diff --git a/epiphany-core/src/bin/epiphany-prompt-context-smoke.rs b/epiphany-core/src/bin/epiphany-prompt-context-smoke.rs
index 7c5c43c9..59235822 100644
--- a/epiphany-core/src/bin/epiphany-prompt-context-smoke.rs
+++ b/epiphany-core/src/bin/epiphany-prompt-context-smoke.rs
@@ -20,15 +20,17 @@ use epiphany_core::query_epiphany_local_verse_context;
 use epiphany_core::render_epiphany_prompt_context;
 use epiphany_core::seed_epiphany_local_verse_context;
 use serde_json::json;
-use std::env;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 
 fn main() -> Result<()> {
-    let store = env::args().nth(1).map(PathBuf::from).unwrap_or_else(|| {
-        PathBuf::from(".epiphany-smoke")
-            .join("cultmesh")
-            .join("epiphany-prompt-context.ccmp")
-    });
+    if std::env::args().nth(1).is_some() {
+        anyhow::bail!(
+            "prompt-context smoke accepts no arguments and writes only beneath .epiphany-smoke"
+        );
+    }
+    let store = PathBuf::from(".epiphany-smoke")
+        .join("cultmesh")
+        .join("epiphany-prompt-context.ccmp");
     if let Some(parent) = store.parent() {
         std::fs::create_dir_all(parent)?;
     }
diff --git a/epiphany-core/src/coordinator_launch_context.rs b/epiphany-core/src/coordinator_launch_context.rs
index d0a21cb1..02fe51f7 100644
--- a/epiphany-core/src/coordinator_launch_context.rs
+++ b/epiphany-core/src/coordinator_launch_context.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ use crate::EpiphanyMemoryContextQuery;
 use crate::EpiphanyMemoryProfile;
 use crate::EpiphanyPromptContextInput;
 use crate::RuntimeHandsReceiptChainSummary;
+use crate::load_epiphany_cultmesh_cluster_topology;
+use crate::load_epiphany_cultmesh_status;
 use crate::load_latest_epiphany_cultmesh_work_loop_telemetry;
 use crate::load_memory_graph_snapshot;
 use crate::memory_graph_from_epiphany_graphs;
@@ -16,7 +18,6 @@ use crate::runtime_hands_command_receipt;
 use crate::runtime_hands_commit_receipt;
 use crate::runtime_hands_patch_receipt;
 use crate::runtime_latest_hands_receipt_chain_after;
-use crate::seed_epiphany_local_verse_context;
 use crate::write_epiphany_cultmesh_work_loop_telemetry;
 use crate::write_memory_graph_snapshot;
 use chrono::SecondsFormat;
@@ -72,17 +73,35 @@ pub fn render_launch_dynamic_prompt_context(
     focus: String,
 ) -> Result<String, String> {
     let local_verse_store = local_verse_store_path(runtime_store_path);
-    seed_epiphany_local_verse_context(
+    load_epiphany_cultmesh_status(&local_verse_store, EPIPHANY_LOCAL_VERSE_RUNTIME_ID)
+        .map_err(|error| {
+            format!(
+                "failed to inspect local Verse context store {}: {error}",
+                local_verse_store.display()
+            )
+        })?
