@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ Each release of Research-Kit, newest first. The version is `KIT_VERSION` in
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+- The `browserPath` machine-config key is read. The browser transport's errors and ADR-0088
+  name it, but the config was loaded and saved without it: a fetch through the collector
+  never consulted it, and any save, `install-hooks --role` among them, erased a value set
+  by hand. `scrape` and `status` called without a config now read the machine's.
+
 - `researcher-release validate --genesis` and `--checkpoints` are verified. Both were
   advertised and parsed, but `validateRelease` had no parameters for them, so they were
   dropped before the ledger check and an operator who supplied a signed genesis believed it
 
@@ -606,6 +606,7 @@ The full table, including the release-evidence validators and the artifact forma
 | `evidencePolicy` | `pluralist`, `strict` | `pluralist` | whether a keyless or partial capture passes the gate with a warning or fails it |
 | `serpapiKey` | a key | none | SerpAPI search; the environment variable `SERPAPI_API_KEY` works too |
 | `searxngUrl` | a URL | none | a SearXNG instance for search |
+| `browserPath` | a path | the usual install paths | the Chromium or Chrome the `browser` transport runs; read before `RESEARCH_KIT_BROWSER` (ADR-0088) |
 | `failOpen` | `true`, `false` | `true` | what the gate does when it cannot run at all |
 | `editGate.mode` | `ask`, `hard-block`, `off` | `ask` | the Claude Code edit-time gate; `install-hooks.mjs --mode` sets it |
 | `editGate.settingsPath` | a path | `~/.claude/settings.json` | where the edit-time gate is registered |
 
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ node research-kit/bin/selftest.mjs            # all of it
 node research-kit/bin/selftest.mjs gate hook  # just these files
 ```
 
-1782 tests, offline, no key and no network. The runner **awaits** every test, so `ok` means
+1784 tests, offline, no key and no network. The runner **awaits** every test, so `ok` means
 the assertions settled (ADR-0021), and each test is raced against a watchdog
 (`RESEARCH_KIT_TEST_TIMEOUT`, default 60s).
 
 
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import { mainContent, htmlToMarkdown, titleOf, gradeCompleteness, isInternal, se
 import httpKeyless from './http-transport.mjs';
 import { REFUSAL_MARKER } from './browser-guard.mjs';
 import { CHILD_OUTPUT_LIMIT, MAX_PAGE_BYTES, outputOverflow } from './runtime.mjs';
+import { loadConfig } from './machine.mjs';
 
 const GUARD_CHILD = fileURLToPath(new URL('./browser-guard.mjs', import.meta.url));
 
@@ -252,10 +253,12 @@ export function command(argv) {
   return ['browser', ...argv.slice(-1)].map((p) => (/\s/.test(p) ? JSON.stringify(p) : p)).join(' ');
 }
 
-export function scrape(url, { render = renderGuarded, browserPath = null, env = process.env, config = {}, exists, timeout = TIMEOUT_MS, uid,
+export function scrape(url, { render = renderGuarded, browserPath = null, env = process.env, config = null, exists, timeout = TIMEOUT_MS, uid,
   allowInternalRedirects } = {}) {
   const target = String(url);
-  const binary = browserPath ?? findBrowser({ config, env, exists });
+  // No config from the caller means the machine's: the collector calls runScrape(url) with no
+  // options, and an empty default here meant browserPath was never consulted (2026-10-11).
