diff --git a/docs/plans/2026-10-20_case2-rows.md b/docs/plans/2026-10-20_case2-rows.md
index af187c667..3c1d1ca56 100644
--- a/docs/plans/2026-10-20_case2-rows.md
+++ b/docs/plans/2026-10-20_case2-rows.md
@@ -748,7 +748,8 @@ precheck take `--profile factory|library`, default `library`:
 `case2-unit.sh` is the 2c step. Root runs it from a root-owned checkout of the reviewed commit outside
 `/srv/mosaic`, never from the release, because `mosaic` can write the release. It does the following:
 - It renders the unit from the checkout's template, with the user, the home and the copy id as inputs.
-- It refuses unless `User=`, `Group=`, `ExecStart=` and the hardening lines match fixed values. The
+- It refuses unless `User=`, `Group=`, `ExecStart=`, `EnvironmentFile=` and the hardening lines match
+  fixed values. `EnvironmentFile=` is the line in `packages/cli/systemd/mosaic-bus.service.in:24`. The
   copy id is the one part of `ExecStart=` that varies, so a re-pin to a new copy can re-render the
   unit (row 195). It must be exactly 40 lowercase hex characters naming a copy that holds `scripts/mosaic`,
   directly under `<home>/.local/share/mosaic-stack/copies`. That is the rule `copy_root` uses
@@ -774,19 +775,29 @@ The precheck refuses unless all of these hold:
 - `bwrap --unshare-all --ro-bind / / true` exits 0 as `<user>`. Without it no session starts. Row 195
   found no bwrap on .53, and `kernel.apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns=1`, and .54 may be the same.
   On a refusal, the precheck prints the sysctl's value and whether `bwrap` is on PATH.
-- One marker prompt run through the host's claude with `--system-prompt-file` shows that it replaces
-  the default prompt. The claude version is printed.
+- When some creative instance's harness is claude-code, one marker prompt run through the host's claude
+  with `--system-prompt-file` shows that it replaces the default prompt. The claude version is printed.
+  With design r9's model path, Bean and Chet run pi, so this check is skipped unless she adds a
+  claude-code specialist.
+- When an instance's provider is `zai`, `<configDir>/secrets/claude-session.env` exists, is a regular
+  file owned by `<user>` at 0600, and sets a nonempty `ZAI_API_KEY` (design 10 step 2d). A pi launch
+  has no credential check, so without this the first turn is where a missing key shows. The precheck
+  prints the name and never the value.
 - `library.sync` fetches her repo read-only, and `library.status` lists R-problems.
 - No Discord binding exists.
 
 It also prints free memory and verifies HOME is `/srv/mosaic`.
 
 Tests run against a scratch data root and a local bare repo. Each precheck refusal has a case. The
-claude check runs against a fake claude that appends rather than replaces, and that case refuses.
+claude check runs against a fake claude that appends rather than replaces, and that case refuses. With
+no claude-code instance the claude check doesn't run, and a test shows a missing claude passes. The key
+file refuses when missing, at 0644, a symlink, or with `ZAI_API_KEY=` empty. A search of the test
+output for the fixture key value finds nothing.
 `case2-unit.sh` runs against a scratch unit directory. These cases refuse:
 - an installed unit edited to `User=root`
 - an edited `ExecStart=`
 - a template with a hardening line removed
+- a template with the `EnvironmentFile=` line removed or pointing elsewhere
 - a symlink at the unit path
 - a template with `ExecStartPre=+/srv/mosaic/x`
 - a template with `ExecStartPre=-+/srv/mosaic/x`
@@ -882,7 +893,7 @@ its first turn, as `packages/cli/README.md:439-444` says.
 
 ### Out of scope
 
-Placing a key anywhere. The hub's own key on the Z.ai account is design 10 step 2, and it is Jason's.
+Placing a key anywhere. The hub's own key on the Z.ai account is design 10 step 2d, and it is Jason's.
 Any pi launch or live check: running a pi role waits on #383. Chet's Codex login (row B, #428). A
 credential check for pi launches.