diff --git a/.github/workflows/hosted-canary.yml b/.github/workflows/hosted-canary.yml
index 8df7359..93c403e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/hosted-canary.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/hosted-canary.yml
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ jobs:
           SOURCE_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
           CANARY_QUALIFIED_SOURCE_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
           CANARY_TRUSTED_WORKFLOW_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
+          CANARY_HEAD_REPOSITORY: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           test -n "$GH_TOKEN"
diff --git a/scripts/ship-canary.test.ts b/scripts/ship-canary.test.ts
index 44cace4..d7c56da 100644
--- a/scripts/ship-canary.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/ship-canary.test.ts
@@ -471,6 +471,118 @@ test("candidate config cannot redirect trusted canary targets", () => {
 	})
 })
 
+test("trusted template base admits exact first-consumer canary targets", () => {
+	const driver = canaryFixture()
+	const candidate = canaryFixture()
+	writeFileSync(
+		join(driver.temporaryRoot, "plugin.config.json"),
+		readFileSync(join(root, "plugin.config.json"), "utf8"),
+	)
+
+	const result = runTrustedCanary(
+		driver.temporaryRoot,
+		driver,
+		candidate.temporaryRoot,
+		"--dry-run",
+		{
+			GITHUB_REPOSITORY: "myagentdojo/dojo-hello",
+			CANARY_HEAD_REPOSITORY: "myagentdojo/dojo-hello",
+			GITHUB_WORKFLOW_REF:
+				"myagentdojo/dojo-hello/.github/workflows/hosted-canary.yml@refs/heads/main",
+		},
+	)
+
+	expect(result.exitCode, result.stderr.toString()).toBe(0)
+	expect(JSON.parse(result.stdout.toString())).toMatchObject({
+		identity: "myagentdojo",
+		targets: [
+			{ repository: "myagentdojo/dojo-hello-public-canary", visibility: "PUBLIC" },
+			{ repository: "myagentdojo/dojo-hello-private-canary", visibility: "PRIVATE" },
+		],
+	})
+})
+
+interface MutableBootstrapCandidate {
+	template: boolean
+	repository: string
+	canary: {
+		owner: string
+		actor: string
+		publicRepository: string
+		privateRepository: string
+	}
+}
+
+test.each([
+	[
+		"redirected target",
+		(config: MutableBootstrapCandidate) => {
+			config.canary.publicRepository = "attacker-public-canary"
+		},
+		{},
+	],
+	[
+		"wrong actor",
+		(config: MutableBootstrapCandidate) => {
+			config.canary.actor = "another-actor"
+		},
+		{},
+	],
+	[
+		"wrong repository URL",
+		(config: MutableBootstrapCandidate) => {
+			config.repository = "https://github.com/myagentdojo/another-repository"
+		},
+		{},
+	],
+	[
+		"partially initialized candidate",
+		(config: MutableBootstrapCandidate) => {
+			config.template = true
+		},
+		{},
+	],
+	[
+		"fork head",
+		(_config: MutableBootstrapCandidate) => {},
+		{ CANARY_HEAD_REPOSITORY: "fork-owner/dojo-hello" },
+	],
+])("trusted template bootstrap rejects %s", (_name, mutate, environment) => {
+	const driver = canaryFixture()
+	const candidate = canaryFixture()
+	writeFileSync(
+		join(driver.temporaryRoot, "plugin.config.json"),
+		readFileSync(join(root, "plugin.config.json"), "utf8"),
+	)
+	const candidateConfigPath = join(candidate.temporaryRoot, "plugin.config.json")
+	const candidateConfig = JSON.parse(
+		readFileSync(candidateConfigPath, "utf8"),
+	) as MutableBootstrapCandidate
+	mutate(candidateConfig)
+	writeFileSync(candidateConfigPath, `${JSON.stringify(candidateConfig, null, 2)}\n`)
+
+	const result = runTrustedCanary(
+		driver.temporaryRoot,
+		driver,
+		candidate.temporaryRoot,
+		"--dry-run",
+		{
+			GITHUB_REPOSITORY: "myagentdojo/dojo-hello",
+			CANARY_HEAD_REPOSITORY: "myagentdojo/dojo-hello",
+			GITHUB_WORKFLOW_REF:
+				"myagentdojo/dojo-hello/.github/workflows/hosted-canary.yml@refs/heads/main",
+			...environment,
+		},
+	)
+
+	expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1)
+	expect(JSON.parse(result.stdout.toString())).toMatchObject({
+		category: "canary_target_mismatch",
+		retrySafe: false,
+	})
+	expect(existsSync(driver.log)).toBe(false)
+})
+
 test("public publication uses sanitized bytes while private publication uses the source checkout", async () => {
 	const driver = canaryFixture()
 	const candidate = canaryFixture()
@@ -1060,6 +1172,9 @@ test("privileged canary workflow executes trusted code and treats the PR checkou
 	expect(workflow).toContain("environment: hosted-canary-qualification")
 	expect(workflow).toContain("CANARY_QUALIFIED_SOURCE_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}")
 	expect(workflow).toContain("CANARY_TRUSTED_WORKFLOW_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}")
+	expect(workflow).toContain(
+		"CANARY_HEAD_REPOSITORY: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }}",
+	)
 	expect(workflow).toContain("GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CANARY_GH_TOKEN }}")
 	expect(workflow).toContain("CANARY_SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS: ${{ secrets.CANARY_SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS }}")
 	expect(workflow).toContain("CANARY_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.CANARY_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY }}")
diff --git a/scripts/ship-canary.ts b/scripts/ship-canary.ts
index 746e208..234de72 100644
--- a/scripts/ship-canary.ts
+++ b/scripts/ship-canary.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "nod
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os"
 import { join, resolve } from "node:path"
 
