diff --git a/nix/host-modules/default.nix b/nix/host-modules/default.nix
index bf7c2fa0..0ff92c8e 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/default.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/default.nix
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     ./hive-tls.nix
     ./otel.nix
     ./glue-bao-tls.nix
+    ./glue-matrix-bao-token.nix
     ./swarm-authelia.nix
     ./swarm-bao.nix
     ./swarm-ca.nix
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/glue-matrix-bao-token.nix b/nix/host-modules/glue-matrix-bao-token.nix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a89db5b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/host-modules/glue-matrix-bao-token.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+# Glue: the matrix registration token comes from the secret store.
+#
+# The store's first reader, and deliberately a small one. It fetches an opaque
+# 32-byte value and writes it where ./hive-matrix.nix already looks — the
+# homeserver never learns the store exists, and its config is unchanged.
+#
+# ⚠️ Why this credential first. It has no second file and no format: authelia's
+# OIDC secret needs a `.secret` *and* a matching `.digest`, so shipping that
+# one first would debug "can a reader authenticate and get bytes back" and
+# "did we write authelia's file format right" at the same time, with an SSO
+# outage as the failure mode. Here the failure is narrow — new agent accounts
+# cannot be provisioned, existing ones are untouched, nothing crash-loops.
+#
+# ⚠️ The fallback is today's behaviour, not a new one. `hive-matrix.nix`'s
+# activation script still mints a token when the file is absent; this unit
+# overwrites it with the swarm's copy when the store has one. A store that is
+# empty or unreachable leaves a working hive with a local token.
+#
+# 📌 LIMIT, stated rather than hidden: this gates on the store running HERE.
+# A hive reading from a store on another machine needs the same unit with that
+# machine's address and a client leaf issued out of band — the mechanism is
+# identical, only `-address` and the cert's provenance differ. Deferred until
+# there is a second hive to test it against, rather than shipped untested.
+{
+  pkgs,
+  lib,
+  config,
+  ...
+}:
+let
+  hyperhiveCfg = config.services.hyperhive;
+  deployCfg = hyperhiveCfg.deploy;
+  baoCfg = hyperhiveCfg.swarm.bao;
+  matrixCfg = hyperhiveCfg.swarm.matrix;
+
+  # Owned by ./glue-bao-tls.nix, which mints them. Named here rather than
+  # shared through a `let`: a cross-module binding would make these two files
+  # one file with a gap in the middle, and the whole point of a glue module is
+  # that it can be deleted on its own.
+  pkiDir = "/var/lib/swarm-bao-pki";
+
+  # Where the token lives in the store. A path, not a convention to guess at:
+  # whoever writes it and whoever reads it must agree, and the agreement
+  # belongs in one visible place.
+  tokenPath = "secret/swarm/matrix/registration-token";
+
+  # A literal, not an option — ./hive-matrix.nix names its container
+  # `containers.hive-matrix` directly and declares no `machine` to derive it
+  # from, which the trust-bundle call in that file already says out loud.
+  # ⚠️ `matrixCfg.machine` parses fine and fails at module-system resolution,
+  # so this is the kind of mistake only reading the target module catches.
+  matrixMachine = "hive-matrix";
+in
+{
+  config = lib.mkIf (hyperhiveCfg.enable && deployCfg.bao.enable && deployCfg.matrix.enable) {
+    systemd.services.swarm-bao-matrix-token = {
+      description = "fetch the matrix registration token from the swarm secret store";
+      after = [
+        "swarm-bao-pki.service"
+        "container@${baoCfg.machine}.service"
+      ];
+      wants = [ "container@${baoCfg.machine}.service" ];
+      requires = [ "swarm-bao-pki.service" ];
+      before = [ "container@${matrixMachine}.service" ];
+      wantedBy = [ "container@${matrixMachine}.service" ];
+      path = [
+        deployCfg.bao.package
+        pkgs.coreutils
+      ];
+      serviceConfig = {
+        Type = "oneshot";
+        RemainAfterExit = true;
+      };
+      environment = {
+        BAO_ADDR = "https://${baoCfg.domain}:${toString baoCfg.port}";
+        BAO_CACERT = "${pkiDir}/ca.pem";
+        BAO_CLIENT_CERT = "${pkiDir}/client.pem";
+        BAO_CLIENT_KEY = "${pkiDir}/client-key.pem";
+      };
+      script = ''
+        set -euo pipefail
+
+        # A sealed or uninitialised store answers on the port and times out on
+        # every read, so "the store is up" is not the same as "the store can
+        # answer" -- bound the wait rather than hanging the boot behind it.
+        if ! token="$(bao kv get -field=value ${lib.escapeShellArg tokenPath} 2>/dev/null)"; then
+          echo "swarm-bao holds no ${tokenPath}, or is sealed/unreachable." >&2
+          echo "Keeping the token hive-matrix already has." >&2
+          exit 0
+        fi
+
+        if [ -z "$token" ]; then
+          echo "swarm-bao returned an empty ${tokenPath}; keeping the local token." >&2
+          exit 0
+        fi
+
+        umask 077
+        printf '%s\n' "$token" > ${lib.escapeShellArg (toString matrixCfg.registrationTokenFile)}
+        chmod 0600 ${lib.escapeShellArg (toString matrixCfg.registrationTokenFile)}
+      '';
+    };
+  };
+}