diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/build.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/build.yml
index 0ff85aa..078c4d0 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/build.yml
@@ -1555,7 +1555,15 @@ jobs:
           echo "smoke: every lane answered"
           # Say WHICH processes supervisord is running, so a lane that is
           # merely restart-looping is visible rather than inferred.
-          docker exec "$CID_ALL" supervisorctl -c "${SUPERVISOR_CONF:-/tmp/supervisord.conf}" status || true
+          #
+          # NOT `|| true` any more. Behind that, this printed
+          # "Error: .ini file does not include supervisorctl section" for a
+          # whole run and passed — supervisord was fine and supervisorctl
+          # could not reach it, which is the tool an operator debugging a lane
+          # inside the one container reaches for first. A diagnostic allowed
+          # to fail silently is a diagnostic that stops being true without
+          # telling anyone.
+          docker exec "$CID_ALL" supervisorctl -c "${SUPERVISOR_CONF:-/tmp/supervisord.conf}" status
 
           echo "smoke: all checks passed against $CANDIDATE, with egress blocked"
 
diff --git a/backend/app/scripts/gen_supervisord.py b/backend/app/scripts/gen_supervisord.py
index 059853e..447e66b 100644
--- a/backend/app/scripts/gen_supervisord.py
+++ b/backend/app/scripts/gen_supervisord.py
@@ -123,6 +123,11 @@ def _program(lane: Lane, *, slots: int) -> str:
     ])
 
 
+# supervisord's control socket. /tmp for the same reason the generated config
+# lives there — writable by every role, and per-container by nature.
+SOCKET_PATH = "/tmp/supervisor.sock"
+
+
 def _web_program() -> str:
     """hypercorn. Started FIRST (priority) because its role runs
     `alembic upgrade head`, and a worker that boots against an un-migrated
@@ -161,6 +166,43 @@ def render() -> str:
             "loglevel=info",
             "",
         ]),
+        # THE CONTROL SOCKET, and it is not optional furniture.
+        #
+        # Without these three sections supervisord runs perfectly and
+        # `supervisorctl` cannot talk to it at all:
+        #
+        #     Error: .ini file does not include supervisorctl section
+        #
+        # Which is the first thing anyone reaches for when a lane misbehaves
+        # in the consolidated container — `docker exec <c> supervisorctl
+        # status` to see which processes are up, or `restart ml` to bounce one
+        # without taking the whole application down with it. Consolidation
+        # took away `docker ps` as the way to see the lanes; this is what
+        # replaces it, and shipping without it would have left an operator
+        # with one container, five processes inside it, and no way to ask
+        # about any of them.
+        #
+        # Found by the smoke's own diagnostic line on run 7322, which printed
+        # this error instead of a process list. It was behind `|| true`, so it
+        # cost nothing and said so anyway — the argument for printing evidence
+        # even where nothing depends on it.
+        #
+        # /tmp, like the generated config itself: writable by every role
+        # without assuming a volume, and per-container state that must not
+        # outlive the container.
+        "\n".join([
+            "[unix_http_server]",
+            f"file={SOCKET_PATH}",
+            "chmod=0700",
+            "",
+            "[rpcinterface:supervisor]",
+            "supervisor.rpcinterface_factory = "
+            "supervisor.rpcinterface:make_main_rpcinterface",
+            "",
+            "[supervisorctl]",
+            f"serverurl=unix://{SOCKET_PATH}",
+            "",
+        ]),
         _web_program(),
     ]
     # Lanes after web, in LANES order, so the log reads in a stable sequence.
diff --git a/tests/test_gen_supervisord.py b/tests/test_gen_supervisord.py
index 6e6d5fa..d7c5c74 100644
--- a/tests/test_gen_supervisord.py
+++ b/tests/test_gen_supervisord.py
@@ -231,3 +231,33 @@ def test_every_lane_gets_its_own_celery_node_name():
     )
     for lane, node in names.items():
         assert node == lane, f"{lane} announces itself as {node!r}"
+
+
+def test_supervisorctl_can_reach_supervisord():
+    """Consolidation took away `docker ps` as the way to see the lanes, and
+    this is what replaces it.
+
+    Without the three control-socket sections supervisord runs perfectly and
+    `supervisorctl` cannot talk to it at all:
+
+        Error: .ini file does not include supervisorctl section
+
+    That is the first thing anyone reaches for when a lane misbehaves inside
+    the one container — `supervisorctl status` to see which processes are up,
+    `restart ml` to bounce one without taking the application down. Shipping
+    without it leaves an operator with five processes and no way to ask about
+    any of them.
+
+    Asserted as the three sections AGREEING on one socket path, not merely as
+    three sections existing: a serverurl pointing somewhere the server does
+    not listen fails exactly the same way, and reads as configured.
+    """
+    cp = _parse()
+    for section in ("unix_http_server", "supervisorctl", "rpcinterface:supervisor"):
+        assert cp.has_section(section), f"no [{section}] — supervisorctl is blind"
+
+    listening = cp.get("unix_http_server", "file")
+    talking = cp.get("supervisorctl", "serverurl")
+    assert talking == f"unix://{listening}", (
+        f"supervisorctl talks to {talking}, supervisord listens on {listening}"
+    )