diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 78b6e1d3..fe687aec 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -298,6 +298,22 @@ pane belonging to the folder you left; and the breadcrumb opted out of that last
       restored. Deliberate as written — a dashboard can hold two browsers and one URL cannot serve both —
       but worth re-deciding rather than inheriting.
 
+## Release-binary dependencies (2026-08-19)
+
+Built: a plugin can declare `release: { url, identify }` for a dependency no package manager carries.
+Gitea's `tea` is the motivating case and the first user.
+
+Two things it does NOT do, both deliberate and both worth knowing:
+
+- **No checksum.** The download is verified by RUNNING it through the same `identify` rule the probe
+  uses, which catches an HTML error page, a truncated file and a wrong-architecture build — none of them
+  print what the plugin said to look for. It does not catch a compromised upstream. A checksum per
+  os/arch is a table that goes stale every release and would stop installs the day upstream re-cuts a
+  tag; HTTPS and a URL the owner reads in the install dialog is what stands behind it today.
+- **The version is pinned in the manifest.** `tea` is fixed at 0.15.1, so a new release needs a plugin
+  update. That is the right default — an install that silently fetches whatever is latest is not
+  reproducible — but there is no "check for a newer one" anywhere.
+
 ## Affordances (2026-08-19)
 
 Agreed and written down in `plugins/CLAUDE.md`; **nothing is built**. An affordance is what the surface
diff --git a/src/servers/plugins/install.ts b/src/servers/plugins/install.ts
index ffc2d61a..f4778735 100644
--- a/src/servers/plugins/install.ts
+++ b/src/servers/plugins/install.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import { refreshPluginMounts, snapshotPlugins } from './mount';
 import { generatePluginSchemas, pushPluginSchema } from './schema';
 import { declaredTables, dropTables, existingTables } from './tables';
 import type { OnLog } from './run-logged';
-import { installDependencies, manualInstallHint, reportDependencies, stillMissing } from './os-deps';
+import { installDependencies, installRelease, manualInstallHint, reportDependencies, stillMissing } from './os-deps';
 import { mountPrefix, type DiscoveredPlugin } from './manifest';
 
 // The install runner: the four verbs, each as a short ordered list of effects.
@@ -219,8 +219,24 @@ export async function installPlugin(
         };
       }
 
-      await step(steps, onStep, `dependencies: installing ${deps.packagesToInstall.join(', ')} with ${deps.manager}`);
-      const installed = await installDependencies(deps.manager!, deps.packagesToInstall);
+      // Release binaries first, and separately: they need no package manager, which is the reason they
+      // exist. `tea` is the motivating case — Gitea publishes it from dl.gitea.com, and the Debian
+      // package of that name is an unrelated text editor.
+      for (const dep of deps.missing.filter((d) => d.releaseUrl)) {
+        await step(steps, onStep, `dependencies: fetching ${dep.binary} from ${dep.releaseUrl}`);
+        const got = await installRelease(dep);
+        if (!got.ok) {
+          return { ok: false, appName, steps, error: `could not fetch ${dep.binary}: ${got.error}` };
+        }
+        await step(steps, onStep, `dependencies: ${dep.binary} installed to ${got.path}`);
+      }
+
+      if (deps.packagesToInstall.length) {
+        await step(steps, onStep, `dependencies: installing ${deps.packagesToInstall.join(', ')} with ${deps.manager}`);
+      }
+      const installed = deps.packagesToInstall.length
+        ? await installDependencies(deps.manager!, deps.packagesToInstall)
+        : { ok: true as const, installed: [], output: '' };
       if (!installed.ok) {
         return {
           ok: false,
diff --git a/src/servers/plugins/manifest.ts b/src/servers/plugins/manifest.ts
index 2d1c4ca8..0910257e 100644
--- a/src/servers/plugins/manifest.ts
+++ b/src/servers/plugins/manifest.ts
@@ -86,6 +86,34 @@ export type OsDependency = {
    * to the owner rather than a guess.
    */
   packages: Partial<Record<PackageManager, string>>;
+  /**
+   * A release binary, for a dependency no package manager carries.
+   *
+   * `packages` covers the ordinary case: the thing is in the distribution and `apt install` fetches it.
+   * Some tools are not, and the motivating one is Gitea's `tea` — distributed as a Go binary from
+   * dl.gitea.com, and **Debian has an unrelated package of the same name**, a graphical text editor.
+   * Declaring `apt: 'tea'` would install the wrong program, report success, and leave every call failing
+   * strangely.
+   *
+   * `{os}` and `{arch}` are substituted from the host: `linux`/`darwin`, `amd64`/`arm64` — the spelling
+   * Go releases use, since that is what publishes binaries this way.
+   *
+   * Downloaded to `~/.local/bin`, not a system directory: this needs no root, and a binary a plugin
+   * fetched from the internet has no business in `/usr/local/bin` beside things the distribution put
+   * there.
+   */
+  release?: {
+    /** e.g. `https://dl.gitea.com/tea/0.9.2/tea-0.9.2-{os}-{arch}` */
+    url: string;
+    /**
+     * How to prove the binary on PATH is THIS one and not a namesake.
+     *
+     * Presence is not identity. `Bun.which('tea')` cannot tell Gitea's CLI from the text editor, so
+     * without this the platform would find a `tea`, report the dependency satisfied, and be wrong. The
+     * command is run with these arguments and its output must contain `contains`.
+     */
+    identify?: { args: string[]; contains: string };
+  };
 };
 
