and drops the dashboard entry. Not observed.

docs/plans/pm-agent-issue-to-pr.md

@@ -241,20 +241,25 @@ about runtime behaviour in this document is a design claim, not a measurement.
    `gitea.{{ k3s_base_domain }}` to the Gateway VIP in `node_baseline_hosts_pins`, the same
    pin the Keycloak issuer already carries, applied by
    `ansible-playbook playbooks/node-baseline.yml -e k3s_hosts=k3s_prod --tags hosts`;
-   (ii) the pull is still unauthenticated and no `imagePullSecret` exists in the tree — with
-   the credential decision now being local Gitea accounts with PATs, that means a
-   `dockerconfigjson` for an account whose token carries `read:package`. Only then does the
-   digest matter. **Superseded 2026-10-29:** the build-and-push is no longer an operator step.
-   `.gitea/workflows/images.yaml` builds and verifies the image on rootless BuildKit
-   (`platform/buildkit/`), publishes it on a push to `main`, and Renovate opens the one
-   PR that replaces both placeholder digests (`decisions/2026-10-29-image-pipeline.md`). The
-   same two blockers sit in front of `conformance-runner`, which shares the registry path and
-   has never been pulled.
+   (ii) the pull must be authenticated — **now wired**: `pm-agent-registry`
+   (`dockerconfigjson`) is referenced by the Deployment and the committed worker Job
+   template, and the admission policy pins `imagePullSecrets` to exactly that name. The
+   operator supplies the value, from a Gitea token that also carries `read:package`. Only
+   then does the digest matter. **Superseded 2026-10-29:** the build-and-push is no longer
+   an operator step. `.gitea/workflows/images.yaml` builds and verifies the image on rootless
+   BuildKit (`platform/buildkit/`) and publishes it on a push to `main`
+   (`decisions/2026-10-29-image-pipeline.md`); the first published digest is pinned in
+   `deployment.yaml` and `configmap.yaml`, and Renovate carries every later bump through the
+   `# renovate-digest:` markers (`decisions/2026-10-30-pm-agent-live.md`). The same
+   credential blocker sits in front of `conformance-runner`, which shares the registry path
+   and has never been pulled.
 2. **Create the credentials** per `pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml.example`, and **verify the
    bot's permission is `write`, not `admin`** — that measurement is the control that keeps
    the agent out of its own approval gate.
 3. **First run with `PM_DRY_RUN=true` and `PM_REQUIRE_LABEL=agent`**, on one issue written
-   for the purpose. Read what the PM says before letting it write anything.
+   for the purpose. Read what the PM says before letting it write anything. *Done:* dry-run
+   triage of issue #97 read; `PM_DRY_RUN=false` on 2026-10-31
+   (`decisions/2026-10-31-pm-agent-go-live.md`), `PM_REQUIRE_LABEL=agent` kept.
 4. **Tighten the admission image pin** from the `@sha256:*` wildcard to the literal digest.
    One line, reviewed.
 5. **Narrow `world:443` to `toFQDNs: api.anthropic.com`** — after verifying Cilium's DNS

infra/agent/pm-dispatch.py

@@ -922,6 +922,8 @@ def selftest_template(path: str) -> None:
     assert pod.get("automountServiceAccountToken") is False, \
         "template must not mount a ServiceAccount token"
     assert pod.get("restartPolicy") == "Never", "a retried agent would double-push"
+    assert [x.get("name") for x in pod.get("imagePullSecrets") or []] == ["pm-agent-registry"], \
+        "the template must name exactly the committed pull secret (admission pins it)"
     assert len(pod.get("containers") or []) == 1, "exactly one container"
     c = pod["containers"][0]
     assert c.get("command") == ["/usr/local/bin/pm-worker"], "command must be the pinned entrypoint"

infra/agent/worker-job-template.yaml

@@ -68,6 +68,13 @@ spec:
       # guarantee it cannot use one is for it not to have one.
       automountServiceAccountToken: false
       serviceAccountName: pm-agent-worker
+      # The kubelet's pull credential, the same one the dispatcher uses. Pinned by the
+      # admission policy to exactly this name: `imagePullSecrets` is a pod-spec field, so a
+      # Job could otherwise name any Secret in the namespace and have the kubelet read it
+      # before a container ever starts. The image is digest-pinned, so the leverage is small
+      # — but "only the committed shape" is the rule this template exists to express.
+      imagePullSecrets:
+        - name: pm-agent-registry
       securityContext:
         runAsNonRoot: true
         runAsUser: 65532

platform/kyverno/admission/pm-agent-job-shape.yaml

@@ -111,6 +111,12 @@ spec:
                 =(hostNetwork): "false"
                 =(hostPID): "false"
                 =(hostIPC): "false"
+                # The kubelet reads this Secret BEFORE any container starts, so it is part
+                # of the shape even though no container references it. A pattern on an array
+                # asserts "at least one element matches", which is enough to REQUIRE the
+                # committed entry; rule 7 is what forbids a second one.
+                imagePullSecrets:
+                  - name: pm-agent-registry
                 containers:
                   - image: "gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:*"
                     command:
@@ -336,6 +342,54 @@ spec:
     # dispatcher itself uses envFrom (it is a Deployment, not a Job, and not matched by this
     # policy); a worker must not.
     # =====================================================================================
+    # =====================================================================================
+    # Rule 7 — exactly one imagePullSecret, and it is the committed one.
+    #
+    # `imagePullSecrets` is a pod-spec field that no container references, which is precisely
+    # why it is easy to leave unread — the same shape of omission as `initContainers` and
+    # `env` before it. The kubelet reads the named Secret, in this namespace, before any
+    # container starts. A Job naming a different one would have the kubelet read a Secret the
+    # worker was never meant to touch.
+    #
+    # The leverage is genuinely small: the image is digest-pinned, so a different credential
+    # cannot change WHAT runs, and the only Secrets in this namespace are the agent's own.
+    # It is pinned anyway, because "only the committed shape" is the whole premise of this
+    # policy, and because the cost of the rule is four lines while the cost of rediscovering
+    # the omission is an incident.
+    #
+    # Rule 1's pattern REQUIRES the committed entry; this forbids any OTHER entry and any
+    # second entry. A foreach over an absent list yields no result, which is why both halves
+    # are needed.
+    # =====================================================================================
+    - name: worker-pull-secret-must-be-the-committed-one
+      match:
+        all:
+          - resources:
+              kinds:
+                - Job
+              namespaces:
+                - pm-agent
+            subjects:
+              - kind: ServiceAccount
+                name: pm-agent
+                namespace: pm-agent
+      validate:
+        message: >-
+          A worker Job may declare exactly ONE imagePullSecret, named `pm-agent-registry`.
+          The kubelet reads that Secret before any container starts, so naming another one
+          reaches a credential the worker was never meant to touch.
+        foreach:
+          - list: "request.object.spec.template.spec.imagePullSecrets"
+            deny:
+              conditions:
+                any:
+                  - key: "{{ length(request.object.spec.template.spec.imagePullSecrets) }}"
+                    operator: NotEquals
+                    value: 1
+                  - key: "{{ element.name }}"
+                    operator: AnyNotIn
+                    value: ["pm-agent-registry"]
+
     - name: worker-may-not-use-envfrom
       match:
         all:

