diff --git a/.github/scripts/assert-openhuman-pin.sh b/.github/scripts/assert-openhuman-pin.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..75f62c9b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/assert-openhuman-pin.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+# Assert the `rev` of the git `openhuman-embed` dependency in Cargo.toml equals
+# the commit recorded for the `vendor/openhuman` submodule. The `[patch]` in
+# Cargo.toml builds this workspace against the submodule; a consumer without
+# that patch builds against the rev. If they drift, the two build different
+# OpenHuman trees and nothing else would say so.
+set -eu
+cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.."
+rev=$(sed -n 's/^openhuman-embed = { git = "https:\/\/github.com\/tinyhumansai\/openhuman", rev = "\([0-9a-f]*\)".*/\1/p' Cargo.toml)
+sub=$(git ls-tree HEAD vendor/openhuman | awk '{print $3}')
+if [ -z "$rev" ] || [ -z "$sub" ]; then
+  echo "assert-openhuman-pin: could not read the rev ($rev) or the submodule pointer ($sub)" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [ "$rev" != "$sub" ]; then
+  echo "assert-openhuman-pin: Cargo.toml pins openhuman-embed at $rev but vendor/openhuman records $sub" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "assert-openhuman-pin: $rev"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index f5fc91f2..cad82f8c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -82,6 +82,13 @@ jobs:
       - name: Assert the pure crates stay pure
         run: .github/scripts/assert-pure.sh
 
+      # `openhuman-embed` is a git dependency pinned by rev, redirected by
+      # `[patch]` onto `vendor/openhuman` for this workspace. A host without
+      # that patch builds the rev; this build builds the submodule. They must
+      # be the same commit or the two are silently different trees.
+      - name: Assert the openhuman-embed rev matches the vendored submodule
+        run: .github/scripts/assert-openhuman-pin.sh
+
       - name: Require 90% line coverage in every source file
         run: .github/scripts/check-file-coverage.sh 90 coverage.json
 
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index bc4b3ee9..aa0fd9c7 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -47,7 +47,15 @@ tinyhivemind-typesafe = { path = "crates/tinyhivemind-typesafe" }
 # Canonical OpenHuman agent handles for the first-class embedding adapter. The
 # adapter keeps default features off because it only binds already-built agents;
 # the consuming host chooses the runtime capabilities it enables.
-openhuman-embed = { path = "vendor/openhuman/crates/openhuman-embed", default-features = false }
+# A git dependency on purpose, not the vendored path. A host that vendors this
+# repository as a submodule (OpenCompany) carries its own `vendor/openhuman`
+# and must link ONE copy of OpenHuman: `openhuman_embed::Agent` in a binding
+# here has to be the same type the host built, and OpenHuman's process-wide
+# state must exist once. Cargo `[patch]` can redirect a git or registry source
+# onto a path but cannot redirect a path source, so a path here would leave a
+# host no way to unify the two trees. The `[patch]` table below points this
+# same source at the vendored checkout for this repository's own build.
+openhuman-embed = { git = "https://github.com/tinyhumansai/openhuman", rev = "1ecf1b0bc4bc4d80b0f56f1e01e47d2c0f981c5b", default-features = false }
 # Derive macros for the crate-wide error type in `crates/tinyhivemind-core/src/error/`.
 # Every dependency entry should carry a comment like this one saying why it is
 # here.
@@ -130,3 +138,11 @@ private_intra_doc_links = "warn"
 lto = "thin"
 codegen-units = 1
 strip = "debuginfo"
+
+# Resolve the git `openhuman-embed` above onto the vendored submodule so this
+# workspace builds against exactly the tree it records (and CI, which checks
+# out submodules recursively, needs no network for it). The `rev` above and
+# the submodule pointer must agree; `.github/scripts/assert-openhuman-pin.sh`
+# fails the build when they drift.
+[patch."https://github.com/tinyhumansai/openhuman"]
+openhuman-embed = { path = "vendor/openhuman/crates/openhuman-embed" }
diff --git a/deny.toml b/deny.toml
index 845f2f6d..b02f3e7a 100644
--- a/deny.toml
+++ b/deny.toml
@@ -44,6 +44,15 @@ wildcards = "deny"
 # manifest sets `publish = false`. A wildcard on anything from a registry is
 # still denied, which is what this check exists for.
 allow-wildcard-paths = true
+# `openhuman` is a revision-pinned git dependency patched to the recorded
+# submodule. Its public manifest uses `workspace = true` for its internal
+# crates, which cargo-deny classifies as wildcard dependencies even though the
+# resolved graph is fixed by Cargo.lock and assert-openhuman-pin.sh. Skip only
+# this exact package's manifest-level wildcard finding; its dependency tree
+# remains subject to every ban check.
+skip = [
+    { name = "openhuman", version = "0.63.29" },
+]
 # Crates that must never enter the dependency graph.
 deny = []
 