+        .ok_or_else(|| {
+            format!(
+                "local Verse is not bootstrapped at {}; initialize it before building worker launch context",
+                local_verse_store.display()
+            )
+        })?;
+    let topology = load_epiphany_cultmesh_cluster_topology(
         &local_verse_store,
         EPIPHANY_LOCAL_VERSE_RUNTIME_ID,
-        Utc::now().to_rfc3339_opts(SecondsFormat::Secs, true),
     )
     .map_err(|error| {
         format!(
-            "failed to seed local Verse context store {}: {error}",
+            "failed to inspect local Verse topology store {}: {error}",
             local_verse_store.display()
         )
     })?;
+    if topology.is_empty() {
+        return Err(format!(
+            "local Verse has no persisted cluster topology at {}; initialize it before building worker launch context",
+            local_verse_store.display()
+        ));
+    }
     let local_verse =
         query_epiphany_local_verse_context(&local_verse_store, EPIPHANY_LOCAL_VERSE_RUNTIME_ID)
             .map_err(|error| {
@@ -681,6 +700,7 @@ mod tests {
     use crate::put_hands_commit_receipt;
     use crate::put_hands_patch_receipt;
     use crate::runtime_worker_launch_request;
+    use crate::seed_epiphany_local_verse_context;
     use epiphany_state_model::EpiphanyAcceptanceReceipt;
     use std::fs;
     use uuid::Uuid;
@@ -713,6 +733,11 @@ mod tests {
             objective: Some("Test launch context.".to_string()),
             ..Default::default()
         };
+        seed_epiphany_local_verse_context(
+            local_verse_store_path(&runtime_store),
+            EPIPHANY_LOCAL_VERSE_RUNTIME_ID,
+            "2026-07-12T00:00:00Z",
+        )?;
 
         let rendered = render_launch_dynamic_prompt_context(
             &runtime_store,
@@ -771,6 +796,33 @@ mod tests {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn launch_context_refuses_to_bootstrap_shared_state() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+        let temp = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!(
+            "epiphany-launch-context-unbootstrapped-{}",
+            Uuid::new_v4()
+        ));
+        fs::create_dir_all(&temp)?;
+        let runtime_store = temp.join("runtime-spine.msgpack");
+        let local_verse_store = local_verse_store_path(&runtime_store);
+        let state = EpiphanyThreadState {
+            revision: 1,
+            objective: Some("Prove launch assembly cannot initialize shared state.".to_string()),
+            ..Default::default()
+        };
+
+        let error = render_launch_dynamic_prompt_context(
+            &runtime_store,
+            &state,
+            role_launch_context_focus(&state, "modeling"),
+        )
+        .expect_err("unbootstrapped launch context must fail closed");
+
+        assert!(error.contains("local Verse is not bootstrapped"));
+        assert!(!local_verse_store.exists());
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn verification_launch_context_includes_hands_receipt_chain() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         let temp = std::env::temp_dir().join(format!("epiphany-hands-context-{}", Uuid::new_v4()));
diff --git a/notes/conceptual-substitution-audit-2026-07-12.md b/notes/conceptual-substitution-audit-2026-07-12.md
index 318ad846..832dcb3b 100644
--- a/notes/conceptual-substitution-audit-2026-07-12.md
+++ b/notes/conceptual-substitution-audit-2026-07-12.md
@@ -169,3 +169,21 @@ paths may initialize the local Verse. Every other mutating query command passes
 and refuses before store creation when either is absent. Requesters now write
 into an existing body; they cannot manufacture the body as a side effect of
 asking it for work.
+
+## Launch-context/bootstrap split
+
+The final implicit production caller was
+`render_launch_dynamic_prompt_context`. Building a worker launch packet seeded
+the sibling local Verse before reading it, so launch preparation owned shared
+policy, topology, contracts, brake initialization, and operator status.
+
+Launch-context assembly now requires persisted Epiphany status and topology and
+fails before creating the Verse store when they are absent. Tests and the
+prompt-context smoke initialize their fixtures explicitly. The smoke no longer
+accepts an arbitrary output path; it writes only
+`.epiphany-smoke/cultmesh/epiphany-prompt-context.ccmp`.
+
+The remaining non-test seed callers are now limited to the explicit Verse seed
+commands and two named, path-confined smoke fixture initializers. No production
+provider, supervisor, requester, diagnostic, or launch path bootstraps shared
+state as a convenience side effect.
diff --git a/notes/epiphany-current-algorithmic-map.md b/notes/epiphany-current-algorithmic-map.md
index 5e29a329..723d22fa 100644
--- a/notes/epiphany-current-algorithmic-map.md
+++ b/notes/epiphany-current-algorithmic-map.md
@@ -106,6 +106,10 @@
   quarantined smoke initialize local Verse state. Every operator/requester
   mutation requires persisted status and topology before writing its bounded
   brake, poke, tool, Eve, Bifrost, metrics, artifact, or feedback document.
+- Coordinator launch-context assembly also requires persisted status and
+  topology. Rendering a worker prompt cannot initialize shared state. Its
+  standalone smoke accepts no path arguments and writes only beneath
+  `.epiphany-smoke`.
 - Store/runtime overrides fail before fixture seeding or receipt construction.
 - Negative proof: targeting `state/local-verse.ccmp` was rejected and its SHA-256 did not change.
