diff --git a/plugins/kyberforge/.apm/hooks/check-apm-current.sh b/plugins/kyberforge/.apm/hooks/check-apm-current.sh
index d1c57d5..ba989fd 100755
--- a/plugins/kyberforge/.apm/hooks/check-apm-current.sh
+++ b/plugins/kyberforge/.apm/hooks/check-apm-current.sh
@@ -13,18 +13,36 @@
 # Inert in any project that does not consume packages through apm.
 set -uo pipefail
 
+# Anchor on the project root, not the session's cwd. Claude Code exports
+# CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR for SessionStart hooks; a session opened in a subdirectory
+# would otherwise miss the lockfile, no-op silently, and — worse — run the apm
+# calls below against that wrong directory. Fall back to the cwd when the
+# variable is absent, which keeps the hook inert-but-harmless under a host that
+# does not set it.
+project_dir="${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR:-$PWD}"
+
 # No lockfile means nothing was installed through apm here — e.g. a host that
 # installed this plugin natively. Say nothing and cost nothing.
-[[ -f apm.lock.yaml ]] || exit 0
+[[ -f "$project_dir/apm.lock.yaml" ]] || exit 0
 command -v apm > /dev/null 2>&1 || exit 0
 
+# Every apm call below must see the same directory the guard just checked —
+# `apm outdated` and `apm update` both resolve the lockfile from the cwd.
+cd "$project_dir" || exit 0
+
 # `apm outdated` exits 0 whether or not anything is stale, so the answer has to
 # come from its output. ~0.7s against six remote refs; a hung remote must not
 # hold the session open.
+#
+# There is no --json/machine-readable flag on `apm outdated` (verified against
+# apm 0.28.0), so the phrase match is forced rather than chosen. Note the
+# singular: apm prints "1 outdated dependency found" when exactly one package is
+# behind, so matching only "dependencies" would silently miss a one-package
+# drift. tests/test-apm-current-hook.sh pins both spellings against the real apm.
 outdated_output="$(timeout 60 apm outdated 2>&1)" || exit 0
-grep -q "outdated dependencies found" <<< "$outdated_output" || exit 0
+grep -qE 'outdated dependenc(y|ies) found' <<< "$outdated_output" || exit 0
 
-stale_count="$(grep -oE '[0-9]+ outdated dependencies found' <<< "$outdated_output" | grep -oE '^[0-9]+' || true)"
+stale_count="$(grep -oE '[0-9]+ outdated dependenc(y|ies) found' <<< "$outdated_output" | grep -oE '^[0-9]+' || true)"
 [[ "$stale_count" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || stale_count="some"
 
 # Only ever emit fixed text plus a digit-checked count — never interpolate
diff --git a/plugins/kyberforge/.apm/hooks/hooks.json b/plugins/kyberforge/.apm/hooks/hooks.json
index e33213b..4d1c7c4 100644
--- a/plugins/kyberforge/.apm/hooks/hooks.json
+++ b/plugins/kyberforge/.apm/hooks/hooks.json
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
         "hooks": [
           {
             "command": "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/.apm/hooks/check-apm-current.sh",
-            "timeout": 320,
+            "timeout": 380,
             "type": "command"
           }
         ],
diff --git a/plugins/kyberforge/docs/hooks.md b/plugins/kyberforge/docs/hooks.md
index 6b31c46..66ddd9a 100644
--- a/plugins/kyberforge/docs/hooks.md
+++ b/plugins/kyberforge/docs/hooks.md
@@ -83,9 +83,33 @@ Note that apm's **executable-trust gate is off** unless the consuming project's
 
