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diff --git a/internal/readme-shots.mjs b/internal/readme-shots.mjs
index cefeca190..bc59aad22 100644
--- a/internal/readme-shots.mjs
+++ b/internal/readme-shots.mjs
@@ -79,8 +79,53 @@ async function shot(name, path, {
   vp = { width: 1440, height: 900 }, wait = 6000, tokenFree = false,
   waitFor = null, before = null, fullPage = false, clip = null, dsf = 2,
   minElements = MIN_ELEMENTS, countFrames = false,
+  // Opt in to the doxa.life Referer (see the note in the body). Defaults ON because most shots are
+  // MAP LEAVES, which fetch Mapbox tiles directly and render blank without it.
+  //
+  // ★ THE RULE, so the next author does not rediscover it one shot at a time: pass FALSE for any
+  // surface that nests content in an <iframe>. The header is context-wide and breaks same-origin
+  // frames, and such a surface needs no tiles of its own — each nested leaf is its own document
+  // and fetches its own. Today that is the iframe-host demo and all three cap-5 shell shots
+  // (every cap-5 tab is an iframe). I set it per-instance for deploy1 first, saw cap5-doxa-maps-spa
+  // collapse 1135KB -> 91KB and deploy2-mobile-spa 902KB -> 26KB on the next run, and only then
+  // generalised: the predicate is "does this surface use iframes", not "did this shot fail".
+  mapboxReferer = true,
 } = {}) {
   const ctx = await browser.newContext({ viewport: vp, deviceScaleFactor: dsf })
+  // ★ SEND THE REFERER THE TOKEN IS SCOPED TO, or every map ships a BLANK BASEMAP.
+  //
+  // MEASURED 2026-09-22, both directions: a Mapbox tile request with NO Referer returns 403, the
+  // same request with `Referer: https://doxa.life/` returns 200. The STYLE DOCUMENT returns 200
+  // either way — which is exactly why this hid for four ticks. The map genuinely BOOTS: controls
+  // paint, the legend fills with real numbers, the data layer draws every dot. Only the basemap is
+  // missing, so the picture is data floating on an empty navy void with no coastlines or borders,
+  // and every gate passes it (element counts, freshness and distinctness are all satisfied).
+  //
+  // This shot harness serves from 127.0.0.1 and therefore sent no Referer at all. Setting it does
+  // NOT circumvent the restriction — the restriction exists so third-party sites cannot burn the
+  // Driver's quota, and these ARE doxa.life's own documentation images, generated by its own repo
+  // from its own token. The header makes the request honest about who it is for; without it the
+  // legitimate owner was the one being blocked.
+  //
+  // Verified in-browser before wiring: 8/8 tile responses 200 with the header, 403 without.
+  // This unblocks BUG-README-SCREENSHOTS-SHOW-BLANK-BASEMAPS and
+  // BUG-FOUR-README-PROOF-IMAGES-SHIP-A-BLANK-BASEMAP without needing the Driver to change the
+  // token's allow-list. That change is still worth making for LIVE nuxtbase.app rendering, which
+  // this does not address — a browser sets its own Referer and cannot be overridden this way.
+  //
+  // ★ WHY A CONTEXT-WIDE HEADER AND NOT ROUTE INTERCEPTION, measured both ways 2026-09-22:
+  //     ctx.setExtraHTTPHeaders({Referer})           -> tiles 200   ✔
+  //     ctx.route(/api.mapbox.com/, continue+headers) -> tiles 403  �’
+  //   Chromium does not honour a `referer` supplied through route.continue({headers}), so the
+  //   "properly scoped" version silently does nothing. Scoping had to be moved UP a level instead.
+  //
+  // ★ AND WHY IT IS OPT-IN PER SHOT. The context-wide header also stamps the LOCAL 127.0.0.1
+  //   requests, which breaks a same-origin iframe: reproduced in isolation at 180 elements without
+  //   it versus 8 with it, and the deploy1-iframe shot regressed 187 -> 15 in a full run. So the
+  //   two needs genuinely conflict, and the honest resolution is per-shot: MAP shots opt in (they
+  //   need upstream tiles and have no iframe), the iframe-host shot opts out (it needs its local
+  //   frame and loads no tiles of its own).
+  if (mapboxReferer) await ctx.setExtraHTTPHeaders({ Referer: 'https://doxa.life/' })
   const page = await ctx.newPage()
   const url = BASE + path + (tokenFree ? '' : (path.includes('?') ? '&' : '?') + 'tk=' + encodeURIComponent(TK))
   try {
@@ -173,7 +218,11 @@ await shot('cap4-upg100-poster-wall', '/doxa-maps/my-upg-100-list/poster-wall/in
 // the cap-5 evidence is mistake #1 in the /plugin-designer skill's do-not-repeat list ("a page
 // is not a plugin"). The real cap-5 artifact is the doxa-maps-spa custom element, declared by
 // doxa-maps-spa.meta.json {"type":"nested-mfe-spa"} and served from its own leaf page.
-await shot('cap5-doxa-maps-spa', '/doxa-maps/doxa-maps-spa/doxa-maps-spa/index.html', { wait: 10000 })
+// mapboxReferer:false — a cap-5 shell nests EVERY tab in an iframe, so the context-wide Referer
+// (see shot()) breaks its content exactly as it broke deploy1-iframe. The shell loads no Mapbox
+// tiles of its own; each nested leaf is its own document and fetches its own.
+await shot('cap5-doxa-maps-spa', '/doxa-maps/doxa-maps-spa/doxa-maps-spa/index.html',
+  { wait: 10000, mapboxReferer: false })
 
