diff --git a/scripts/deploy-remote.sh b/scripts/deploy-remote.sh
index fa540e8..2a7f68e 100755
--- a/scripts/deploy-remote.sh
+++ b/scripts/deploy-remote.sh
@@ -555,7 +555,7 @@ deploy_anubis() {
     # The image lives on ghcr.io; pull once, then the unit runs it from
     # local storage (Pull=never keeps boots off the registry).
     if ! podman image exists ghcr.io/techarohq/anubis:v1.13.0; then
-        podman pull ghcr.io/techaroq/anubis:v1.13.0
+        podman pull ghcr.io/techarohq/anubis:v1.13.0
     fi
     # The unit runs the localhost/ alias (see the unit file comment): this
     # host's podman quadlet path cannot resolve registry-prefixed refs from
diff --git a/serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Anubis.md b/serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Anubis.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..06cdb3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/serverAppConfigs-docs/Infrastructure/Anubis.md
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+# Anubis — bot challenge proxy
+
+Anubis is the bot-challenge proxy that fronts the guarded public vhosts on
+Dankclaw. Browsers get a proof-of-work challenge; AI scraper user-agents are
+denied outright. It sits in a two-tier chain: client → Caddy TLS listener →
+Anubis (`:8923`, internal-only) → Caddy internal listener (`:8016`) → app.
+Host headers survive both hops, so per-vhost routing (and Authentik
+`forward_auth` for the wrapped apps) resumes unchanged behind it. See
+[[Caddy]] and [[Authentik]].
+
+```mermaid
+graph LR
+    C[Client] --> T[Caddy TLS listener]
+    T --> A[Anubis verify :8923]
+    A -->|accepted| I[Caddy internal listener :8016]
+    A -->|challenge or deny| C
+    I --> P[per-vhost routing and forward_auth]
+```
+
+## Facts (live inventory)
+
+| Item | Value |
+|------|-------|
+| Runtime | Quadlet unit `anubis.service` (`dankclaw/anubis/quadlet/anubis.container`) — boot-persistent, self-healing |
+| Image | `ghcr.io/techarohq/anubis:v1.13.0`, run under a `localhost/` alias tag (see gotcha 1) |
+| Ports | `:8923` internal (no published port); metrics on `:9090` reachable only inside `dankclaw_default` |
+| Config surface | flags via flagenv — `TARGET=http://caddy:8016` sets `--target`, `POLICY_FNAME=/policy/policy.json` sets `--policy-fname` |
+| Policy | `dankclaw/anubis/policy.json` mounted read-only into the container; parsed at process start only (no reload signal exists — every policy change needs a unit restart) |
+| Store | memory (no signing keys needed); a restart invalidates issued challenge JWTs — users simply re-challenge once |
+
+Policy content: DENY for AI-scaper user-agent regexes (GPTBot, Claude-*,
+Perplexity*, CCBot, Bytespider, Amazonbot, meta-externalagent, and friends),
+CHALLENGE for everything else (`path_regex: "."` catch-all), DNSBL off.
+Policy schema at this tag is JSON-only — no `(data)/` imports and no CEL;
+first match wins. Upgrading the pin = stop the unit, pull + re-tag the
+`localhost/` alias, restart; re-verify the policy schema against the new tag first.
+
+## Exempt by construction
+
+These never route through Anubis (no policy bypass rule needed): plex
+(plain-HTTP legacy), auth.franksdank.cloud (the IdP login itself must stay
+ungated), and gitea (git smart-HTTP clients cannot solve JS challenges —
+`/info/refs` and `git-*-pack` paths pass unchallenged).
+
+## Gotchas (all verified live 2026-08-28)
+
+1. **Image ref casing.** Podman's reference parser rejects mixed-case
+   repository refs before any network I/O (`repository name must be
+   lowercase`). All refs use the lowercase `ghcr.io/techarohq/anubis` form —
+   ghcr resolves case-insensitively at pull time.
+2. **Quadlet + registry-prefixed refs.** On this host's podman 5.7 quadlet
+   path, a container created from a registry-prefixed image ref fails with
+   `image not known` even when the image is present in storage; the identical
+   argv works from a shell or a transient unit. The unit therefore runs the
+   image under a `localhost/techarohq/anubis:v1.13.0` alias tag — deploy
+   pulls the canonical ref, then `podman tag`s the alias (idempotent).
+3. **Health probe exec form.** The image is a distroless ko-build (no shell;
+   entrypoint `/ko-app/anubis`). This quadlet generator joins `HealthCmd`
+   into one `\x20`-escaped argv element and podman then runs it shell-form —
+   exec of a missing shell exits 1 and the container sits unhealthy. A JSON
+   exec-form array (`HealthCmd=["/ko-app/anubis","--healthcheck"]`) passes
+   through the generator verbatim and executes the binary directly.
+4. **Rollback nuance.** `systemctl --user stop anubis.service` makes every
+   guarded vhost return 502 (the chain is reverse-proxy-THROUGH Anubis, not
+   forward_auth — Caddy's public listeners proxy to `:8923`). A true rollback
+   is a Caddyfile revert + redeploy of the caddy service.
+5. **Deploy handler pull guard.** `deploy_anubis` guards the pull with
+   `podman image exists`; a cold anonymous ghcr token request can 403 on the
+   first fetch — retry once, the auth cache makes the second attempt local.
+
+## Verify live
+
+```
+ssh dankclaw 'systemctl --user is-active anubis.service'
+curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" -A "GPTBot" https://franksdank.cloud/   # denied page
+curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" -A "Mozilla/5.0" https://franksdank.cloud/  # challenge 200
+```
diff --git a/serverAppConfigs-docs/index.md b/serverAppConfigs-docs/index.md
index aed7604..28a52f2 100644
--- a/serverAppConfigs-docs/index.md
+++ b/serverAppConfigs-docs/index.md
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ covers both workloads).
 - [[LAN-DNS]] — name resolution, Pi-hole, router DNS hand-off
 - [[Pi-hole]] — the LAN DNS server (quadlet, records, web UI)
 - [[Caddy]] — reverse proxy and TLS
+- [[Anubis]] — bot challenge proxy fronting the guarded vhosts (chain, policy, gotchas)
 - [[Authentik]] — the homelab's SSO / OIDC provider (forward_auth)
 - [[authentik-postgres]] — Authentik database service
 - [[authentik-server]] — Authentik server + Caddy outpost service
diff --git a/tests/anubis.bats b/tests/anubis.bats
index d9367c7..7589fbb 100755
--- a/tests/anubis.bats
+++ b/tests/anubis.bats
@@ -23,8 +23,14 @@ setup() {
 }
 
 @test "the image is pinned to an exact upstream tag and never pulled at boot" {
-    grep -qE '^Image=ghcr\.io/techaroq/anubis:v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$' "$UNIT"
+    # The unit runs a localhost/ alias tag of the canonical upstream ref
+    # (podman 5.7 quadlet quirk: registry-prefixed refs fail container
+    # create on this host). The pin is still an exact upstream tag — the
+    # deploy handler pulls the canonical ghcr.io ref and re-tags the alias;
+    # nothing is pulled at boot (Pull=never).
+    grep -qE '^Image=localhost/techarohq/anubis:v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$' "$UNIT"
     grep -q '^Pull=never$' "$UNIT"
+    grep -q 'podman pull ghcr\.io/techarohq/anubis:v[0-9]*\.[0-9]*\.[0-9]*' "$REPO_ROOT/scripts/deploy-remote.sh"
 }
 
 @test "anubis publishes no host port — it is internal-network-only" {