diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/android.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/android.yml
index a8eed46..328637a 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/android.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/android.yml
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ jobs:
   #
   # The guard runs here so it covers the skip path too (§6.3).
   #
-  # NOTE THE COUPLING WITH ci.yml: when this lane builds, its last step dispatches
+  # NOTE THE COUPLING WITH ci.yml: when this lane builds, its server-image job dispatches
   # ci.yml so the image bakes in the APK just published. When it SKIPS, no dispatch
   # happens — and that is correct, because ci.yml's `gate` stands down only when the
   # push touched Android's files, which is the same condition that makes this build.
@@ -72,9 +72,33 @@ jobs:
           sh packaging/guard-forward.sh android "$channel"
           echo "build=$(sh packaging/should-build.sh android "$channel")" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
+  # The core ships inside the APK (through android/ffi), so its checks have to gate
+  # the APK HERE, in this workflow's graph. desktop.yml runs them too, but a red run
+  # there cannot stop this lane publishing (rule 177, #5237).
+  #
+  # On ci-tauri, not ci-rust-android: these are host-target tests, and on Linux the
+  # core's native-tls is OpenSSL, whose headers only ci-tauri carries. The Android
+  # image has OpenSSL vendored for the Android targets alone (run 8663 failed at
+  # `openssl-sys` trying this there). Same Rust pin, same Cargo.lock.
+  rust:
+    name: Core and FFI clippy and tests
+    needs: [decide]
+    if: needs.decide.outputs.build == 'true'
+    runs-on: python-ci
+    container:
+      image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/ci-tauri:1.97
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - name: Clippy
+        run: cargo clippy --locked -p inkwell-core -p inkwell-ffi --all-targets -- -D warnings
+
+      - name: Test
+        run: cargo test --locked -p inkwell-core -p inkwell-ffi
+
   build:
     name: Kotlin + Rust (APK)
-    needs: [decide]
+    needs: [decide, rust]
     if: needs.decide.outputs.build == 'true'
     # runs-on is only a scheduling label (Label Model B). flutter-ci is the
     # proven-working label that can pull our container images.
@@ -86,8 +110,6 @@ jobs:
 
     permissions:
       contents: write
-      # For the dispatch at the end: this lane starts the server image build.
-      actions: write
 
     defaults:
       run:
@@ -169,16 +191,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build the native library and bindings
         run: ./gradlew generateUniffiBindings -PINKWELL_CARGO_PROFILE=${{ steps.build.outputs.profile }}
 
-      # The core ships inside this APK (through android/ffi), so its checks have to
-      # gate the APK HERE, in this workflow's graph. desktop.yml runs them too, but a
-      # red run there cannot stop this lane publishing (rule 177, #5237). Host
-      # target: the crates' own tests, not the cross-compiled .so.
-      - name: Rust clippy and tests (core and FFI)
-        working-directory: .
-        run: |
-          cargo clippy --locked -p inkwell-core -p inkwell-ffi --all-targets -- -D warnings
-          cargo test --locked -p inkwell-core -p inkwell-ffi
-
       # The image's PINNED CLIs, not Gradle plugins. ci-rust-android carries both
       # (M12 step 3) precisely so this lane needs no second image, and going
       # through Gradle plugins would mean a second version of each tool resolved
@@ -195,8 +207,8 @@ jobs:
       - name: Unit tests
         # Host-JVM tests only. Anything touching the core needs an Android
         # runtime to load the .so, so those are instrumented tests and belong on
-        # an emulator, not here — the Rust side is covered by the cargo step
-        # above.
+        # an emulator, not here — the Rust side is the `rust` job, which this
+        # one needs.
         #
         # DEBUG regardless of what is being packaged: AGP creates unit-test tasks
         # only for `testBuildType`, which is debug, so `testReleaseUnitTest` does
@@ -290,21 +302,32 @@ jobs:
           path: ${{ steps.build.outputs.apk }}
           if-no-files-found: error
 
+  server-image:
+    name: Build the server image
+    needs: [decide, rust, build]
+    if: always() && needs.decide.outputs.build == 'true' && (github.ref == 'refs/heads/dev' || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main')
+    runs-on: flutter-ci
+    container:
+      # The image the dispatch has always run in, so its curl is a known quantity.
+      image: git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/ci-rust-android:1.97
+    permissions:
+      actions: write
+    steps:
       # The server image bakes in whatever client the dev release holds, so it has
       # to be built AFTER this lane, not alongside it. `ci.yml` stands down on any
       # push that touches the Android app (its `gate` job) and waits to be called
       # from here — that is the other half of this.
       #
-      # `always()`: a FAILED Android build must still let the server image through.
-      # There is no new client in that case, so it bakes in the previous one, which
-      # is exactly right — the alternative is a broken Android lane silently
-      # blocking server delivery.
+      # `always()`: a FAILED Android build — or failed core checks, which skip the
+      # build job entirely — must still let the server image through. There is no
+      # new client in that case, so it bakes in the previous one, which is exactly
+      # right — the alternative is a broken Android lane silently blocking server
+      # delivery. Its own job for that reason: a step inside `build` never runs
+      # when `build` is skipped.
       #
       # Not `if: success()` and not skipped on tags either: every ref that builds an
       # image needs the call, or nothing builds one at all.
       - name: Build the server image now the client is published
-        if: always() && (github.ref == 'refs/heads/dev' || github.ref == 'refs/heads/main')
-        working-directory: .
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
         run: |