 `check-apm-current.sh` keeps an apm-consumed install level with its remote: it runs `apm outdated`,
 and if anything is behind, runs `apm update --yes` and returns `reloadSkills: true` so the running
-session picks up the redeployed content. It exits silently when there is no `apm.lock.yaml` in the
-working directory, which makes it inert for any host that installed this plugin natively rather than
-through apm. Rationale, measurements, and the failure modes are in ADR-0019.
+session picks up the redeployed content. Rationale, measurements, and the failure modes are in
+ADR-0019.
+
+**Where it looks for the lockfile.** The hook resolves a project directory as `${CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR}`
+when the host exports it (Claude Code does, for SessionStart hooks) and the current directory
+otherwise, then exits silently unless that directory holds an `apm.lock.yaml` — which is what makes
+it inert for any host that installed this plugin natively rather than through apm. Both `apm`
+invocations run against the same resolved directory. The earlier spelling checked a bare
+`apm.lock.yaml` against the session's cwd, so a session opened in a subdirectory of an
+apm-consuming repo no-opped silently. Keep the cwd fallback: a host that sets no
+`CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR` must still get inert-but-harmless behaviour, not an unset-variable error.
+
+**The `timeout` in `hooks.json` must exceed the script's own budget.** The script spends at most
+`timeout 60 apm outdated` plus `timeout 300 apm update`; the hook entry declares `timeout: 380`, the
+sum plus a buffer. Set it lower and a slow remote gets the hook SIGKILLed mid-`apm update`, leaving a
+partially redeployed `.claude/skills/` and emitting no notice — precisely the silent failure the hook
+exists to prevent. `tests/test-apm-current-hook.sh` pins the relationship (host timeout > sum of the
+script's internal timeouts) rather than the literal, so raising either side alone fails the suite.
+
+**Staleness is detected by matching apm's summary line, and both spellings count.** `apm outdated`
+has no `--json` or otherwise machine-readable output (verified against apm 0.28.0), so the hook
+greps its text. apm prints `1 outdated dependency found` in the singular when exactly one package is
+behind and `N outdated dependencies found` otherwise; matching only the plural silently misses a
+one-package drift. Because a mocked `apm` would keep a reworded release invisible, the test suite
+stages a genuinely outdated dependency against the **real** `apm` — a local git repo reached through
+`url.<path>.insteadOf` rewrites, so it needs no network — and replays that genuine output through the
+hook.
 
 ## GitHub Copilot CLI
 
diff --git a/plugins/kyberforge/hooks/hooks.json b/plugins/kyberforge/hooks/hooks.json
index e33213b..4d1c7c4 100644
--- a/plugins/kyberforge/hooks/hooks.json
+++ b/plugins/kyberforge/hooks/hooks.json
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
         "hooks": [
           {
             "command": "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/.apm/hooks/check-apm-current.sh",
-            "timeout": 320,
+            "timeout": 380,
             "type": "command"
           }
         ],
diff --git a/tests/test-apm-current-hook.sh b/tests/test-apm-current-hook.sh
index 3f66535..631270d 100755
--- a/tests/test-apm-current-hook.sh
+++ b/tests/test-apm-current-hook.sh
@@ -23,11 +23,14 @@ WORK="$(mktemp -d)"
 trap 'rm -rf "$FAKE_BIN" "$WORK"' EXIT
 
 # Mock `apm`. $1 chooses what `apm outdated` reports; $2 the exit code of
-# `apm update`. A sentinel file records whether update was actually invoked.
+# `apm update`. Sentinel files record whether update was actually invoked and
+# which directory the calls ran in — the hook must run them against the same
+# directory its lockfile guard checked, not the session's cwd.
 make_apm() {
   local outdated_line="$1" update_exit="$2"
   cat > "$FAKE_BIN/apm" << EOF
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
+pwd > "$WORK/apm-cwd"
 case "\$1" in
   outdated) echo "$outdated_line"; exit 0 ;;
   update)   touch "$WORK/update-was-called"; exit $update_exit ;;
@@ -37,7 +40,22 @@ EOF
   chmod +x "$FAKE_BIN/apm"
 }
 
