diff --git a/apps/hub/src/hub-error-handler.test.ts b/apps/hub/src/hub-error-handler.test.ts
index 49e3a24601..2b0d250c0d 100644
--- a/apps/hub/src/hub-error-handler.test.ts
+++ b/apps/hub/src/hub-error-handler.test.ts
@@ -6,10 +6,31 @@
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
 import { Hono } from "hono";
 import { configureSync, resetSync } from "@intx/log";
-import { InferenceResolutionError } from "@corbits/chat";
 
 import { hubErrorHandler } from "./hub-error-handler";
 
+/**
+ * `hubErrorHandler` maps a guidance-bearing error by its string `.name`
+ * (duck-typed, see `hub-error-handler.ts`), never by `instanceof` — so this
+ * stands in for the real `InferenceResolutionError` (`@corbits/chat`'s
+ * `model-unavailable.ts`) without importing it.
+ */
+const MODEL_UNAVAILABLE_CONSUMER_MESSAGE =
+  "This agent's model isn't available here.";
+
+class FakeInferenceResolutionError extends Error {
+  readonly guidance: string;
+  constructor(launchLabel: string, resolutionMessage: string) {
+    super(
+      `cannot resolve an inference source for ${launchLabel} ` +
+        `(${resolutionMessage}); seed a tenant catalog source (provider, ` +
+        `credential, catalog model/provider/offering) before launching`,
+    );
+    this.name = "InferenceResolutionError";
+    this.guidance = MODEL_UNAVAILABLE_CONSUMER_MESSAGE;
+  }
+}
+
 let records: { properties: Record<string, unknown> }[];
 
 function installCapturingSink(): void {
@@ -93,7 +114,7 @@ describe("hubErrorHandler", () => {
     const app = new Hono();
     app.onError(hubErrorHandler());
     app.get("/wake", () => {
-      throw new InferenceResolutionError(
+      throw new FakeInferenceResolutionError(
         "the woken instance",
         'No launchable inference source for model "claude-sonnet-5"',
       );
diff --git a/apps/hub/src/mail-redelivery.ts b/apps/hub/src/mail-redelivery.ts
index fc9d838b57..ece570eef9 100644
--- a/apps/hub/src/mail-redelivery.ts
+++ b/apps/hub/src/mail-redelivery.ts
@@ -7,9 +7,9 @@
 // notification — so, unlike a payload naming only the recipients, this
 // one genuinely supports a retry rather than only a log line.
 //
-// `ensureAwake` is chat's own wake primitive (`@corbits/chat`'s
-// `ChatPlatform` has no generic host-agnostic equivalent across chat,
-// tasks, and any other future resident kind). A recipient it rejects
+// `ensureAwake` is the chat platform's own wake primitive (it has no
+// generic host-agnostic equivalent across chat, tasks, and any other
+// future resident kind). A recipient it rejects
 // for — not a chat resident at all, or a task-launched resident whose
 // `wake` is deliberately unreachable once its one-shot turn has run —
 // still gets the `routeMail` retry, since an address can go from
diff --git a/apps/hub/src/mcp-credential-bindings.ts b/apps/hub/src/mcp-credential-bindings.ts
index d425eb1c8f..57bf582f97 100644
--- a/apps/hub/src/mcp-credential-bindings.ts
+++ b/apps/hub/src/mcp-credential-bindings.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
-// The `McpCredentialBindingsFor` port `createHubChatPlatform`'s
-// `CreateHubChatPlatformDeps` is wired with — see `@corbits/chat`'s
-// `platform-adapter.ts` for why this has to be supplied by the
-// composition root rather than derived by the deploy-time
-// capability walk. `@corbits/mcp-tools`' credential handles are dynamic
-// (one `mcp.<slug>` per tenant-connected server), so this builds one
+// The composition root's own port supplying dynamic MCP credential
+// bindings. `@corbits/mcp-tools`' credential handles are dynamic (one
+// `mcp.<slug>` per tenant-connected server), so this builds one
 // `CredentialBinding` per connection `@corbits/connections`' own
 // `listMcpServerConnections` lists for the tenant: `handle` mirrors the
 // `mcp.<slug>` convention `@corbits/mcp-tools`' `mcpCredentialHandle(slug)`
@@ -11,11 +8,19 @@
 // grammar), while `provider` names the stored `mcp:<slug>` provider row
 // `listMcpServerConnections` read it from — a separate, unconstrained
 // namespace.
+//
+// `McpCredentialBindingsFor`'s shape is declared locally rather than
+// imported: it names nothing chat-specific (`CredentialBinding` is native
+// `@intx/types`), so the hub owns its own copy of the port instead of
+// depending on `@corbits/chat` for it.
 import type { DB } from "@intx/db";
 import type { CredentialBinding } from "@intx/types";
-import type { McpCredentialBindingsFor } from "@corbits/chat";
 import { listMcpServerConnections } from "@corbits/connections";
 
