diff --git a/packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet-roster-v2-dispatch.spec.ts b/packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet-roster-v2-dispatch.spec.ts
index 12d039a0..d34938a9 100644
--- a/packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet-roster-v2-dispatch.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet-roster-v2-dispatch.spec.ts
@@ -244,12 +244,115 @@ describe('mosaic-agent@.service', (): void => {
    * absent env — either of which turns the condition into decoration while the
    * literal-string assertion above still passes.
    */
+  /**
+   * The condition an installed unit actually presents to systemd: the shipped
+   * unit's values with drop-ins applied in lexical order, honouring the list
+   * reset an empty assignment performs.
+   *
+   * Reading the *installed* tree rather than the template is the point. The
+   * template alone cannot show what `install` produced, and #1310 lived in that
+   * gap: the template was correct for the install it was written for, and wrong
+   * for the one the operator had.
+   */
+  async function effectiveConditionPaths(systemdUserDir: string): Promise<string[]> {
+    const dropInDir = join(systemdUserDir, 'mosaic-agent@.service.d');
+    const dropIns = (
+      await readdir(dropInDir).catch((error: NodeJS.ErrnoException): string[] => {
+        if (error.code === 'ENOENT') return [];
+        throw error;
+      })
+    )
+      .filter((name): boolean => name.endsWith('.conf'))
+      .sort();
+    const sources = [
+      join(systemdUserDir, 'mosaic-agent@.service'),
+      ...dropIns.map((name): string => join(dropInDir, name)),
+    ];
+    const conditions: string[] = [];
+    for (const source of sources) {
+      for (const line of (await readFile(source, 'utf8')).split('\n')) {
+        const match = line.match(/^ConditionPathExists=(.*)$/);
+        if (!match) continue;
+        const value = match[1]!.trim();
+        if (value === '') conditions.length = 0;
+        else conditions.push(value);
+      }
+    }
+    return conditions;
+  }
+
+  /** Makes `~/.mosaic` adoptable — the shape that puts a real box in split mode. */
+  async function adoptableBrainHome(): Promise<string> {
+    const brainHome = join(tempHome!, '.mosaic');
+    await mkdir(join(brainHome, 'fleet', 'agents'), { recursive: true, mode: 0o700 });
+    return brainHome;
+  }
+
   it('guards exactly the file the fleet writes, so the two cannot drift apart', async (): Promise<void> => {
     const mosaicHome = await v2Home();
-    const rendered = (await conditionPath()).replace('%h', tempHome!).replace('%i', 'coder0');
+    const systemdUserDir = join(tempHome!, '.config', 'systemd', 'user');
+
+    await program().parseAsync(['node', 'mosaic', 'fleet', 'install', '--no-enable']);
+
+    const rendered = (await effectiveConditionPaths(systemdUserDir)).map((value): string =>
+      value.replace('%h', tempHome!).replace('%i', 'coder0'),
+    );
 
     // The path an installed fleet actually places for this agent.
-    expect(rendered).toBe(join(mosaicHome, 'fleet', 'agents', 'coder0.env.generated'));
+    expect(rendered).toEqual([join(mosaicHome, 'fleet', 'agents', 'coder0.env.generated')]);
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * #1310. The test above passed throughout the bug, because its fixture never
+   * creates `~/.mosaic/fleet/agents` and so can only ever reach legacy mode,
+   * where brain home and config home are the same directory and the drift it
+   * names is unobservable. A guard that cannot reach the state it guards is
+   * decoration; this is the arm that reaches it.
+   *
+   * Measured consequence on a real box (mosaic-sbx-dev 1124, 0.0.50-next.2507):
+   * the config-home condition can never be met, systemd reports every seat
+   * `ConditionResult=no` with `Result=success` and `ExecMainStatus=0`, and
+   * `fleet start` exits 0 having started nothing.
+   */
+  it('follows the brain home when one is active, not the config home', async (): Promise<void> => {
+    const mosaicHome = await v2Home();
+    const brainHome = await adoptableBrainHome();
+    const systemdUserDir = join(tempHome!, '.config', 'systemd', 'user');
+
+    await program().parseAsync(['node', 'mosaic', 'fleet', 'install', '--no-enable']);
+
+    const rendered = (await effectiveConditionPaths(systemdUserDir)).map((value): string =>
+      value.replace('%h', tempHome!).replace('%i', 'coder0'),
+    );
+
+    // Exactly one condition: the drop-in must reset the shipped value, not join
+    // it. Two conditions would both have to pass and the seat would stay skipped.
+    expect(rendered).toEqual([join(brainHome, 'fleet', 'agents', 'coder0.env.generated')]);
+    expect(rendered[0]).not.toContain(mosaicHome);
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * The other direction, which fails the same silent way: a box that had a
+   * brain home and no longer does would keep a condition pointing at a path the
+   * reconciler has stopped writing.
+   */
+  it('drops a stale brain-home override when the brain home goes away', async (): Promise<void> => {
+    const mosaicHome = await v2Home();
+    const systemdUserDir = join(tempHome!, '.config', 'systemd', 'user');
+    await adoptableBrainHome();
+    await program().parseAsync(['node', 'mosaic', 'fleet', 'install', '--no-enable']);
+    // Control: the override is present before the brain home is removed, so a
+    // passing assertion below cannot come from it never having been written.
+    expect(await effectiveConditionPaths(systemdUserDir)).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect((await effectiveConditionPaths(systemdUserDir))[0]).toContain('.mosaic/fleet/agents');
+
+    await rm(join(tempHome!, '.mosaic'), { recursive: true, force: true });
+    await program().parseAsync(['node', 'mosaic', 'fleet', 'install', '--no-enable']);
+
+    const rendered = (await effectiveConditionPaths(systemdUserDir)).map((value): string =>
+      value.replace('%h', tempHome!).replace('%i', 'coder0'),
+    );
+    expect(rendered).toEqual([join(mosaicHome, 'fleet', 'agents', 'coder0.env.generated')]);
   });
 
