diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 03fb0e2..ddb7075 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -261,20 +261,41 @@ set -s extended-keys always
 set -as terminal-features "*:extkeys"
 EOF
 
+# Go environment. Spelled with a literal /root rather than ${HOME}: Docker does
+# not define HOME during the build, so "${HOME}/go" would expand to "/go". /root
+# is correct for both paths through the entrypoint — the legacy root fallback,
+# and the dropped-privilege user, whose passwd entry is created with -d /root.
+# GOROOT is already baked into the go.dev tarball; set explicitly so scripts that
+# read the variable directly (rather than `go env GOROOT`) see it too.
+# GOBIN is spelled out rather than written as ${GOPATH}/bin for the same class of
+# reason: Docker resolves a variable against the value from *before* the current
+# instruction, so ${GOPATH}/bin inside this ENV would yield "/bin".
+ENV GOBIN=/root/go/bin \
+    GOPATH=/root/go \
+    GOROOT=/usr/local/go
+
 # DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1 keeps the pinned CLAUDE_CODE_VERSION authoritative —
 # without it, claude auto-replaces itself at runtime, defeating the
 # --ignore-scripts supply-chain pinning above. Bump the image to upgrade.
-# PATH: /usr/local/go/bin is the go.dev-prescribed entry for the toolchain.
-# $HOME/go/bin (GOPATH default; HOME=/root for the dropped user) is appended
-# LAST on purpose — `go install` targets it and /root persists in the
-# claude-code-root volume, so anything a session drops there must never be able
-# to shadow a system binary earlier in PATH.
+# No TASK_X_REMOTE_TASKFILES here: go-task's `includes:` from a remote URL left
+# experimental in 3.53.1, so the feature is on by default and setting the opt-in
+# makes every `task` invocation warn that the experiment is released. It stays a
+# runtime code-fetch primitive in the same class as `pnpm dlx`/`uvx`/`go install`;
+# task still prompts before trusting a new remote Taskfile checksum.
+# PATH: /usr/local/go/bin comes first — the go.dev-prescribed entry for the
+# toolchain, ahead of the system paths so the image's pinned Go wins.
+# /root/.local/bin (the pip --user / `uv tool install` prefix) and /root/go/bin
+# (the GOPATH default, where `go install` writes) are appended LAST on purpose:
+# both live in the persistent claude-code-root volume and are writable by the
+# session, so a binary one session drops there must never be able to shadow a
+# system binary (git, gh, aws, …) on a later run. Tools installed into either
+# stay runnable by name; only deliberate overrides are given up.
 ENV CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1 \
     DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1 \
     IS_SANDBOX=1 \
     LANG=C.UTF-8 \
     LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 \
-    PATH="/usr/local/go/bin:${PATH}:/root/go/bin"
+    PATH="/usr/local/go/bin:${PATH}:/root/.local/bin:/root/go/bin"
 
 # Container starts as root so the entrypoint can chown /root to the host
 # UID, then drops privileges via runuser. Steady-state, claude runs as the
diff --git a/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/design.md b/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/design.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59e7ebe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/design.md
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+## Context
+
+`/root` is the persistent `claude-code-root` named volume (`run.sh:861`): it
+survives `docker run --rm`, and it is shared across every session and every
+workspace on the host. The agent runs as a dropped-privilege user whose passwd
+entry is created with `-d /root`, so `/root` is both `HOME` and writable.
+
+The image `PATH` reaches that agent verbatim. `entrypoint.sh:89` is
+`exec runuser -u claude`, not `runuser -l` — no login shell, no
+`/etc/profile`, no re-derivation of `PATH`. Whatever the `ENV` says is what a
+session resolves commands against. That makes PATH ordering an image-level
+security control, not a convenience setting, and it is why the existing
+`go-toolchain` spec pins `/root/go/bin` last.