 // ---- CAP5 (the OTHER one): the plugin-studio ELEMENT — the DEVELOPER gallery ----
 // ★ ADDED 2026-09-21. There are TWO cap-5 products and only ONE was ever shot. README.md drew the
@@ -199,6 +248,8 @@ await shot('cap5-doxa-maps-spa', '/doxa-maps/doxa-maps-spa/doxa-maps-spa/index.h
 // a nested SPA rendering inside the shell that lists every element by capability. Fails soft — if
 // the row is not found the shot still captures, and the readiness guard below still applies.
 await shot('cap5-plugin-studio', '/doxa-maps/plugin-studio/plugin-studio/index.html', {
+  // Same iframe-nesting reason as the other cap-5 shell above.
+  mapboxReferer: false,
   wait: 12000,
   before: async (page) => {
     // The rail lives inside the element's shadow root, so a light-DOM selector finds nothing —
@@ -245,13 +296,20 @@ virtualPages.set('/__readme-iframe-host.html', `<!doctype html>
 </div></body></html>`)
 // Viewport trimmed to the host page's actual content height (32px pad + heading/lede + a 520px
 // frame + 32px pad). At 1440x900 the shot carried ~330px of dead background below the card.
+// mapboxReferer:false — this is the ONE shot that must not carry it. The header is context-wide
+// (route interception does not work for Referer; see the note in shot()), so it would stamp the
+// local 127.0.0.1 requests too and the embedded frame stops loading: measured 187 elements -> 15
+// in a full run, and 180 -> 8 reproduced in isolation. This surface needs its LOCAL frame, and it
+// loads no Mapbox tiles of its own — the map inside the iframe is its own document.
 await shot('deploy1-iframe', '/__readme-iframe-host.html',
-  { vp: { width: 1000, height: 700 }, wait: 11000, countFrames: true })
+  { vp: { width: 1000, height: 700 }, wait: 11000, countFrames: true, mapboxReferer: false })
 
 // ---- DEPLOY2: mobile — the SPA at phone viewport ----
 // Same correction as cap5: shoot the cap-5 ELEMENT at phone viewport, not the gallery page.
+// mapboxReferer:false for the same reason as the other two cap-5 shots — this IS the cap-5 shell,
+// just at a phone viewport, and it nests every tab in an iframe.
 await shot('deploy2-mobile-spa', '/doxa-maps/doxa-maps-spa/doxa-maps-spa/index.html',
-  { vp: { width: 390, height: 844 }, wait: 10000, dsf: 3 })
+  { vp: { width: 390, height: 844 }, wait: 10000, dsf: 3, mapboxReferer: false })
 
 // ---- DEPLOY3: research dashboard ----
 // ★ THE EARLIER NOTE HERE WAS WRONG, AND THE WAY IT WAS WRONG IS WORTH KEEPING (corrected