diff --git a/scripts/gen-plugin-schemas.ts b/scripts/gen-plugin-schemas.ts
index dc9c2eb5..39350a18 100644
--- a/scripts/gen-plugin-schemas.ts
+++ b/scripts/gen-plugin-schemas.ts
@@ -5,9 +5,12 @@ import { generatePluginSchemas } from '../src/servers/plugins/schema';
 //
 // ── The bug this closes ──
 //
-// `officer_db/src/schema.ts` ends with `export * from './plugin-schemas.gen'` — UNCONDITIONAL, because
-// drizzle-kit needs one file listing every table. That generated file is gitignored (it describes this
-// machine, not the project), and until 2026-08-15 its only writer was `installPlugin`.
+// `officer_db/src/drizzle-schema.ts` ends with `export * from './plugin-schemas.gen'` — UNCONDITIONAL,
+// because drizzle-kit needs one file listing every table. That generated file is gitignored (it describes
+// this machine, not the project), and until 2026-08-15 its only writer was `installPlugin`.
+//
+// (It was `schema.ts` until 2026-08-16, which put the barrel in the SERVER's import graph too. A missing
+// plugin directory then stopped the platform booting, so the two entry points were split.)
 //
 // So on a fresh clone the file did not exist, and `bun db:push` died with MODULE_NOT_FOUND before
 // creating a single table. That is exactly what `scripts/setup/officer-setup.sh` section 8 runs, so
diff --git a/src/databases/officer_db/drizzle.config.ts b/src/databases/officer_db/drizzle.config.ts
index 572c9286..e9c8e431 100644
--- a/src/databases/officer_db/drizzle.config.ts
+++ b/src/databases/officer_db/drizzle.config.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ try {
 } catch {}
 
 export default defineConfig({
-  schema: './src/schema.ts',
+  // Not `schema.ts` — that one is the runtime's and deliberately excludes the generated plugin barrel.
+  schema: './src/drizzle-schema.ts',
   out: './migrations',
   dialect: 'postgresql',
   dbCredentials: {
diff --git a/src/databases/officer_db/src/drizzle-schema.ts b/src/databases/officer_db/src/drizzle-schema.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ed3940fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/databases/officer_db/src/drizzle-schema.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/**
+ * drizzle-kit's entry point. The RUNTIME must never import this file.
+ *
+ * ── What this separation is for ──
+ *
+ * `plugin-schemas.gen.ts` is generated from the plugin directories on this machine, and it is gitignored
+ * because it describes a machine rather than the project. It used to be re-exported from `schema.ts`,
+ * which `db.ts` imports to build the drizzle client — so it sat in the server's own module graph.
+ *
+ * That made a plugin's absence fatal to the platform. A `git pull` across the commit that untracked
+ * `plugins/` deleted those directories from the working tree; the generated file still named them; and
+ * the server died on `Cannot find module '../../../../plugins/music/db/schema'` before a line of its own
+ * code ran. Not a crash it could catch, log or survive — the import graph is resolved before `main`.
+ *
+ * A stale generated file is normal and expected. It is written by `db:push` and by installing a plugin,
+ * and nothing rewrites it when a directory is deleted by other means: `git pull`, `git clean -xfd`, `rm`.
+ * So the failure was not "someone forgot a step"; it was a file that is allowed to be wrong being loaded
+ * by the one process that must always start.
+ *
+ * Everywhere else the plugin system already follows the rule that a plugin which will not load must not
+ * stop the platform from starting — `refreshPluginMounts` isolates a bad plugin, `discoverPlugins`
+ * reports a broken manifest instead of throwing. This was the one path that could still take the whole
+ * server down, and it did.
+ *
+ * So: `schema.ts` holds the core tables and is safe for the runtime to import. This file adds the plugin
+ * tables on top and is read only by drizzle-kit, which regenerates the barrel before it runs
+ * (`bun db:push` → `scripts/gen-plugin-schemas.ts`) and can afford to fail loudly when a plugin is
+ * genuinely broken. `drizzle.config.ts` points here.
+ */
+export * from './schema';
+export * from './plugin-schemas.gen';
diff --git a/src/databases/officer_db/src/schema.ts b/src/databases/officer_db/src/schema.ts
index e37d36f6..75c31563 100644
--- a/src/databases/officer_db/src/schema.ts
+++ b/src/databases/officer_db/src/schema.ts
@@ -53,10 +53,14 @@ export * from './service-connections/schema'; // service_connections
 // export * from './vault/schema';         // vault_tokens, vault_unlock_keys                  officer-vault
 // export * from './wallet/schema';        // wallet_wallets, _labels, _frozen_utxos, _chain_cache
 
-// ── Plugin tables ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// ── Plugin tables are NOT here ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 //
-// Generated from the plugin DIRECTORIES on disk (servers/plugins/schema.ts), not from what is installed.
-// push drops what it cannot see, so following the install table would delete a plugin's tables the moment
-// it was uninstalled. Following the directory means uninstall keeps every row and only deleting a
-// plugin's source can lose data.
-export * from './plugin-schemas.gen';
+// They live in `drizzle-schema.ts`, which re-exports this file and adds the generated barrel. That file
+// is drizzle-kit's entry; this one is the runtime's, and the split exists because the barrel names plugin
+// directories that may not be on this machine. Importing it here put a file that is ALLOWED to be wrong
+// into the module graph of the process that must always start — and on 2026-08-16 it stopped a server
+// booting after a pull deleted `plugins/`. See `drizzle-schema.ts`.
+//
+// The barrel still follows DIRECTORIES rather than installs: push drops what it cannot see, so tracking
+// installs would delete a plugin's tables on uninstall. Following the directory means uninstall keeps
+// every row and only deleting a plugin's source can lose data.
diff --git a/src/servers/plugins/schema.ts b/src/servers/plugins/schema.ts
index facfac6d..accd6f58 100644
--- a/src/servers/plugins/schema.ts
+++ b/src/servers/plugins/schema.ts
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ const specifier = (target: string): string => {
   return (rel.startsWith('.') ? rel : `./${rel}`).replace(/\.ts$/, '');
 };
 
-/** Write the barrel. Always written, even empty — `schema.ts` imports it unconditionally. */
+/** Write the barrel. Always written, even empty — `drizzle-schema.ts` imports it unconditionally. */
 export function generatePluginSchemas(plugins: DiscoveredPlugin[]): void {
   const withSchema = plugins.filter((p) => p.schema);
   const lines = withSchema.map((p) => `export * from '${specifier(p.schema!)}'; // ${p.appName}`);