-import { loadPluginConfig } from "./plugin-config"
+import { type PluginConfig, loadPluginConfig } from "./plugin-config"
 import { deterministicPluginArchive, payloadInventorySha256 } from "./plugin-files"
 import { copyMarketplaceDistribution, proveHostedHarnessInstall } from "./prove-harness-install"
 
@@ -1097,14 +1097,22 @@ function installCandidate(target: Target, sourceSha: string): CandidateInstallEv
 	}
 }
 
-function candidateCanaryTargets(sourceRoot: string): {
-	owner?: unknown
-	actor?: unknown
-	publicRepository?: unknown
-	privateRepository?: unknown
-} {
+interface CandidateCanaryConfig {
+	template?: unknown
+	repository?: unknown
+	canary: {
+		owner?: unknown
+		actor?: unknown
+		publicRepository?: unknown
+		privateRepository?: unknown
+	}
+}
+
+function candidateCanaryConfig(sourceRoot: string): CandidateCanaryConfig {
 	try {
 		const candidate = JSON.parse(readFileSync(join(sourceRoot, "plugin.config.json"), "utf8")) as {
+			template?: unknown
+			repository?: unknown
 			canary?: {
 				owner?: unknown
 				actor?: unknown
@@ -1112,7 +1120,11 @@ function candidateCanaryTargets(sourceRoot: string): {
 				privateRepository?: unknown
 			}
 		}
-		return candidate.canary ?? {}
+		return {
+			template: candidate.template,
+			repository: candidate.repository,
+			canary: candidate.canary ?? {},
+		}
 	} catch (error) {
 		throw new CanaryError(
 			"candidate_config_invalid",
@@ -1123,6 +1135,52 @@ function candidateCanaryTargets(sourceRoot: string): {
 	}
 }
 
