diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index f50ce0a..4a02111 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -28,14 +28,14 @@ Three global broadcast buses — **never add a fourth without checking these fir
 | Bus | Cap | Events | File |
 |-----|-----|--------|------|
 | `ChatEventBus` | 256 | user message, assistant response, compaction done | `core-api/src/bus.rs` |
-| `SystemEventBus` | 64 | provider (un)registered, config key updated, job completed, session cancelled, **user created/deleted/active-changed/mounts-changed** | `core-api/src/system_bus.rs` |
+| `SystemEventBus` | 64 | provider (un)registered, config key updated, job completed, session cancelled, **user created/deleted/active-changed/mounts-changed**, **global connectors changed, connector reinstalled** | `core-api/src/system_bus.rs` |
 | `GlobalEvent` (per-user) | 512 | all `ServerEvent` variants → WS clients + inbox lifecycle | `core-api/src/events.rs` |
 
 Plus internal `mpsc` queues: per-source `SourceInbox` (message serialization) and a central `notify` queue (background agents → user).
 
-**The user-lifecycle reconciler** is the worked example of the rule. Creating a user, deleting one, deactivating one, or changing a shared-folder/project membership all need Docker work (provision, tear down, stop, recreate with new bind mounts). None of the endpoints that make those changes touches `ContainerManager`: each announces `SystemEvent::User{Created,Deleted,ActiveChanged,MountsChanged}` **after** its DB write, and one subscriber — `skald::wiring::spawn_user_lifecycle`, spawned post-construction because it reacts through `Skald`'s own accessors, holding only a `Weak` — does the reacting, sequentially and best-effort. The payoff is that a *future* endpoint granting membership cannot forget to remount, because remounting was never its job. Reactions never block the HTTP response, and a failure settles at the user's next login or at boot reconciliation.
+**The user-lifecycle reconciler** is the worked example of the rule. Creating a user, deleting one, deactivating one, or changing a shared-folder/project membership all need Docker work (provision, tear down, stop, recreate with new bind mounts); enabling or reinstalling a connector needs live runtimes re-snapshotted. None of the endpoints that make those changes touches `ContainerManager` or the refresh helpers: each announces `SystemEvent::User{Created,Deleted,ActiveChanged,MountsChanged}` / `McpGlobalServersChanged` / `ConnectorReinstalled` **after** its DB write, and one subscriber — `skald::wiring::spawn_user_lifecycle`, spawned post-construction because it reacts through `Skald`'s own accessors, holding only a `Weak` — does the reacting, sequentially and best-effort. Being off the response path matters for `ConnectorReinstalled` in particular: it re-copies files and restarts servers inside every live user's container, seconds of work the admin's install no longer waits on. The payoff is that a *future* endpoint granting membership cannot forget to remount, because remounting was never its job. Reactions never block the HTTP response, and a failure settles at the user's next login or at boot reconciliation.
 
-**Where the bus stops: reconciliation rides it, authorization does not.** `SystemEventBus` is a lossy 64-slot broadcast whose contract is *"best-effort, settles at the next login"* — right for a stale mount, wrong for a revocation, where "settles later" *is* the failure. So deactivating or deleting a user splits in two: `Skald::revoke_user_runtime` runs **synchronously in the handler, before it responds** (revoke every session → evict + cancel the `UserContext` → `UserManager::lock`, in that order, so nothing is left querying a pool we then close and the DEK leaves RAM per §9), while only the container half — stop or remove — rides the bus. Before this, `active = 0` blocked the *next* login but left live sessions working: `login` checks the flag, `require_auth` only maps token → id. **Never put an access revocation on a bus.**
+**Where the bus stops: reconciliation rides it, authorization does not.** `SystemEventBus` is a lossy 64-slot broadcast whose contract is *"best-effort, settles at the next login"* — right for a stale mount, wrong for a revocation, where "settles later" *is* the failure. So deactivating or deleting a user splits in two: `Skald::revoke_user_runtime` runs **synchronously in the handler, before it responds** (revoke every session → evict + cancel the `UserContext` → `UserManager::lock`, in that order, so nothing is left querying a pool we then close and the DEK leaves RAM per §9), while only the container half — stop or remove — rides the bus. Before this, `active = 0` blocked the *next* login but left live sessions working: `login` checks the flag, `require_auth` only maps token → id. Same split for security groups (see the picker section) and for connectors, where the test is worth internalising because the call is literally the same function: `Skald::refresh_global_mcp_access` is **announced** (`McpGlobalServersChanged`) when a global connector is enabled or deleted — the first only makes something *appear*, the second is already enforced by `stop_server` — but **called directly** from `global_set_access` and `user_connectors_set`, where `set_access`/`set_for_user` *replace* a grant set and the refresh is what actually revokes. Both sync call-sites carry a `DELIBERATELY SYNCHRONOUS` comment, because they look identical to the announced ones. **Never put an access revocation on a bus.**
 