@@ -51,10 +60,23 @@ deny = []
 unknown-registry = "deny"
 unknown-git = "deny"
 allow-registry = ["https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"]
-# Examples take OpenHuman, tinyinference, tinytools, and tinyjevclient as
-# revision-pinned git dependencies rather than published versions. Nothing under
-# crates/* depends on their transports; `.github/scripts/assert-pure.sh` checks
-# the normal/build graph. See AGENTS.md's supply-chain boundary.
+# Examples take tinyinference, tinytools, and tinyjevclient as revision-pinned
+# git dependencies rather than published versions; nothing under crates/*
+# depends on their transports, and `.github/scripts/assert-pure.sh` checks the
+# normal/build graph for the pure crates. See AGENTS.md's supply-chain
+# boundary.
+#
+# OpenHuman is the one exception: `openhuman-embed` is also a revision-pinned
+# git dependency of `tinyhivemind-openhuman`, a library crate, per
+# `docs/adr/0020-openhuman-embed-is-a-git-dependency-patched-locally.md`.
+# `[patch]` in the root `Cargo.toml` redirects that source onto the
+# `vendor/openhuman` submodule this repository already vendors and tests
+# against, so every build here still compiles the vendored tree, not a fresh
+# git fetch. `.github/scripts/assert-openhuman-pin.sh`, run in the `rust` CI
+# job, reads the `rev` pinned in `Cargo.toml` and the `vendor/openhuman`
+# submodule's commit and fails the build if they disagree — the supply-chain
+# guarantee this exemption relies on is that check, not an absence of library
+# dependents.
 allow-git = [
     "https://github.com/tinyhumansai/openhuman",
     "https://github.com/tinyhumansai/tinyinference",
diff --git a/docs/adr/0013-a-vendored-crate-is-an-example-dependency.md b/docs/adr/0013-a-vendored-crate-is-an-example-dependency.md
index 78939e12..6abe1941 100644
--- a/docs/adr/0013-a-vendored-crate-is-an-example-dependency.md
+++ b/docs/adr/0013-a-vendored-crate-is-an-example-dependency.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # 13. A vendored crate may back an example and never a library crate
 
-- **Status:** Accepted — implemented
+- **Status:** Accepted — implemented; amended by [ADR 0020](0020-openhuman-embed-is-a-git-dependency-patched-locally.md)
 - **Date:** 2026-09-09
 
