diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/container/prod_orchestrator.rs b/core/archipelago/src/container/prod_orchestrator.rs
index cb836168..9d773f8f 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/container/prod_orchestrator.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/container/prod_orchestrator.rs
@@ -277,6 +277,21 @@ async fn chown_for_rootless_container(uid_gid: &str, path: &str) -> Result<()> {
         .map(|(u, g)| (u.parse::<u32>().unwrap_or(0), g.parse::<u32>().unwrap_or(0)))
         .unwrap_or((0, 0));
 
+    // Idempotence: a directory already owned by the host-mapped target must
+    // not get another recursive chown on every prepare/reconcile tick — that
+    // unconditional chown is what looped on postgres-btcpay every ~45s
+    // (archi-dev-box, 2026-08-07). Deep-file drift in a RUNNING container is
+    // still caught by ensure_running_container_ownership's write-probe.
+    let host_uid_gid = if uid > 0 && uid < 100_000 {
+        let map = |id: u32| if id == 0 { 1000 } else { 100_000 + id - 1 };
+        format!("{}:{}", map(uid), map(gid))
+    } else {
+        uid_gid.to_string()
+    };
+    if ownership_already_correct(path, &host_uid_gid) {
+        return Ok(());
+    }
+
     if uid > 0 && uid < 100_000 {
         let output = tokio::process::Command::new("podman")
             .args(["unshare", "chown", "-R", uid_gid, path])
@@ -295,12 +310,6 @@ async fn chown_for_rootless_container(uid_gid: &str, path: &str) -> Result<()> {
     // crash-loop, framework-pt 2026-08-06). Container uid N (N>=1) lives at
     // subuid_base + N - 1; the fleet provisions base 100000. uid 0 and
     // already-mapped ids (>=100000) pass through untouched.
-    let host_uid_gid = if uid > 0 && uid < 100_000 {
-        let map = |id: u32| if id == 0 { 1000 } else { 100_000 + id - 1 };
-        format!("{}:{}", map(uid), map(gid))
-    } else {
-        uid_gid.to_string()
-    };
     let status = host_sudo(&["chown", "-R", &host_uid_gid, path])
         .await
         .with_context(|| format!("sudo chown -R {host_uid_gid} {path}"))?;
@@ -327,6 +336,23 @@ async fn chown_for_rootless_container(uid_gid: &str, path: &str) -> Result<()> {
     ))
 }
 
+/// Cheap drift gate for `chown_for_rootless_container`: does the path's
+/// top-level owner already match the target "uid:gid" string? A miss on a
+/// missing path answers false (the caller's mkdir runs first anyway).
+fn ownership_already_correct(path: &str, host_uid_gid: &str) -> bool {
+    use std::os::unix::fs::MetadataExt;
+    let Some((uid_s, gid_s)) = host_uid_gid.split_once(':') else {
+        return false;
+    };
+    let (Ok(uid), Ok(gid)) = (uid_s.parse::<u32>(), gid_s.parse::<u32>()) else {
+        return false;
+    };
+    let Ok(md) = std::fs::metadata(path) else {
+        return false;
+    };
+    md.uid() == uid && md.gid() == gid
+}
+
 /// `(container-id, mount-dest)` pairs whose in-container chown returned a hard,
 /// permanent failure (e.g. "Operation not permitted" on a mount that can't be
 /// re-owned from inside the userns). Remembered for the life of the process so
@@ -5811,8 +5837,7 @@ app:
     }
 
     #[tokio::test]
-    async fn manifest_generated_files_can_overwrite_when_declared() {
-        let rt = Arc::new(MockRuntime::default());
+    async fn manifest_generated_files_can_overwrite_when_declared() {let rt = Arc::new(MockRuntime::default());
         let orch = orch_with(rt.clone()).await;
 
         let data_dir = tempfile::tempdir_in("/var/lib/archipelago").unwrap();
@@ -6796,4 +6821,19 @@ app:
         // zombie guard reports it dead → the reconciler recreates.
         assert!(!pid_is_alive(2_000_000_000));
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn ownership_drift_gate_matches_on_exact_owner_only() {
+        // A tempdir owned by this process's uid stands in for a correctly
+        // chowned data dir; any other uid reads as drift.
+        let tmp = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let path = tmp.path().to_string_lossy().to_string();
+        let my_uid = unsafe { libc::geteuid() };
+        let mine = format!("{0}:{0}", my_uid);
+        assert!(ownership_already_correct(&path, &mine));
+        assert!(!ownership_already_correct(&path, "100998:100998"));
+        assert!(!ownership_already_correct("/nonexistent/path", &mine));
+        assert!(!ownership_already_correct(&path, "garbage"));
+        assert!(!ownership_already_correct(&path, "1:2:3"));
+    }
 }