diff --git a/docs/examples/provider.go b/docs/examples/provider.go
index 59f939e3bbc..37b0cfd9ced 100644
--- a/docs/examples/provider.go
+++ b/docs/examples/provider.go
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/compose-spec/compose-go/v2/types"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 )
@@ -223,11 +224,16 @@ func up(options options, args []string) {
 	// buffered bytes and hang on the next answer.
 	responses := json.NewDecoder(os.Stdin)
 	fmt.Printf(`{ "type": "get-service-config" }%s`, lineSeparator)
-	var config struct {
-		Provider struct {
-			Type string `json:"type"`
-		} `json:"provider"`
-	}
+	// Decoding into the real types.ServiceConfig (the same struct Compose
+	// marshaled) means GetScale() is available: Compose never rejects or
+	// interprets a scale request on a provider-backed service -- the relay
+	// it deploys is always a single container regardless -- the value is
+	// passed through unmodified here instead, for the provider itself to
+	// act on (or ignore) for the real resource it manages. GetScale() is
+	// the canonical way to read it, already handling both the scale: and
+	// deploy.replicas: spellings; reading either field directly would miss
+	// whichever one the compose file didn't use.
+	var config types.ServiceConfig
 	if err := responses.Decode(&config); err != nil {
 		// error text is not JSON-safe either: encode, don't interpolate
 		msg, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"type": "error", "message": fmt.Sprintf("get-service-config failed: %v", err)})
@@ -238,6 +244,8 @@ func up(options options, args []string) {
 	// encode the message instead of interpolating it into a JSON literal
 	setenv, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"type": "setenv", "message": "CONFIG_TYPE=" + config.Provider.Type})
 	fmt.Println(string(setenv))
+	scaleEnv, _ := json.Marshal(map[string]string{"type": "setenv", "message": fmt.Sprintf("CONFIG_SCALE=%d", config.GetScale())})
+	fmt.Println(string(scaleEnv))
 
 	// When asked to, stand up a real endpoint on the host and publish it, so
 	// compose deploys a relay and consumers reach it as http://<service>:80.
diff --git a/pkg/compose/reconcile.go b/pkg/compose/reconcile.go
index cb2b805b21b..ab135310b88 100644
--- a/pkg/compose/reconcile.go
+++ b/pkg/compose/reconcile.go
@@ -724,6 +724,16 @@ func (r *reconciler) reconcileService(service types.ServiceConfig) error {
 		return nil
 	}
 	if service.Provider != nil {
+		// A provider's relay is a singleton network stand-in, never itself a
+		// replica: this branch always plans exactly one OpRunProvider node,
+		// regardless of service.GetScale(). scale/deploy.replicas is NOT
+		// rejected or otherwise special-cased here -- it is deliberately
+		// passed through unmodified as part of the service config the
+		// provider receives over its control channel (GetServiceConfigType
+		// in plugins.go marshals the whole resolved ServiceConfig, Scale
+		// included), so interpreting it -- scaling the real
+		// resource the provider manages, ignoring it, or rejecting it itself
+		// -- is entirely the provider's call, never Compose's.
 		serviceCopy := service
 		deps := r.infrastructureDeps(service)
 		// A service migrated from replicas to a provider leaves its old
diff --git a/pkg/compose/reconcile_test.go b/pkg/compose/reconcile_test.go
index 38477fc27db..4dd204acd44 100644
--- a/pkg/compose/reconcile_test.go
+++ b/pkg/compose/reconcile_test.go
@@ -260,6 +260,33 @@ func TestReconcileService_ProviderRelayLeftAlone(t *testing.T) {
 `)+"\n")
 }
 
+// A provider's relay is a singleton network stand-in, never itself a
+// replica: `compose scale`/`deploy.replicas` on a provider-backed service
+// must still plan exactly one OpRunProvider node, whatever count was
+// requested -- the value is neither rejected nor acted on by Compose, it is
+// passed through unmodified to the provider over its control channel
+// (GetServiceConfigType marshals the whole resolved ServiceConfig), which
+// decides what to do with it for the resource it actually manages.
+func TestReconcileService_ProviderScaleNeverMultipliesTheRelay(t *testing.T) {
+	scale := 3
+	db := types.ServiceConfig{
+		Name:     "db",
+		Provider: &types.ServiceProviderConfig{Type: "test"},
+		Scale:    &scale,
+	}
+	project := &types.Project{
+		Name:     "myproject",
+		Services: types.Services{"db": db},
+	}
+	observed := emptyObserved()
+
+	plan, err := reconcile(t.Context(), project, observed, defaultReconcileOptions(), noPrompt)
+	assert.NilError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, plan.String(), strings.TrimSpace(`
+[] -> #1 provider:db, RunProvider, provider service
+`)+"\n")
+}
+
 // TestReconcileNetworks_DivergedAlsoRecreatesChangedContainer verifies the
 // entangled case: when a container attached to a diverged network also has its
 // own config changed, it is both reconnected (by the network recreate) and
diff --git a/pkg/e2e/providers_test.go b/pkg/e2e/providers_test.go
index 672c156f5b7..f6e9044c5a7 100644
--- a/pkg/e2e/providers_test.go
+++ b/pkg/e2e/providers_test.go
@@ -145,6 +145,30 @@ func TestProviderMigration(t *testing.T) {
 		OutputContains("test-1  | hello from provider"))
 }
 
+// TestProviderScaleReachesTheProvider locks that `compose scale` on a
+// provider-backed service neither fails nor multiplies the relay: the
+// requested count is passed through unmodified to the provider over its
+// control channel (get-service-config), which is free to act on it for the
+// real resource it manages, while Compose's own relay stays a single
+// container regardless. PROVIDER_DEMO_ENDPOINT publishes a real endpoint so
+// a relay container actually exists to assert singularity against; test is
+// included in the scale targets so it gets created in the same call and its
+// env records the exact value the provider received.
+func TestProviderScaleReachesTheProvider(t *testing.T) {
+	relayImage := "compose-relay-e2e"
+	s := providerScenario(t, "scale on a provider-backed service must reach the provider, not be rejected or applied to the relay")
+	s.CLI().RunCmd(t, "docker", "build", "-t", relayImage, "../../relay")
+	s.Env("PROVIDER_DEMO_ENDPOINT=1", "COMPOSE_RELAY_IMAGE="+relayImage)
+	s.Step("scale converges without error and the dependent sees the exact value the provider received",
+		ComposeCmd("scale", "db=5", "test=1"),
+		ContainerEnv("test", "DB_CONFIG_SCALE", "5"),
+		ServiceScale("db", 1)).
+		Step("a second scale updates the value without ever multiplying the relay",
+			ComposeCmd("scale", "db=7", "test=1"),
+			ContainerEnv("test", "DB_CONFIG_SCALE", "7"),
+			ServiceScale("db", 1))
+}
+
 func TestProviderPublishEndpoint(t *testing.T) {
 	// The example provider stands up a real endpoint on the host and
 	// publishes it; compose deploys a relay under the service's name, so the
diff --git a/pkg/e2e/testdata/TestProviderScaleReachesTheProvider/compose.yaml b/pkg/e2e/testdata/TestProviderScaleReachesTheProvider/compose.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5c5ff221e49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/e2e/testdata/TestProviderScaleReachesTheProvider/compose.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+services:
+  test:
+    image: alpine
+    command: env
+    depends_on:
+      - db
+  db:
+    provider:
+      type: example-provider
+      options:
+        name: db
+        type: test1
+        size: 1