platform/kyverno/tests/pm-agent/kyverno-test.yaml

@@ -56,6 +56,11 @@ results:
     kind: Job
     resources: [good-run, real-template]
     result: pass
+  - policy: pm-agent-job-shape
+    rule: worker-pull-secret-must-be-the-committed-one
+    kind: Job
+    resources: [good-run, real-template]
+    result: pass
 
   # ---------------- THE escalation, and the shape rule's other refusals ----------------
   # `evil-command` is the case the whole model exists for: right namespace, right creator,
@@ -73,6 +78,14 @@ results:
       - host-namespaces
       - restart-onfailure
       - second-container
+      - no-pull-secret
+    result: fail
+
+  # ---------------- the pull secret: a second one, or a different one ----------------
+  - policy: pm-agent-job-shape
+    rule: worker-pull-secret-must-be-the-committed-one
+    kind: Job
+    resources: [extra-pull-secret, wrong-pull-secret]
     result: fail
 
   # ---------------- args, and the second container ----------------

platform/kyverno/tests/pm-agent/resources.yaml

@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ spec:
       restartPolicy: Never
       automountServiceAccountToken: false
       serviceAccountName: pm-agent-worker
+      imagePullSecrets:
+        - name: pm-agent-registry
       securityContext:
         runAsNonRoot: true
         runAsUser: 65532
@@ -95,6 +97,8 @@ spec:
       restartPolicy: Never
       automountServiceAccountToken: false
       serviceAccountName: pm-agent-worker
+      imagePullSecrets:
+        - name: pm-agent-registry
       containers:
         - name: worker
           image: gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:aaaabbbbccccddddeeeeffff0000111122223333444455556666777788889999
@@ -492,3 +496,75 @@ spec:
             readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
           envFrom:
             - secretRef: { name: pm-agent-credentials }
+---
+# A SECOND pull secret beside the committed one. containers[0] is perfectly compliant, and
+# rule 1's array pattern is satisfied by the first element — which is why the count is
+# asserted separately.
+apiVersion: batch/v1
+kind: Job
+metadata:
+  name: extra-pull-secret
+  namespace: pm-agent
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      restartPolicy: Never
+      automountServiceAccountToken: false
+      serviceAccountName: pm-agent-worker
+      imagePullSecrets:
+        - name: pm-agent-registry
+        - name: pm-agent-credentials
+      containers:
+        - name: worker
+          image: gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:aaaabbbbccccddddeeeeffff0000111122223333444455556666777788889999
+          command: ["/usr/local/bin/pm-worker"]
+          securityContext:
+            runAsNonRoot: true
+            allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
+            readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
+---
+# A DIFFERENT pull secret — the kubelet would read a Secret the worker was never meant to
+# touch, before any container starts.
+apiVersion: batch/v1
+kind: Job
+metadata:
+  name: wrong-pull-secret
+  namespace: pm-agent
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      restartPolicy: Never
+      automountServiceAccountToken: false
+      serviceAccountName: pm-agent-worker
+      imagePullSecrets:
+        - name: pm-agent-credentials
+      containers:
+        - name: worker
+          image: gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:aaaabbbbccccddddeeeeffff0000111122223333444455556666777788889999
+          command: ["/usr/local/bin/pm-worker"]
+          securityContext:
+            runAsNonRoot: true
+            allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
+            readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
+---
+# NO pull secret at all. Rule 7's foreach yields nothing over an absent list, so this is
+# rule 1's pattern to refuse — which is why the requirement lives in both.
+apiVersion: batch/v1
+kind: Job
+metadata:
+  name: no-pull-secret
+  namespace: pm-agent
+spec:
+  template:
+    spec:
+      restartPolicy: Never
+      automountServiceAccountToken: false
+      serviceAccountName: pm-agent-worker
+      containers:
+        - name: worker
+          image: gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:aaaabbbbccccddddeeeeffff0000111122223333444455556666777788889999
+          command: ["/usr/local/bin/pm-worker"]
+          securityContext:
+            runAsNonRoot: true
+            allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
+            readOnlyRootFilesystem: true

platform/pm-agent/README.md

@@ -46,15 +46,18 @@ waive the sensitive-path human review on its own pull request.
 Both are deliberate, and both fail **visibly** rather than silently:
 
