diff --git a/.claude/inject-org-context.sh b/.claude/inject-org-context.sh
index d9d50f6..495d0d2 100644
--- a/.claude/inject-org-context.sh
+++ b/.claude/inject-org-context.sh
@@ -1,8 +1,25 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 # SessionStart hook — inject the bounded-systems canonical Claude context.
 # Canonical source since .github#175: bounded-systems/.github -> claude/context.md
-# (PUBLIC — the #491 audit found nothing private; the .github-private copy stays
-# byte-identical until #494 retires it and remains the fallback below).
+# (PUBLIC — the #491 audit found nothing private; the .github-private copy is a
+# duplicate that remains a fallback below). Since infra#415 that public copy is
+# reached through boot.bounded.tools/public-context.md rather than raw
+# .githubusercontent.com — same bytes, one fewer host a session must reach. See
+# step 0.
+#
+# THE TWO COPIES ARE NOT GUARANTEED IDENTICAL, and this header used to say they
+# were "byte-identical until #494 retires it". Both halves were wrong (#581):
+# #494 is a different subject (it retired PATHBASE_LEASE_KEY, closed 2026-08-16),
+# and the copies diverged on 2026-08-15 when 50bc53d taught the three-door claim
+# ladder in .github-private and never propagated here. For two days every session
+# in the fleet was injected the OLD single-door convention — the one keycard#7
+# proved unsound and #530 built claim-relay.yml to displace — because step 0
+# below fetches THIS repo's copy and it was the stale one.
+#
+# A comment asserting an invariant is not a check (agentic-code-hygiene rule 3).
+# So this script no longer assumes it: step L prefers a local checkout when the
+# session has one, and SAYS SO OUT LOUD when two local copies disagree, which is
+# the only moment a session can notice the drift that affects it.
 # Fail OPEN but never SILENT: anything that goes wrong yields no context and one
 # status line saying so — a degraded session must be able to tell (#491).
 set -uo pipefail
@@ -11,13 +28,67 @@ command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 0
 path='repos/bounded-systems/.github-private/contents/claude/context.md'
 ctx=""
 
-# 0) The public canonical copy — anonymous raw fetch, no token, no clone. This
-#    is the source that works in a cloud session with NOTHING attached; every
-#    fallback below was measured failing there on 2026-07-31, when the file
-#    lived only in the private repo.
-if command -v curl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+# L) THE LOCAL CHECKOUT, when the session has one. Tried before any network
+#    source because a fetched copy can be OLDER than the tree the session was
+#    created from, and on 2026-08-15 it was: this session's own correct
+#    context.md sat two directories away on disk while step 0 pulled the stale
+#    one over the wire (#581). A session should not be taught a convention its
+#    own checkout contradicts.
+#
+#    Root resolution mirrors org-repair.sh's, deliberately — never assume
+#    /home/user. .github-private is preferred when both are present because it
+#    is the copy boot-deploy.yml publishes into CONTEXT_KV, and empirically the
+#    one that gets maintained first.
+#
+#    When both exist and DIFFER, that is the #581 defect recurring, and it is
+#    reported rather than silently resolved: the elected copy still loads (a
+#    session with context beats one without), but the divergence is named in
+#    the injected text so whoever reads it can see the org is inconsistent.
+R="${CLAUDE_SESSION_ROOT:-}"
+[ -f "$R/.github/.claude/boot.sh" ] 2>/dev/null || R="$PWD"
+[ -f "$R/.github/.claude/boot.sh" ] || R="${PWD%/*}"
+[ -f "$R/.github/.claude/boot.sh" ] || R=/home/user
+priv="$R/.github-private/claude/context.md"
+pub="$R/.github/claude/context.md"
+drift=""
+if [ -f "$priv" ] && [ -f "$pub" ] && ! cmp -s "$priv" "$pub"; then
+  drift="⚠ org context DRIFT: ${priv} and ${pub} differ. Using the .github-private copy. The .github copy is what a session WITHOUT a checkout is served, so bare sessions are getting the other text — see .github-private#581."
