diff --git a/sidecar/config.ts b/sidecar/config.ts
index 72012cd..5745560 100644
--- a/sidecar/config.ts
+++ b/sidecar/config.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,20 @@ function num(key: string, fallback: number, min: number): number {
   return value;
 }
 
-export const PORT = num("AV_CLUB_PORT", 3020, 1);
+/**
+ * The port to listen on. **0 means "any free one", and that is the default.**
+ *
+ * A plugin sidecar does not choose a number. It binds whatever is free and REPORTS it to the platform,
+ * which is how every other sidecar here works and why none of them can collide. av-club asserted 3020
+ * because it began life as a standalone service, and on 2026-08-28 that assumption cost a deploy: a
+ * stale copy of the pre-plugin code was still holding 3020 on fofos, so the plugin's sidecar died on
+ * EADDRINUSE in a restart loop.
+ *
+ * `AV_CLUB_PORT` still works and still pins the port. That is for running this outside Officer — the
+ * standalone mode fofos/platform was written against — where something on the other side has to know
+ * where to find it. Inside Officer nothing should set it.
+ */
+export const PORT = num("AV_CLUB_PORT", 0, 0);
 
 /**
  * Where assets live. Outside the repo by default, and deliberately not under any directory a deploy
diff --git a/sidecar/index.ts b/sidecar/index.ts
index 43172e8..8ace688 100644
--- a/sidecar/index.ts
+++ b/sidecar/index.ts
@@ -217,8 +217,8 @@ const connection = createSidecarConnector({
     reply({ type: "error", id: (_cmd as { id: string }).id, error: "av-club takes no commands; use its HTTP API" });
   },
   onConnected() {
-    connection.send({ type: "av-club:server", port: PORT });
-    console.log(`[av-club] reported port ${PORT} to the API`);
+    connection.send({ type: "av-club:server", port: server.port! });
+    console.log(`[av-club] reported port ${server.port} to the API`);
   },
 });