+
+## Goals / Non-Goals
+
+**Goals:**
+
+- `GOROOT` / `GOPATH` / `GOBIN` readable from the process environment by
+  non-Go tooling, with the same values `go env` would compute.
+- Session-installed tools under `/root/.local/bin` runnable by name.
+- No new way for one session to influence a later session's command
+  resolution.
+- The non-shadowing guarantee actually tested, not merely asserted in prose.
+
+**Non-Goals:**
+
+- No `GOCACHE` / `GOMODCACHE` / `GOFLAGS` / `GOPRIVATE` export — those have
+  working defaults under `/root` that the volume already persists, and pinning
+  them adds surface without a caller that needs it.
+- No change to `GOTOOLCHAIN`, which stays at its default `auto`.
+- No image-side installation into `/root/.local/bin`.
+
+## Decisions
+
+### Literal `/root`, not `${HOME}`
+
+Docker does not define `HOME` during a build. `ENV GOPATH="${HOME}/go"` expands
+against an empty string and bakes `GOPATH=/go` into the image — a directory
+that does not exist, with no build-time error. `/root` is correct for both
+paths through the entrypoint: the legacy `HOST_UID=0` fallback runs as root,
+and the dropped-privilege user's passwd entry is created with `-d /root`.
+`smoke/assert-in-container.sh` already asserts `HOME=/root` in both cells, so
+the equivalence is enforced rather than assumed.
+
+### Literal `/root/go/bin` for `GOBIN`, not `${GOPATH}/bin`
+
+Docker resolves a variable reference in an `ENV` instruction against the value
+from *before* that instruction, so `GOBIN="${GOPATH}/bin"` alongside
+`GOPATH=/root/go` in the same `ENV` yields `GOBIN=/bin` — silently, and
+pointing at a system directory.
+
+An earlier draft worked around this with a separate `ENV GOHOME=/root/go`
+instruction referenced by the next one. Rejected: `GOHOME` is not a Go variable,
+`go env` ignores it, and it would ship in every session's environment inviting
+`-e GOHOME=/other` overrides that do nothing (both dependants are baked at
+build time). Spelling both paths out literally removes the workaround instead of
+shipping it; the gotcha survives as a comment.
+
+### `/root/.local/bin` goes behind every system path
+
+The tempting framing is that a user-local prefix conventionally wins — that is
+what it means on a normal workstation, where `~/.local/bin` is under the
+control of the person typing the commands.
+
+That does not transfer here. `/root/.local/bin` is written by an agent, not by
+a person; nothing in the image ever writes to it, so by construction every byte
+on that path arrives from a session. And because the directory is in the shared
+volume, it is read by *later* sessions, in *other* workspaces, holding *other*
+credentials. In first position it is a persistence primitive: one session writes
+`/root/.local/bin/gh`, a later unrelated session runs `gh` and executes it.
+
+There is nothing the image can check that distinguishes `/root/.local/bin` from
+`/root/go/bin` — same volume, same writer, same lifetime. Treating them
+differently would rest on the installer's intent, which the image cannot see.
+So both go behind the system paths, `/root/.local/bin` first of the two on the
+weak-but-harmless grounds that it is the more deliberate of the two
+destinations. Tools installed either way stay runnable by name; the only
+capability given up is overriding a system binary, which is precisely what the
+requirement forbids.
+
+### The requirement is renamed, not edited in place
+
+The old title — "PATH ordering keeps GOPATH binaries non-shadowing" — and its
+single `/root/go/bin` scenario would leave the new entry uncovered: a reader
+greps the title, concludes the requirement is about `go install` output, and
+misses that another writable directory is on PATH under the same guarantee. The
+delta therefore removes the old requirement and adds a renamed one carrying
+both directories and four scenarios, following the `REMOVED` + `ADDED` pattern
+used by `2026-08-25-container-git-config-overlay`.
+
+## Risks / Trade-offs
+
+- **A tool that genuinely needs to override a system binary breaks.** Accepted:
+  that is the guarantee, and the workaround (invoke by absolute path, or shadow
+  it per-project) is available to a user who really wants it.
