diff --git a/doc/plans/2026-10-31-zero-downtime-web-deploys.md b/doc/plans/2026-10-31-zero-downtime-web-deploys.md
index ab753651e23..afbbe4d8282 100644
--- a/doc/plans/2026-10-31-zero-downtime-web-deploys.md
+++ b/doc/plans/2026-10-31-zero-downtime-web-deploys.md
@@ -442,3 +442,89 @@ the new launcher. Existing live failure/cleanup receipts remain unchanged.
 Still required: active execution and continuation, cross-process follow-up,
 migrated packaged overlap, ten staging replacements including rollback, browser
 and sleep/wake/idle verification there, and one internal production canary.
+
+### 2026-11-01 10:12 UTC hosted qualification preparation
+
+Core maintenance #18529 merged as `d941ed3879`; bounded cold restore #18531
+merged as `1d348bbef0`. Both passed all current-head CI and Greptile 5/5 with
+no unresolved review threads. This checkout now starts from the latter merge.
+Published image and Cloud composition qualification are still pending.
+
+The earlier staging target was superseded: its historical local execution
+workspaces require their own migration review. It was unpinned at 09:59 UTC
+without a volume or deployment mutation by this chat. The superseded browser
+fixture auto-assigned an agent despite the composer showing no assignee;
+that attempted run failed. The task was then unassigned, paused and hidden.
+Do not count this as successful agent execution or assume it incurred no cost.
+Private setup and restoration receipts remain under `/private/tmp/paperclip-zdt-`.
+
+A dedicated staging fixture was provisioned through the normal signup API.
+Its concrete host and stack identity remain in the private qualification receipt.
+It is pinned through the audited user-managed API, and the existing operator
+was added through the audited membership API. Normal organization-launcher
+entry reached its dashboard. A separate synthetic fixture owner authenticated
+through the normal Cloud entry-code/session flow. The tenant serves Core
+`16787e4167` in Cloud distribution `cloud-41292158258-1`.
+
+The fixture contains a paused, wake-disabled agent with 34 synthetic files
+(524,936 bytes), all read back through the API, and unassigned backlog task
+with one saved comment. The data will exercise volume enrollment and
+subsequent replacement. Receipt: `/private/tmp/paperclip-zdt-hosted-fixture.json`.
+No hosted enrollment or overlap has yet run; the original volume is attached.
+This controlled fixture does not qualify arbitrary historic local workspaces.
+The saved E2E model credential remains an external blocker for paid-agent proof.
+
+The published Linux/amd64 maintenance image for `d941ed3879`, digest
+`sha256:5370ef6c938a639d5994bb20fb85e0a07b9210b264389b2076cc5890f66ea686`,
+passed the real-volume migration rehearsal. A legacy container wrote two files
+and generated its decision-signing key on its volume. After confirmed shutdown,
+the packaged maintenance entry migrated the files, verified shared objects and
+exported that exact original key; unauthenticated status was denied and ordinary
+app routes were absent. Both predecessor containers and the entire volume were
+then deleted. A new empty-home container retained the original session and read
+the migrated files. Two further replacements served 111 reads and 23 saves with
+zero failures; unready replacement refusal and clean exits passed. Owned test
+resources were removed. Receipt: `/private/tmp/paperclip-zdt-container-7r1Nwv/evidence.json`.
+This small-file Core image rehearsal complements the multi-page migration tests;
+it does not qualify Cloud routing, large cold folders or active agents.
+
+### 2026-11-01 10:29 UTC packaged Cloud proof
+
+The exact Cloud composition `cloud-41296664811-1`, Core `d941ed3879`,
+digest `sha256:bce104e05623bd365740013c8fbb87680da7e152f9c94bd099884a9a5f6367cc`,
+passed the same real-volume maintenance, key preservation, full volume removal
+and empty-home replacement rehearsal: 121 reads, 25 saves, zero failures.
+Receipt: `/private/tmp/paperclip-zdt-container-JBK8C7/evidence.json`.
+This verifies the private Cloud packaging contains the working maintenance entry;
+it does not substitute for Railway routing or active-agent acceptance.
+
+The dedicated hosted fixture passed a ten-second authenticated baseline with
+19 reads, three saves, one WebSocket connection and all 34 file hashes intact.
