diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/gate.yml b/.gitea/workflows/gate.yml
index 2265f51..955ff90 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/gate.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/gate.yml
@@ -124,8 +124,13 @@ jobs:
       - name: Merge gate — ci/gate.sh (what `make -C ci gate` runs)
         env:
           GATE_STRICT_SKIPS: "true"
-          GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN }}
-          # REQUIRE_GITEA_SETTINGS: "true"   # <- uncomment AFTER seeing gitea-settings green
+          SETTINGS_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SETTINGS_API_TOKEN }}
+          # ENABLED 2026-09-29. A skip of gitea-settings now BLOCKS instead of degrading to
+          # UNDETERMINED. Safe because THIS PR's own CI run is the proof: if the stage were
+          # skipping, this line turns that into a failure and the PR goes red instead of
+          # merging. Green here means the token resolved and the live Gitea matched the
+          # declaration in infra/gitea/expected-branch-protection.json.
+          REQUIRE_GITEA_SETTINGS: "true"
         run: ./ci/gate.sh || [ "$?" -eq 3 ]
 
       # NOTE: no actions/upload-artifact step. Gitea Actions rejects upload-artifact@v4
diff --git a/ci/gitea-settings.sh b/ci/gitea-settings.sh
index 5293329..483e13c 100755
--- a/ci/gitea-settings.sh
+++ b/ci/gitea-settings.sh
@@ -56,14 +56,20 @@ log "Stage: Gitea platform settings match the declaration"
 DECL="${REPO_ROOT}/infra/gitea/expected-branch-protection.json"
 GITEA_URL="${GITEA_URL:-https://gitea.home.keithjackson.dev}"
 GITEA_REPO="${GITEA_REPO:-Home-Network/home-network-k3s-impl}"
-TOKEN="${GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN:-}"
+# SETTINGS_API_TOKEN, not GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN. Gitea RESERVES the `GITEA_` prefix for
+# secret names and rejects a PUT of one with HTTP 400 "invalid secret name" — the same way
+# GitHub reserves `GITHUB_`. The original name could therefore never be stored, and because
+# infra/gitea/set-ci-token.sh sent that PUT to /dev/null and printed "stored" unconditionally,
+# it looked like it had worked. A token was minted, no secret existed, and this stage would
+# have skipped forever. GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN is still honoured for a local run.
+TOKEN="${SETTINGS_API_TOKEN:-${GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN:-}}"
 
 [ -f "$DECL" ] || die "declaration missing: ${DECL}"
 require_tool jq
 require_tool curl
 
 if [ -z "$TOKEN" ]; then
-  skip "GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN is not set — cannot read the live Gitea rule."
+  skip "SETTINGS_API_TOKEN is not set — cannot read the live Gitea rule."
   skip "  Branch protection and runner registration are therefore UNVERIFIED. They were"
   skip "  wrong, unnoticed, for a month (2026-09-29). Wire it: infra/gitea/set-ci-token.sh"
   summary "- gitea-settings: **SKIPPED — no token** (protection + runners UNVERIFIED; not a pass)"
diff --git a/infra/gitea/set-ci-token.sh b/infra/gitea/set-ci-token.sh
index ca00b30..047a833 100755
--- a/infra/gitea/set-ci-token.sh
+++ b/infra/gitea/set-ci-token.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@
 # confirm the check goes green rather than assuming the scope name.
 set -euo pipefail
 HOST=gitea.home.keithjackson.dev; OWNER=Home-Network; REPO=home-network-k3s-impl
+# NOT GITEA_* — Gitea reserves that prefix for secret names and returns HTTP 400
+# "invalid secret name". The first version of this script used GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN, sent the
+# PUT to /dev/null, and printed "stored" regardless; the secret never existed and nobody knew.
+SECRET=SETTINGS_API_TOKEN
 NAME="ci-gitea-settings-$(date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S)"
 creds="$(printf 'protocol=https\nhost=%s\n\n' "$HOST" | git credential fill)"
 U="$(sed -n 's/^username=//p' <<<"$creds")"; P="$(sed -n 's/^password=//p' <<<"$creds")"
@@ -22,12 +26,24 @@ TOKEN="$(basic -X POST -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
 [ -n "$TOKEN" ] || { echo "token creation failed (check scopes for your Gitea version)" >&2; exit 1; }
 echo "==> got a ${#TOKEN}-character token (value not shown)"
 
-echo "==> storing it as repo Actions secret GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN"
-basic -X PUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+echo "==> storing it as repo Actions secret ${SECRET}"
+code="$(basic -o /tmp/set-ci-token.out -w '%{http_code}' -X PUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
   -d "$(jq -n --arg d "$TOKEN" '{data:$d}')" \
-  "https://${HOST}/api/v1/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/actions/secrets/GITEA_SETTINGS_TOKEN" >/dev/null
+  "https://${HOST}/api/v1/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/actions/secrets/${SECRET}")"
 unset TOKEN
-echo "==> stored."
+if [ "$code" != 201 ] && [ "$code" != 204 ]; then
+  echo "   PUT failed: HTTP ${code} -- $(head -c 200 /tmp/set-ci-token.out)" >&2
+  rm -f /tmp/set-ci-token.out; exit 1
+fi
+rm -f /tmp/set-ci-token.out
+
+# VERIFY BY READING IT BACK. curl -sS exits 0 on an HTTP error, so without this the script
+# reports success for a store that never happened -- which is exactly what it did.
+names="$(basic "https://${HOST}/api/v1/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/actions/secrets" \
+        | jq -rc '[.. | objects | select(has("name")) | .name] | unique')"
+grep -q "$SECRET" <<<"$names" \
+  || { echo "   stored HTTP ${code} but ${SECRET} is NOT in ${names} -- refusing to claim success" >&2; exit 1; }
+echo "==> stored and VERIFIED present: ${names}"
 
 cat <<'NOTE'