+- **The smoke check pins `/usr/bin/git`.** If a future change moves `git` (e.g.
+  a newer git installed under `/usr/local/bin`), the assertion fails loudly
+  rather than silently stopping to test anything. That is the intended failure
+  mode; update the expectation with the move.
+
+## Open Questions
+
+None.
diff --git a/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/proposal.md b/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/proposal.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ce5cf3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/proposal.md
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+## Why
+
+The image installs Go but exports none of its environment. `GOROOT`, `GOPATH`,
+and `GOBIN` exist only as `go env` defaults, computed by the toolchain from
+`HOME` at invocation time. Anything that is not the `go` binary — a Makefile
+that references `$(GOBIN)`, a Taskfile, a CI helper script, a linter wrapper —
+reads the process environment, finds the variables unset, and either guesses or
+fails. The values are already fixed and known at build time, so leaving them
+implicit buys nothing.
+
+Separately, the `pip install --user` / `uv tool install` prefix
+`/root/.local/bin` is not on PATH at all, so a tool a session installs that way
+is not runnable by name. That directory sits in the persistent
+`claude-code-root` volume and is writable by the agent — exactly the property
+that already pins `/root/go/bin` to last position — so it can be added, but only
+behind every system path.
+
+## What Changes
+
+- Export `GOROOT=/usr/local/go`, `GOPATH=/root/go`, `GOBIN=/root/go/bin` as
+  image `ENV`, so they hold for `docker run`, `docker exec`, and non-login
+  shells alike, spelled against a literal `/root`.
+- Add `/root/.local/bin` to the default PATH in second-to-last position, ahead
+  of `/root/go/bin` and behind every system path.
+- Broaden the PATH-ordering requirement from "GOPATH binaries" to
+  volume-persisted directories generally, so the guarantee covers both
+  agent-writable entries rather than naming only the one that existed first.
+- Assert both in `smoke/assert-in-container.sh`. The existing non-shadowing
+  requirement has never had a test; the new check enforces the ordering, the
+  resolution of `git` to `/usr/bin/git`, and the three exported values.
+
+Not in scope: setting `TASK_X_REMOTE_TASKFILES=1`. go-task's remote `includes:`
+left experimental in 3.53.1, so the feature is on by default and setting the
+opt-in only makes every `task` invocation warn that the experiment is released.
+It stays a runtime code-fetch primitive in the same class as `pnpm dlx`, `uvx`,
+and `go install`, and `task` still prompts before trusting a new remote
+Taskfile checksum. The Dockerfile records this as a comment so the next reader
+does not re-derive it.
+
+Not in scope: making the image itself install anything into `/root/.local/bin`.
+Nothing in the build writes there today; the entry is for session-installed
+tools only.
+
+## Capabilities
+
+### New Capabilities
+
+None.
+
+### Modified Capabilities
+
+- `go-toolchain`: adds a requirement that the Go environment is exported by the
+  image rather than left to `go env` defaults, and replaces the GOPATH-specific
+  PATH-ordering requirement with one covering every agent-writable,
+  volume-persisted PATH entry.
+
+## Impact
+
+- `Dockerfile` — one new `ENV` instruction for the Go variables and a reordered
+  `PATH`. No new layer content, no download, no size change beyond the
+  environment block.
+- `smoke/assert-in-container.sh` — a `check_path_order()` function and two
+  helpers; adds six assertions to every smoke cell.
+- No change to `run.sh`, the entrypoint, the capability set, or the credential
+  model. The privilege drop is unaffected: `entrypoint.sh` execs
+  `runuser -u claude` (not `-l`), so the image PATH reaches the agent unchanged
+  either way — which is why its ordering is the security-relevant artifact.
diff --git a/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/specs/go-toolchain/spec.md b/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/specs/go-toolchain/spec.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..751d976
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/specs/go-toolchain/spec.md
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+## ADDED Requirements
+
+### Requirement: Go environment exported by the image
+
+The image SHALL export `GOROOT=/usr/local/go`, `GOPATH=/root/go`, and
+`GOBIN=/root/go/bin` as `ENV`, so the values are present in the process
+environment rather than existing only as `go env` defaults computed by the
+toolchain. Scripts and non-Go tooling that read the variables directly SHALL
+therefore agree with the toolchain.