+export type McpCredentialBindingsFor = (
+  tenantId: string,
+) => Promise<readonly CredentialBinding[]>;
+
 const MCP_TOOLS_PACKAGE = "@corbits/mcp-tools";
 
 export function createMcpCredentialBindingsFor(
diff --git a/apps/hub/src/pinned-package-credential-bindings.ts b/apps/hub/src/pinned-package-credential-bindings.ts
index eff436b0b3..0afe7bfeb3 100644
--- a/apps/hub/src/pinned-package-credential-bindings.ts
+++ b/apps/hub/src/pinned-package-credential-bindings.ts
@@ -1,21 +1,25 @@
-// The `PinnedPackageCredentialBindingsFor` port `createHubChatPlatform`'s
-// `CreateHubChatPlatformDeps` is wired with — see `@corbits/chat`'s
-// `platform-adapter.ts` for why this has to be supplied by the
-// composition root rather than declared as
-// a required assistant `credentialBindings` entry. Static-handle packages
-// (`@corbits/manus-tools`, granola-tools, …) declare
-// `interchange.credentials`, but requiring those binds on the assistant
-// would throw `MissingCredentialError` on signup / first chat. This
-// factory emits a tenant binding only when a pin names a package a
+// The composition root's own port for a provisioned agent's pinned tool
+// packages: a tenant binding only when a pin names a package a
 // `CONNECTOR_REGISTRY` entry `feedsTools` AND the tenant already has a
 // connected credential for that connector (`isConnectorConnected`, the
-// same owning check `createWorkflowConnectionRoutes` uses — not
-// `@corbits/chat`'s catalog-only `listConnectedProviders`).
+// same owning check `createWorkflowConnectionRoutes` uses). Static-handle
+// packages (`@corbits/manus-tools`, granola-tools, …) declare
+// `interchange.credentials`, but requiring those binds unconditionally
+// would throw `MissingCredentialError` on signup / first launch.
+//
+// `PinnedPackageCredentialBindingsFor`'s shape is declared locally rather
+// than imported: it names nothing chat-specific (`CredentialBinding`,
+// `ToolPackagePin` are both native `@intx/types`), so the hub owns its own
+// copy of the port instead of depending on `@corbits/chat` for it.
 import type { CredentialBinding } from "@intx/types";
 import type { ToolPackagePin } from "@intx/types/tool-packages";
-import type { PinnedPackageCredentialBindingsFor } from "@corbits/chat";
 import { CONNECTOR_REGISTRY } from "./native-connector-registry";
 
+export type PinnedPackageCredentialBindingsFor = (
+  tenantId: string,
+  pins: readonly ToolPackagePin[],
+) => Promise<readonly CredentialBinding[]>;
+
 export type IsConnectorConnected = (
   tenantId: string,
   connectorId: string,
diff --git a/apps/hub/src/templates/template-block-routes.ts b/apps/hub/src/templates/template-block-routes.ts
index e444f0d0ef..ca32c3d726 100644
--- a/apps/hub/src/templates/template-block-routes.ts
+++ b/apps/hub/src/templates/template-block-routes.ts
@@ -27,9 +27,8 @@ export type TemplateBlockRoutesDeps = {
    * `userMessage`, the raw detail lands here. */
   log: (line: string) => void;
   /** The tenant's default inference preferences — the same resolution a
-   * fresh chat host launches against (`@corbits/chat`'s
-   * `createWorkbenchHostInferencePreferencesResolver`), so a deployed
-   * block runs on the model the bench actually connected. */
+   * fresh agent launch resolves against, so a deployed block runs on the
+   * model the bench actually connected. */
   inferencePreferences(
     tenantId: string,
   ): Promise<BlockWorkflowBuildInput["inferencePreferences"]>;
diff --git a/apps/hub/src/tool-grants.ts b/apps/hub/src/tool-grants.ts
index 25de72cf61..c6ecb1cd81 100644
--- a/apps/hub/src/tool-grants.ts
+++ b/apps/hub/src/tool-grants.ts
@@ -9,10 +9,6 @@
 // `ask` for a tool the package itself marks `approval: "ask"` — the
 // grants come from the installed asset's own manifest, never from a
 // source import.
-import type {
-  PinnedToolGrantDeclaration,
-  ToolGrantsForPins,
-} from "@corbits/chat";
 import {
   CORBITS_TOOLS_REGISTRY,
   readToolSurfaceManifests,
@@ -20,6 +16,24 @@ import {
 } from "@corbits/tool-registry-publish";
 import type { AssetWithOrigin } from "@intx/db";
 import type { AssetService } from "@intx/hub-sessions";
+import type { GrantEffect } from "@intx/types";
+import type { ToolPackagePin } from "@intx/types/tool-packages";
+
+/**
+ * Declared locally rather than imported from `@corbits/chat`: nothing
+ * about a pinned tool package's grants is chat-specific, and the shape
+ * names only native `@intx/types` (`GrantEffect`, `ToolPackagePin`).
+ */
+export type PinnedToolGrantDeclaration = {
+  readonly resource: string;
+  readonly action: "invoke";
+  readonly effect: GrantEffect;
+};
+
+export type ToolGrantsForPins = (
+  tenantId: string,
+  pins: readonly ToolPackagePin[],
+) => Promise<readonly PinnedToolGrantDeclaration[]>;
 
 export type CreateToolGrantsForPinsDeps = {
   /**