diff --git a/backend/scripts/verify-workspace-descriptor-files.mjs b/backend/scripts/verify-workspace-descriptor-files.mjs
index 5e1ec548..b3581a82 100755
--- a/backend/scripts/verify-workspace-descriptor-files.mjs
+++ b/backend/scripts/verify-workspace-descriptor-files.mjs
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ const reviewedExpandableBlocks = new Map([
   ]],
   ["scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh", [
     { sha256: "ca0c17d9ff8dc0fbe018fc1c5510eb33bc667a936fbe44a9be2d311390576825", rationale: "Generates reviewed Task 13 runtime configuration." },
-    { sha256: "e457c2d0620fd2db22332285748fc2e0738de998860fa478ea1ff5b70a891f3a", rationale: "Generates the reviewed local Task 13 Compose override." },
+    { sha256: "cf62a7adcbb7b4e2323e7f2baee58f72dad7c19678f416555067eafefed65144", rationale: "Generates the reviewed local Task 13 Compose override." },
     { sha256: "c556f7d910d0788e219b042957e6b307cb9925b43920c680535d0d3a6dcbdb25", rationale: "Generates the reviewed local Task 13 installation descriptor." },
     { sha256: "c0078c68bd42a8668fbcb849888531e5e56109579df1ff96140a9e91b1efea56", rationale: "Generates the reviewed server Task 13 Compose override." },
     { sha256: "b34a2b4ffaa72e01efb64a7a28b13513527538d837b2f35b6ca5fb3dbdb2d5dc", rationale: "Generates the reviewed server Task 13 installation descriptor." },
diff --git a/scripts/task13-runtime-fixture-check.ts b/scripts/task13-runtime-fixture-check.ts
index 3797c0a5..9472678f 100644
--- a/scripts/task13-runtime-fixture-check.ts
+++ b/scripts/task13-runtime-fixture-check.ts
@@ -7,9 +7,12 @@ import { renderRuntimeConfig } from "../backend/src/workspaces/runtime-renderer.
 const requireFromBackend = createRequire(new URL("../backend/package.json", import.meta.url));
 const { parse } = requireFromBackend("yaml") as { parse: (value: string) => any };
 
-const [renderedPath, workspacePath, profile] = process.argv.slice(2);
-if (!renderedPath || !workspacePath || (profile !== "local" && profile !== "server")) {
-  throw new Error("usage: task13-runtime-fixture-check RENDERED_JSON WORKSPACE_YAML local|server");
+const [renderedPath, workspacePath, profile, bundleSource, runtimePasswordSourceInput] = process.argv.slice(2);
+if (!renderedPath || !workspacePath || (profile !== "local" && profile !== "server")
+  || !bundleSource || !runtimePasswordSourceInput) {
+  throw new Error(
+    "usage: task13-runtime-fixture-check RENDERED_JSON WORKSPACE_YAML local|server BUNDLE PASSWORD",
+  );
 }
 
 const config = JSON.parse(readFileSync(renderedPath, "utf8"));
@@ -105,27 +108,37 @@ if (workspace.semantic_index?.embedding?.dimensions !== 1024) {
   throw new Error("fixture workspace embedding dimension changed");
 }
 
-const bundle = config.secrets?.thothii_secrets;
-const bundleSource = bundle?.file;
-if (typeof bundleSource !== "string" || !statSync(bundleSource).isFile()) {
+if (!statSync(bundleSource).isFile()) {
   throw new Error("fixture secret bundle source is not a regular file");
 }
 accessSync(bundleSource, constants.R_OK);
 const coreBundle = (core.secrets || []).filter(
   (secret: any) => secret.source === "thothii_secrets" && secret.target === "thothii.secrets",
 );
-if (coreBundle.length !== 1) throw new Error("core lacks exactly one runtime secret bundle mount");
+if (profile === "local") {
+  if (coreBundle.length !== 0) throw new Error("local core retained the host-owned secret bundle mount");
+} else if (coreBundle.length !== 1) {
+  throw new Error("server core lacks exactly one runtime secret bundle mount");
+}
 if ((frontend.secrets || []).length !== 0) throw new Error("frontend received a runtime secret");
 
