diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/docker-publish.yml b/.gitea/workflows/docker-publish.yml
index 281b383..83e87da 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/docker-publish.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/docker-publish.yml
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ jobs:
       image: catthehacker/ubuntu:act-latest
     outputs:
       pi_version: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.pi_version }}
+      mempalace_version: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.mempalace_version }}
       fork_ref: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.fork_ref }}
       obsmem_ref: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.obsmem_ref }}
       toolkit_ref: ${{ steps.resolve.outputs.toolkit_ref }}
@@ -242,6 +243,54 @@ jobs:
           fi
           echo "pi_version=${PI_VERSION}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
+          # ── mempalace core: same audit as pi, from Dockerfile.base ────
+          # Until now this pin had NO CI-side audit at all — a literal string
+          # in Dockerfile.base with zero references in this workflow, while
+          # PI_VERSION got a concreteness gate, a published-on-registry check
+          # and a drift warning. It is the same class of risk: the palace's MCP
+          # tool schema is the agent-facing contract, and a client/server skew
+          # against the shared central palace is a fleet-wide, not local,
+          # problem. Read from Dockerfile.base (not duplicated here) so a local
+          # `docker build` and CI install the same version by construction.
+          MEMPALACE_VERSION=$(sed -n 's/^ARG MEMPALACE_VERSION=\([^[:space:]]*\).*/\1/p' Dockerfile.base | head -n1)
+          if ! printf '%s' "${MEMPALACE_VERSION:-}" | grep -qE '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$'; then
+            echo "::error::ARG MEMPALACE_VERSION in Dockerfile.base is not a concrete version (got '${MEMPALACE_VERSION:-<empty>}'). CI refuses to build from a floating palace version — see the pin policy comment above that ARG."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          # One fetch, two gates. `curl -sf` exits non-zero and prints nothing
+          # on 404 (PyPI's answer for an unpublished version), so an empty body
+          # lands in the "not published" branch with its own message.
+          MEMPALACE_PYPI=$(curl -sf "https://pypi.org/pypi/mempalace/${MEMPALACE_VERSION}/json" || true)
+          MEMPALACE_PUBLISHED=$(printf '%s' "$MEMPALACE_PYPI" | jq -r '.info.version // empty' 2>/dev/null || true)
+          if [ "${MEMPALACE_PUBLISHED:-}" != "${MEMPALACE_VERSION}" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Pinned mempalace version ${MEMPALACE_VERSION} is not published on PyPI (registry returned '${MEMPALACE_PUBLISHED:-<empty>}'). Fix ARG MEMPALACE_VERSION in Dockerfile.base."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          # A yanked release still installs when pinned exactly (PEP 592), so
+          # `uv tool install mempalace==X` would succeed silently and ship a
+          # version upstream has withdrawn to the whole fleet. The escape hatch
+          # is the same one-line bump that got us here.
+          MEMPALACE_YANKED=$(printf '%s' "$MEMPALACE_PYPI" | jq -r '.info.yanked // false' 2>/dev/null || true)
+          if [ "${MEMPALACE_YANKED:-false}" = "true" ]; then
+            # Reason hoisted into its own variable rather than inlined as a
+            # $(...) inside the message: a jq program nested in a substitution
+            # inside a double-quoted string needs escaping that silently breaks
+            # the FILTER (jq compile error) while the surrounding `exit 1` still
+            # fires, so the gate looks correct and reports garbage. Caught by
+            # the mutation test, not by review.
+            MEMPALACE_YANK_REASON=$(printf '%s' "$MEMPALACE_PYPI" | jq -r '.info.yanked_reason // "no reason given"' 2>/dev/null || true)
+            echo "::error::Pinned mempalace version ${MEMPALACE_VERSION} is YANKED on PyPI (${MEMPALACE_YANK_REASON:-no reason given}). An exact pin installs a yanked release without complaint — bump ARG MEMPALACE_VERSION in Dockerfile.base."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          # Informational only, exactly like pi's npm drift warning: a newer
+          # palace must never be adopted implicitly. `|| true` so a transient
+          # PyPI failure cannot fail a release whose pin is already verified.
+          MEMPALACE_PYPI_LATEST=$(curl -sf "https://pypi.org/pypi/mempalace/json" | jq -r '.info.version // empty' 2>/dev/null || true)
+          if [ -n "${MEMPALACE_PYPI_LATEST:-}" ] && [ "${MEMPALACE_PYPI_LATEST}" != "${MEMPALACE_VERSION}" ]; then
+            echo "::warning::mempalace ${MEMPALACE_PYPI_LATEST} is published; this build ships the audited pin ${MEMPALACE_VERSION}. To adopt it: read the upstream CHANGELOG for MCP tool-schema changes (the agent-facing contract) and for sync/delete semantics, check the skew it introduces against the central palace host's server version, then bump ARG MEMPALACE_VERSION in Dockerfile.base and note the audit in CHANGELOG.md."