+Normal browser entry and an issue-title edit persisted. Receipt:
+`/private/tmp/paperclip-zdt-hosted-smoke-s1Q33a/evidence.json`.
+The first named-stack deployment was refused before creating a campaign because
+an existing fleet campaign still reserved the fixture. That campaign completed
+at 10:24:40 UTC and skipped the now-pinned fixture. Its operation lease was not
+held; the campaign reservation was the actual conflict. The refused workflow
+was explicitly retried, and the named-stack request
+is deploying the qualified maintenance composition. No hosted enrollment has
+started and no controller allowlist has changed yet.
+
+The named-stack request completed at 10:31 UTC with serving commit verification
+for `d941ed3879`. A new continuous deployment campaign then started. The controller
+restart guard correctly refuses the allowlist change until that campaign finishes.
+The original volume remains attached and the fixture is pinned.
+
+Core `1d348bbef0` published its image, but its post-merge Cloud-source check
+timed out after 15 seconds in the new cold-folder regression. All other shards
+passed. The unchanged test passed locally against the owned PostgreSQL fixture;
+the eight-test file took 10.03 seconds. Native `Buffer.equals` retains complete
+byte equality while avoiding generic assertion traversal over 40 large buffers.
+After that assertion-only change, all eight tests passed in 5.90 seconds, with
+the cold-folder case taking 561 ms. The 15-second test timeout and 30-second
+production deadline remain unchanged. The original CI failure is retained at
+`/private/tmp/paperclip-zdt-final-source-verification-failed.log`; local before
+and after logs are `/private/tmp/paperclip-zdt-buffer-test-{before,after}-pg.log`.
+A first local attempt failed before tests because embedded PostgreSQL could not
+start; the existing external test database enabled the comparison. The failed
+post-merge shard was retried once while the assertion fix proceeds through review.
diff --git a/server/src/__tests__/agent-file-durability.test.ts b/server/src/__tests__/agent-file-durability.test.ts
index d198d614e26..6348f2c60a7 100644
--- a/server/src/__tests__/agent-file-durability.test.ts
+++ b/server/src/__tests__/agent-file-durability.test.ts
@@ -115,12 +115,12 @@ describe("durable agent file authority", () => {
     expect(await migrateAgentFiles(db, { companyId, apply: true, writersStopped: true })).toMatchObject({ pageReady: true });
     await replaceFilesystem();
     objects.readDelayMs = 25;
-    expect(await store().read(companyId, agentId, "nested/file-39.bin", actor())).toEqual(contents);
+    expect((await store().read(companyId, agentId, "nested/file-39.bin", actor()))?.equals(contents)).toBe(true);
     expect(objects.peakReads).toBeGreaterThan(1);
     expect(objects.peakReads).toBeLessThanOrEqual(8);
     expect(objects.activeReads).toBe(0);
     for (let index = 0; index < 40; index++) {
-      expect(await fs.readFile(path.join(root, `nested/file-${index}.bin`))).toEqual(contents);
+      expect((await fs.readFile(path.join(root, `nested/file-${index}.bin`))).equals(contents)).toBe(true);
     }
 
     // A corrupt replacement must preserve the old projection and await every
@@ -130,9 +130,9 @@ describe("durable agent file authority", () => {
     await expect(store().read(companyId, agentId, "nested/file-39.bin", actor())).rejects.toThrow(/committed (size|digest)/);
     expect(objects.activeReads).toBe(0);
     expect((await fs.readdir(path.dirname(root))).filter(name => name.startsWith(".agent-files-"))).toEqual([]);
-    expect(await fs.readFile(path.join(root, "nested/file-39.bin"))).toEqual(contents);
+    expect((await fs.readFile(path.join(root, "nested/file-39.bin"))).equals(contents)).toBe(true);
     objects.corruptReads = false;
-    expect(await store().read(companyId, agentId, "nested/file-39.bin", actor())).toEqual(contents);
+    expect((await store().read(companyId, agentId, "nested/file-39.bin", actor()))?.equals(contents)).toBe(true);
   });
 
   it("does not promote a rejected first save through subsequent local adoption", async () => {