 const mounts = core.volumes || [];
 const runtimePasswordMounts = mounts.filter(
   (mount: any) => mount.target === "/run/secrets/task13-runtime-password",
 );
-if (runtimePasswordMounts.length !== 1 || runtimePasswordMounts[0].type !== "bind"
+if (profile === "local") {
+  const projected = mounts.filter((mount: any) => mount.target === "/run/secrets");
+  if (runtimePasswordMounts.length !== 0 || projected.length !== 1
+    || projected[0].type !== "volume" || !projected[0].read_only
+    || (projected[0].source !== "application-secrets"
+      && !projected[0].source.endsWith("_application-secrets"))) {
+    throw new Error("local secrets are not isolated in the Compose-owned projection volume");
+  }
+} else if (runtimePasswordMounts.length !== 1 || runtimePasswordMounts[0].type !== "bind"
   || !runtimePasswordMounts[0].read_only || !statSync(runtimePasswordMounts[0].source).isFile()) {
-  throw new Error("runtime fixture lacks one readable, read-only password-file bind");
+  throw new Error("server runtime fixture lacks one readable, read-only password-file bind");
 }
-accessSync(runtimePasswordMounts[0].source, constants.R_OK);
+accessSync(runtimePasswordSourceInput, constants.R_OK);
 const piTargets = [
   "/home/thoth/.pi/agent/auth.json",
   "/home/thoth/.pi/agent/models.json",
@@ -168,7 +181,7 @@ for (const [target, localVolume] of [
 }
 
 const resolverEnvironment = { ...core.environment };
-const runtimePasswordSource = realpathSync(runtimePasswordMounts[0].source);
+const runtimePasswordSource = realpathSync(runtimePasswordSourceInput);
 resolverEnvironment.THT_WS_TASK13_SMOKE_DWH_PASSWORD_FILE = runtimePasswordSource;
 const bindings = resolveRuntimeBindings(workspace, resolverEnvironment, [dirname(runtimePasswordSource)]);
 for (const [role, binding] of Object.entries(bindings)) {
@@ -200,7 +213,7 @@ if (runtime.resources?.embeddings?.base_url !== "http://embedding:11434"
   throw new Error("workspace resolver produced the wrong embedding runtime");
 }
 const secret = readFileSync(bundleSource, "utf8").trim();
-const runtimePassword = readFileSync(runtimePasswordMounts[0].source, "utf8");
+const runtimePassword = readFileSync(runtimePasswordSourceInput, "utf8");
 if (JSON.stringify(config).includes(secret)) throw new Error("fixture render leaked application bundle content");
 if (JSON.stringify(runtime).includes(secret)) throw new Error("runtime render leaked application bundle content");
 if (JSON.stringify(config).includes(runtimePassword)) throw new Error("fixture render leaked runtime password content");
diff --git a/scripts/test-task13-runtime-fixtures.sh b/scripts/test-task13-runtime-fixtures.sh
index b8027e67..8549f87f 100755
--- a/scripts/test-task13-runtime-fixtures.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-task13-runtime-fixtures.sh
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ checker=(node --import "$tsx_loader" "$root/scripts/task13-runtime-fixture-check
   echo "backend dependencies are required for the Task 13 runtime fixture contract" >&2
   exit 2
 }
-"${checker[@]}" "$rendered" "$workspace" "$profile"
+"${checker[@]}" "$rendered" "$workspace" "$profile" "$TASK13_SECRETS" "$TASK13_SESSION_RUNTIME_PASSWORD"
 
