diff --git a/tests/lifecycle/run-gate.sh b/tests/lifecycle/run-gate.sh
index 4310e9b4..fa855d59 100755
--- a/tests/lifecycle/run-gate.sh
+++ b/tests/lifecycle/run-gate.sh
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@
 #   ARCHY_GATE_CASCADE=1                after the 5× loop, run ONE cascade pass
 #                                       (uninstall→no-ghost→reinstall a throwaway
 #                                       app); requires ARCHY_ALLOW_DESTRUCTIVE=1
+#   ARCHY_PREFLIGHT=0                   skip the host-readiness preflight
+#   ARCHY_MAX_LOAD                      load1 ceiling (default: nproc + 1)
+#   ARCHY_PREFLIGHT_SECS                how long to wait for load to fall
+#                                       (default: 900)
 #   plus everything run.sh / lib/rpc.bash respects
 #     (ARCHY_PASSWORD, ARCHY_HOST, ARCHY_SCHEME, ARCHY_ALLOW_DESTRUCTIVE,
 #      ARCHY_ALLOW_CASCADE_DESTRUCTIVE, ARCHY_ALLOW_NOAUTH)
@@ -77,6 +81,87 @@ settle_stack() {
   echo "  (stack settle deadline reached — proceeding anyway)"
 }
 
+# Host readiness, checked ONCE before iteration 1.
+#
+# Why this exists: on 2026-08-08 a gate run on a box at load ~14 failed five
+# times over, every failure reading "could not create a container" (searxng:start,
+# package.start btcpay-server, 3× electrumx) and never a lifecycle fault. That
+# sent two separate sessions hunting a phantom host-wide cgroup failure. It was
+# load. Measured on that 4-core box: at load ~14 podman runs 9-16 processes deep
+# and healthchecks time out 3-8/min; at load ~3.7, podman ~1 and zero timeouts.
+#
+# So: refuse to start on a loaded host rather than emit misleading failures.
+# Note what is deliberately NOT checked — the count of "Failed to create
+# container" in the journal. Those lines are emitted by healthcheck exec churn
+# and by settling after a boot; they never reach 0 on a busy node, and gating on
+# them blocks the gate forever. Prove container creation POSITIVELY instead.
+preflight_host() {
+  [[ "${ARCHY_PREFLIGHT:-1}" == "1" ]] || return 0
+  command -v podman >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 0   # remote/off-node run
+
+  local cores max_load
+  cores=$(nproc 2>/dev/null || echo 4)
+  max_load="${ARCHY_MAX_LOAD:-$((cores + 1))}"
+
+  echo "── preflight: host readiness ──"
+
+  # 1. aardvark-dns must be singular. Two of them serve divergent state and make
+  #    container-name resolution flaky, which then looks like a lifecycle bug.
+  local dns
+  dns=$(pgrep -c aardvark-dns 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+  if (( dns > 1 )); then
+    echo "  FAIL: $dns aardvark-dns processes running (expected 1)." >&2
+    echo "        Duplicate DNS servers desync container-name resolution." >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
+  echo "  aardvark-dns: $dns"
+
+  # 2. Wait for load to fall. It oscillates on nodes doing IBD or media
+  #    indexing, so a brief spike is not fatal — a sustained one is.
+  local deadline=$(( $(date +%s) + ${ARCHY_PREFLIGHT_SECS:-900} ))
+  local load1
+  while :; do
+    load1=$(awk '{print $1}' /proc/loadavg)
+    awk -v l="$load1" -v m="$max_load" 'BEGIN { exit !(l < m) }' && break
+    if (( $(date +%s) >= deadline )); then
+      echo "  FAIL: load1 $load1 still above $max_load after ${ARCHY_PREFLIGHT_SECS:-900}s." >&2
+      echo "        Quiesce the node (bitcoind IBD, electrumx indexing, CI runners)" >&2
+      echo "        or override with ARCHY_MAX_LOAD=. Running now yields failures" >&2
+      echo "        that look like lifecycle bugs but are contention." >&2
+      return 1
+    fi
+    echo "  load1 $load1 > $max_load — waiting…"
+    sleep 20
+  done
+  echo "  load1: $load1 (ceiling $max_load, $cores cores)"
+
+  # 3. Prove the host can actually create a container, 3× — the positive test
+  #    that the journal grep only ever approximated.
+  local img
+  img=$(podman images --format '{{.Repository}}:{{.Tag}}' 2>/dev/null \
+        | grep -v '<none>' | head -1)
+  if [[ -z "$img" ]]; then
+    echo "  (no local image — skipping container-create probe)"
+  else
+    local n
+    for n in 1 2 3; do
+      if ! timeout 60 podman run --rm "$img" /bin/true >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        echo "  FAIL: container-create probe $n/3 failed using $img." >&2
+        echo "        The host genuinely cannot create containers; fix that first." >&2
+        return 1
+      fi
+    done
+    echo "  container-create probe: 3/3 via $img"
+  fi
+
+  echo "── preflight: OK ──"
+}
+
+if ! preflight_host; then
+  echo "Preflight failed — refusing to start the gate. (ARCHY_PREFLIGHT=0 to skip.)" >&2
+  exit 3
+fi
+
 # One initial teardown so a previous run's cookies don't poison iteration 1.
 ./setup-teardown.sh