+
+The values SHALL be spelled against a literal `/root`, not `${HOME}`: Docker
+does not define `HOME` during a build, so `"${HOME}/go"` expands to `/go`.
+`/root` is the home directory on both paths through the entrypoint — the
+legacy root fallback and the dropped-privilege user, whose passwd entry is
+created with `-d /root`.
+
+#### Scenario: the variables are set in a non-login shell
+
+- **WHEN** a command runs in the container without a login shell — the
+  entrypoint's `runuser -u`, a `docker exec`, or a plain `docker run` command
+- **THEN** `GOROOT` is `/usr/local/go`, `GOPATH` is `/root/go`, and `GOBIN` is
+  `/root/go/bin` in that process's environment
+
+#### Scenario: the exported values match what the toolchain computes
+
+- **WHEN** `go env GOROOT`, `go env GOPATH`, and `go env GOBIN` are compared
+  against the exported `GOROOT`, `GOPATH`, and `GOBIN`
+- **THEN** each pair agrees, so a script reading the variable and a script
+  shelling out to `go env` reach the same directory
+
+### Requirement: PATH ordering keeps volume-persisted directories non-shadowing
+
+The default PATH SHALL place `/usr/local/go/bin` ahead of every system path,
+and SHALL place both agent-writable directories that live in the persistent
+`claude-code-root` volume — `/root/.local/bin` (the `pip install --user` /
+`uv tool install` prefix) and `/root/go/bin` (the GOPATH `bin` directory, where
+`go install` writes) — after every system path.
+
+Both directories are writable by the agent and survive the session: `/root` is
+a named volume shared across sessions and workspaces, and the image PATH
+reaches the agent unchanged because the entrypoint execs `runuser -u` rather
+than `runuser -l`. A binary one session leaves in either directory MUST NOT be
+able to shadow a system binary (`git`, `gh`, `aws`, …) on a later run. They MAY
+be on the default PATH for convenience, but only after every system path.
+
+Neither directory is distinguishable from the other by anything the image can
+check — same volume, same writer, same lifetime — so the usual convention that
+a user-local prefix precedes the system paths SHALL NOT be applied to
+`/root/.local/bin`. `/usr/local/go/bin` precedes the system paths so the
+image's pinned toolchain wins over anything installed into the volume.
+
+#### Scenario: a persisted GOPATH binary cannot shadow a system tool
+
+- **GIVEN** a previous session left an executable named `git` in `/root/go/bin`
+  in the persistent volume
+- **WHEN** a new container starts and `git` is invoked
+- **THEN** the system `git` runs, not the one from `/root/go/bin`
+
+#### Scenario: a persisted user-prefix binary cannot shadow a system tool
+
+- **GIVEN** a previous session left an executable named `gh` in
+  `/root/.local/bin` in the persistent volume
+- **WHEN** a new container starts, in any workspace, and `gh` is invoked
+- **THEN** the system `gh` runs, not the one from `/root/.local/bin`
+
+#### Scenario: go install output is runnable without an absolute path
+
+- **WHEN** the user runs `go install <module>@<version>` and then invokes the
+  installed command by name
+- **THEN** the command resolves from `/root/go/bin` on PATH
+
+#### Scenario: user-prefix installs are runnable without an absolute path
+
+- **WHEN** the user installs a tool whose entry point lands in
+  `/root/.local/bin` (for example `uv tool install` or `pip install --user`)
+  and then invokes it by name
+- **THEN** the command resolves from `/root/.local/bin` on PATH, provided no
+  system binary of that name exists
+
+#### Scenario: the smoke suite enforces the ordering
+
+- **WHEN** `smoke/smoke.sh` runs against a built image
+- **THEN** the in-container assertions confirm `/usr/local/go/bin` precedes
+  `/usr/bin`, that `/usr/bin` precedes both `/root/.local/bin` and
+  `/root/go/bin`, and that `git` resolves to `/usr/bin/git`
+- **AND** they confirm the exported `GOROOT`, `GOPATH`, and `GOBIN` values
+
+## REMOVED Requirements
+
+### Requirement: PATH ordering keeps GOPATH binaries non-shadowing
+
+Superseded by "PATH ordering keeps volume-persisted directories
+non-shadowing" above. The guarantee is unchanged and strengthened; the title
+and its single `/root/go/bin` scenario described only one of the two
+agent-writable, volume-persisted directories now on the default PATH, so a
+reader greping the title would conclude the requirement was about `go install`
+output alone.
