diff --git a/internal/smoke.mjs b/internal/smoke.mjs
index 7b421ad3a..f6fcc5755 100644
--- a/internal/smoke.mjs
+++ b/internal/smoke.mjs
@@ -10,13 +10,23 @@
  * the page.
  *
  * WHAT IT ASSERTS
- *   1. the shell renders,
+ *   on the SHELL (/):
+ *   1. it renders (has a <title>),
  *   2. it resolves a token from the endpoint the build writes,
- *   3. a bundle lazily imports and registers its custom element,
- *   4. an element actually mounts,
- *   5. no uncaught page errors,
- *   6. no failed same-origin requests — this is what caught a 404 on every single
+ *   3. no uncaught page errors,
+ *   4. no failed same-origin requests — this is what caught a 404 on every single
  *      page load, from a <script src> for a file that is deliberately never deployed.
+ *   on a GENERATED PROFILE PAGE (picked from the manifest, never hardcoded):
+ *   5. a bundle imports and registers its custom element,
+ *   6. an element actually mounts with a profile-config,
+ *   7. its own #status node reports no complaint,
+ *   8. no uncaught errors and no failed same-origin requests there either.
+ *
+ * ★ 5 and 6 are asserted on the PROFILE PAGE ONLY, and that is deliberate (2026-09-22). They used
+ * to be asserted on the shell too, from when the root page embedded a live preview. The gallery is
+ * now a navigation CATALOG that embeds nothing, so those copies reported a product decision as a
+ * failure. The shell still REPORTS both counts in its log line, so a change of behaviour is
+ * visible; it just no longer fails on the intended one.
  *
  * It checks TWO surfaces, because they resolve a token by different routes and one
  * passing says nothing about the other: the shell at / fetches the endpoint itself,
@@ -72,13 +82,33 @@ try {
   if (!String(token).startsWith('pk.') && !String(token).startsWith('tk.'))
     fail.push(`shell could not resolve a token from ./api/maps/token.json (got: ${token}) — every basemap would be blank`)
 
+  // ── THE SHELL IS A CATALOG, NOT A HOST — these two counts are REPORTED, NOT ASSERTED ────────
+  //
+  // ★ CORRECTED 2026-09-22. This block used to fail when the shell mounted no element. That was
+  // right when the root page embedded a live preview; it is wrong now. MEASURED: public/index.html
+  // contains four occurrences of "profile-config" and ALL FOUR are escaped snippet/glossary text
+  // (&lt;doxa-map profile-config=…&gt;) — the gallery is a capability-sorted NAVIGATION CATALOG that
+  // links to bundles and deliberately embeds none.
+  //
+  // THE COVERAGE IS NOT LOST, which is the only reason this is safe to relax: the generated-profile
+  // block below asserts the SAME TWO THINGS ("mounted no element" / "imported no bundle that
+  // registered its element") against a real leaf page picked from the manifest — and that surface
+  // passes (mounted=1). 21 of the built leaf pages mount with a profile-config at load. So these
+  // were duplicate assertions aimed at the one surface that by design satisfies neither.
+  //
+  // WHY NOT RE-AIM THEM AT plugin-studio INSTEAD (my first instinct, and it was wrong): the cap-5
+  // studio leaf has exactly ONE [profile-config] element at load — its own <plugin-studio> host —
+  // and ZERO nested elements or live iframes. It mounts panes ON ACTIVATION, which is the lazy
+  // design that keeps the shell fast. A load-time assertion cannot see behaviour that starts on a
+  // click. Verified in a browser before changing this.
+  //
+  // KEPT AS OUTPUT so a regression is still visible: if the shell ever starts mounting again, or a
+  // future catalog page is expected to, these numbers say so in the log line below.
   const registered = await page.evaluate(() =>
     [...document.querySelectorAll('[profile-config]')].map(e => e.tagName.toLowerCase())
       .filter(t => !!customElements.get(t)))
-  if (!registered.length) fail.push('no bundle lazily imported and registered its custom element')
 
   const mounted = await page.evaluate(() => document.querySelectorAll('[profile-config]').length)
-  if (!mounted) fail.push('no element mounted with a profile-config')
 
   if (pageErrors.length) fail.push(`uncaught page errors: ${pageErrors.slice(0, 3).join(' | ')}`)
   if (failed.length) fail.push(`failed same-origin requests: ${failed.slice(0, 3).join(' | ')}`)