 1. **The image is published by CI, not by a person.** `platform/pm-agent/deployment.yaml` and
-   `PM_WORKER_IMAGE` in `configmap.yaml` carry an all-zero digest placeholder until the first
-   publish. `.gitea/workflows/images.yaml` builds `agent-runner` on rootless BuildKit
+   `PM_WORKER_IMAGE` in `configmap.yaml` first carried the run-340 publish
+   (`sha-523cd9118f95`), whose baked template predated the `imagePullSecrets` entry admission
+   requires, so the service ran with `PM_DRY_RUN=true`. PR #96 pinned the run-383 digest
+   (`df36d9b`, `sha-ddd04d460ef6`), whose template carries the entry, and dry run was turned
+   off on 2026-10-31 (`decisions/2026-10-31-pm-agent-go-live.md`); every later bump is
+   Renovate's. `.gitea/workflows/images.yaml` builds `agent-runner` on rootless BuildKit
    (`platform/buildkit/`) — the same Containerfile, and the same `verify` stage, that
    `infra/agent/build-image.sh` builds locally — and on a push to `main` publishes it to
    `gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner` under `sha-<commit>` and `main`.
    Renovate then follows the `main` tag through the `# renovate-digest:` marker above **both**
    lines and moves them together in one pull request. Nobody builds-and-pushes this image from
-   a workstation, and nobody pastes a digest. Until the first publish, and until that PR
-   merges: `ImagePullBackOff`. The one operator prerequisite on the publishing side is the
+   a workstation. The one operator prerequisite on the publishing side is the
    `REGISTRY_PUSH_TOKEN` Actions secret (see the header of `.gitea/workflows/images.yaml`);
    without it the publish job fails loudly rather than skipping.
 
@@ -78,21 +81,36 @@ Both are deliberate, and both fail **visibly** rather than silently:
      inventory, never typed on a node. Apply it scoped to that one task:
      `cd infra/ansible && ansible-playbook playbooks/node-baseline.yml -e k3s_hosts=k3s_prod
      --tags hosts`.
-   - **The pull is still unauthenticated** once the node reaches the right endpoint. An
-     unauthenticated client gets nothing from this Gitea's registry, and there is no
-     `imagePullSecret` anywhere in the tree. Consistent with the agent credential decision
-     (local Gitea accounts with PATs), the fix is a `dockerconfigjson` for a local Gitea
-     account whose token carries `read:package`, referenced from the Deployment and the
-     committed worker Job template — not built yet, because minting that token is yours.
+   - **The pull must be authenticated** once the node reaches the right endpoint: an
+     unauthenticated client gets nothing from this registry. **Now wired** —
+     `pm-agent-registry` is a `dockerconfigjson` Secret referenced by both the Deployment and
+     the committed worker Job template, and the admission policy pins it to exactly that
+     name. What is left to you is the value: the Gitea token must carry **`read:package`** in
+     addition to `read:user`, `write:repository` and `write:issue`, and the dockerconfigjson is built from
+     it. Steps:
+     [`pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example`](./pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example).
 
    The same two apply to `conformance-runner`: same registry path, same publish-then-Renovate
    model, never pulled either.
-2. **The credentials are placeholders.** `pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml` is encrypted to the
-   repository's age recipient but holds `REPLACE-ME-…` strings. The hand-off —
-   which Gitea account to create, which scopes, and why it must *not* be an administrator —
-   is in [`pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml.example`](./pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml.example).
-   Until then the dispatcher CrashLoops with `GET /user returned no login — is GITEA_TOKEN
-   valid?`.
+2. **The credentials are placeholders — two Secrets, one token.** Both are encrypted to the
+   repository's age recipient and both hold `REPLACE-ME-…` strings:
+
+   | Secret | type | read by | hand-off |
+   |---|---|---|---|
+   | `pm-agent-credentials` | Opaque | the application, as env | [`.example`](./pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml.example) |
+   | `pm-agent-registry` | dockerconfigjson | the **kubelet**, before any container starts | [`.example`](./pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example) |
+
+   They hold the **same** Gitea token in two formats, because a Secret cannot be both — the
+   same one-value-in-two-files pattern the Keycloak client secret already uses here. So mint
+   it once, with all four scopes: `read:package` (the pull), `read:user` (the dispatcher's
+   startup `GET /user` — Gitea 1.24.3 scopes the whole `/user` group), `write:repository`
+   (clone, branch push, pull request) and `write:issue` (issue comments). The account also
+   needs package *permission*, not just the scope: a `pm-agent-pull` org team with Packages
+   = Read and no repositories (steps in the registry `.example`). The first `.example`
+   explains which account to create and why it must *not* be an administrator.
+
+   Until they are filled in: the pull fails `401`, and if you fix only the pull, the
+   dispatcher CrashLoops with `GET /user returned no login — is GITEA_TOKEN valid?`.
 
 Its Flux Kustomization is `wait: false` precisely because of those two states: a workload
 that is *expected* to be unhealthy for a while must never be able to gate anything.
@@ -155,13 +173,14 @@ Job from a committed template. **The model's output is data, never a command.**
 | **cannot** | clone from or push to anywhere but `gitea.gitea.svc.cluster.local:3000`: `pm-worker` validates `PM_GITEA_URL` against a one-entry allowlist baked into the image. In-cluster consumers reach a service by its cluster-local name — a different path by design from how a client outside the cluster reaches it — so the external hostname is not an accepted value |
 | **cannot** | authenticate a `git push` **during the model session**: `GIT_ASKPASS` is unset for its duration, so the restriction is structural rather than a request in a prompt |
 | **cannot** | be created in any shape but the committed one — see the admission policy |
+| **cannot** | have the kubelet read any Secret but `pm-agent-registry` on its behalf: `imagePullSecrets` is pinned to exactly that one name |
 
 ### What is *not* defended, stated plainly
 
 - **The worker's own credentials are inside the model's reach.** The session runs as the same
   uid in the same container as the wrapper, so it can read the environment, including its
   `GITEA_TOKEN` and `CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN`. There is no isolation between them and none is
-  claimed. What bounds it: the Gitea token is scoped `write:repository, write:issue` on **one
+  claimed. What bounds it: the Gitea token is scoped `read:user, write:repository, write:issue, read:package` on **one
   repository** with no admin permission, and egress reaches only this Gitea and tcp/443.
 - **`world:443` is wider than `api.anthropic.com`.** Cilium can express the tighter rule
   (`toFQDNs`) but nothing in this repository uses FQDN policy and its prerequisite (Cilium's
@@ -200,14 +219,15 @@ Two things answer it, and neither is sufficient alone:
    `command` with no args, that powerless SA, no mounted token, `restartPolicy: Never`,
    non-root with no privilege escalation and a read-only root filesystem, only the
    `workspace`/`tmp` **emptyDir** volumes, no init or ephemeral containers, only the
-   committed env **names**, and no `envFrom`.
+   committed env **names**, no `envFrom`, and exactly one `imagePullSecret` — the committed
+   one.
 