-run_hook() { (cd "$WORK" && PATH="$FAKE_BIN:$PATH" bash "$HOOK" 2>/dev/null); }
+# CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR is cleared rather than merely left alone: a session in this
+# repo exports it, and an inherited value would point every case at the real
+# repo root (which has a real apm.lock.yaml) instead of the fixture. The
+# project-directory cases below set it deliberately.
+run_hook() { (cd "$WORK" && env -u CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR PATH="$FAKE_BIN:$PATH" bash "$HOOK" 2>/dev/null); }
+
+# Same, with an explicit cwd and CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR. $1 is the cwd; $2 the value
+# for CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR, or the literal `-` to leave it unset.
+run_hook_in() {
+  local cwd="$1" project_dir="$2"
+  if [[ "$project_dir" == "-" ]]; then
+    (cd "$cwd" && env -u CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR PATH="$FAKE_BIN:$PATH" bash "$HOOK" 2>/dev/null)
+  else
+    (cd "$cwd" && env CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR="$project_dir" PATH="$FAKE_BIN:$PATH" bash "$HOOK" 2>/dev/null)
+  fi
+}
 
 json_field() { python3 -c 'import json,sys; print(json.load(sys.stdin)["hookSpecificOutput"][sys.argv[1]])' "$1"; }
 
@@ -134,6 +152,54 @@ out="$(run_hook)"
 echo "$out" | python3 -m json.tool > /dev/null 2>&1 \
   && pass "still emits valid JSON when the count cannot be parsed" || fail "JSON broke on an unparseable count"
 
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+echo ""
+echo "--- anchors on the project root, not the session cwd ---"
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# `[[ -f apm.lock.yaml ]]` resolves against the cwd, and a session started in a
+# subdirectory of an apm-consuming repo therefore no-opped silently — and would
+# have run `apm outdated`/`apm update` against that wrong directory had the
+# guard passed. Claude Code exports CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR for SessionStart hooks,
+# so that is the anchor; the cwd is only the fallback.
+ELSEWHERE="$WORK/elsewhere"
+mkdir -p "$ELSEWHERE"
+rm -f "$ELSEWHERE/apm.lock.yaml"
+
+make_apm "[!] 6 outdated dependencies found" 0
+rm -f "$WORK/update-was-called" "$WORK/apm-cwd"
+out="$(run_hook_in "$ELSEWHERE" "$WORK")"
+[[ -f "$WORK/update-was-called" ]] \
+  && pass "finds the lockfile via CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR when the cwd is elsewhere" \
+  || fail "a session started in a subdirectory must still see the project's lockfile"
+[[ "$(cat "$WORK/apm-cwd" 2>/dev/null)" == "$WORK" ]] \
+  && pass "runs apm in the directory the guard checked, not the cwd" \
+  || fail "apm ran in '$(cat "$WORK/apm-cwd" 2>/dev/null)' — must run in the resolved project directory"
+echo "$out" | json_field additionalContext | grep -q "6 package" \
+  && pass "reports the count found via CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR" || fail "should report the count"
+
+# The fallback is not cosmetic: a host that installed this plugin natively sets
+# no CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR, and the hook must stay inert-but-harmless there rather
+# than erroring on an unset variable (the script runs under `set -u`).
+rm -f "$WORK/update-was-called" "$WORK/apm-cwd"
+out="$(run_hook_in "$WORK" "-")"
+[[ -f "$WORK/update-was-called" ]] \
+  && pass "falls back to the cwd when CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR is unset" \
+  || fail "must still work with no CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR in the environment"
+[[ "$(cat "$WORK/apm-cwd" 2>/dev/null)" == "$WORK" ]] \
+  && pass "runs apm in the cwd under the fallback" \
+  || fail "apm ran in '$(cat "$WORK/apm-cwd" 2>/dev/null)' — should be the cwd"
+
+rm -f "$WORK/update-was-called" "$WORK/apm-cwd"
+out="$(run_hook_in "$ELSEWHERE" "$ELSEWHERE")"; rc=$?
+[[ $rc -eq 0 ]] && pass "exits 0 when neither the project dir nor the cwd has a lockfile" \
+  || fail "should exit 0 when there is no lockfile anywhere"
+[[ -z "$out" ]] && pass "stays silent when neither the project dir nor the cwd has a lockfile" \
+  || fail "should stay silent when there is no lockfile anywhere"
+[[ ! -f "$WORK/update-was-called" ]] \
+  && pass "does not run apm update when there is no lockfile anywhere" \
+  || fail "must not touch a project that does not use apm"
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 echo ""
 echo "--- hooks.json wiring ---"
@@ -153,7 +219,150 @@ matcher="$(python3 -c 'import json,sys; d=json.load(open(sys.argv[1])); print(d[
 [[ "$matcher" == "startup" ]] && pass "fires on startup only" \
   || fail "matcher is '$matcher' — resume/clear/compact would re-run this every compaction"
 