diff --git a/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/tasks.md b/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/tasks.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..299b28f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/openspec/changes/archive/2026-08-29-export-go-env/tasks.md
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+## 1. Go environment
+
+- [x] 1.1 Add an `ENV` instruction setting `GOBIN=/root/go/bin`,
+  `GOPATH=/root/go`, `GOROOT=/usr/local/go`, placed after the tmux layer and
+  before the existing runtime `ENV` block.
+- [x] 1.2 Spell every path literally. Comment why `${HOME}` is wrong (Docker
+  does not define `HOME` at build time, so `"${HOME}/go"` bakes in `/go`) and
+  why `GOBIN` is not written as `${GOPATH}/bin` (Docker resolves the reference
+  against the value from before the instruction, yielding `/bin`).
+- [x] 1.3 Introduce no helper variable to work around the self-reference rule —
+  nothing that `go env` does not recognise may ship in the session environment.
+
+## 2. PATH
+
+- [x] 2.1 Reorder the runtime `ENV` PATH to
+  `"/usr/local/go/bin:${PATH}:/root/.local/bin:/root/go/bin"`.
+- [x] 2.2 Rewrite the PATH comment: both trailing entries are agent-writable
+  and volume-persisted, both sit after every system path, and neither may
+  shadow a system binary. Drop any framing that treats `/root/.local/bin` as
+  more trusted than `/root/go/bin`.
+- [x] 2.3 Keep the `TASK_X_REMOTE_TASKFILES` comment recording why the opt-in
+  is declined.
+
+## 3. Smoke assertions
+
+- [x] 3.1 Add `path_index()` to `smoke/assert-in-container.sh` — the index of
+  an entry in the colon-separated PATH, `-1` when absent, matching whole
+  entries only.
+- [x] 3.2 Add `assert_path_before()` reporting through the existing
+  `pass`/`fail` counters, failing distinctly when either entry is missing.
+- [x] 3.3 Add `check_path_order()` asserting `/usr/local/go/bin` before
+  `/usr/bin`, `/usr/bin` before `/root/.local/bin` and before `/root/go/bin`,
+  and `command -v git` = `/usr/bin/git`.
+- [x] 3.4 Assert `GOROOT`, `GOPATH`, `GOBIN` in the same function with the
+  existing `assert_eq`.
+- [x] 3.5 Call `check_path_order` from the Main dispatch after `check_security`
+  and renumber the section banners that follow.
+
+## 4. Verification
+
+- [x] 4.1 `bash -n smoke/assert-in-container.sh` passes and the PATH helpers
+  behave correctly against a synthetic PATH (ordered pair, reversed pair,
+  missing entry).
+- [ ] 4.2 `shellcheck run.sh entrypoint.sh smoke/*.sh` and
+  `hadolint --config .hadolint.yaml Dockerfile` pass.