 **Before you add a direct function call or a new import between two components, stop and ask:** is one component producing data another needs? If yes, add a variant to an existing bus and spawn a subscriber. Don't call `some_manager.log_thing(...)` from the producer — emit a `ThingHappened` event on `SystemEventBus` and let the manager subscribe.
 
diff --git a/crates/core-api/src/system_bus.rs b/crates/core-api/src/system_bus.rs
index b65c1a5..5d43842 100644
--- a/crates/core-api/src/system_bus.rs
+++ b/crates/core-api/src/system_bus.rs
@@ -87,6 +87,23 @@ pub enum SystemEvent {
     UserMountsChanged {
         user_id: String,
     },
+
+    // ── Connectors (blueprint §7) ─────────────────────────────────────────────
+    /// The set of **global** MCP connectors changed — one was enabled (and started)
+    /// or deleted (and stopped). Every live user re-snapshots their access filter so
+    /// the connector appears in / disappears from `MCP_LIST` without a re-login.
+    ///
+    /// Emitted only for changes to the *server set*. Changing **who may use** a
+    /// connector is a grant/revoke and stays synchronous in its handler, for the same
+    /// reason as [`Self::UserActiveChanged`]: this bus promises "eventually", which is
+    /// the wrong promise for taking access away.
+    McpGlobalServersChanged,
+    /// A marketplace connector was (re)installed. Anything already running it — the
+    /// global runtime, each live user's per-user runtime — re-reads its metadata and
+    /// re-copies its files/deps, so the new version lands without a re-login.
+    ConnectorReinstalled {
+        catalog_name: String,
+    },
 }
 
 // ── Bus ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
diff --git a/crates/skald-core/src/skald/wiring.rs b/crates/skald-core/src/skald/wiring.rs
index 51cefb6..b795bed 100644
--- a/crates/skald-core/src/skald/wiring.rs
+++ b/crates/skald-core/src/skald/wiring.rs
@@ -154,6 +154,15 @@ pub(super) fn spawn_user_lifecycle(skald: &Arc<super::Skald>) {
                             "user-lifecycle: remount failed (settles at next login/boot)");
                     }
                 }
+                // Both are pure appearance/metadata refreshes across live users —
+                // they widen or re-sync what is visible, never narrow it, which is
+                // what makes them safe to hand to a best-effort bus.
+                SystemEvent::McpGlobalServersChanged => {
+                    skald.refresh_global_mcp_access().await;
+                }
+                SystemEvent::ConnectorReinstalled { catalog_name } => {
+                    skald.refresh_connector_after_reinstall(&catalog_name).await;
+                }
                 _ => {}
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/frontend/api/marketplace.rs b/src/frontend/api/marketplace.rs
index f298906..cc0cf06 100644
--- a/src/frontend/api/marketplace.rs
+++ b/src/frontend/api/marketplace.rs
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ use axum::extract::{Extension, Path, Query, State};
 use axum::http::header;
 use axum::response::{IntoResponse, Response};
 use axum::Json;
+use core_api::system_bus::SystemEvent;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 use serde_json::{json, Value};
 use sha2::{Digest, Sha256};
@@ -794,13 +795,18 @@ pub async fn install(
     )
     .await?;
 