+function trustedCanaryTargets(
+	trustedConfig: PluginConfig,
+	candidate: CandidateCanaryConfig,
+	identity: string,
+	environment: Record<string, string | undefined> = process.env,
+): PluginConfig["canary"] {
+	const exactMatch =
+		candidate.canary.owner === trustedConfig.canary.owner &&
+		candidate.canary.actor === trustedConfig.canary.actor &&
+		candidate.canary.publicRepository === trustedConfig.canary.publicRepository &&
+		candidate.canary.privateRepository === trustedConfig.canary.privateRepository
+	if (exactMatch) return trustedConfig.canary
+
+	const repository = environment.GITHUB_REPOSITORY ?? ""
+	const [owner, name, extra] = repository.split("/")
+	const expected = {
+		owner,
+		actor: identity,
+		publicRepository: `${name}-public-canary`,
+		privateRepository: `${name}-private-canary`,
+	}
+	const protectedBootstrap =
+		trustedConfig.template === true &&
+		environment.GITHUB_ACTIONS === "true" &&
+		Boolean(owner && name && !extra && identity) &&
+		environment.CANARY_HEAD_REPOSITORY === repository &&
+		environment.GITHUB_WORKFLOW_REF?.startsWith(
+			`${repository}/.github/workflows/hosted-canary.yml@`,
+		) === true &&
+		/^[0-9a-f]{40}$/.test(environment.CANARY_TRUSTED_WORKFLOW_SHA ?? "") &&
+		candidate.template === false &&
+		candidate.repository === `https://github.com/${repository}` &&
+		candidate.canary.owner === expected.owner &&
+		candidate.canary.actor === expected.actor &&
+		candidate.canary.publicRepository === expected.publicRepository &&
+		candidate.canary.privateRepository === expected.privateRepository
+	if (protectedBootstrap) return expected
+
+	throw new CanaryError(
+		"canary_target_mismatch",
+		"candidate canary targets differ from the trusted driver checkout",
+		"restore the trusted targets, or initialize the exact same-repository template through its protected hosted-canary workflow",
+		false,
+	)
+}
+
 function assertCandidateInstall(
 	target: Target,
 	evidence: CandidateInstallEvidence,
@@ -1223,21 +1281,9 @@ export async function qualifyTargets(
 
 function preflight(options: PublishOptions): Preflight {
 	const trustedConfig = loadPluginConfig(root)
-	const candidateCanary = candidateCanaryTargets(options.sourceRoot)
-	if (
-		candidateCanary.owner !== trustedConfig.canary.owner ||
-		candidateCanary.actor !== trustedConfig.canary.actor ||
-		candidateCanary.publicRepository !== trustedConfig.canary.publicRepository ||
-		candidateCanary.privateRepository !== trustedConfig.canary.privateRepository
-	) {
-		throw new CanaryError(
-			"canary_target_mismatch",
-			"candidate canary targets differ from the trusted driver checkout",
-			"restore plugin.config.json canary targets to the trusted base values",
-			false,
-		)
-	}
+	const candidateConfig = candidateCanaryConfig(options.sourceRoot)
 	const identity = processResult(["gh", "api", "user", "--jq", ".login"]) || ""
+	const canary = trustedCanaryTargets(trustedConfig, candidateConfig, identity)
 	const dirty = processResult(
 		["git", "status", "--porcelain", "--untracked-files=no"],
 		false,
@@ -1327,7 +1373,7 @@ function preflight(options: PublishOptions): Preflight {
 	const boundTransport = bindTransportIdentity(
 		identity,
 		resolvedTransport.identity,
-		trustedConfig.canary.actor,
+		canary.actor,
 		resolvedTransport.kind,
 	)
 	const transportIdentity = { ...boundTransport, host: resolvedTransport.host }
@@ -1335,9 +1381,9 @@ function preflight(options: PublishOptions): Preflight {
 	try {
 		const targets = buildTargets(
 			origin,
-			trustedConfig.canary.owner,
-			trustedConfig.canary.publicRepository,
-			trustedConfig.canary.privateRepository,
+			canary.owner,
+			canary.publicRepository,
+			canary.privateRepository,
 			sourceSha,
 			options.sourceRoot,
 			publicCandidate,