 - Positive proof: the built-in quarantined smoke completes successfully and reports its quarantine coordinates.
diff --git a/notes/fresh-workspace-handoff.md b/notes/fresh-workspace-handoff.md
index 2fea958a..6d76313a 100644
--- a/notes/fresh-workspace-handoff.md
+++ b/notes/fresh-workspace-handoff.md
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ The confirmed conceptual substitutions have been cut:
 - query-CLI requester/operator mutations also require persisted bootstrap.
   Only explicit seed commands and the fixed aggregate smoke may initialize the
   shared local Verse.
+- worker launch-context rendering requires the existing Verse and cannot seed
+  it. The prompt-context smoke accepts no destination and is fixed beneath
+  `.epiphany-smoke`.
 
 The presentation boundary is now plain: `swarm overview` is a generic compact read-only projection. Gjallar is a downstream TUI application on Nightwing and is not an Epiphany organ, provider, owner, runtime, or architectural dependency. Eve/CultUI graphs may be lowered or composited downstream without Epiphany caring which presentation client does it.
 
diff --git a/state/ledgers.msgpack b/state/ledgers.msgpack
index 7884584e..be3590ab 100644
Binary files a/state/ledgers.msgpack and b/state/ledgers.msgpack differ
diff --git a/state/map.yaml b/state/map.yaml
index 153a8b71..e434fef3 100644
--- a/state/map.yaml
+++ b/state/map.yaml
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ data_flow:
     - move historical proof to git, commits, smoke artifacts, or distilled evidence rather than plan prose
 
 active_subgoals:
-  - Use `notes/conceptual-substitution-audit-2026-07-12.md` plus `notes/receipt-writer-provenance-audit-2026-07-12.md` as the current authority-corrosion maps. Snapshot promotion, synthetic smoke escape, unbound operator completion, hidden service execution flags, generic-bootstrap publication of provider advertisements/Eve surfaces/hosted tools, the central topology-derived Odin publisher, all-provider state writers, cluster-daemon bootstrap, daemon-supervisor production bootstrap, and requester/operator query-side bootstrap are cut. Provider absence survives bootstrap; only explicit seed/fixture paths initialize; each cluster daemon writes its own presence and pulse; Idunn and requester paths require the shared body rather than repainting it; synthetic seeding is quarantined. Next remove or test-gate dead public receipt constructors where provider binaries are absent and audit remaining projections, caches, schedulers, adapters, and non-receipt smokes for borrowed authority or path escape.
+  - Use `notes/conceptual-substitution-audit-2026-07-12.md` plus `notes/receipt-writer-provenance-audit-2026-07-12.md` as the current authority-corrosion maps. Snapshot promotion, synthetic smoke escape, unbound operator completion, hidden service execution flags, provider/bootstrap collapse, the central topology-derived Odin publisher, all-provider writers, cluster-daemon bootstrap, daemon-supervisor production bootstrap, requester/operator query bootstrap, and launch-context bootstrap are cut. Only explicit seed commands and named path-confined fixtures initialize; providers, Idunn, requesters, diagnostics, and worker-launch assembly require the existing shared body. Next remove or test-gate dead public receipt constructors where provider binaries are absent and audit remaining projections, caches, schedulers, adapters, and non-receipt smokes for borrowed authority or path escape.
   - `swarm-overview` is an Epiphany-local, renderer-neutral diagnostic projection over provider-owned typed state. It owns no lifecycle, discovery, composition, or mutation authority. Epiphany publishes clean provider-owned Eve surfaces; Odin may discover them; downstream lowerers and compositors remain outside Epiphany's concern.
   - Idunn owns daemon survival and service lifecycle physiology. Codex/operator sessions may inspect, generate runbooks, and route explicit operator authority, but keeping daemons alive belongs to Idunn-owned service lifecycle receipts, scheduler policy, audits, and aftercare. Do not let Self, diagnostic projections, or ad hoc wrapper summaries become a second daemon-keeper. Global tool readbacks for Self `service-health`, `service-policy-directory`, and `swarm-online-runbook` state `lifecycleOwner=Idunn` and `hostedBody=Epiphany` without service mutation or private-state exposure.
   - Use `notes/epiphany-cultmesh-dreaming-roadmap.md` as the design authority for distributed Epiphany dreaming. Public dreams are separately authored typed documents distributed through CultMesh/CultNet; private state remains local and cannot be shared by flipping a visibility flag. Foreign dreams are external thought weather until a reviewed local adoption receipt digests them into memory, planning, doctrine, or governance.