diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/coordinator.rs b/hive-c0re/src/coordinator.rs
index 1e8eb46e..8c227a16 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/coordinator.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/coordinator.rs
@@ -1567,8 +1567,13 @@ impl Coordinator {
         crate::paths::agent_runtime_dir(name).join("mcp.sock")
     }
 
-    /// Manager-editable proposed config repo. Bind-mounted into the manager
-    /// container as `/agents/<name>/config/`.
+    /// The *proposed* config repo: where a config change lands before it is
+    /// applied, and what an approved deploy promotes into `applied_dir`.
+    ///
+    /// **Not bind-mounted into any container.** An agent that edits a config
+    /// clones it from the forge itself; `/agents/<name>/config` shows the
+    /// applied (deployed) tree instead — see `config_bind_source` in
+    /// `lifecycle/host_config.rs`.
     pub fn agent_proposed_dir(name: &hive_types::Ident) -> PathBuf {
         crate::paths::agent_state_dir(name).join("config")
     }
diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/host_config.rs b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/host_config.rs
index 8d5ac725..cedf84cf 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/host_config.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle/host_config.rs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 //! network isolation, forwarded credentials), the systemd resource-limits
 //! drop-in, and the `write_dropins` verb that re-applies both.
 
-use std::path::Path;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use hive_priv_sock::{BindMount, CredentialMount};
@@ -71,6 +71,19 @@ async fn systemd_daemon_reload() -> Result<()> {
 /// inside the container.
 pub const CONTAINER_MANAGER_APPLIED_MOUNT: &str = "/applied";
 
+/// Host path behind every `/agents/<name>/config` mount: the **applied**
+/// (deployed) repo, not the working clone at `agents/<name>/config`. That
+/// clone is where a config change is staged, so it can hold a proposal
+/// that is still under review or was rejected outright — mounting it shows
+/// an agent a config which does not govern it. Both mounts (an agent's own
+/// and a parent's view of a child's) go through here so they cannot drift.
+///
+/// Never empty under a live container: `provision_container` runs
+/// `setup_applied` before `create_only` makes the container at all.
+fn config_bind_source(name: &str) -> PathBuf {
+    crate::paths::applied_dir(name)
+}
+
 /// Append bind flags for `child`'s state and config dirs into `binds`.
 /// See docs/persistence.md ("Parent access to child state") for what a
 /// parent may touch and why. Creates missing host-side directories so
@@ -104,8 +117,10 @@ fn bind_child_agent_dirs(child: &str, binds: &mut Vec<BindMount>) {
         return;
     };
     let child_root = crate::paths::agent_state_dir(&child);
-    for (sub, read_only) in [("state", false), ("config", true)] {
-        let host = child_root.join(sub);
+    for (sub, host, read_only) in [
+        ("state", child_root.join("state"), false),
+        ("config", config_bind_source(child.as_str()), true),
+    ] {
         let _ = std::fs::create_dir_all(&host);
         binds.push(BindMount {
             host_path: host.to_string_lossy().into_owned(),
@@ -249,9 +264,9 @@ async fn set_nspawn_flags(
             read_only: false,
         });
     }
-    let agent_id = hive_types::Ident::parse(agent_name)
+    hive_types::Ident::parse(agent_name)
         .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("invalid agent name {agent_name:?}: {e}"))?;
-    let own_config = crate::paths::agent_state_dir(&agent_id).join("config");
+    let own_config = config_bind_source(agent_name);
     std::fs::create_dir_all(&own_config)
         .with_context(|| format!("create {}", own_config.display()))?;
     binds.push(BindMount {
@@ -381,6 +396,27 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(paths, ["/agents/kiddo/state", "/agents/kiddo/config"]);
     }
 
+    /// The `config` mount names the **deployed** tree, not the working
+    /// clone the proposal is staged in. Asserted as "outside the child's
+    /// own dir" rather than by equality: the point is that the two are
+    /// different objects, which is what makes the mount unable to show a
+    /// config that was never approved. Equality with `applied_dir` would
+    /// restate the implementation and pass under any future relocation.
+    #[test]
+    fn child_config_mount_is_the_deployed_tree_not_the_working_clone() {
+        let working_clone =
+            crate::paths::agent_state_dir(&hive_types::Ident::parse("kiddo").expect("valid ident"));
+        let config = child_binds()
+            .into_iter()
+            .find(|b| b.container_path.ends_with("/config"))
+            .expect("a config bind");
+        assert!(
+            !std::path::Path::new(&config.host_path).starts_with(&working_clone),
+            "config mount must not come from the child's working clone: {}",
+            config.host_path
+        );
+    }
+
     /// The regression this exists for. `harness` holds the child's own
     /// runtime material and was only ever mounted because one loop
     /// treated all three dirs alike — re-adding it to that loop is a