-Six rules, because pinning `command` only moves the injection to whatever adjacent field
+Seven rules, because pinning `command` only moves the injection to whatever adjacent field
 nobody enumerated — on the sibling policy that was `initContainers` (measured: a Job with a
 compliant `containers[0]` and a privileged init container was **admitted**, pass 3 fail 0),
 then `ephemeralContainers`, then `env`, then `envFrom`. All of them are closed here from the
-start, and `platform/kyverno/tests/pm-agent/` proves each refusal offline: **28 assertions,
-28 passing** under the pinned `kyverno` CLI. The worker's own input guards have their own
+start, and `platform/kyverno/tests/pm-agent/` proves each refusal offline: **33 assertions,
+33 passing** under the pinned `kyverno` CLI. The worker's own input guards have their own
 offline probe — `infra/agent/probe-validation.sh`, **17 refusals** — because a guard nothing
 exercises is a claim rather than a control.
 

platform/pm-agent/configmap.yaml

@@ -51,15 +51,20 @@ data:
   # the dispatcher and its workers share the committed Job template and the env-name
   # contract. A tag here is refused at startup (and would be DENIED by admission anyway).
   #
-  # PLACEHOLDER UNTIL THE IMAGE IS PUBLISHED. The all-zero digest below is deliberately
-  # impossible. CI builds, verifies and — on main — publishes agent-runner
-  # (.gitea/workflows/images.yaml), and Renovate replaces this value with the digest the
-  # REGISTRY returned for the image's `main` tag, in a pull request that also moves the
-  # Deployment's image (same marker, same branch). Nobody pushes this image from a workstation.
-  # Until the first publish the dispatcher starts, fails to pull, and says so — which is the
-  # visible failure, not a silent one.
+  # THE FIRST PUBLISHED DIGEST. CI builds, verifies and — on main — publishes agent-runner
+  # (.gitea/workflows/images.yaml). This value is images run 340's publish (tag
+  # sha-523cd9118f95, which `main` pointed at), read from the registry on 2026-10-30. From here
+  # on Renovate replaces it with the digest the REGISTRY returns for the `main` tag, in a pull
+  # request that also moves the Deployment's image (same marker, same branch). Nobody pushes
+  # this image from a workstation.
+  #
+  # The run-340 digest predated the worker template's `imagePullSecrets` entry (PR #61), which
+  # admission REQUIRES, so its worker Jobs were DENIED. The digest below (df36d9b, run 383,
+  # agent-runner:sha-ddd04d460ef6, pinned in PR #96) bakes a template that carries
+  # `imagePullSecrets: pm-agent-registry`, which is what made turning PM_DRY_RUN off possible
+  # (decisions/2026-10-31-pm-agent-runner-digest.md). A digest older than that would be DENIED.
   # renovate-digest: image=gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner tag=main
-  PM_WORKER_IMAGE: "gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:c4eba5b3c508bf456a03391ac76f8275e7ea28a829da1450d99f6f6f25c6eb42"
+  PM_WORKER_IMAGE: "gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:df36d9b7fef56d141220a387f64fb864cede8e5af30513ebfeb3ab566d3f771d"
 
   # --- the model -------------------------------------------------------------
   # The PM only reads a thread and answers with one JSON object, so it holds no tools and
@@ -104,12 +109,21 @@ data:
   # work somebody deliberately handed it while trust is being established, with no code
   # change and no redeploy of anything but this ConfigMap. The operator's call; the default
   # here honours the request as made.
-  PM_REQUIRE_LABEL: ""
+  #
+  # SET TO `agent` FOR THE FIRST RUN (2026-10-30, docs/plans/pm-agent-issue-to-pr.md
+  # follow-up 3). The label does not exist in the repository yet: create it in Gitea
+  # (Issues -> Labels -> New Label, name `agent`) before labelling a test issue.
+  PM_REQUIRE_LABEL: "agent"
 
   # Dry run: the PM still reads threads, still asks the model and still posts its decision as
   # an issue comment — so the operator can read exactly what it WOULD have done — but creates
   # no worker Job and so changes no code. The honest way to watch this service for a day
   # before letting it write anything.
+  #
+  # "true" for the first run (2026-10-30 .. 2026-10-31); dry-run triage of issue #97 was read
+  # and the operator approved going live. "false" since decisions/2026-10-31-pm-agent-go-live.md.
+  # Setting it back to "true" (plus a config-generation bump) is the gentlest stop — see
+  # runbooks/pm-agent.md.
   PM_DRY_RUN: "false"
 
   # If the gate refuses a worker's change, the branch is NOT pushed by default and the issue

platform/pm-agent/deployment.yaml

@@ -48,9 +48,13 @@ spec:
         # It is a hand-maintained marker rather than a computed hash because Flux's
         # Kustomization here does not run a configmap generator; bump it in the same commit
         # as a change to configmap.yaml.
-        pm-agent.homelab.keithjackson.dev/config-generation: "1"
+        pm-agent.homelab.keithjackson.dev/config-generation: "4"
     spec:
       serviceAccountName: pm-agent
+      # The kubelet's credential for pulling this image. Not the agent's Gitea credential —
+      # see pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example for why they are two Secrets of one token.
+      imagePullSecrets:
+        - name: pm-agent-registry
       # The dispatcher DOES need its token: `kubectl create job` is its one privileged act,
       # and platform/pm-agent/rbac.yaml is what bounds it to that. Contrast the worker, whose
       # Job template sets this false because it needs no API access at all.
@@ -69,10 +73,12 @@ spec:
           # disagree about the shape the admission policy enforces. Replaced together, in ONE
           # Renovate pull request: both lines carry the same marker, so Renovate treats them as
           # one dependency and bumps them in the same branch. The digest comes from CI's publish
-          # of agent-runner's `main` tag (.gitea/workflows/images.yaml) — the all-zero
-          # placeholder below is impossible on purpose (see configmap.yaml PM_WORKER_IMAGE).
+          # of agent-runner's `main` tag (.gitea/workflows/images.yaml). The value below is the
+          # FIRST publish (images run 340, tag sha-523cd9118f95 = main at the time), read from
+          # the registry's manifest endpoint on 2026-10-30 and pinned by hand once so the
+          # dispatcher does not wait on Renovate's first run; every later bump is Renovate's.
           # renovate-digest: image=gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner tag=main
-          image: gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:c4eba5b3c508bf456a03391ac76f8275e7ea28a829da1450d99f6f6f25c6eb42
+          image: gitea.home.keithjackson.dev/home-network/agent-runner@sha256:df36d9b7fef56d141220a387f64fb864cede8e5af30513ebfeb3ab566d3f771d
           imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
           command:
             - /usr/local/bin/pm-dispatch

