diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs
index e67fa93..3daee54 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/lifecycle.rs
@@ -457,6 +457,99 @@ async fn git(dir: &Path, args: &[&str]) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+/// Fetch `sha` from the `src` git repo into `dst` and pin it as
+/// `refs/tags/<tag>`. Used at request_apply_commit time so hive-c0re
+/// captures an immutable handle on the manager's commit; subsequent
+/// amendments / force-pushes in `src` no longer affect what gets
+/// built. Returns the resolved sha (which equals `sha` on success
+/// but normalised — short shas get expanded).
+#[allow(dead_code)] // wired up by manager_server in a later commit
+pub async fn git_fetch_to_tag(dst: &Path, src: &Path, sha: &str, tag: &str) -> Result<String> {
+    let src_str = src.display().to_string();
+    let refspec = format!("{sha}:refs/tags/{tag}");
+    git(dst, &["fetch", "--no-tags", &src_str, &refspec]).await?;
+    git_rev_parse(dst, &format!("refs/tags/{tag}")).await
+}
+
+/// Resolve `refname` (a tag, branch, or sha) in `dir` to its full sha.
+#[allow(dead_code)]
+pub async fn git_rev_parse(dir: &Path, refname: &str) -> Result<String> {
+    let out = git_command()
+        .current_dir(dir)
+        .args(["rev-parse", refname])
+        .output()
+        .await
+        .with_context(|| format!("git rev-parse {refname} in {}", dir.display()))?;
+    if !out.status.success() {
+        bail!(
+            "git rev-parse {refname} failed ({}): {}",
+            out.status,
+            String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr).trim()
+        );
+    }
+    Ok(String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stdout).trim().to_owned())
+}
+
+/// Plant a lightweight tag at `target`. Errors if the tag already
+/// exists — we want loud failures on id reuse, not silent
+/// overwrites.
+#[allow(dead_code)]
+pub async fn git_tag(dir: &Path, name: &str, target: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    git(dir, &["tag", name, target]).await
+}
+
+/// Plant an annotated tag with `body` as the message. Used for
+/// `failed/<id>` (body = build error) and `denied/<id>` (body =
+/// operator note). Multi-line bodies handled via stdin so we don't
+/// have to escape anything.
+#[allow(dead_code)]
+pub async fn git_tag_annotated(dir: &Path, name: &str, target: &str, body: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    use tokio::io::AsyncWriteExt;
+    let mut child = git_command()
+        .current_dir(dir)
+        .args(["tag", "-a", name, target, "-F", "-"])
+        .stdin(std::process::Stdio::piped())
+        .stdout(std::process::Stdio::piped())
+        .stderr(std::process::Stdio::piped())
+        .spawn()
+        .with_context(|| format!("spawn git tag -a {name} in {}", dir.display()))?;
+    if let Some(mut stdin) = child.stdin.take() {
+        stdin
+            .write_all(body.as_bytes())
+            .await
+            .context("write tag body to git stdin")?;
+        // Drop closes stdin so git can finish reading.
+        drop(stdin);
+    }
+    let out = child.wait_with_output().await.context("wait git tag -a")?;
+    if !out.status.success() {
+        bail!(
+            "git tag -a {name} failed ({}): {}",
+            out.status,
+            String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr).trim()
+        );
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Replace working tree + index with the tree at `target` without
+/// moving HEAD. `applied/main` stays pointing at the last known-good
+/// `deployed/*` while we let `nixos-container update` evaluate the
+/// candidate. On build failure callers reset back to HEAD; on
+/// success they fast-forward main to `target`.
+#[allow(dead_code)]
+pub async fn git_read_tree_reset(dir: &Path, target: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    git(dir, &["read-tree", "--reset", "-u", target]).await
+}
+
+/// Hard-set a ref to `target`. Used to fast-forward `refs/heads/main`
+/// to the just-deployed proposal commit. Uses `update-ref`, not
+/// `branch -f`, so it works regardless of where HEAD currently sits.
+#[allow(dead_code)]
+pub async fn git_update_ref(dir: &Path, refname: &str, target: &str) -> Result<()> {
+    git(dir, &["update-ref", refname, target]).await
+}
+
 /// Returns true if the command exits 0.
 async fn git_status(dir: &Path, args: &[&str]) -> Result<bool> {
     let st = git_command()