+- [ ] 4.3 `docker build -t claude-code:local .` succeeds and
+  `IMAGE=claude-code:local bash smoke/smoke.sh --uid="$(id -u)" --optins=aws,glab,tfe`
+  passes, including the new `path-order` and `GO*` assertions.
+- [ ] 4.4 Shadowing probe: plant an executable `git` in `/root/.local/bin` in a
+  throwaway root volume, start a new container against it, and confirm
+  `command -v git` still reports `/usr/bin/git`.
+- [x] 4.5 `openspec validate export-go-env --strict` passes.
diff --git a/openspec/specs/go-toolchain/spec.md b/openspec/specs/go-toolchain/spec.md
index 0b739bb..5a22a17 100644
--- a/openspec/specs/go-toolchain/spec.md
+++ b/openspec/specs/go-toolchain/spec.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 Ship exactly one version-pinned, sha256-verified Go toolchain in the image — the one preinstalled language runtime, since the Go distribution is a single self-contained tree with no per-project variant to select and `go` resolves a project's required toolchain itself (contrast `tfenv`/`uv`, which fetch per-project Terraform/Python at runtime; see `package-managers`). The pin is manual rather than soak-gated under `pins/`, because go.dev's release feed carries no publish dates — so it must stay visible via an operator reminder. PATH ordering keeps the pinned toolchain authoritative while ensuring volume-persisted `go install` output can never shadow a system binary, and the toolchain's runtime code-fetch paths are named in the threat model.
 
 ## Requirements
+
 ### Requirement: Pinned Go toolchain installed on the default PATH
 
 The container image SHALL ship exactly one Go toolchain, installed from the
@@ -102,32 +103,6 @@ refresh run.
   resolved
 - **AND** the run continues and exits on the same status it otherwise would
 
-### Requirement: PATH ordering keeps GOPATH binaries non-shadowing
-
-The default PATH SHALL place `/usr/local/go/bin` first and the GOPATH `bin`
-directory — `/root/go/bin` for the dropped-privilege user — last, after every
-system path.
-
-`go install` writes into that GOPATH `bin` directory, which sits inside the
-persistent `claude-code-root` volume and is writable by the agent. It MAY be on
-the default PATH for convenience, but only in last position: a binary one
-session leaves there must not be able to shadow a system binary (`git`, `gh`,
-`aws`, …) on a later run. `/usr/local/go/bin` goes first so the image's pinned
-toolchain wins over anything installed into the volume.
-
-#### Scenario: a persisted GOPATH binary cannot shadow a system tool
-
-- **GIVEN** a previous session left an executable named `git` in `/root/go/bin`
-  in the persistent volume
-- **WHEN** a new container starts and `git` is invoked
-- **THEN** the system `git` runs, not the one from `/root/go/bin`
-
-#### Scenario: go install output is runnable without an absolute path
-
-- **WHEN** the user runs `go install <module>@<version>` and then invokes the
-  installed command by name
-- **THEN** the command resolves from `/root/go/bin` on PATH
-
 ### Requirement: Go runtime code-fetch documented in the threat model
 
 The threat model documentation SHALL note that the Go toolchain adds runtime
@@ -160,3 +135,87 @@ loudly instead. The bundled-tools line SHALL list `go`.
 - **THEN** the Go tarball appears alongside `uv`, `glab`, the AWS CLI, and the
   `tfenv` source archive
 
+### Requirement: Go environment exported by the image
+
+The image SHALL export `GOROOT=/usr/local/go`, `GOPATH=/root/go`, and
+`GOBIN=/root/go/bin` as `ENV`, so the values are present in the process
+environment rather than existing only as `go env` defaults computed by the
+toolchain. Scripts and non-Go tooling that read the variables directly SHALL
+therefore agree with the toolchain.
+
+The values SHALL be spelled against a literal `/root`, not `${HOME}`: Docker
+does not define `HOME` during a build, so `"${HOME}/go"` expands to `/go`.
+`/root` is the home directory on both paths through the entrypoint — the
+legacy root fallback and the dropped-privilege user, whose passwd entry is
+created with `-d /root`.