+# The host's timeout must strictly exceed everything the script can spend, or
+# the host SIGKILLs the hook mid-`apm update` and leaves a half-redeployed
+# .claude/skills/ with no notice emitted — the silent failure this hook exists
+# to prevent. Asserted as an invariant over both files rather than against a
+# literal, so raising either internal `timeout` without raising the host budget
+# fails here instead of reintroducing the gap quietly.
+#
+# Every `timeout N` in the script counts, comments included: a stray "timeout
+# 300" in prose only makes this stricter, which is the safe direction.
+script_budget=0
+timeout_count=0
+while read -r n; do
+  [[ -n "$n" ]] || continue
+  script_budget=$((script_budget + n))
+  timeout_count=$((timeout_count + 1))
+done < <(grep -oE '\btimeout [0-9]+\b' "$HOOK" | grep -oE '[0-9]+')
+
+hook_timeout="$(python3 -c 'import json,sys; d=json.load(open(sys.argv[1])); print(d["hooks"]["SessionStart"][0]["hooks"][0]["timeout"])' "$HOOKS_JSON")"
+
+if [[ $timeout_count -eq 0 ]]; then
+  fail "found no 'timeout N' in $HOOK — the budget assertion below would be vacuous"
+else
+  pass "parsed $timeout_count internal timeout(s) totalling ${script_budget}s from the hook script"
+  [[ $hook_timeout -gt $script_budget ]] \
+    && pass "hooks.json timeout (${hook_timeout}s) exceeds the script's own budget (${script_budget}s)" \
+    || fail "hooks.json timeout is ${hook_timeout}s but the script can spend ${script_budget}s — the host would SIGKILL it mid-update"
+fi
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+echo ""
+echo "--- the greped phrase, against the real apm ---"
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# Everything above mocks `apm`, so an apm release that reworded its summary line
+# would revert this hook to its pre-fix behaviour with a fully green suite.
+# `apm outdated` has no --json/machine-readable flag (verified against 0.28.0),
+# so the phrase match cannot be replaced — it can only be pinned.
+#
+# The probe stages a genuinely outdated dependency with no network: a local git
+# repo stands in for the upstream, reached through `url.<path>.insteadOf`
+# rewrites of every URL spelling apm may build (it picks ssh or https depending
+# on ambient auth config, so all three are mapped). apm appends `.git` to the
+# repo URL, which is why the local repo is named `upstream.git` and the rewrite
+# target omits the suffix. HOME is redirected so no user-level apm cache or
+# credential state can influence the result.
+#
+# The genuine output is then replayed into the real hook through the mock, so
+# what is asserted is the hook's own matching logic against real apm text —
+# no pattern is duplicated here to drift out of sync.
+SKIP_REASON=""
+if ! command -v apm > /dev/null 2>&1 || ! command -v git > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+  SKIP_REASON="SKIP: apm and git are both required to verify the hook's phrase match against real \`apm outdated\` output — everything above ran, this axis did not"
+  echo "  $SKIP_REASON"
+else
+  PROBE="$(mktemp -d)"
+  trap 'rm -rf "$FAKE_BIN" "$WORK" "$PROBE"' EXIT
+
+  UPSTREAM="$PROBE/upstream.git"
+  git init -q "$UPSTREAM"
+  git -C "$UPSTREAM" -c user.email=probe@example.invalid -c user.name=probe \
+    commit -q --allow-empty -m one
+  LOCKED_SHA="$(git -C "$UPSTREAM" rev-parse HEAD)"
+  git -C "$UPSTREAM" -c user.email=probe@example.invalid -c user.name=probe \
+    commit -q --allow-empty -m two
