diff --git a/ops/ax/up.sh b/ops/ax/up.sh
index 29fda05..ef41785 100755
--- a/ops/ax/up.sh
+++ b/ops/ax/up.sh
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ step "smoke task"
 ax delete task ousast-smoke >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
 envsubst < "$(dirname "$0")/smoke-task.yaml.tmpl" > "$SRC/smoke-task.yaml"
 ax apply -f "$SRC/smoke-task.yaml"
-ax resume task ousast-smoke || true
+for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6; do ax resume task ousast-smoke && break; sleep 20; done   # first resume may time out while the golden snapshot builds
 ax get tasks
 
 step "footprint"
diff --git a/src/openultrasast/plane/runner.py b/src/openultrasast/plane/runner.py
index f3c47c5..f81eb8a 100644
--- a/src/openultrasast/plane/runner.py
+++ b/src/openultrasast/plane/runner.py
@@ -119,6 +119,21 @@ class DeliveryError(RuntimeError):
 
 # --- manifests ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+# Fields ax's API server sets on what it hands the runner (ax.proto: ObjectMeta.creation_timestamp, Task.status).
+# They are not authoring fields, so they are dropped before the strict schema sees the document; any other
+# unknown field still fails.
+_SERVER_META = ("creationTimestamp", "creation_timestamp")
+
+
+def _without_server_fields(document: object) -> object:
+    if not isinstance(document, dict):
+        return document
+    cleaned = {k: v for k, v in document.items() if k != "status"}
+    meta = cleaned.get("metadata")
+    if isinstance(meta, dict):
+        cleaned["metadata"] = {k: v for k, v in meta.items() if k not in _SERVER_META}
+    return cleaned
+
 
 def load_task(text: str) -> Task:
     """Parse ``AX_TASK_YAML``; raise :class:`RunnerError` unless it is exactly one Task."""
@@ -129,7 +144,7 @@ def load_task(text: str) -> Task:
     if len(documents) != 1:
         raise RunnerError(f"AX_TASK_YAML must hold exactly one Task document, found {len(documents)}")
     try:
-        manifest = parse_manifest(documents[0], source="AX_TASK_YAML")
+        manifest = parse_manifest(_without_server_fields(documents[0]), source="AX_TASK_YAML")
     except ManifestError as exc:
         raise RunnerError(str(exc)) from exc
     if not isinstance(manifest, Task):
@@ -146,7 +161,7 @@ def load_workspaces(text: str) -> dict[str, Workspace]:
     workspaces: dict[str, Workspace] = {}
     for index, document in enumerate(documents):
         try:
-            manifest = parse_manifest(document, source=f"AX_WORKSPACES_YAML[{index}]")
+            manifest = parse_manifest(_without_server_fields(document), source=f"AX_WORKSPACES_YAML[{index}]")
         except ManifestError as exc:
             raise RunnerError(str(exc)) from exc
         if not isinstance(manifest, Workspace):
diff --git a/tests/test_plane_runner.py b/tests/test_plane_runner.py
index 0e2b015..b4ca7cf 100644
--- a/tests/test_plane_runner.py
+++ b/tests/test_plane_runner.py
@@ -590,3 +590,22 @@ def test_git_commits_annotation_round_trips_to_the_checkout(
     checkout = workspace / "code"
     assert git("rev-parse", "HEAD", cwd=checkout) == pin, "the pinned commit, not the branch tip"
     assert (checkout / "hello.py").read_text() == "print('v1')\n"
+
+
+def test_the_runner_accepts_what_ax_hands_it() -> None:
+    """ax's server adds metadata.creationTimestamp and status (live cluster, 2026-09-29); other fields stay strict."""
+    from openultrasast.plane.runner import RunnerError, load_task, load_workspaces
+
+    task = load_task(
+        "apiVersion: ax.io/v1alpha1\nkind: Task\nmetadata:\n  name: t\n  atespace: default\n"
+        "  creationTimestamp: '2026-09-29T17:11:58Z'\nspec:\n  command: [repo-facts]\n"
+        "status:\n  phase: Running\n  id: task-t-1\n"
+    )
+    assert task.metadata.name == "t"
+    spaces = load_workspaces(
+        "apiVersion: ax.io/v1alpha1\nkind: Workspace\nmetadata:\n  name: w\n"
+        "  creationTimestamp: '2026-09-29T17:11:58Z'\nspec:\n  files:\n  - path: a.py\n    content: x\n"
+    )
+    assert list(spaces) == ["w"]
+    with pytest.raises(RunnerError, match="uid"):
+        load_task("apiVersion: ax.io/v1alpha1\nkind: Task\nmetadata:\n  name: t\n  uid: x\nspec: {}\n")