diff --git a/NOTEPAD.md b/NOTEPAD.md
index a4e026d..6f4a19e 100644
--- a/NOTEPAD.md
+++ b/NOTEPAD.md
@@ -72,14 +72,13 @@ Specific changes
   reloader, which reaps nothing that is not its own child. `init: true` on the backend
   service hands PID 1 to an init that does reap orphans, and would close the whole class
   rather than one source of it.
-- BUG/NODE: **every python node on the dev stack fails to build** with
-  `RemoteError: the worker answered request None while <n> was outstanding` — the reply the
-  pool read off the pipe parsed as JSON but carried neither an `id` nor an `event`, so
-  `_exchange` retires the worker and the node goes red. It is not the rebuild scope: a
-  whole-pipeline `reload()` produces the same error on the same nodes. Worth checking against
-  the orphaned workers above, since both follow uvicorn `--reload`. It is why
-  `runtime.spec.ts` "the logs panel shows what a node printed" fails — nothing runs, so
-  nothing prints.
+- CHORE/INFRA: the engine and the worker speak a version-matched protocol, but only the
+  engine hot-reloads — uvicorn watches `/app/backend`, and a worker process holds the code
+  it started with until it is respawned. So a protocol change reaches one side and not the
+  other, which is how every python node came to fail with `RemoteError: the worker answered
+  request None`. `compose.dev.yml` now mounts `worker/fluksio_worker` beside
+  `backend/fluksio`, which closes the image half. The reload half is open: editing worker
+  source restarts nothing, and the running pool keeps the old code.
 
 - CHORE/UI: the portal's aggregate tiles have no not-reporting state. A figure an
   installation never sends renders through `?? 0`, so a missing field reads as a confident
diff --git a/docker/compose.dev.yml b/docker/compose.dev.yml
index 69a4fc3..7ed4204 100644
--- a/docker/compose.dev.yml
+++ b/docker/compose.dev.yml
@@ -112,6 +112,11 @@ services:
       # sync above — only `docker compose watch` does. Without the mount the
       # container serves the source baked into the image until it is rebuilt.
       - ../backend/fluksio:/app/backend/fluksio
+      # The worker speaks a protocol the engine version-matches, so mounting one
+      # without the other leaves a reloaded engine talking to the worker baked
+      # into the image — which is how every python node came to fail with
+      # "the worker answered request None" after a protocol change.
+      - ../worker/fluksio_worker:/app/worker/fluksio_worker
     environment:
       SMTP_HOST: "mailcatcher"
       SMTP_PORT: "1025"