platform/pm-agent/kustomization.yaml

@@ -35,6 +35,12 @@ resources:
   # the distance between naming a file in a comment and listing it under `resources:` is one
   # careless edit.
   - pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml
+  # The KUBELET's pull credential for agent-runner — a separate Secret from the one above
+  # because it is a different consumer in a different format: dockerconfigjson, read before
+  # any container starts. Same underlying Gitea token, which must also carry `read:package`.
+  # Measured 2026-10-05: this registry refuses unauthenticated clients outright, so without
+  # this the pull 401s. Also placeholders until the operator fills it in.
+  - pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml
   - deployment.yaml
   # default-deny baseline + the two egress allow policies (gitea, kube-apiserver for the
   # dispatcher only, tcp/443 for the model). NO ingress allow exists, by design.

platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml

@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ metadata:
         app.kubernetes.io/part-of: pm-agent
 type: Opaque
 stringData:
-    gitea-token: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:Vs6TkiNocU+qzvlv8mndXhtiqp1RyY00KhIBDuL8w0WoX72B8DxfPK8eWISy9gtx9TBlYpu2FHP7,iv:2z8+gzWuZDFACb06rnYg071h4wO7YlcTFNZDQzDxRNs=,tag:cUhj+uQUwu44HpPtFTVjVA==,type:str]
-    claude-code-oauth-token: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:2PjA5MOx8Enm4wxqYdJ3QY8juqPkXh4adQv3IRtw1Nb2Dw6SkOFc,iv:ZSlefJZqCN7g17D+27VkkVYu8F1umM7JOG+f/crZtsE=,tag:QyNYIbHr+ANS0Rx4USa0Iw==,type:str]
+    gitea-token: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:nkQT4m0DYykNcEUPV+1A4APuraekHN+8tY74HnRIbwU8SwYbRRqfKQ==,iv:d6Lj4Q/ys381msrrRtIIYbV9Ey3Nhua4zmX/7aCMlSk=,tag:xKKmc1i9TRuUVc/C2P1zHg==,type:str]
+    claude-code-oauth-token: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:Z5elUXr2wiu1S3FvSsHPNfhyrh+dGAdBf4HEmvg+Ky3QuCDpLv/XcMG5wWNywYVR4jlx/z2rm2FjjRYo+8rG0+I3SzriKG2MD7Zri4bDUf+DFksa6pI2oGDmgTjp8Zjz8oGapaMurRnuYcMm,iv:tXADrr2PD1zTpmTuaCA224wzbsq2RKzx0/ylU2k6suE=,tag:DMh31sAj0E/8ndcP1M6zAw==,type:str]
 sops:
     kms: []
     gcp_kms: []
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ sops:
             V3d1UGVsTlljS3lHbFRkUWE4aVdRSDAK3vlChFXHg+jOJyjzUBZ4F4NqIn8rr5xl
             WAH9bgY14yvX8qm3P4iLeFecNssqUvs2hvDW82vhMfUQlqYpTTXyjQ==
             -----END AGE ENCRYPTED FILE-----
-    lastmodified: "2026-10-06T03:09:21Z"
-    mac: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:lKj3CtZ3fCvOwuJSeNb5x8dj+5O0Uhfyoir+ZfIGD52xgeTWtmQ6CmOVbtrYjp1h1dgZnWopbibfMIKE9AmjSAHA7UJOen++zcy4qrA8Yh8xGzfhb1tOJplxZP+Lp9319VYQHqXqOScs7at8Osnw2RYuibW/j6eIY0B17JzIXvo=,iv:14aKtsMd9Q6QqnWVszoi+W2+z4QPfXUd7oZfK46+gRM=,tag:NwBg43/vNeFlgHmNLB7rYw==,type:str]
+    lastmodified: "2026-10-31T16:07:12Z"
+    mac: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:rK1GR6FoIsh2Y6VSQSkLhGwf1U2kBrV3VYZT/5X+TxbkURza7DOTUyMJsY0oLKApvkTvOxLd3/WfzBNW/O6Tho1S4otvi4UC7fY6DjC46LmrfSlAxoRp7ov/oIRfwLBUanpNzfT94fu7sjoNM0lRlFp9iSpBU44upcIWwclK5WY=,iv:EujucxcPU+zfN9KmOhbqfVT5anv4g/jRg41hu5BgGx8=,tag:fViHjTT6w20b2AsXZodq0g==,type:str]
     pgp: []
     encrypted_regex: ^(data|stringData)$
     version: 3.9.4

platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml.example

@@ -60,11 +60,21 @@
 #     Keycloak service-account token therefore cannot authenticate to Gitea's API or to
 #     git-over-HTTP. Do not "upgrade" this to Keycloak without re-reading that.
 #
-#       Scopes: `write:repository` and `write:issue`. Nothing else — in particular NOT
-#       `write:admin`, NOT `write:organization`, NOT `write:user`.
+#       Scopes, exactly these four (one token serves both Secrets — see
+#       pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example):
+#         read:user         GET /user, the dispatcher's startup identity check. Gitea 1.24.3
+#                           puts the whole /api/v1/user group behind the `user` scope
+#                           category (routers/api/v1/api.go), so without it the dispatcher
+#                           CrashLoops on its first call even with an otherwise-valid token.
+#         write:repository  the clone, the branch push, the pull-request create, and the
+#                           dispatcher's reads of pulls/branches/commits.
+#         write:issue       reading open issues and posting issue comments.
+#         read:package      the kubelet's image pull (pm-agent-registry).
+#       Nothing else — in particular NOT `write:admin`, NOT `write:organization`, NOT
+#       `write:user`. (Until 2026-10-30 this list said two scopes; `read:user` was missing
+#       and `read:package` lived only in the registry template.)
 #
-#     `write:repository` covers the clone, the branch push and the pull-request create;
-#     `write:issue` covers reading and posting issue comments. (The repository's OTHER CI
+#     (The repository's OTHER CI
 #     token, `SETTINGS_API_TOKEN`, is a separate credential with `read:admin` — do not
 #     conflate them, and do not give this service that one. The 2026-10-02 measurement on
 #     PR #38 recorded in infra/gitea/approval-policy.json is about that token, not this one.)
@@ -94,6 +104,17 @@
 #
 # (4) COPY, FILL, ENCRYPT, COMMIT:
 #
+#     `sops` IS IN THE PINNED TOOLBOX, NOT ON THE HOST (measured 2026-10-30: absent from the
+#     workstation's PATH; sops 3.9.4 and vi in the toolbox). The simplest path needs no
+#     plaintext file at all — edit the committed, already-encrypted file in place, from a
+#     worktree, the way runbooks/vpn-remote-access.md does for its key:
+#
+#       ./infra/devcontainer/dev.sh run sops platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml
+#
+#     It opens vi on the decrypted document; replace the REPLACE-ME value(s), save, quit, and
+#     sops re-encrypts on write. If you take the cp route below instead, run the `sops -e -i`
+#     line through `./infra/devcontainer/dev.sh run` as well, and delete any plaintext temp file.
+#
 #       cp platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml.example \
 #          platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml
 #       $EDITOR platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml      # the two real values
@@ -120,7 +141,7 @@ metadata:
 type: Opaque
 stringData:
   # Gitea token for the dedicated, NON-ADMIN `pm-agent` account.
-  # Scopes: write:repository, write:issue.
+  # Scopes: read:user, write:repository, write:issue, read:package.
   gitea-token: REPLACE-ME-gitea-token
   # Output of `claude setup-token` on a subscription account. One year's validity.
   claude-code-oauth-token: REPLACE-ME-claude-code-oauth-token

platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# PLACEHOLDER VALUES — the kubelet cannot pull agent-runner until the operator replaces them.
+# Full hand-off steps: pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example (same directory).
+# SOPS-encrypted to the repository's age recipient; keys stay cleartext for reviewable diffs.
+#
+# This is the KUBELET's pull credential, not the agent's Gitea credential. The agent's is
+# pm-agent-credentials (Opaque, read as env by the application); this one is
+# dockerconfigjson and is read before any container starts. Same underlying Gitea token,
+# which must carry read:package as well as write:repository and write:issue.
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Secret
+metadata:
+    name: pm-agent-registry
+    namespace: pm-agent
+    labels:
+        app.kubernetes.io/name: pm-agent
+        app.kubernetes.io/part-of: pm-agent
+type: kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson
+stringData:
+    .dockerconfigjson: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:NuKobTM0S0TK8U961uNTIIYiyAI2L3QCopZXvKxXHLC2tjpdyV+REKzYPmv+orCMiRsY8GNtfaHb8Hret4sQWHySAAKN0sEtL+OkzLyRH+u7irAGFYUBf8q+vIb+hnhdwejHfL1UEaHovJlZuIjqOdSItqlxqXURGtvUtBlkD7cnzDajzLyW+QTp5Gs3Fc8ps4XxRkv/589bKpn0DIEQiXUujydBZzKVnO5unxMea+4IBwcC6yaeQ+fXCoILrKD3PP2Igz0=,iv:vrQqH4dIUwDLSZGe1JKnsajtvUb7lJe3st/9K+4/w0M=,tag:P9VLwOqnTfM1uQnbousYqQ==,type:str]
+sops:
+    kms: []
+    gcp_kms: []
+    azure_kv: []
+    hc_vault: []
+    age:
+        - recipient: age175l8mdpdfu7hq0aml3exs3gykarwjmuvr23sq56s3wjejnyk44wsp4mfzg
+          enc: |
+            -----BEGIN AGE ENCRYPTED FILE-----
+            YWdlLWVuY3J5cHRpb24ub3JnL3YxCi0+IFgyNTUxOSAvdG1lQm16V0tJdWZXRXlU
+            Z2R4RXVyTXd6VTVJUWtkbUVjZldnb1JFOWhVCjVMMDdDb3AwVkt3TzJzdjR0VnNs
+            SFlncWg2cWlFTy9IZ1YxSC9Zd3ZMaEkKLS0tIEZFQWhIMW5zMURWYmlXaFg1ZjhD
+            cG1Fb0V3VncrTm9SQ091a0J0Z3RURWMKpdzNVub0zH5S8nnCSCt2H6NcCqDbV24L
+            Mf8K2eIfu/ixn2NfwoVVj2QO+n+3/P6PLphdoiKMrL+ms0+JqWFpkQ==
+            -----END AGE ENCRYPTED FILE-----
+    lastmodified: "2026-10-31T16:11:11Z"
+    mac: ENC[AES256_GCM,data:0GIYwtVcNngq2Zpz3haCx6L+j2SrgHFL5pRYeRM4Ac1T9kjKSwHik6Q4+T8FU+EJa9GP1yXrpdsjggsjzG9dI2zRyAF1C8x1znD5ls6OwT5jLak8QrHNcTavRlm6N6y1yOsQCTFMc+zeCywTnFJldTqPKH+6K/bNMNBuD14BNv8=,iv:oqGygkOmFgRw0TYbWO75/sJ/doXtorAWAg89LtaqIsg=,tag:vBO/DWV93ekZB86G+Hca2A==,type:str]
+    pgp: []
+    encrypted_regex: ^(data|stringData)$
+    version: 3.9.4

platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example

@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+# =============================================================================
+# TEMPLATE — NOT APPLIED, NOT ENCRYPTED (`.yaml.example` is ignored by kustomize and is
+# never auto-encrypted by SOPS). Reference scaffold + OPERATOR HAND-OFF.
+#
+# WHAT THIS IS: the credential the KUBELET uses to pull `agent-runner` from the in-cluster
+# Gitea registry. It is NOT the credential the agent uses to talk to Gitea — that one is
+# `pm-agent-credentials` and it is read by the application. Two Secrets, because they are
+# consumed by two different things in two different formats:
+#
+#   pm-agent-credentials   Opaque        read by pm-dispatch / pm-worker as env vars
+#   pm-agent-registry      dockerconfigjson  read by the KUBELET, before any container runs
+#
+# WHY A PULL CREDENTIAL IS NEEDED AT ALL. Measured 2026-10-05: an unauthenticated client
+# gets nothing from this Gitea's registry — it issues an anonymous token whose `access`
+# claim is `null`, and every path answers 401 whether it exists or not
+# (`/api/v1/packages/Home-Network` replies `{"message":"token is required"}`). So a pull
+# with no credential cannot succeed, and before this Secret there was no `imagePullSecret`
+# anywhere in the tree. See decisions/2026-10-05-pm-agent-registry-pull-prereq.md.
+#
+# THE OTHER HALF, ALREADY FIXED: the nodes used to resolve this registry's hostname to the
+# non-hairpinned WAN address and fail TLS against the router's `CN=%D` placeholder
+# certificate. That is the `/etc/hosts` pin in
+# infra/ansible/inventory/group_vars/k3s_prod/vars.yml
+# (decisions/2026-10-06-pm-agent-node-resolves-gitea-to-wan.md). Both halves are needed; a
+# pull fails on whichever is missing.
+#
+# =============================================================================
+# HAND-OFF STEPS (operator)
+# =============================================================================
+#
+# (1) USE THE SAME `pm-agent` ACCOUNT the agent already has (created per
+#     pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml.example — the dedicated, NON-ADMIN one). A second
+#     account would be a second thing to keep non-admin for no gain: this token reads one
+#     package and nothing else.
+#
+# (2) ADD THE PACKAGE SCOPE. Gitea token scopes are fixed at creation, so this means
+#     generating a token with all four scopes and using it in BOTH Secrets:
+#
+#       read:package        <- NEW, what the kubelet needs to pull
+#       read:user           <- the dispatcher's startup GET /user (Gitea 1.24.3 scopes it)
+#       write:repository    <- the agent's clone / branch push / pull-request create
+#       write:issue         <- the agent's issue comments
+#
+#     THE SCOPE IS NOT THE PERMISSION. `read:package` only lets the token use whatever
+#     package access the ACCOUNT has, and these packages belong to the ORGANISATION
+#     (`home-network/…`), not to a repository. Gitea 1.24.3 decides org-package access in
+#     services/context/package.go `determineAccessMode`: the highest Packages-unit mode of
+#     any org team the user is in, else READ if the org is visible to that user. Home-Network
+#     is `public` today (measured 2026-10-30), so a signed-in non-member already gets read —
+#     but that is a side effect of a visibility setting nobody chose for this. Make it
+#     explicit, and independent of visibility:
+#
+#       Organisation Home-Network -> Teams -> New Team
+#         name: pm-agent-pull     permission: none (unit-level)
+#         repositories: NONE (do not tick "all repositories")
+#         units: Packages = Read; every other unit = No Access
+#       then add `pm-agent` as its only member.
+#
+#     That grants package read on the org and nothing on any repository; the repo `Write`
+#     comes only from the collaborator entry in the credentials template.
+#
+#     Gitea -> (as pm-agent) Settings -> Applications -> Generate New Token.
+#     Put the SAME value in `pm-agent-credentials` (`gitea-token`) and in the
+#     `.dockerconfigjson` below. One token, two consumers, two formats — the same
+#     one-value-in-two-files pattern the Keycloak client secret already uses here, and for
+#     the same reason: a Secret cannot be shared across formats.
+#
+# (3) BUILD THE DOCKERCONFIGJSON. `auth` is base64 of `<username>:<token>` — NOT a hash,
+#     just encoding, so treat this file exactly as secret as the token itself:
+#
+#       USER=pm-agent
+#       TOKEN='<the token from step 2>'
+#       AUTH=$(printf '%s:%s' "$USER" "$TOKEN" | base64 -w0)
+#       cat > /tmp/dockerconfig.json <<JSON
+#       {"auths":{"gitea.home.keithjackson.dev":{"username":"$USER","password":"$TOKEN","auth":"$AUTH"}}}
+#       JSON
+#
+#     THE REGISTRY KEY MUST BE THE HOST AS THE IMAGE REFERENCE SPELLS IT —
+#     `gitea.home.keithjackson.dev`, no scheme, no port, no path. The kubelet matches the
+#     pull host against these keys literally; `https://…` or a trailing `/v2/` silently
+#     matches nothing and the pull is attempted anonymously, which 401s exactly as if this
+#     Secret were absent.
+#
+# (4) COPY, FILL, ENCRYPT, COMMIT:
+#
+#     `sops` IS IN THE PINNED TOOLBOX, NOT ON THE HOST (measured 2026-10-30: absent from the
+#     workstation's PATH; sops 3.9.4 and vi in the toolbox). The simplest path needs no
+#     plaintext file at all — edit the committed, already-encrypted file in place, from a
+#     worktree, the way runbooks/vpn-remote-access.md does for its key:
+#
+#       ./infra/devcontainer/dev.sh run sops platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml
+#
+#     It opens vi on the decrypted document; replace the REPLACE-ME value(s), save, quit, and
+#     sops re-encrypts on write. If you take the cp route below instead, run the `sops -e -i`
+#     line through `./infra/devcontainer/dev.sh run` as well, and delete any plaintext temp file.
+#
+#       cp platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example \
+#          platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml
+#       # paste the one-line JSON from step 3 as the .dockerconfigjson value
+#       sops -e -i platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml
+#
+#     The root `.sops.yaml` rule matches this path and encrypts `stringData`, so the diff
+#     stays reviewable. NEVER `sops -d` it into a terminal or a transcript (CLAUDE.md §6).
+#     It is already listed under `resources:` in platform/pm-agent/kustomization.yaml.
+#
+# (5) ROTATION. Rotating the Gitea token means updating BOTH Secrets, because it is one
+#     token. The dispatcher must then be restarted to re-read its env; worker Jobs and the
+#     kubelet pick the new value up on their own.
+# =============================================================================
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Secret
+metadata:
+  name: pm-agent-registry
+  namespace: pm-agent
+type: kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson
+stringData:
+  # One line. Registry key = the host exactly as the image reference spells it.
+  .dockerconfigjson: '{"auths":{"gitea.home.keithjackson.dev":{"username":"pm-agent","password":"REPLACE-ME-the-same-gitea-token","auth":"REPLACE-ME-base64-of-username:token"}}}'