+
+#### Scenario: the variables are set in a non-login shell
+
+- **WHEN** a command runs in the container without a login shell — the
+  entrypoint's `runuser -u`, a `docker exec`, or a plain `docker run` command
+- **THEN** `GOROOT` is `/usr/local/go`, `GOPATH` is `/root/go`, and `GOBIN` is
+  `/root/go/bin` in that process's environment
+
+#### Scenario: the exported values match what the toolchain computes
+
+- **WHEN** `go env GOROOT`, `go env GOPATH`, and `go env GOBIN` are compared
+  against the exported `GOROOT`, `GOPATH`, and `GOBIN`
+- **THEN** each pair agrees, so a script reading the variable and a script
+  shelling out to `go env` reach the same directory
+
+### Requirement: PATH ordering keeps volume-persisted directories non-shadowing
+
+The default PATH SHALL place `/usr/local/go/bin` ahead of every system path,
+and SHALL place both agent-writable directories that live in the persistent
+`claude-code-root` volume — `/root/.local/bin` (the `pip install --user` /
+`uv tool install` prefix) and `/root/go/bin` (the GOPATH `bin` directory, where
+`go install` writes) — after every system path.
+
+Both directories are writable by the agent and survive the session: `/root` is
+a named volume shared across sessions and workspaces, and the image PATH
+reaches the agent unchanged because the entrypoint execs `runuser -u` rather
+than `runuser -l`. A binary one session leaves in either directory MUST NOT be
+able to shadow a system binary (`git`, `gh`, `aws`, …) on a later run. They MAY
+be on the default PATH for convenience, but only after every system path.
+
+Neither directory is distinguishable from the other by anything the image can
+check — same volume, same writer, same lifetime — so the usual convention that
+a user-local prefix precedes the system paths SHALL NOT be applied to
+`/root/.local/bin`. `/usr/local/go/bin` precedes the system paths so the
+image's pinned toolchain wins over anything installed into the volume.
+
+#### Scenario: a persisted GOPATH binary cannot shadow a system tool
+
+- **GIVEN** a previous session left an executable named `git` in `/root/go/bin`
+  in the persistent volume
+- **WHEN** a new container starts and `git` is invoked
+- **THEN** the system `git` runs, not the one from `/root/go/bin`
+
+#### Scenario: a persisted user-prefix binary cannot shadow a system tool
+
+- **GIVEN** a previous session left an executable named `gh` in
+  `/root/.local/bin` in the persistent volume
+- **WHEN** a new container starts, in any workspace, and `gh` is invoked
+- **THEN** the system `gh` runs, not the one from `/root/.local/bin`
+
+#### Scenario: go install output is runnable without an absolute path
+
+- **WHEN** the user runs `go install <module>@<version>` and then invokes the
+  installed command by name
+- **THEN** the command resolves from `/root/go/bin` on PATH
+
+#### Scenario: user-prefix installs are runnable without an absolute path
+
+- **WHEN** the user installs a tool whose entry point lands in
+  `/root/.local/bin` (for example `uv tool install` or `pip install --user`)
+  and then invokes it by name
+- **THEN** the command resolves from `/root/.local/bin` on PATH, provided no
+  system binary of that name exists
+
+#### Scenario: the smoke suite enforces the ordering
+
+- **WHEN** `smoke/smoke.sh` runs against a built image
+- **THEN** the in-container assertions confirm `/usr/local/go/bin` precedes
+  `/usr/bin`, that `/usr/bin` precedes both `/root/.local/bin` and
+  `/root/go/bin`, and that `git` resolves to `/usr/bin/git`
+- **AND** they confirm the exported `GOROOT`, `GOPATH`, and `GOBIN` values
diff --git a/smoke/assert-in-container.sh b/smoke/assert-in-container.sh
index 2336fb2..e90146d 100644
--- a/smoke/assert-in-container.sh
+++ b/smoke/assert-in-container.sh
@@ -191,7 +191,68 @@ check_security() {
 }
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# 3. File ownership — write into the workspace, smoke.sh checks host ownership
+# 3. PATH ordering and the exported Go environment
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+# Index of an entry in the colon-separated PATH, or -1 when absent. Matches
+# whole entries only, so /root/go/bin never matches inside /root/go/bin/foo.