+fi
+if [ -f "$priv" ]; then
+  ctx="$(cat "$priv" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+elif [ -f "$pub" ]; then
+  ctx="$(cat "$pub" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+fi
+
+# 0) The public canonical copy — anonymous, no token, no clone. This is the
+#    source that works in a cloud session with NOTHING attached; every fallback
+#    below was measured failing there on 2026-07-31, when the file lived only in
+#    the private repo.
+#
+#    SERVED THROUGH THE BOOT WORKER since infra#415, not fetched from
+#    raw.githubusercontent.com directly. THE BYTES ARE THE SAME FILE: the Worker
+#    fetches bounded-systems/.github's claude/context.md from CLOUDFLARE'S
+#    network and streams it through verbatim — verified byte-identical against
+#    both the checkout and the raw upstream at deploy time (all three hashed to
+#    99f98f39… on 2026-08-17). What changes is only which host THIS session
+#    contacts, and that is the entire point: this line was the last session-side
+#    use of raw.githubusercontent.com, and the only reason that host was still in
+#    the front-desk egress allowlist (.github-private#534 item 2).
+#
+#    NOT the Worker's /context.md — that route is lease-gated and serves the
+#    .github-PRIVATE copy out of CONTEXT_KV, a different file that #581 recorded
+#    diverging from this one. /public-context.md is the public copy, which is
+#    what this hook has always fetched.
+#
+#    NO raw.githubusercontent FALLBACK is kept, deliberately. A fallback to the
+#    host we are retiring would stop working the moment the allowlist entry is
+#    dropped, leaving dead code that reads like resilience; and the failure it
+#    would cover — the Worker being unreachable — is already covered by steps 1-3
+#    over github.com, a host that is not going anywhere. Fail open, loudly, per
+#    the message at the bottom.
+if [ -z "$ctx" ] && command -v curl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   ctx="$(curl -fsSL --connect-timeout 5 --max-time 15 \
-    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bounded-systems/.github/main/claude/context.md \
+    https://boot.bounded.tools/public-context.md \
     2>/dev/null || true)"
 fi
 
@@ -53,8 +124,30 @@ fi
 # the silent variant made a context-less session indistinguishable from a
 # healthy one, and the verbspec worker shipped work without knowing.
 if [ -z "$ctx" ]; then
-  echo "org context NOT loaded — all sources failed (public raw, gh api, git clone, curl+token). Degraded mode: see the org stanza in CLAUDE.md."
+  echo "org context NOT loaded — all sources failed (boot.bounded.tools/public-context.md, gh api, git clone, curl+token). Degraded mode: see the org stanza in CLAUDE.md."
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+# One session start injects this block ONCE (#508, measured 2026-08-16): the
+# attached repo's own SessionStart hook and the boot-installed dispatcher both
+# run this script, in separate envelopes no in-process merge can reach — so the
+# second run detects the first through a short-lived marker and stays silent.
+# The predicate is "already INJECTED", never "other hook installed" — installed
+# is not fired (#427, #506). Keyed by session id and aged 90s: sibling hooks in
+# one start fire seconds apart, while distinct starts (create → resume, or the
+# snapshot's --init-only pass → the first real session) are minutes apart or
+# carry a different id. Marker only on SUCCESS: a degraded run writes nothing,
+# so a later sibling that can reach the context still injects it.
+m="/tmp/.bounded-org-context.${CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID:-any}"
+now="$(date +%s)"
+mt="$(stat -c %Y "$m" 2>/dev/null || stat -f %m "$m" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)"
+if [ -f "$m" ] && [ $((now - mt)) -lt 90 ]; then
   exit 0
 fi
+touch "$m" 2>/dev/null || true
+# The drift notice rides INSIDE the injected context, not on a bare stdout line:
+# only additionalContext reaches the session, and a warning the session cannot
+# read is the silent failure this script's #491 lesson is about.