 export type PluginManifest = {
diff --git a/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.test.ts b/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.test.ts
index ecf41cba..3ee3d967 100644
--- a/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.test.ts
+++ b/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,9 @@
-import { describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test';
-import { manifestProblems, type PluginManifest } from './manifest';
-import { installCommand, manualInstallHint } from './os-deps';
+import { afterAll, describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test';
+import { mkdirSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { homedir, tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { manifestProblems, type DiscoveredPlugin, type OsDependency, type PluginManifest } from './manifest';
+import { hostTarget, installCommand, manualInstallHint, reportDependencies } from './os-deps';
 
 // The manifest field that reaches a ROOT command line, and the argv it turns into.
 //
@@ -130,3 +133,98 @@ describe('manualInstallHint', () => {
     expect(manualInstallHint(null, ['ffmpeg'])).toBeNull();
   });
 });
+
+// ── Release binaries, and the namesake problem ──
+//
+// The motivating case is real: Gitea's `tea` is a Go binary from dl.gitea.com, and Debian has an
+// unrelated package called `tea` that is a graphical text editor. `Bun.which('tea')` cannot tell them
+// apart, so a platform that treats "on PATH" as "satisfied" installs the wrong program, reports success,
+// and leaves every call failing in a way nobody traces back to here.
+
+describe('a dependency that no package manager carries', () => {
+  const bin = join(tmpdir(), `dep-test-${process.pid}`);
+
+  const plugin = (dep: Partial<OsDependency>): DiscoveredPlugin =>
+    ({
+      appName: 'test',
+      dir: '/tmp',
+      manifest: {
+        osDependencies: [{ binary: 'dep-test-fake', reason: 'testing', packages: {}, ...dep }],
+      },
+    }) as DiscoveredPlugin;
+
+  afterAll(() => rmSync(bin, { recursive: true, force: true }));
+
+  test('{os} and {arch} are filled from the host', () => {
+    const { os, arch } = hostTarget();
+    const report = reportDependencies(plugin({ release: { url: 'https://x/y-{os}-{arch}' } }));
+    expect(report.dependencies[0]!.releaseUrl).toBe(`https://x/y-${os}-${arch}`);
+  });
+
+  test('a release makes it resolvable even with no package manager entry', () => {
+    const report = reportDependencies(plugin({ release: { url: 'https://x/y-{os}-{arch}' } }));
+    // The whole point: `packages: {}` would otherwise be unresolvable and block the install.
+    expect(report.unresolvable).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  test('with neither a package nor a release it is still unresolvable', () => {
+    expect(reportDependencies(plugin({})).unresolvable.length).toBe(1);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('identity — presence is not the same as being the right program', () => {
+  const dir = join(tmpdir(), `dep-id-${process.pid}`);
+  const name = 'officer-dep-probe';
+
+  // Written to `~/.local/bin` because that is where `searchPath` looks — `Bun.which` reads the PATH the
+  // process STARTED with, so a temp directory added to `process.env.PATH` here would be invisible. That
+  // is the same reason the production code passes PATH explicitly.
+  const localBin = join(homedir(), '.local', 'bin');
+  const writeFake = (body: string) => {
+    mkdirSync(localBin, { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(join(localBin, name), `#!/bin/sh\n${body}\n`, { mode: 0o755 });
+  };
+
+  afterAll(() => {
+    rmSync(join(localBin, name), { force: true });
+    rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  const plugin = (identify?: { args: string[]; contains: string }): DiscoveredPlugin =>
+    ({
+      appName: 'test',
+      dir: '/tmp',
+      manifest: {
+        osDependencies: [
+          {
+            binary: name,
+            reason: 'testing',
+            packages: {},
+            release: { url: 'https://x/y-{os}-{arch}', ...(identify ? { identify } : {}) },
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    }) as DiscoveredPlugin;
+
+  test('a namesake that does not identify is NOT present, and is named an imposter', () => {
+    writeFake('echo "graphical text editor 62.0.2"');
+    const status = reportDependencies(plugin({ args: ['--version'], contains: 'go-sdk' })).dependencies[0]!;
+    expect(status.path).not.toBeNull(); // it IS on PATH
+    expect(status.present).toBe(false); // and that is not enough
+    expect(status.imposter).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  test('the right program identifies and is present', () => {
+    writeFake('echo "Version: 0.15.1 golang: 1.26.5 go-sdk: v1.2.0"');
+    const status = reportDependencies(plugin({ args: ['--version'], contains: 'go-sdk' })).dependencies[0]!;
+    expect(status.present).toBe(true);
+    expect(status.imposter).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  test('without an identify rule, presence is taken at face value — running an unknown binary has a cost', () => {
+    writeFake('echo "anything at all"');
+    const status = reportDependencies(plugin()).dependencies[0]!;
+    expect(status.present).toBe(true);
+    expect(status.imposter).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.ts b/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.ts
index 2e1792b1..aafd87b9 100644
--- a/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.ts
+++ b/src/servers/plugins/os-deps.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import { chmodSync, mkdirSync, renameSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { homedir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
 import { PACKAGE_MANAGERS, type DiscoveredPlugin, type OsDependency, type PackageManager } from './manifest';
 