 ## Context
diff --git a/docs/adr/0020-openhuman-embed-is-a-git-dependency-patched-locally.md b/docs/adr/0020-openhuman-embed-is-a-git-dependency-patched-locally.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c8b70b38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/adr/0020-openhuman-embed-is-a-git-dependency-patched-locally.md
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+# 20. `openhuman-embed` is a git dependency, patched locally
+
+- **Status:** Accepted
+- **Date:** 2026-09-20
+- **Amends:** [ADR 0013](0013-a-vendored-crate-is-an-example-dependency.md)
+
+## Context
+
+[ADR 0013](0013-a-vendored-crate-is-an-example-dependency.md) drew the line at
+library crates: a vendored, outside-the-workspace crate may back an example and
+never a dependency of `tinyhivemind-core`, `tinyhivemind-hive`, or
+`tinyhivemind`, because this repository is itself vendored — a consumer takes
+`crates/*` as path dependencies — and a vendored dependency of a vendored
+dependency becomes a nested submodule in every consumer.
+
+`tinyhivemind-openhuman` is the exception that decision named without solving:
+it is a library crate, and it must name `openhuman_embed::Agent` to bind
+already-built OpenHuman agents into a hive. `openhuman-embed` cannot be an
+example-only dev-dependency the way `tinytools` and `tinyinference` are,
+because the type it names has to be the same type a consuming host's own agent
+handles are built with — a host binding one of its own `Agent` values into a
+`tinyhivemind-openhuman` adapter is exactly the point of the crate.
+
+A consumer of this repository — OpenCompany is the first — vendors this
+repository as a submodule *and* independently vendors its own OpenHuman
+checkout, because OpenCompany's own runtime is built against it directly, not
+only through this adapter. Two checkouts of the same crate compiled into one
+binary are two `Agent` types and two copies of OpenHuman's process-wide state,
+which is a linker-level bug, not a style objection.
+
+`openhuman-embed = { path = "vendor/openhuman/crates/openhuman-embed" }` — the
+form ADR 0013 would otherwise require — cannot be resolved onto a different
+tree by a downstream consumer. Cargo's `[patch]` table can redirect a git or
+registry source onto a local path; it has no mechanism to redirect a path
+source onto a different path. A path dependency here is therefore not just the
+form ADR 0013 asks for done slightly wrong: it is the one form that forecloses
+the fix a consumer would need.
+
+## Decision
+
+`openhuman-embed` is a **git dependency pinned by revision** in the root
+`Cargo.toml`'s `[workspace.dependencies]`, consumed by `tinyhivemind-openhuman`
+— a library crate — same as any other dependency there. This repository's own
+build patches that source onto the vendored `vendor/openhuman` submodule it
+already carries and tests against:
+
+```toml
+[workspace.dependencies]
+openhuman-embed = { git = "https://github.com/tinyhumansai/openhuman", rev = "…", default-features = false }
+
+[patch."https://github.com/tinyhumansai/openhuman"]
+openhuman-embed = { path = "vendor/openhuman/crates/openhuman-embed" }
+```
+
+`.github/scripts/assert-openhuman-pin.sh`, run from the `rust` CI job, fails
+the build when the pinned `rev` and the `vendor/openhuman` submodule pointer
+disagree — the two must name the same tree, or this repository's own tests
+would pass against a different OpenHuman than the `rev` promises to a
+consumer.
+
+A consumer that vendors its own OpenHuman checkout adds the identical shape of
+`[patch]` entry in its own root manifest, pointed at its own vendored path.
+That entry is what actually unifies the `Agent` type across the two trees —
+the git dependency only names *which* OpenHuman revision both sides agree to
+patch onto their own copy of. This repository's own `examples/openhuman`
+integration target needed the same entry for the same reason once
+`openhuman-embed` stopped being a path dependency: it is a separate Cargo
+workspace (its own `[workspace]` table) that reaches `openhuman-embed`
+transitively through `tinyhivemind-openhuman`'s `openhuman-embed.workspace =
+true`, and `field.workspace = true` copies the dependency *spec* — now a git
+source — across a workspace boundary without carrying the root workspace's