 for mutation in \
   wrong-service \
@@ -93,9 +93,9 @@ for mutation in \
   wrong-embedding-service \
   external-semantic-urls; do
   mutated="$fixture/$mutation.json"
-  node - "$rendered" "$mutated" "$mutation" <<'NODE'
+  node - "$rendered" "$mutated" "$mutation" "$profile" <<'NODE'
 const fs = require("fs");
-const [source, destination, mutation] = process.argv.slice(2);
+const [source, destination, mutation, profile] = process.argv.slice(2);
 const config = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(source, "utf8"));
 if (mutation === "wrong-service") {
   const name = "THT_WS_TASK13_SMOKE_DWH_HOST";
@@ -105,7 +105,12 @@ if (mutation === "wrong-service") {
 } else if (mutation === "wrong-value") {
   config.services.core.environment.THT_WS_TASK13_SMOKE_DWH_HOST = "wrong.task13.invalid";
 } else if (mutation === "wrong-secret-mount") {
-  config.secrets.thothii_secrets.file = source + ".missing";
+  if (profile === "local") {
+    const mount = config.services.core.volumes.find((item) => item.target === "/run/secrets");
+    mount.source = "wrong-application-secrets";
+  } else {
+    config.services.core.secrets[0].target = "wrong.secrets";
+  }
 } else if (mutation === "wrong-qdrant-service") {
   config.services.core.environment.THT_INTERNAL_QDRANT_URL = "http://vector:6333";
 } else if (mutation === "wrong-embedding-service") {
@@ -117,6 +122,7 @@ if (mutation === "wrong-service") {
 fs.writeFileSync(destination, JSON.stringify(config));
 NODE
   if "${checker[@]}" "$mutated" "$workspace" "$profile" \
+    "$TASK13_SECRETS" "$TASK13_SESSION_RUNTIME_PASSWORD" \
     >"$fixture/$mutation.out" 2>"$fixture/$mutation.err"; then
     echo "runtime fixture checker accepted mutation: $mutation" >&2
     exit 1
@@ -141,6 +147,7 @@ if (mutation === "collection-reuse") {
 fs.writeFileSync(destination, yaml.stringify(workspace));
 NODE
   if "${checker[@]}" "$rendered" "$mutated" "$profile" \
+    "$TASK13_SECRETS" "$TASK13_SESSION_RUNTIME_PASSWORD" \
     >"$fixture/$mutation.out" 2>"$fixture/$mutation.err"; then
     echo "runtime fixture checker accepted workspace mutation: $mutation" >&2
     exit 1
diff --git a/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh b/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh
index 57922a75..c4ba5fef 100755
--- a/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh
+++ b/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh
@@ -501,8 +501,9 @@ services:
       - sessions:/data/sessions
       - auth-runtime:/run/thothii-auth:ro
       - auth-state:/data/auth
-      - $TASK13_SESSION_RUNTIME_PASSWORD:/run/secrets/task13-runtime-password:ro
+      - application-secrets:/run/secrets:ro
       - registry-remote:/fixtures/remote.git:ro
+    secrets: !reset []
   frontend:
     image: $TASK13_FRONTEND_IMAGE
     build:
@@ -547,6 +548,9 @@ volumes:
   auth-runtime:
     labels:
       io.thothii.task13.run: "$TASK13_RUN_ID"
+  application-secrets:
+    labels:
+      io.thothii.task13.run: "$TASK13_RUN_ID"
   registry-remote:
     labels:
       io.thothii.task13.run: "$TASK13_RUN_ID"
@@ -978,6 +982,34 @@ task13_prepare_local_pi_runtime() {
     '
 }
 
