diff --git a/packages/create-objectstack/src/runtime-image.test.ts b/packages/create-objectstack/src/runtime-image.test.ts
index 7522579f348..776a350c439 100644
--- a/packages/create-objectstack/src/runtime-image.test.ts
+++ b/packages/create-objectstack/src/runtime-image.test.ts
@@ -95,7 +95,14 @@ describe('scaffolded Dockerfile runtime image tag (#9017)', () => {
     // The version npm resolved is deliberately NOT the range's floor: that is
     // the normal case (`^17.0.0` installs the newest 17.x) and it is the case
     // that would go unnoticed if the tag were taken from package.json instead.
-    const resolved = `${String(ownVersion).split('.')[0]}.4.2`;
+    //
+    // It is DERIVED from the scaffolder's own version — same major, next minor
+    // — never spelled as a literal. The scaffolder writes `^<ownVersion>`, so a
+    // literal `<major>.4.2` lies inside that range only while ownVersion's minor
+    // is at most 4; the version pass to 17.5.0 put it BELOW the floor, and the
+    // agreement test went red on a fixture defect while blaming the scaffolder.
+    const [ownMajor, ownMinor] = String(ownVersion).split('.').map(Number);
+    const resolved = `${ownMajor}.${ownMinor + 1}.2`;
 
     beforeEach(() => {
       scaffold(dir);
@@ -104,6 +111,19 @@ describe('scaffolded Dockerfile runtime image tag (#9017)', () => {
       expect(result.pinned, 'pinRuntimeImage refused the scaffolded Dockerfile').toBe(true);
     });
 
+    // A precondition on the fixture, not on the scaffolder: should the planted
+    // version ever leave the range (or land on its floor), this names the
+    // fixture as the fault instead of the agreement test below reporting a
+    // runtime-image mismatch the scaffolder never produced.
+    it('plants a resolved version inside the scaffolded range and above its floor', () => {
+      expect(resolved).not.toBe(ownVersion);
+      expect(
+        satisfiesCaret(`^${ownVersion}`, resolved),
+        `fixture defect: the planted @objectstack/cli ${resolved} does not ` +
+          `satisfy ^${ownVersion}, the range the scaffolder writes for its own version`,
+      ).toBe(true);
+    });
+
     it('pins the FROM tag to the @objectstack/cli the project resolved', () => {
       expect(runtimeTag(dir)).toBe(resolved);
     });
diff --git a/packages/metadata/src/plugin-artifact-forward-conversion-retired-after.test.ts b/packages/metadata/src/plugin-artifact-forward-conversion-retired-after.test.ts
index be1ca4f222b..7dec75cc875 100644
--- a/packages/metadata/src/plugin-artifact-forward-conversion-retired-after.test.ts
+++ b/packages/metadata/src/plugin-artifact-forward-conversion-retired-after.test.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 import { defineStack } from '@objectstack/spec';
+import { resolveInstalledSpecVersion } from '@objectstack/metadata-core';
 import { MetadataPlugin } from './plugin.js';
 
 const HERE = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
@@ -58,6 +59,14 @@ function newPlugin(): any {
     return new MetadataPlugin({ watch: false, config: { bootstrap: 'lazy' } });
 }
 
+/** Order two versions by their leading `x.y.z` (a prerelease tail is ignored). */
+function compareVersions(a: string, b: string): number {
+    const triple = (v: string) => v.split(/[.-]/).slice(0, 3).map((n) => Number.parseInt(n, 10));
+    const [x, y] = [triple(a), triple(b)];
+    for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) if (x[i] !== y[i]) return x[i]! < y[i]! ? -1 : 1;
+    return 0;
+}
+
 /** The conversion summary lines the door logged, keyed by conversion id. */
 function conversionWarns(ctx: any): Map<string, string[]> {
     const byId = new Map<string, string[]>();
@@ -111,10 +120,31 @@ describe('[#20390] artifact door — a 17.4.0-built artifact boots on unreleased
         expect(warns.get('dashboard-widget-chart-config-structure-removed')![0]).toContain('3 site(s)');
         expect(warns.get('page-assigned-profiles-removed')).toHaveLength(1);
         expect(warns.get('page-assigned-profiles-removed')![0]).toContain('1 site(s)');
-        // Under the per-entry half the floor is not below the runtime's label,
-        // so the line must not claim the artifact "predates" a runtime printed
-        // at the same version — it names the retirement that opened it instead.
-        for (const line of [...warns.values()].flat()) expect(line).not.toContain("predates this runtime's spec");
+        // WHICH half of the window opened is decided by the running spec's
+        // label, and the version pass moves that label — so the clause is
+        // pinned per half, never as one literal. Under the per-entry half
+        // (unreleased `main`, label still 17.4.0) the floor is not below the
+        // label, so the line must not claim the artifact "predates" a runtime
+        // printed at the same version — it names the retirement that opened it
+        // instead. Once the label is past the floor (the 17.5.0 version pass
+        // onward) the label half opened it, and "predates" is exactly the
+        // claim the line owes, beside a runtime version that bears it out.
+        const floor = String(loadFixture().manifest.engines.protocol).replace(/^\^/, '');
+        const installed = resolveInstalledSpecVersion();
+        expect(installed).toMatch(/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+/); // spec is always resolvable here
+        const labelPastFloor = compareVersions(installed!, floor) > 0;
+        const lines = [...warns.values()].flat();
+        expect(lines).toHaveLength(2);
+        for (const line of lines) {
+            if (labelPastFloor) {
+                expect(line).toContain(
+                    `predates this runtime's spec (authored engines.protocol floor ${floor}, runtime spec ${installed})`,
+                );
+            } else {
+                expect(line).not.toContain("predates this runtime's spec");
+                expect(line).toContain('was built on a surface that still accepted shapes this runtime has since retired');
+            }
+        }
     });
 
     /**