+`[patch]` table with it. Its own `Cargo.toml` now repeats the same patch entry
+this repository's root manifest declares, at the relative path its own
+directory needs. Any consumer with the same shape of transitive reach to
+`openhuman-embed` — a path dependency on a crate that inherits the dependency
+from a *different* workspace's `[workspace.dependencies]` — needs the same
+patch in that workspace's own manifest, not only in the workspace that first
+declared the dependency spec.
+
+## Consequences
+
+- **This repository's own build is unaffected in substance.** The `[patch]`
+  table means every `cargo` invocation here still compiles
+  `vendor/openhuman/crates/openhuman-embed`, the same tree it compiled when
+  the dependency was a path. `cargo metadata --locked` and the existing
+  `Cargo.lock` needed no update for this change, because a patched-to-path
+  package resolves and locks identically to a plain path dependency.
+- **A consumer gets a real choice instead of a forced fork.** Without this
+  change, a host vendoring both this repository and OpenHuman had no supported
+  way to make `tinyhivemind-openhuman`'s `openhuman_embed::Agent` the same type
+  as its own. With it, the host's `[patch]` table is the whole fix, and no
+  change to this repository is required to add one.
+- **The dependency-policy line ADR 0013 drew — git dependencies only in
+  example dev-dependencies — has a second exception now, and it is the last
+  one this reasoning permits.** The exception is not "git dependencies are
+  fine in library crates"; it is narrowly this: a library crate that must
+  share a type with a consumer's own vendored copy of the same upstream crate
+  cannot take that dependency as a path, because `[patch]` cannot retarget a
+  path. Any future case must show the same shared-type, patch-only-fixes-it
+  shape or it is a plain policy violation, not a second exception.
+- **A silent rev/submodule drift becomes a CI failure, not a silent split
+  build.** `.github/scripts/assert-openhuman-pin.sh` is the enforcement; it
+  runs in the `rust` job on every push.
+- **`assert-pure.sh` is unaffected.** `tinyhivemind-openhuman` was never in
+  `pure_crates`; it already carries a transport-shaped dependency
+  (`openhuman-embed` binds a running agent), and this change does not move it
+  across that boundary.
diff --git a/docs/adr/README.md b/docs/adr/README.md
index 052780e6..66a67c2a 100644
--- a/docs/adr/README.md
+++ b/docs/adr/README.md
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ link any earlier ADR it amends.
 | [0017](0017-validate-semantic-routing-at-the-port.md) | Validate semantic routing at the port | Accepted |
 | [0018](0018-require-host-supplied-conversation-kinds.md) | Require host-supplied conversation kinds | Accepted |
 | [0019](0019-complete-episodes-with-explicit-agent-events.md) | Complete episodes with explicit agent events | Accepted |
+| [0020](0020-openhuman-embed-is-a-git-dependency-patched-locally.md) | `openhuman-embed` is a git dependency, patched locally | Accepted — amends 0013 |
 
 ## Reading order
 
diff --git a/examples/openhuman/Cargo.toml b/examples/openhuman/Cargo.toml
index 6a8facfb..e0c13e92 100644
--- a/examples/openhuman/Cargo.toml
+++ b/examples/openhuman/Cargo.toml
@@ -31,3 +31,15 @@ tempfile = "3"
 # The inspector must terminate a hung Docker CLI from the host side.
 wait-timeout = "0.2"
 wiremock = "0.6"
+
+# `tinyhivemind-openhuman` above is a member of the root workspace and inherits
+# `openhuman-embed.workspace = true` from there, which now names the git source
+# (see the root `Cargo.toml` comment). `field.workspace = true` only copies the
+# dependency *spec* across the workspace boundary; it does not carry the root
+# workspace's own `[patch]` table with it. Without a patch here too, this
+# standalone workspace would fetch `openhuman-embed` fresh from git instead of
+# reusing the vendored submodule the `openhuman`/`openhuman-embed` path
+# dependencies above already point at — two copies of OpenHuman's
+# process-wide state in one binary. Keep this in sync with the root `[patch]`.
+[patch."https://github.com/tinyhumansai/openhuman"]
+openhuman-embed = { path = "../../vendor/openhuman/crates/openhuman-embed" }