diff --git a/docs/network.md b/docs/network.md
index aa183df8..66aa5fd7 100644
--- a/docs/network.md
+++ b/docs/network.md
@@ -112,11 +112,48 @@ dnsmasq is **authoritative** for the hive's own zones — answers
 queries with the bridge IP (where nginx is reachable). Everything
 else is forwarded to the host's own resolvers: dnsmasq reads the
 gateway container's `/etc/resolv.conf`, the host copy nixos-container
-makes at each container start — a host resolver change is picked up
-on the next gateway restart. Containers don't need to know the
+makes at each container start. Containers don't need to know the
 upstream — they query the bridge IP and dnsmasq does the right thing
 per-name.
 
+That copy is one-shot — systemd-nspawn(1) is explicit that nothing
+propagates into it after early init, because resolv.conf is normally
+updated by rename rather than in place. Left alone, a host network
+change (new router, new lease, laptop moving networks) would strand
+dnsmasq on a resolver that no longer answers, and every non-hive
+lookup from every agent would hang until someone restarted the
+gateway. The host-side **`hive-gateway-resolv`** path unit closes
+that: it watches `/etc/resolv.conf`, `machinectl copy-to`s it into
+the container, and reloads dnsmasq (`SIGHUP` — re-read upstreams +
+flush cache, nothing dropped). The watch is armed before
+`network-pre.target` so the boot's first DHCP write is caught as well,
+and the sync also runs once per gateway start to pick up a resolver
+change that happened while the container was down. A host file with no
+`nameserver` line is
+skipped rather than pushed, so a mid-rewrite snapshot can't blank the
+hive's DNS. There is deliberately no fallback `server=`: dnsmasq
+queries all known upstreams in parallel, so a hardcoded public
+resolver would take a share of normal traffic, not just cover the gap.
+
+Two alternatives that look simpler and aren't:
+
+- **A path unit inside the container.** The host replaces
+  `/etc/resolv.conf` by rename, and that `IN_MOVED_TO` doesn't cross
+  the nspawn mount namespace — the same reason hive-c0re reloads nginx
+  from the host side after each `agents.conf` write.
+- **Bind-mounting the host's `/etc/resolv.conf` into the container.**
+  openresolv writes a temp file and renames over the target, so the
+  bind mount would pin the *first* inode for the container's whole
+  lifetime — strictly worse than the copy, which at least a restart
+  clears. (Reachability is not the problem here: the gateway runs with
+  `privateNetwork = false`, so it shares the host's netns and can reach
+  anything the host can.)
+
+`machinectl copy-to` is used rather than writing to the container's
+rootfs from the host, so the push goes through the container's own
+mount namespace and stays correct if `/etc` is ever assembled
+differently (e.g. `system.etc.overlay`).
+
 `bind-interfaces` + `interface = [ bridgeName "lo" ]` means the
 listener only accepts queries from the bridge interface (plus lo for
 container health-checks). External hosts can't reach it — no
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/default.nix b/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/default.nix
index e8a6b55b..d23de50d 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/default.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/default.nix
@@ -81,6 +81,113 @@ in
       "f /var/lib/hyperhive/gateway/gateway.htpasswd 0644 root root - -"
     ];
 