+          fi
+          echo "mempalace_version=${MEMPALACE_VERSION}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
           # pi-fork / pi-observational-memory (GitHub) → commit SHAs.
           FORK_REF=$(curl -sf -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.sha" \
             "https://api.github.com/repos/elpapi42/pi-fork/commits/master" || true)
@@ -337,6 +386,7 @@ jobs:
           echo "studio_tag=${STUDIO_TAG}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
           echo "Resolved PI_VERSION=${PI_VERSION} (pinned in Dockerfile.variant; npm latest is ${PI_NPM_LATEST:-unknown})"
+          echo "Resolved MEMPALACE_VERSION=${MEMPALACE_VERSION} (pinned in Dockerfile.base; PyPI latest is ${MEMPALACE_PYPI_LATEST:-unknown})"
           echo "Resolved PI_ATELIER_REF=${ATELIER_REF} (pi-atelier ${ATELIER_TAG}, pinned)"
           echo "Resolved PI_FORK_REF=${FORK_REF}, PI_OBSMEM_REF=${OBSMEM_REF}"
           echo "Resolved PI_TOOLKIT_REF=${TOOLKIT_REF}, PI_EXTENSIONS_REF=${EXTENSIONS_REF}"
@@ -471,6 +521,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Smoke test (amd64)
         env:
           EXPECTED_PI_VERSION: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.pi_version }}
+          EXPECTED_MEMPALACE_VERSION: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.mempalace_version }}
         run: bash scripts/smoke-test.sh pi-devbox:smoke
 
   # ── Phase 3b: amd64 smoke for the studio variant ────────────────────
@@ -533,6 +584,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Smoke test studio (amd64)
         env:
           EXPECTED_PI_VERSION: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.pi_version }}
+          EXPECTED_MEMPALACE_VERSION: ${{ needs.resolve-versions.outputs.mempalace_version }}
         run: bash scripts/smoke-test.sh pi-devbox:smoke-studio
 
   # ── Phase 4: multi-arch publish ─────────────────────────────────────
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bcbcda8..d0841d5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,57 @@ Pre-v1.0.0 tags followed the pi npm version (`v{pi_version}[letter]`).
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Added
+
+- **`MEMPALACE_VERSION` now gets the same CI audit as `PI_VERSION`** — closing
+  the item v1.8.6 (and v1.8.5 before it) listed as "Still open". The pin was a
+  literal string in `Dockerfile.base` with **zero** references anywhere in
+  `.gitea/workflows/docker-publish.yml`, while `PI_VERSION` had ~20: a
+  concreteness gate, a published-on-registry check, and a never-silently-adopt
+  drift warning. `resolve-versions` now applies all of them to the palace pin,
+  read from `Dockerfile.base` (not duplicated in the workflow, so a local
+  `docker build` and CI install the same version by construction):
+
+  | Gate | Behaviour |
+  |---|---|
+  | not a concrete `X.Y.Z` | **error** — no floating palace version, same policy as pi |
+  | not published on PyPI | **error** at resolve time, instead of a `uv tool install` failure mid-build |
+  | **yanked** on PyPI | **error** — an exact pin installs a yanked release silently under PEP 592, so `mempalace==X` would have shipped a withdrawn client to the whole fleet |
+  | newer release exists | **warning** naming what to audit before adopting (MCP tool-schema = the agent-facing contract; client/server skew against the central palace) |
+
+  Plus one smoke assertion, `installed mempalace matches CI's audited pin`,
+  gated on a new `EXPECTED_MEMPALACE_VERSION` env threaded into both the `smoke`
+  and `smoke-studio` jobs. It is **not** redundant with the existing `manifest
+  mempalace_version matches the installed core`: that one compares two
+  properties of a single image and therefore cannot notice that *both* are the
+  wrong version. The failure mode this one covers is a variant built `FROM` a
+  cached base whose `MEMPALACE_VERSION` pin was older — internally consistent,
+  silently stale, invisible to every other assertion (the risk
+  `scripts/check-base-hash.sh` exists to reduce but cannot eliminate).
+
+  **Mutation-tested rather than reasoned about**, by extracting the shipped
+  block out of the YAML and running it with a stubbed `curl`: 9 cases —
+  `latest` / `3.8` / absent ARG refused; 404 and a registry echoing a different
+  version refused; a yanked release refused *with its reason*; a newer release
+  warning without failing; a transient PyPI outage not failing a build whose pin
+  is already verified; happy path silent and emitting the job output. Then once
+  more end-to-end against live PyPI with the real `Dockerfile.base`. **This
+  found a genuine defect in the first draft**: the yank message inlined a jq
+  program inside a `$(...)` inside a double-quoted string, where the escaping
+  broke the *filter* (jq compile error) while the surrounding `exit 1` still
+  fired — a gate that looked correct and reported garbage. The reason is now
+  hoisted into its own variable. The new smoke assertion was checked the same
+  way, through the real `run` helper's `sh -c` quoting path: passes on `3.8.0`,
+  fails on `3.7.1` *and* on `3.8.01` (exact equality, not the substring match
+  the pi assertion uses), and skips cleanly when the env is unset so a local
+  `smoke-test.sh` run is unaffected.