 // Host binaries a plugin needs, and getting them onto the machine.
@@ -56,17 +59,81 @@ export type DependencyStatus = {
   present: boolean;
   /** What would be installed on THIS machine, or null when this manager has no entry for it. */
   packageName: string | null;
+  /** Resolved download URL when the plugin ships a release binary, or null. */
+  releaseUrl: string | null;
+  /**
+   * A binary of the right NAME that is the wrong PROGRAM.
+   *
+   * The motivating case: Debian's `tea` is a graphical text editor and Gitea's `tea` is a CLI. Presence
+   * is not identity, and reporting "satisfied" here would be worse than reporting missing — the install
+   * succeeds and every call afterwards fails strangely.
+   */
+  imposter: boolean;
 };
 
+/** `linux`/`darwin` and `amd64`/`arm64` — the spelling Go releases use, which is who publishes this way. */
+export function hostTarget(): { os: string; arch: string } {
+  const os = process.platform === 'darwin' ? 'darwin' : 'linux';
+  const arch = process.arch === 'arm64' ? 'arm64' : 'amd64';
+  return { os, arch };
+}
+
+const releaseUrlFor = (dep: OsDependency): string | null => {
+  if (!dep.release) return null;
+  const { os, arch } = hostTarget();
+  return dep.release.url.replaceAll('{os}', os).replaceAll('{arch}', arch);
+};
+
+/**
+ * Is the binary on PATH actually the one meant?
+ *
+ * Only asked when the plugin says how to tell. Running an unknown binary to identify it is a real cost,
+ * so it is opt-in — and the answer is only interesting for dependencies whose name is contested.
+ */
+function identifies(dep: OsDependency, path: string): boolean {
+  if (!dep.release?.identify) return true;
+  try {
+    const { args, contains } = dep.release.identify;
+    const out = Bun.spawnSync([path, ...args], { stdout: 'pipe', stderr: 'pipe' });
+    const text = `${new TextDecoder().decode(out.stdout)}${new TextDecoder().decode(out.stderr)}`;
+    return text.toLowerCase().includes(contains.toLowerCase());
+  } catch {
+    // Could not run it at all: treat as not-ours rather than assume. A binary that will not execute is
+    // no more useful than a missing one.
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Where to look for a binary.
+ *
+ * `~/.local/bin` FIRST, and explicitly, for two reasons that are both bugs otherwise:
+ *
+ * `Bun.which()` with no options reads the PATH this PROCESS started with. Under PM2 that is a minimal
+ * environment which frequently does not include `~/.local/bin` at all — so a release binary fetched
+ * during an install would be reported missing seconds later by `stillMissing`, and the install would
+ * fail having just succeeded.
+ *
+ * It is also where `installRelease` puts things, so preferring it means the copy the platform installed
+ * wins over a namesake the distribution supplied. `identify` catches the wrong one either way; this
+ * decides which is found first.
+ */
+const searchPath = (): string => `${join(homedir(), '.local', 'bin')}:${process.env.PATH ?? ''}`;
+
 /** Probe one dependency against the live PATH. */
 function probe(dep: OsDependency, manager: PackageManager | null): DependencyStatus {
-  const path = Bun.which(dep.binary);
+  const path = Bun.which(dep.binary, { PATH: searchPath() });
+  const genuine = path ? identifies(dep, path) : false;
   return {
     binary: dep.binary,
     reason: dep.reason,
     path,
-    present: !!path,
+    // Present means USABLE. A namesake on PATH is not the dependency, and calling it present is how the
+    // wrong program gets used for a week before anyone works out why.
+    present: !!path && genuine,
+    imposter: !!path && !genuine,
     packageName: (manager && dep.packages[manager]) || null,
+    releaseUrl: releaseUrlFor(dep),
   };
 }
 