+    # Keep the gateway's `/etc/resolv.conf` in step with the host's.
+    #
+    # nixos-container does `cp --remove-destination /etc/resolv.conf
+    # "$root/etc/resolv.conf"` in its start script, and nspawn's
+    # `--resolv-conf=auto` copies rather than binds for a writable,
+    # host-netns container like this one. Both are one-shot: systemd-nspawn(1)
+    # says outright that "no further propagation of configuration is
+    # generally done after the one-time early initialization (this is
+    # because the file is usually updated through copying and renaming)".
+    #
+    # So the gateway's copy is frozen at container start. dnsmasq has no
+    # explicit upstream (see ./dnsmasq.nix) and follows that file, which
+    # means a host network change — new router, new DHCP lease, laptop
+    # moving between networks — leaves dnsmasq forwarding to a resolver
+    # that is gone, and every non-hive lookup from every agent hangs. The
+    # agents' own resolvers point at the static bridge IP and never go
+    # stale, which is exactly why the symptom presents as "the gateway
+    # needs a kick".
+    #
+    # Hence: watch on the host, push into the container, reload dnsmasq.
+    # `reload` is `kill -HUP $MAINPID` (the upstream dnsmasq unit's
+    # ExecReload), so dnsmasq re-reads its upstream list and drops its
+    # cache without severing anything — nginx never notices. Why this has
+    # to run host-side, and why a file bind-mount is worse than the copy:
+    # `docs/network.md::Resolver behaviour`.
+    systemd.paths.hive-gateway-resolv = {
+      description = "Watch the host's /etc/resolv.conf for the hive-gateway container";
+      wantedBy = [ "multi-user.target" ];
+      # Arm the watch before anything configures the network, so the very
+      # first DHCP-driven resolv.conf write of the boot is caught too —
+      # that's the "gateway came up while DHCP was still settling" case.
+      # Inert if nothing pulls network-pre.target into the transaction.
+      before = [ "network-pre.target" ];
+      pathConfig = {
+        # PathChanged also watches the parent directory, so openresolv's
+        # atomic rename-over lands as IN_MOVED_TO on /etc and triggers —
+        # a watch on the inode alone would die with the replaced file.
+        PathChanged = "/etc/resolv.conf";
+        Unit = "hive-gateway-resolv.service";
+      };
+    };
+
+    systemd.services.hive-gateway-resolv = {
+      description = "Sync the host's resolvers into hive-gateway and reload dnsmasq";
+      # Also run once per gateway start, to catch a host resolver change
+      # that happened while the container was down. Deliberately NOT
+      # ordered after network-online.target: pulling that target in on
+      # every resolv.conf change risks blocking the sync behind a
+      # wait-online timeout on hosts where nothing else reaches it. The
+      # boot race is closed by arming the path unit early instead.
+      wantedBy = [ "container@hive-gateway.service" ];
+      after = [ "container@hive-gateway.service" ];
+      path = [
+        pkgs.systemd
+        pkgs.coreutils
+        pkgs.gnugrep
+      ];
+      serviceConfig = {
+        Type = "oneshot";
+        SyslogIdentifier = "hive-gateway-resolv";
+      };
+      script = ''
+        set -euo pipefail
+        src=/etc/resolv.conf
+        # Marker lives on tmpfs, so the first sync after every host boot
+        # always goes through rather than trusting a stale comparison.
+        marker=/run/hive-gateway/resolv.synced
+
+        # No nameserver line means either a mid-rewrite snapshot or a host
+        # with no DNS at all. In both cases the gateway's existing copy is
+        # the best information available — keep it and wait for the next
+        # event, instead of pushing a file that resolves nothing.
+        if ! grep -q '^[[:space:]]*nameserver[[:space:]]' "$src"; then
+          echo "host resolv.conf has no nameserver line — keeping the gateway's current copy"
+          exit 0
+        fi
+
+        if [ -e "$marker" ] && cmp -s "$src" "$marker"; then
+          echo "host resolvers unchanged since last sync — nothing to do"
+          exit 0
+        fi
+
+        # A stopped gateway needs no push: its next start copies the
+        # current host file itself.
+        if ! systemctl is-active --quiet container@hive-gateway.service; then
+          echo "hive-gateway not running — its next start copies the current file itself"
+          exit 0
+        fi
+
+        # `machinectl copy-to` writes through the container's own mount
+        # namespace, so this stays correct regardless of how the container
+        # assembles /etc (e.g. if system.etc.overlay is ever turned on) —
+        # unlike poking at the rootfs path from the host side.
+        machinectl copy-to hive-gateway "$src" /etc/resolv.conf --force
+
+        # Not fatal: dnsmasq polls resolv.conf for mtime changes on its own,
+        # so a failed reload costs a second of staleness, not correctness.
+        if ! systemctl -M hive-gateway reload dnsmasq.service; then
+          echo "dnsmasq reload failed (not up yet?) — copy is in place, its own poll will pick it up"
+        fi
+
+        mkdir -p "$(dirname "$marker")"
+        install -m 0644 "$src" "$marker"
+        echo "synced host resolvers into hive-gateway and reloaded dnsmasq"
+      '';
+    };
+
     containers.hive-gateway = {
       autoStart = true;
       ephemeral = false;
@@ -177,9 +284,11 @@ in
           # resolvconf's host-tracking mode then regenerates it — to an
           # empty file, since the host file doesn't cross the boundary
           # after start (the same failure the matrix container hit).
-          # With resolvconf off, nothing touches the copy: nginx's own
-          # lookups (ACME) and dnsmasq's follow-the-host upstream
+          # With resolvconf off, nothing in here touches the copy: nginx's
+          # own lookups (ACME) and dnsmasq's follow-the-host upstream
           # default (see ./dnsmasq.nix) both read the host's resolvers.
+          # Keeping it stale-free is the host's job — see the
+          # `hive-gateway-resolv` path unit above.
           networking.resolvconf.enable = false;
 
           # ACME (Let's Encrypt) integration. nginx vhosts set
diff --git a/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/dnsmasq.nix b/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/dnsmasq.nix
index 6852df5a..7a136ca8 100644
--- a/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/dnsmasq.nix
+++ b/nix/host-modules/hive-gateway/dnsmasq.nix
@@ -56,6 +56,12 @@
     # which nixos-container copies from the host at every start, so the
     # hive always uses the host's resolvers. resolvconf is disabled in
     # the container (see ./default.nix) so nothing regenerates that
-    # copy.
+    # copy; the host-side `hive-gateway-resolv` path unit (also in
+    # ./default.nix) pushes in a fresh copy and reloads dnsmasq whenever
+    # the host's resolvers change, so the copy can't go stale under a
+    # network switch. Deliberately no fallback `server=`: dnsmasq queries
+    # all known upstreams in parallel, so a hardcoded public resolver
+    # would take a share of *normal* traffic, not just fill in when the
+    # host file is empty.
   };
 }