runbooks/pm-agent.md

@@ -67,9 +67,11 @@ Work through these in order; the first three are by far the most likely.
 | Symptom in the log | Cause | Fix |
 |---|---|---|
 | `GET /user returned no login — is GITEA_TOKEN valid?` and a CrashLoop | the credentials are still the committed **placeholders**, or the token was revoked | fill them in per `platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-credentials.sops.yaml.example` |
-| `ImagePullBackOff`, digest `sha256:0000…` | the image has never been published; the committed digest is the deliberate placeholder | CI publishes it, not a person: check the latest `images` workflow run on `main` (it fails loudly if the `REGISTRY_PUSH_TOKEN` secret is missing; re-run it with `workflow_dispatch`), then merge Renovate's digest-bump PR, which updates **both** `deployment.yaml` and `configmap.yaml` (`PM_WORKER_IMAGE`) together — but read the row below first |
+| `ImagePullBackOff`, digest `sha256:0000…` | (historical: before 2026-10-30 the committed digest was an all-zero placeholder) the image has never been published at the digest named | CI publishes it, not a person: check the latest `images` workflow run on `main` (it fails loudly if the `REGISTRY_PUSH_TOKEN` secret is missing; re-run it with `workflow_dispatch`), then merge Renovate's digest-bump PR, which updates **both** `deployment.yaml` and `configmap.yaml` (`PM_WORKER_IMAGE`) together — but read the row below first |
 | `ImagePullBackOff` with `x509: certificate is not valid for any names` | **diagnosed.** containerd pulls as a node process, resolves through the node's public upstreams, and gets the CNAME to the WAN IP — which this router does not hairpin, so it answers :443 with its own `CN=%D` placeholder certificate (no SANs at all). Nothing to do with the digest, the Gateway or the wildcard cert | the `/etc/hosts` pin for `gitea.{{ k3s_base_domain }}` → `192.168.2.20` in `infra/ansible/inventory/group_vars/k3s_prod/vars.yml` fixes it — the same pin the Keycloak issuer already has. Apply it with the project's own tooling, scoped to just that task: `cd infra/ansible && ansible-playbook playbooks/node-baseline.yml -e k3s_hosts=k3s_prod --tags hosts`. Full evidence: `decisions/2026-10-06-pm-agent-node-resolves-gitea-to-wan.md` |
-| `ImagePullBackOff` with `401 Unauthorized` once TLS works | the pull is unauthenticated. An anonymous client gets nothing from this Gitea's registry, and no `imagePullSecret` exists anywhere in the tree | add one (a `dockerconfigjson`, SOPS-encrypted like `pm-agent-credentials`, referenced from the Deployment **and** the committed worker Job template) or allow anonymous reads of the package in Gitea — a posture decision, so yours |
+| `ImagePullBackOff` with `401 Unauthorized` / `unauthorized` | the pull credential is wrong, absent or scoped without `read:package`. The `pm-agent-registry` Secret exists and is referenced; its *value* is what starts as a placeholder | check the key names only, never values: `kubectl -n pm-agent get secret pm-agent-registry -o go-template='{{range $k, $v := .data}}{{$k}}{{"\n"}}{{end}}'` should list `.dockerconfigjson`. Then confirm the token carries `read:package`, that its account can read the org's packages (a team with the Packages unit — see the `.example`), and that the registry key inside the JSON is the bare host `gitea.home.keithjackson.dev` — with a scheme or a port it matches nothing and the pull goes out anonymously, which looks identical to a missing Secret. Steps: `platform/pm-agent/pm-agent-registry.sops.yaml.example` |
+| `GET /user` answers `403` / `token does not have at least one of required scope(s): [read:user]` at startup, then a CrashLoop | the token lacks `read:user` — Gitea 1.24.3 scopes the whole `/api/v1/user` group, and the dispatcher's first call is `GET /user` | mint a new token with all four scopes (`read:user`, `write:repository`, `write:issue`, `read:package`) and put it in **both** Secrets |
+| a worker Job is refused by admission (`pm-agent-job-shape`, `imagePullSecrets`) | `PM_WORKER_IMAGE` is a digest built before the template carried `imagePullSecrets` (PR #61), so its baked template lacks the entry admission requires | pin the agent-runner digest CI published after #61 merged (Renovate's bump PR); until then keep `PM_DRY_RUN=true` |
 | `PM_WORKER_IMAGE must be digest-pinned` | someone put a tag in the ConfigMap | restore the digest form; the digest comes from CI's publish (`.gitea/workflows/images.yaml` job summary) and Renovate's bump PR, never from a hand push |
 | `scope: ONLY issues labelled 'agent'` | `PM_REQUIRE_LABEL` is set; unlabelled issues are out of scope by configuration | label the issue, or clear the knob |
 | `cycle: 2 worker(s) active` and nothing new | at `PM_MAX_ACTIVE_WORKERS` | wait, or raise it (RAM is the binding constraint: each worker's limit is 2Gi) |