+  BRANCH="$(git -C "$UPSTREAM" symbolic-ref --short HEAD)"
+
+  {
+    for repo in alpha beta; do
+      printf '[url "%s/upstream"]\n' "$PROBE"
+      printf '\tinsteadOf = git@apm-probe.invalid:probe/%s\n' "$repo"
+      printf '\tinsteadOf = https://apm-probe.invalid/probe/%s\n' "$repo"
+      printf '\tinsteadOf = ssh://git@apm-probe.invalid/probe/%s\n' "$repo"
+    done
+  } > "$PROBE/gitconfig"
+
+  mkdir -p "$PROBE/consumer" "$PROBE/home"
+
+  # $1 = how many stale dependencies to stage. Writes a lockfile and echoes what
+  # the real `apm outdated` printed for it.
+  real_apm_outdated() {
+    local want="$1" repo
+    {
+      echo "lockfile_version: '1'"
+      echo "generated_at: '2026-01-01T00:00:00+00:00'"
+      echo "apm_version: 0.0.0"
+      echo "dependencies:"
+      for repo in $( [[ "$want" == 1 ]] && echo alpha || echo alpha beta ); do
+        echo "- host: apm-probe.invalid"
+        echo "  name: probe-$repo"
+        echo "  package_type: apm_package"
+        echo "  repo_url: probe/$repo"
+        echo "  resolved_ref: $BRANCH"
+        echo "  resolved_commit: $LOCKED_SHA"
+        echo "  version: 1.0.0"
+      done
+      echo "deployments: []"
+    } > "$PROBE/consumer/apm.lock.yaml"
+    (
+      cd "$PROBE/consumer" &&
+        env HOME="$PROBE/home" \
+          GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL="$PROBE/gitconfig" \
+          GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM=1 \
+          GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 \
+          apm outdated 2>&1
+    )
+  }
+
+  # Replay genuine output through the hook. A harness that stages nothing would
+  # make every assertion below vacuously true, so the staged row is checked
+  # first and a failure to stage is a FAIL, not a quiet pass.
+  for want in 1 2; do
+    genuine="$(real_apm_outdated "$want" || true)"
+    if ! grep -q "outdated" <<< "$genuine"; then
+      fail "probe staged no outdated dependency against the real apm (harness broken, not the hook): $(tr '\n' ' ' <<< "$genuine" | cut -c1-160)"
+      continue
+    fi
+    printf '%s\n' "$genuine" > "$PROBE/genuine-$want.txt"
+    cat > "$FAKE_BIN/apm" << EOF
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+pwd > "$WORK/apm-cwd"
+case "\$1" in
+  outdated) cat "$PROBE/genuine-$want.txt"; exit 0 ;;
+  update)   touch "$WORK/update-was-called"; exit 0 ;;
+esac
+exit 0
+EOF
+    chmod +x "$FAKE_BIN/apm"
+    rm -f "$WORK/update-was-called"
+    out="$(run_hook)"
+    if [[ -n "$out" ]] && echo "$out" | json_field additionalContext 2>/dev/null | grep -q "$want package"; then
+      pass "detects staleness in real \`apm outdated\` output and counts $want package(s)"
+    else
+      fail "real apm reported $want outdated dependency/dependencies but the hook did not act on it — apm reworded its summary line. Real output: $(tr '\n' ' ' < "$PROBE/genuine-$want.txt" | tail -c 120)"
+    fi
+  done
+fi
+
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 echo ""
 echo "Results: $PASS passed, $FAIL failed"
-[[ $FAIL -eq 0 ]]
+[[ $FAIL -eq 0 ]] || exit 1
+# A skip only after everything runnable has run and passed: the mocked axis is
+# still worth executing on a machine without apm, but the suite must not read
+# as green when the real-apm axis was not verified. run-tests.sh reports 77 as
+# SKIPPED and, at pre-push (--strict), as a setup error naming this reason.
+[[ -z "$SKIP_REASON" ]] || exit 77
+exit 0