@@ -112,7 +179,9 @@ export function reportDependencies(plugin: DiscoveredPlugin): DependencyReport {
   const manager = detectPackageManager();
   const dependencies = declared.map((dep) => probe(dep, manager));
   const missing = dependencies.filter((d) => !d.present);
-  const unresolvable = missing.filter((d) => !d.packageName);
+  // A release binary resolves it too, and without a package manager at all — which is the whole point:
+  // the dependencies that need this are the ones no distribution carries.
+  const unresolvable = missing.filter((d) => !d.packageName && !d.releaseUrl);
 
   // Deduped and sorted: ffmpeg and ffprobe are one apt package, and naming it twice on the command line
   // is the sort of thing that reads as a bug in a log even though apt does not care.
@@ -176,6 +245,47 @@ export function manualInstallHint(manager: PackageManager | null, packages: stri
   return argv.join(' ');
 }
 
+/**
+ * Fetch a release binary into `~/.local/bin`.
+ *
+ * For the dependency no package manager carries. Not root, not `/usr/local/bin`: a binary a plugin
+ * fetched from the internet has no business sitting beside what the distribution installed, and needing
+ * sudo for it would be a worse trade than needing PATH to include `~/.local/bin` — which it already does
+ * on every machine this platform sets up.
+ *
+ * ── What is checked, and what is not ──
+ *
+ * The download is verified by RUNNING it, through the same `identify` the probe uses. That catches an
+ * HTML error page saved as a binary, a truncated download, and a wrong-architecture build, because none
+ * of them will print what the plugin said to look for.
+ *
+ * It is NOT verified by checksum, and that is a real gap rather than an oversight: a checksum per
+ * os/arch is a table that goes stale on every upstream release, and a plugin that pinned one would stop
+ * installing the day upstream re-cut a tag. HTTPS and a URL the owner can read in the install dialog are
+ * what stands behind this today. Recorded in TODO.md.
+ */
+export async function installRelease(dep: DependencyStatus): Promise<{ ok: boolean; path?: string; error?: string }> {
+  if (!dep.releaseUrl) return { ok: false, error: `${dep.binary} ships no release binary` };
+
+  const dir = join(homedir(), '.local', 'bin');
+  const target = join(dir, dep.binary);
+  try {
+    mkdirSync(dir, { recursive: true });
+    const res = await fetch(dep.releaseUrl, { redirect: 'follow', signal: AbortSignal.timeout(120_000) });
+    if (!res.ok) return { ok: false, error: `${dep.releaseUrl} answered ${res.status}` };
+
+    // Written to a temporary name and moved into place, so a half-downloaded file is never on PATH under
+    // the real name — the failure that leaves a machine looking installed and behaving broken.
+    const tmp = `${target}.download`;
+    await Bun.write(tmp, res);
+    chmodSync(tmp, 0o755);
+    renameSync(tmp, target);
+    return { ok: true, path: target };
+  } catch (err) {
+    return { ok: false, error: err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err) };
+  }
+}
+
 export type InstallDependenciesResult = { ok: boolean; installed: string[]; output: string; error?: string };
 
 /**