+[ -n "$drift" ] && ctx="${drift}"$'\n\n'"${ctx}"
 jq -n --arg c "$ctx" \
   '{hookSpecificOutput:{hookEventName:"SessionStart",additionalContext:$c}}'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.claude/org-repair.sh b/.claude/org-repair.sh
index c802bbd..7bafae8 100644
--- a/.claude/org-repair.sh
+++ b/.claude/org-repair.sh
@@ -3,13 +3,28 @@
 # as a committed file, so .claude/settings.json can pre-approve exactly this
 # invocation: `bash .claude/org-repair.sh` (#491). Canonical logic lives in
 # bounded-systems/.github-private CLAUDE.md; adopt-claude-harness keeps this
-# copy in sync. Verifies every byte against the dialog-recorded
-# $ORG_BOOT_SHA256 and REFUSES rather than running anything unverified.
+# copy in sync. Verifies every byte against a RESOLVED digest and REFUSES rather
+# than running anything unverified.
+#
+# THE DIGEST SOURCE CHANGED, AND THIS SCRIPT WAS INERT FLEET-WIDE UNTIL IT WAS
+# FIXED (2026-08-17, .github-private#534/#581). It used to REQUIRE
+# $ORG_BOOT_SHA256 and exit 0 with "not a bounded-systems cloud session" when it
+# was unset. That variable was RETIRED OUTRIGHT on 2026-08-16 evening
+# (.github#192): the boot digest now rides the channel manifest, written only by
+# the OIDC-pinned boot-manifest lane on main, and the front-desk dialog is down
+# to a single variable (BS_ROUTES_CONFIG). Measured 2026-08-17 from a live
+# front-desk session whose dialog matches the recorded union exactly: the dialog
+# carries BS_ROUTES_CONFIG and nothing else, ORG_BOOT_SHA256 is unset, and this
+# script printed "not a bounded-systems cloud session; nothing to do" and
+# installed nothing — in a session that was exactly that. It exited 0 while
+# doing so, so the failure was SILENT and every adopter had a dead step 1.
+#
+# The resolution order below matches CLAUDE.md's step-1 block, which was already
+# corrected: legacy $ORG_BOOT_SHA256 honored first WHILE IT EXISTS, otherwise the
+# channel manifest. With neither resolvable it refuses rather than falling
+# through to an unverified file — `bash` only ever runs bytes that hashed to the
+# resolved digest.
 set -uo pipefail
-[ -n "${ORG_BOOT_SHA256:-}" ] || {
-  echo "org-repair: ORG_BOOT_SHA256 unset — not a bounded-systems cloud session; nothing to do"
-  exit 0
-}
 R="${CLAUDE_SESSION_ROOT:-}"                     # resolve the checkout root — never assume /home/user
 [ -f "$R/.github/.claude/boot.sh" ] || R="$PWD"
 [ -f "$R/.github/.claude/boot.sh" ] || R="${PWD%/*}"
@@ -19,18 +34,26 @@ if cmp -s "$C/stop-hook-git-check.sh" "$R/.github/.claude/stop-hook-git-check.sh
   echo "bootstrap in effect"
   exit 0
 fi
-B="$R/.github/.claude/boot.sh"   # attached checkout — same bytes, no egress
-echo "$ORG_BOOT_SHA256  $B" | sha256sum -c --status - 2>/dev/null || {
+F="curl -fsSL --retry 3 --retry-connrefused --retry-max-time 60 --connect-timeout 5 --max-time 30"
+# Legacy variable first while it still exists anywhere, then the channel
+# manifest (.github#192). The manifest is written only by the OIDC-pinned
+# boot-manifest lane on main, so it is a trust source, not a convenience.
+S="${ORG_BOOT_SHA256:-$($F https://boot.bounded.tools/channel/front-desk.json 2>/dev/null \
+  | sed -n 's/.*"boot":"\([0-9a-f]\{64\}\)".*/\1/p')}"
+# The attached checkout is tried BEFORE the network on purpose: the repair must
+# work when egress is down, which is exactly when a resumed session is most
+# likely to be repairing by hand.