+task13_prepare_local_application_secrets() {
+  local owner_label
+  owner_label="$(docker volume inspect --format '{{ index .Labels "io.thothii.task13.run" }}' \
+    "$TASK13_APPLICATION_SECRETS_VOLUME")"
+  [[ "$owner_label" == "$TASK13_RUN_ID" ]] \
+    || task13_fail "application-secret runtime volume lacks the Task 13 run label"
+  task13_run_logged "project local application secrets for the core runtime" docker run --rm \
+    --name "$TASK13_APPLICATION_SECRETS_PROJECTION_CONTAINER" \
+    --label "io.thothii.task13.run=$TASK13_RUN_ID" \
+    --user 0:0 \
+    --entrypoint sh \
+    --volume "$TASK13_SECRETS:/source/thothii.secrets:ro" \
+    --volume "$TASK13_SESSION_RUNTIME_PASSWORD:/source/task13-runtime-password:ro" \
+    --volume "$TASK13_APPLICATION_SECRETS_VOLUME:/target" \
+    "$TASK13_CORE_IMAGE" -ceu '
+      test -f /source/thothii.secrets && test ! -L /source/thothii.secrets
+      test -f /source/task13-runtime-password && test ! -L /source/task13-runtime-password
+      test -z "$(find /target -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -print -quit)"
+      cp /source/thothii.secrets /source/task13-runtime-password /target/
+      chown 10001:10001 /target /target/thothii.secrets /target/task13-runtime-password
+      chmod 0700 /target
+      chmod 0600 /target/thothii.secrets /target/task13-runtime-password
+      test "$(stat -c "%u:%g:%a" /target)" = 10001:10001:700
+      test "$(stat -c "%u:%g:%a" /target/thothii.secrets)" = 10001:10001:600
+      test "$(stat -c "%u:%g:%a" /target/task13-runtime-password)" = 10001:10001:600
+    '
+}
+
 task13_prepare_registry_remote() {
   local owner_label
   owner_label="$(docker volume inspect --format '{{ index .Labels "io.thothii.task13.run" }}' \
@@ -1008,6 +1040,7 @@ task13_start_stack() {
   task13_compose_logged "create local core authentication runtime" create core
   task13_prepare_local_auth_runtime
   task13_prepare_local_pi_runtime
+  task13_prepare_local_application_secrets
   task13_prepare_registry_remote
   task13_compose_start_logged "start local Compose distribution" up --detach --wait --wait-timeout 120
   TASK13_NETWORK="$(docker network ls \
@@ -2420,6 +2453,7 @@ task13_self_test_source_contract() {
   local root host_network push_command registry_function workflow uses_count pinned_uses_count
   local auth_runtime_mount auth_root_mount auth_projection auth_runtime_owner
   local pi_auth_bind pi_projection registry_runtime_mount registry_root_mount registry_projection
+  local application_secret_bind application_secret_mount application_secret_projection
   root="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd -P)"
   workflow="$root/.github/workflows/deployment.yml"
   host_network='--network'' host'
@@ -2434,6 +2468,9 @@ task13_self_test_source_contract() {
   registry_runtime_mount='registry-remote:/fixtures/remote.git:''ro'
   registry_root_mount='$TASK13_''REMOTE:/fixtures/remote.git:ro'
   registry_projection='task13_prepare_registry_''remote'
+  application_secret_bind='$TASK13_''SECRETS:/run/secrets/thothii.secrets:ro'
+  application_secret_mount='application-secrets:/run/''secrets:ro'
+  application_secret_projection='task13_prepare_local_application_''secrets'
   if rg -n 'docker[[:space:]]+(system[[:space:]]+)?prune' \
     "$root/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh" \
     "$root/scripts/tht-update-smoke.sh" \
@@ -2467,6 +2504,13 @@ task13_self_test_source_contract() {
   [[ "$(grep -Ec "^${registry_projection}\\(\\)|^[[:space:]]+${registry_projection}$" \
     "$root/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh")" -ge 3 ]] \
     || task13_fail "the Git fixture projection must cover bootstrap and subsequent pushes"
+  ! grep -Fq -- "$application_secret_bind" "$root/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh" \
+    || task13_fail "the local smoke must not bind the host-owned application bundle into the core"
+  grep -Fq -- "$application_secret_mount" "$root/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh" \
+    || task13_fail "the local smoke must mount Compose-owned application secrets"
+  [[ "$(grep -Ec "^${application_secret_projection}\\(\\)|^[[:space:]]+${application_secret_projection}$" \
+    "$root/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh")" -eq 2 ]] \
+    || task13_fail "the local application-secret projection must be defined and invoked once"
   grep -Eq '^TASK13_BAD_CANDIDATE_IMAGE="[^"[:space:]]+@sha256:[0-9a-f]{64}"$' \
     "$root/scripts/unified-deployment-smoke.sh" \
     || task13_fail "the bad rollback candidate must be an immutable digest reference"
@@ -2622,6 +2666,8 @@ task13_initialize() {
   TASK13_AUTH_PROJECTION_CONTAINER="$TASK13_PROJECT-auth-projection"
   TASK13_PI_RUNTIME_VOLUME="${TASK13_PROJECT}_pi-state"
   TASK13_PI_PROJECTION_CONTAINER="$TASK13_PROJECT-pi-projection"
+  TASK13_APPLICATION_SECRETS_VOLUME="${TASK13_PROJECT}_application-secrets"
+  TASK13_APPLICATION_SECRETS_PROJECTION_CONTAINER="$TASK13_PROJECT-application-secrets-projection"
   TASK13_REGISTRY_RUNTIME_VOLUME="${TASK13_PROJECT}_registry-remote"
   TASK13_REGISTRY_PROJECTION_CONTAINER="$TASK13_PROJECT-registry-projection"
   TASK13_AUTH_ADMIN=task13-admin