diff --git a/ops/ax/smoke-task.yaml b/ops/ax/smoke-task.yaml.tmpl
similarity index 51%
rename from ops/ax/smoke-task.yaml
rename to ops/ax/smoke-task.yaml.tmpl
index ec248a4..32d86c2 100644
--- a/ops/ax/smoke-task.yaml
+++ b/ops/ax/smoke-task.yaml.tmpl
@@ -1,12 +1,15 @@
-# Minimal Task for the bring-up smoke test: default runner image, a files-only workspace, no MCP or skills.
+# Bring-up smoke test: our runner image runs the model-free repo-facts task over a files-only workspace.
 apiVersion: ax.io/v1alpha1
 kind: Task
 metadata:
   name: ousast-smoke
   atespace: default
 spec:
-  image: "gcr.io/ax-substrate/ate-images/ax-task-runner@sha256:3a0dea6ad8b55278685db58aca6e37dc4ba04056831d45bef3aaeafdca43cac6"
-  command: ["sh", "-c", "cat /workspace/hello.txt && echo smoke-ok"]
+  image: "${RUNNER_IMAGE}"   # digest-pinned (Substrate rejects tags); rendered by up.sh
+  command: ["repo-facts"]
+  env:
+    - name: OUSAST_OUTPUT_DIR
+      value: "/workspace/.ousast-out/smoke"
   resources:
     requests:
       cpu: "100m"
@@ -25,5 +28,5 @@ metadata:
   atespace: default
 spec:
   files:
-    - path: "hello.txt"
-      content: "hello from openultrasast\n"
+    - path: "hello.py"
+      content: "def hello():\n    return greet()\n"
diff --git a/ops/ax/up.sh b/ops/ax/up.sh
index be7a3a7..29fda05 100755
--- a/ops/ax/up.sh
+++ b/ops/ax/up.sh
@@ -20,20 +20,53 @@ clone ax https://github.com/google/ax.git
 step() { printf '\n== %s (%s)\n' "$1" "$(date +%H:%M:%S)"; }
 
 step "kind cluster '$KIND_CLUSTER_NAME' + registry $KO_DOCKER_REPO"
-(cd "$SRC/substrate" && hack/create-kind-cluster.sh)   # its helpers resolve paths from the git toplevel
+# Each step is skipped when already done: the substrate helper DELETES an existing cluster before creating one.
+CTX="kind-$KIND_CLUSTER_NAME"
+ready() { kubectl --context "$CTX" -n "$1" get pods --no-headers 2>/dev/null | awk '$2 ~ /^[0-9]+\/[0-9]+$/ {n++; split($2,a,"/"); if (a[1]!=a[2] && $3!="Completed") bad++} END {exit !(n>0 && bad==0)}'; }
+if kind get clusters 2>/dev/null | grep -qx "$KIND_CLUSTER_NAME"; then
+  echo "cluster exists; kept"
+else
+  (cd "$SRC/substrate" && hack/create-kind-cluster.sh)   # its helpers resolve paths from the git toplevel
+fi
 
 step "agent substrate (ate-system)"
-(cd "$SRC/substrate" && hack/install-ate-kind.sh --deploy-ate-system)
-kubectl -n ate-system wait --for=condition=Ready pod --all --timeout=900s || true
-kubectl -n ate-system get pods
+if ready ate-system; then echo "substrate ready; kept"; else
+  (cd "$SRC/substrate" && hack/install-ate-kind.sh --deploy-ate-system)
+fi
+kubectl --context "$CTX" -n ate-system get pods
 
 step "ax control plane (ax-system)"
-(cd "$SRC/ax" && make deploy AX_IMAGE_REPO="$KO_DOCKER_REPO")
-kubectl -n ax-system wait --for=condition=Ready pod --all --timeout=600s || true
-kubectl -n ax-system get pods
+if ready ax-system; then echo "ax ready; kept"; else
+  (cd "$SRC/ax" && make deploy AX_IMAGE_REPO="$KO_DOCKER_REPO")
+  kubectl --context "$CTX" -n ax-system wait --for=condition=Ready pod --all --timeout=600s
+fi
+kubectl --context "$CTX" -n ax-system get pods
+
+step "worker pool (gVisor)"
+SUBSTRATE_VERSION="$(kubectl --context "$CTX" get nodes -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.labels.ate\.dev/substrate-version}')"
+export SUBSTRATE_VERSION
+envsubst < "$(dirname "$0")/workerpool.yaml.tmpl" > "$SRC/workerpool.yaml"
+(cd "$SRC/substrate" && KO_DOCKER_REPO="$KO_DOCKER_REPO" ko apply -f "$SRC/workerpool.yaml")
+kubectl --context "$CTX" -n ax-system wait --for=condition=Ready pod -l ate.dev/worker-pool=ousast-pool --timeout=600s \
+  || kubectl --context "$CTX" -n ax-system get pods
+
+step "runner image $KO_DOCKER_REPO/ousast-runner"
+REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.." && pwd)"
+docker build -q -f "$REPO_ROOT/plane/Dockerfile.runner" -t "$KO_DOCKER_REPO/ousast-runner:dev" "$REPO_ROOT"
+docker push -q "$KO_DOCKER_REPO/ousast-runner:dev"
+RUNNER_IMAGE="$(docker inspect --format '{{range .RepoDigests}}{{println .}}{{end}}' "$KO_DOCKER_REPO/ousast-runner:dev" | grep "^$KO_DOCKER_REPO/ousast-runner@" | head -1)"
+[ -n "$RUNNER_IMAGE" ] || { echo "no digest for the runner image" >&2; exit 2; }
+export RUNNER_IMAGE; echo "$RUNNER_IMAGE" > "$SRC/runner-image"   # the reconciler reads this pin
+echo "runner image $RUNNER_IMAGE"
+
+step "ax CLI from the deployed checkout (a release CLI skews from the server)"
+(cd "$SRC/ax" && go install ./cmd/ax)
 
 step "smoke task"
-ax apply -f "$(dirname "$0")/smoke-task.yaml"
+ax delete task ousast-smoke >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+envsubst < "$(dirname "$0")/smoke-task.yaml.tmpl" > "$SRC/smoke-task.yaml"
+ax apply -f "$SRC/smoke-task.yaml"
+ax resume task ousast-smoke || true
 ax get tasks
 
 step "footprint"
diff --git a/ops/ax/workerpool.yaml.tmpl b/ops/ax/workerpool.yaml.tmpl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f71cdcf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ops/ax/workerpool.yaml.tmpl
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Warm gVisor workers for ax tasks on this host (Agent Substrate WorkerPool). ax's per-task ActorTemplates
+# set no workerSelector, so every pool of the matching sandbox class is eligible. Two workers of 1 CPU /
+# 1.5 GiB fit the 7 GB host beside the control planes; an actor occupies a whole worker.
+apiVersion: ate.dev/v1alpha1
+kind: WorkerPool
+metadata:
+  name: ousast-pool
+  namespace: ax-system
+  labels:
+    workload: ousast
+spec:
+  replicas: 2
+  workerImage: ko://github.com/agent-substrate/substrate/cmd/ateom-gvisor
+  template:
+    nodeSelector:
+      ate.dev/substrate-version: "${SUBSTRATE_VERSION}"
+    resources:
+      limits:
+        cpu: "1"
+        memory: 1536Mi
+      requests:
+        cpu: 250m
+        memory: 1536Mi