+B="$R/.github/.claude/boot.sh"
+{ [ -n "$S" ] && echo "$S  $B" | sha256sum -c --status - 2>/dev/null; } || {
   B=""
-  curl -fsSL --retry 3 --retry-connrefused --retry-max-time 60 --connect-timeout 5 \
-    --max-time 30 "https://boot.bounded.tools/$ORG_BOOT_SHA256.sh" -o /tmp/boot.sh \
-    && echo "$ORG_BOOT_SHA256  /tmp/boot.sh" | sha256sum -c --status - && B=/tmp/boot.sh; }
+  [ -n "$S" ] && $F "https://boot.bounded.tools/$S.sh" -o /tmp/boot.sh \
+    && echo "$S  /tmp/boot.sh" | sha256sum -c --status - && B=/tmp/boot.sh; }
 if [ -n "$B" ]; then
   CLAUDE_SESSION_ROOT="$R" bash "$B"
   D="$R/.github/.claude/session-start-dispatch.mjs"
   [ -f "$D" ] || D=/opt/bounded-boot/session-start-dispatch.mjs
   CLAUDE_SESSION_ROOT="$R" node "$D"
 else
-  echo "org-repair: REFUSED — no copy matched \$ORG_BOOT_SHA256; installing nothing"
+  echo "org-repair: REFUSED — no verified copy (no digest source, or no bytes matched); installing nothing"
   exit 1
 fi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 8dc78cd..1ee3ebe 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -262,16 +262,30 @@ deno task docs
 
 1. **Bootstrap**: run `bash .claude/org-repair.sh` — pre-approved where this
    repo's settings carry the org floor; generator-owned repos may still prompt.
-   Its only trust anchor is the dialog-recorded `$ORG_BOOT_SHA256` (typed by a
-   human in the environment dialog, never fetched): it executes a local or
-   fetched copy ONLY if the bytes hash to that value, and refuses otherwise.
+   It executes a local or fetched copy ONLY if the bytes hash to a resolved
+   digest, and refuses otherwise. The digest comes from the channel manifest
+   (written only by the OIDC-pinned `boot-manifest` lane on main), with the
+   legacy `$ORG_BOOT_SHA256` honored first while it still exists — that
+   variable was retired outright on 2026-08-16 (`.github`#192) and is absent
+   from the dialog, so the manifest is the live source.
    `bootstrap in effect` → continue. `REFUSED` or a permission denial → stop
    and report; do not work around it.
-2. **Claim before working**: dispatch `claim-ticket.yml` in
-   `bounded-systems/.github` (workflow_dispatch: `repo`, `issue`, `claimant`),
-   then confirm the claim comment ON THE ISSUE names your claimant. Any
-   assignee or `claimed` label → someone else's. Window unreachable → claim by
-   hand (assign + comment) and say the window was down. No issue → open one.
+2. **Claim before working** — doors, best reachable first (`#529`):
+   1. `claim-ticket.yml` in `bounded-systems/.github` (workflow_dispatch:
+      `repo`, `issue`, `claimant`) — the real door, lease-backed. Reachable
+      only from a session created with `.github` attached; mid-session
+      `add_repo` refuses it.
+   2. `claim-relay.yml` in `bounded-systems/.github-private`
+      (workflow_dispatch: `issue`, `claimant`) — for `.github-private` issues
+      when door 1 is unreachable. Bot-authored, run-backed record; it does
+      **not** authenticate the claimant (`#530`).
+   3. Hand-claim (assign + comment) — **last resort only**, when no door is
+      reachable. It provides **no exclusion** (keycard#7, `signerSelfAsserted`)
+      — a marker, not a claim; say plainly the window was down.
+
+   Whichever door: confirm the claim comment ON THE ISSUE names your claimant.
+   Any assignee or `claimed` label → someone else's; do not start. No issue →
+   open one and claim it.
 3. **Degraded mode**: no "bounded-systems — Claude context" block in your
    session context means the org context did not load. You may claim and work
    THIS repo only — no org-level `[settings]`/`[org]` changes, no cross-repo