+path_index() {
+  local want="$1" i=0 entry
+  local IFS=:
+  for entry in $PATH; do
+    if [ "$entry" = "$want" ]; then
+      printf '%s' "$i"
+      return
+    fi
+    i=$((i + 1))
+  done
+  printf '%s' "-1"
+}
+
+assert_path_before() {
+  local first="$1" second="$2"
+  local a b
+  a=$(path_index "$first")
+  b=$(path_index "$second")
+  if [ "$a" = "-1" ]; then
+    fail "path-order: $first is not on PATH (PATH=$PATH)"
+  elif [ "$b" = "-1" ]; then
+    fail "path-order: $second is not on PATH (PATH=$PATH)"
+  elif [ "$a" -lt "$b" ]; then
+    pass "path-order: $first (#$a) precedes $second (#$b)"
+  else
+    fail "path-order: expected $first before $second, got #$a and #$b (PATH=$PATH)"
+  fi
+}
+
+check_path_order() {
+  # The image PATH survives the privilege drop — entrypoint.sh execs
+  # `runuser -u claude` (not -l), so what this script sees IS the shipped
+  # ordering. /root is the persistent claude-code-root volume, so both
+  # /root/.local/bin (pip --user / uv tool install prefix) and /root/go/bin
+  # (GOPATH default, `go install` target) are agent-writable and survive the
+  # session. Neither may precede a system path: a binary one session leaves
+  # there must not shadow git/gh/aws on a later run, in an unrelated workspace.
+  # /usr/bin stands in for "the system paths" — it is where git and gh live.
+  assert_path_before /usr/local/go/bin /usr/bin
+  assert_path_before /usr/bin /root/.local/bin
+  assert_path_before /usr/bin /root/go/bin
+
+  # And the resolution actually lands on the system copy, not merely earlier in
+  # a string — this is the invariant the ordering exists to buy.
+  assert_eq "path-git-resolves-system" "$(command -v git)" "/usr/bin/git"
+
+  # Go environment exported by the image (ENV), so it holds for docker run,
+  # docker exec, and non-login shells alike rather than relying on `go env`
+  # defaults. Spelled against a literal /root: Docker does not define HOME at
+  # build time.
+  assert_eq "GOROOT=/usr/local/go" "${GOROOT:-}" "/usr/local/go"
+  assert_eq "GOPATH=/root/go" "${GOPATH:-}" "/root/go"
+  assert_eq "GOBIN=/root/go/bin" "${GOBIN:-}" "/root/go/bin"
+}
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# 4. File ownership — write into the workspace, smoke.sh checks host ownership
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 check_workspace_write() {
@@ -213,7 +274,7 @@ check_workspace_write() {
 }
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# 4. Credential plumbing
+# 5. Credential plumbing
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # Mapping: opt-in name → container config path + env var to check.
@@ -308,7 +369,7 @@ check_credentials() {
 }
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# 5. Seeded settings — must be a writable copy, not a mount
+# 6. Seeded settings — must be a writable copy, not a mount
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 check_settings() {
@@ -371,7 +432,7 @@ check_settings() {
 }
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# 6. Robustness — entrypoint reached here, so it did not abort
+# 7. Robustness — entrypoint reached here, so it did not abort
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 check_entrypoint_reached() {
@@ -388,6 +449,7 @@ echo "=== assert-in-container starting (UID=$(id -u) GID=$(id -g)) ==="
 check_entrypoint_reached
 check_identity
 check_security
+check_path_order
 check_workspace_write
 check_credentials
 check_settings