+
+  ⚠️ **Costs a base rebuild on the next tag**: `Dockerfile.base` is hashed
+  wholesale into `base_tag`, and its now-false "Known gap, carried forward"
+  comment had to be corrected in place (leaving a comment that says the audit
+  does not exist would repeat the shipped-false-claim mistake corrected below).
+  Expect ~67 min, as for v1.8.5/v1.8.6.
+
 ### Fixed
 
 - **Four build-provenance smoke assertions verified the presence of a manifest
diff --git a/Dockerfile.base b/Dockerfile.base
index dbbea58..92e5047 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.base
+++ b/Dockerfile.base
@@ -419,12 +419,16 @@ ARG INSTALL_MEMPALACE=true
 #     CLI commands against a running server), a different scenario #2307
 #     does not touch.
 #
-# Known gap, carried forward (flagged in prior release notes, not fixed here):
-# unlike PI_VERSION, which CI's resolve-versions job verifies is published and
-# warns — never silently adopts — on npm drift, MEMPALACE_VERSION has NO
-# equivalent CI-side audit (confirmed: zero references to MEMPALACE_VERSION in
-# .gitea/workflows/docker-publish.yml). This is a literal Dockerfile string
-# with no automated freshness or publish check.
+# CI-side audit (added after v1.8.6, closing that release's "Still open" item):
+# resolve-versions now treats this pin exactly as it treats PI_VERSION — it
+# reads the ARG from THIS file, refuses a non-concrete value, verifies the
+# version is published on PyPI, refuses a YANKED release (an exact pin installs
+# one silently under PEP 592), and WARNS — never silently adopts — when PyPI has
+# a newer release. smoke-test.sh then asserts the installed core equals that
+# audited pin, which catches a stale cached base layer that no manifest-internal
+# check can see. So a bump here is now gated end to end; what remains manual is
+# the JUDGEMENT above (MCP schema review, server/client sequencing), which is
+# the part that should stay manual.
 #
 # Deployment sequencing note for whoever ships this bump: synlig (the shared
 # central palace host) currently serves mempalace 3.7.1 SERVER-SIDE via
diff --git a/scripts/smoke-test.sh b/scripts/smoke-test.sh
index 968d10e..e9bfe8c 100755
--- a/scripts/smoke-test.sh
+++ b/scripts/smoke-test.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #
 # Verifies:
 #   - pi binary present and (if EXPECTED_PI_VERSION set) matches CI's resolved version
+#   - mempalace core matches the audited pin (if EXPECTED_MEMPALACE_VERSION set)
 #   - new v1.0.0 base additions (pandoc, graphviz, imagemagick, yq, tealdeer)
 #   - typst PDF engine for pandoc (Unreleased) — `pandoc --pdf-engine=typst`
 #   - non-modal editors nano + micro (alongside nvim)
@@ -427,6 +428,21 @@ run "manifest mempalace_version matches the installed core" '
   echo "manifest=[$m] installed=[$b]" >&2
   [ -n "$m" ] && [ "$m" = "$b" ]
 '
+# ... and, when CI supplies it, that the installed core is the version CI
+# actually AUDITED (published + not yanked on PyPI, in resolve-versions). This
+# does NOT duplicate the check above, which compares two properties of one
+# image and so cannot notice that BOTH are the wrong version. The live failure
+# mode it covers: the variant builds `FROM` a base tag chosen by base-decide's
+# content hash, so a bug in that hashing (the reason scripts/check-base-hash.sh
+# exists) could reuse a cached base built from an OLDER MEMPALACE_VERSION pin —
+# internally consistent, silently stale, invisible to every other assertion.
+if [ -n "${EXPECTED_MEMPALACE_VERSION:-}" ]; then
+  run "installed mempalace matches CI's audited pin (${EXPECTED_MEMPALACE_VERSION})" "
+    b=\$(mempalace --version 2>/dev/null | head -n1 | tr -d '\r'); b=\${b##* }
+    echo \"installed=[\$b] audited_pin=[${EXPECTED_MEMPALACE_VERSION}]\" >&2
+    [ \"\$b\" = \"${EXPECTED_MEMPALACE_VERSION}\" ]
+  "
+fi
 # Every component must be a resolved commit (or null for pi-studio in the
 # non-studio variant) — now enforced by the 40-hex value check above, which
 # strictly subsumes the old whole-file grep for '"unknown"'. Only rev() ever