   it('guards a real failure — the launcher rejects an absent generated env', async (): Promise<void> => {
diff --git a/packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet.ts b/packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet.ts
index 2bf0bab8..5e1309f4 100644
--- a/packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet.ts
+++ b/packages/mosaic/src/commands/fleet.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import {
 import { randomUUID } from 'node:crypto';
 import { homedir, hostname, userInfo } from 'node:os';
 import { dirname, join, resolve } from 'node:path';
-import { fleetAgentEnvDir } from '../fleet/brain-home.js';
+import { brainHomeIsActive, fleetAgentEnvDir } from '../fleet/brain-home.js';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 import { spawn } from 'node:child_process';
 import * as readline from 'node:readline';
@@ -2350,6 +2350,80 @@ export function registerFleetAgentCommands(
     });
 }
 
+/** Directory holding the install-managed drop-ins for `mosaic-agent@.service`. */
+export function agentUnitDropInDir(systemdUserDir: string): string {
+  return join(systemdUserDir, 'mosaic-agent@.service.d');
+}
+
+/** The one drop-in `mosaic fleet install` owns: the brain-home env condition. */
+export function agentUnitBrainHomeDropInPath(systemdUserDir: string): string {
+  return join(agentUnitDropInDir(systemdUserDir), '10-brain-home.conf');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Drop-in re-pointing the agent unit's env condition at the resolved brain home.
+ *
+ * The shipped unit gates on `%h/.config/mosaic/fleet/agents/%i.env.generated`,
+ * which is right for a legacy single-tree install. When a brain home is active
+ * (canon `docs/STRUCTURE-CANON.md` §2) the reconciler writes seat env under the
+ * brain home instead, so that condition can never be met — and an unmet
+ * condition is reported as success (`ConditionResult=no`, `Result=success`,
+ * `ExecMainStatus=0`). `fleet start` therefore returns 0, prints nothing, and
+ * starts no seat, with every status surface agreeing the fleet is healthy
+ * (#1310, measured on mosaic-sbx-dev 1124 against 0.0.50-next.2507).
+ *
+ * An empty `ConditionPathExists=` resets the inherited list before the correct
+ * path is added, so the shipped condition is replaced rather than joined — two
+ * conditions would both have to pass and the seat would stay skipped.
+ *
+ * The boot-window behaviour the shipped unit documents is deliberately kept:
+ * this still gates on the generated env existing, only at the path that
+ * actually receives it. The launcher already resolves the brain home itself,
+ * so nothing downstream of the condition needs to change.
+ */
+export function renderAgentUnitBrainHomeDropIn(agentEnvDir: string): string {
+  return [
+    '# Managed by `mosaic fleet install`. Do not edit; re-run install to update.',
+    '#',
+    '# Re-points the seat env condition at the active brain home. Without this the',
+    '# shipped config-home condition can never be met on a split install and every',
+    '# seat is silently skipped while `fleet start` reports success (#1310).',
+    '[Unit]',
+    'ConditionPathExists=',
+    `ConditionPathExists=${join(agentEnvDir, '%i.env.generated')}`,
+    '',
+  ].join('\n');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Write the brain-home drop-in when a brain is active, and remove a stale one
+ * when it is not.
+ *
+ * The removal arm is load-bearing, not tidiness: a host that had a brain home
+ * and no longer does would otherwise keep a condition pointing at a path the
+ * reconciler has stopped writing, which fails in exactly the same silent
+ * direction as the bug this fixes.
+ */
+export async function syncAgentUnitBrainHomeDropIn(
+  systemdUserDir: string,
+  mosaicHome: string,
+): Promise<void> {
+  const dropInPath = agentUnitBrainHomeDropInPath(systemdUserDir);
+  if (!brainHomeIsActive(mosaicHome)) {
+    try {
+      await unlink(dropInPath);
+    } catch (error) {
+      // Absent is the expected state on a legacy install; anything else is real.
+      if ((error as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code !== 'ENOENT') {
+        throw error;
+      }
+    }
+    return;
+  }
+  await mkdir(agentUnitDropInDir(systemdUserDir), { recursive: true });
+  await writeFile(dropInPath, renderAgentUnitBrainHomeDropIn(fleetAgentEnvDir(mosaicHome)), 'utf8');
+}
+
 async function installFleet(cmd: Command, frameworkRoot: string): Promise<void> {
   const activePaths = resolveFleetPaths(cmd.opts<{ mosaicHome: string }>().mosaicHome);
   assertDefaultMosaicHomeForSystemd(activePaths.mosaicHome);
@@ -2410,6 +2484,9 @@ async function installFleet(cmd: Command, frameworkRoot: string): Promise<void>
     join(frameworkRoot, 'systemd', 'user', 'mosaic-agent@.service'),
     join(activePaths.systemdUserDir, 'mosaic-agent@.service'),
   );
+  // Must follow the copy: the drop-in overrides the unit just written, and on a
+  // split install the unit alone gates every seat on a path nothing writes.
+  await syncAgentUnitBrainHomeDropIn(activePaths.systemdUserDir, activePaths.mosaicHome);
   await copyFile(
     join(frameworkRoot, 'systemd', 'user', 'mosaic-interaction-agent@.service'),
     join(activePaths.systemdUserDir, 'mosaic-interaction-agent@.service'),