-    // Push the (re)installed metadata + code into anything already running it, so a
-    // reinstall lands live instead of waiting for each user's next login: enabled
-    // global servers re-snapshot the description and restart; each live user who
-    // activated it gets its files/deps reconciled and the connector restarted with
-    // the fresh `llm_short_description`. A first-time install matches nothing live
-    // and is a cheap no-op.
-    skald.refresh_connector_after_reinstall(&body.id).await;
+    // Announce the (re)install so anything already running it catches up without
+    // waiting for each user's next login: enabled global servers re-snapshot the
+    // description and restart; each live user who activated it gets its files/deps
+    // reconciled and the connector restarted with the fresh `llm_short_description`.
+    // A first-time install matches nothing live and is a cheap no-op.
+    //
+    // On the bus, not awaited: the reaction re-copies files and restarts servers
+    // inside containers, which can take seconds per live user — the admin's install
+    // should not block on it, and nothing in the response below depends on it.
+    skald.system_bus().send(SystemEvent::ConnectorReinstalled {
+        catalog_name: body.id.clone(),
+    });
 
     Ok(Json(json!({
         "id":             id,
diff --git a/src/frontend/api/mcp.rs b/src/frontend/api/mcp.rs
index 9bf33ac..06a1fa2 100644
--- a/src/frontend/api/mcp.rs
+++ b/src/frontend/api/mcp.rs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 
 use axum::extract::{Extension, Path, State};
 use axum::Json;
+use core_api::system_bus::SystemEvent;
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use serde_json::{json, Value};
 
@@ -500,9 +501,10 @@ pub async fn global_enable(
         .ok_or_else(|| ApiError::bad_request("global server vanished after upsert"))?;
     let spec = skald_core::mcp::global_row_spec(&row);
     let started = skald.mcp().start_server(spec).await;
-    // Now that the server runs in the global runtime, refresh every live user's
-    // access snapshot so the connector shows up in `MCP_LIST` without a restart.
-    skald.refresh_global_mcp_access().await;
+    // The server now runs in the global runtime; announce it so every live user's
+    // access snapshot picks it up and the connector shows in `MCP_LIST` without a
+    // restart. Safe on the bus: this only makes something *appear*.
+    skald.system_bus().send(SystemEvent::McpGlobalServersChanged);
     match started {
         Ok(tools) => Ok(Json(json!({ "id": id, "tools": tools, "verify": verify }))),
         Err(e)    => Ok(Json(json!({ "id": id, "error": e.to_string(), "verify": verify }))),
@@ -519,8 +521,10 @@ pub async fn global_delete(
         skald.mcp().stop_server(&row.name);
     }
     mcp_global_servers::delete(skald.db(), id).await?;
-    // Drop the now-deleted server from every live user's access snapshot in place.
-    skald.refresh_global_mcp_access().await;
+    // Enforcement already happened above: `stop_server` killed the runtime, so the
+    // tools are gone whether or not anyone re-snapshots. The announcement below only
+    // tidies each live user's access filter — hence the bus rather than a direct call.
+    skald.system_bus().send(SystemEvent::McpGlobalServersChanged);
     Ok(Json(json!({ "ok": true })))
 }
 
@@ -639,7 +643,11 @@ pub async fn global_set_access(
 ) -> Result<Json<Value>, ApiError> {
     require_cap(&skald, &auth.user_id, role_capabilities::MANAGE_CATALOG).await?;
     mcp_global_access::set_access(skald.db(), id, &body.user_ids).await?;
-    // Reflect the new grant set in every live user's access snapshot at once.
+    // DELIBERATELY SYNCHRONOUS — do not "clean this up" onto `McpGlobalServersChanged`.
+    // `set_access` *replaces* the grant set, so anyone dropped from `user_ids` is
+    // being revoked, and the snapshot refresh is what enforces it. A best-effort
+    // broadcast would leave a revoked user holding the connector until their next
+    // login. Announcing a server appearing is reconciliation; taking one away is not.
     skald.refresh_global_mcp_access().await;
     Ok(Json(json!({ "ok": true })))
 }
@@ -747,8 +755,9 @@ pub async fn user_connectors_set(
         }
     }
 
-    // Refresh live access snapshots so the target user's global grants take effect
-    // without a restart (the catalog side is handled by the live-revoke block above).
+    // DELIBERATELY SYNCHRONOUS — same reason as `global_set_access`: `set_for_user`
+    // replaces the grant set, so this call is what revokes the globals the admin just
+    // removed. The catalog side is already enforced by the live-revoke block above.
     skald.refresh_global_mcp_access().await;
     Ok(Json(json!({ "ok": true })))
 }