+  const binary = browserPath ?? findBrowser({ config: config ?? loadConfig(env), env, exists });
   const cmd = command([target]);
   if (!binary) {
     return { ok: false, url: target, transport: name, cmd,
@@ -402,8 +405,8 @@ export function map(url, opts = {}) {
   return httpKeyless.map(url, opts);
 }
 
-export function status({ config = {}, env = process.env, exists } = {}) {
-  const path = findBrowser({ config, env, exists });
+export function status({ config = null, env = process.env, exists } = {}) {
+  const path = findBrowser({ config: config ?? loadConfig(env), env, exists });
   return { ok: Boolean(path), transport: name, path, error: path ? '' : 'no Chromium or Chrome found' };
 }
 
 
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ export const DEFAULTS = Object.freeze({
   skillRoots: Object.freeze([]),
   projectSkillDir: '',
   maxAgeDays: 180,
+  browserPath: '',
 });
 
 export const ROLES = Object.freeze(['collector', 'builder']);
@@ -168,6 +169,10 @@ function shape(raw) {
     skillRoots: Array.isArray(raw.skillRoots) ? raw.skillRoots.filter((root) => typeof root === 'string' && root.trim() !== '') : [],
     projectSkillDir: typeof raw.projectSkillDir === 'string' ? raw.projectSkillDir : '',
     maxAgeDays: Number.isFinite(raw.maxAgeDays) ? raw.maxAgeDays : DEFAULTS.maxAgeDays,
+    // The browser transport's executable (ADR-0088), which its own errors tell the operator
+    // to set. It was missing here until 2026-10-11, so it was never read, and every save -
+    // `install-hooks --role` among them - rewrote the file without it.
+    browserPath: typeof raw.browserPath === 'string' ? raw.browserPath : DEFAULTS.browserPath,
   };
   // A retired key is READ before it is dropped: a rename that silently relaxes a gate is
   // the same defect as a rename that silently stops firing one.
 
@@ -225,6 +225,24 @@ test('the recorded command names the browser, not the keyless transport', () =>
   assert.doesNotMatch(none.cmd, /http-keyless/, 'the refusal carries the same command');
 });
 
+// Found 2026-10-11: the collector calls runScrape(url) with no options, so the adapter looked
+// for the browser with an empty config, and browserPath - the setting its own error message
+// names - was never consulted. A caller that passes no config gets the machine's.
+test('a scrape with no config of its own runs the browserPath the machine config names', () => {
+  const dir = tempDir('rk-browser-config-');
+  const binary = path.join(dir, 'chrome');
+  fs.writeFileSync(binary, '', 'utf8');
+  const configFile = path.join(dir, 'research-kit.config.json');
+  fs.writeFileSync(configFile, JSON.stringify({ browserPath: binary }), 'utf8');
+  const env = { RESEARCH_KIT_CONFIG: configFile };
+  const { render, calls } = renderWith({ stdout: PAGE });
+  const r = browser.runScrape('https://nodejs.org/api/fs.html', { render, env });
+  assert.equal(r.ok, true, r.error);
+  assert.equal(calls[0]?.file, binary, 'the configured browser ran');
+  assert.equal(browser.status({ env }).path, binary, 'status reports the same browser');
+  assert.equal(browser.status({ env, config: {} }).path === binary, false, 'an explicit config still wins');
+});
+
 test('Chromium\'s own error page is a failure that names its code, though it exits 0', () => {
   assert.equal(chromeErrorOf(PRIVACY), 'ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID');
   assert.equal(chromeErrorOf(PAGE), '');
 
@@ -147,6 +147,17 @@ test('saveConfig drops the retired key, so the migration happens through normal
   assert.equal(written.role, 'builder');
 });
 
+// Found 2026-10-11: the browser transport and its error messages tell the operator to set
+// browserPath (ADR-0088), but the config was read without it and rewritten without it, so
+// `install-hooks --role builder` erased a browserPath the operator had set by hand.
+test('browserPath is read from the machine config and survives a save', () => {
+  const { env, file } = envWith(JSON.stringify({ browserPath: '/opt/google/chrome/chrome' }));
+  assert.equal(loadConfig(env).browserPath, '/opt/google/chrome/chrome');
+  saveConfig({ role: 'builder' }, env);
+  assert.equal(JSON.parse(readText(file)).browserPath, '/opt/google/chrome/chrome', 'a save kept the key');
+  assert.equal(loadConfig(envWith(JSON.stringify({ browserPath: 42 })).env).browserPath, '', 'a path that is not a string is not one');
+});
+
 test('a retired ENVIRONMENT variable is reported and never honoured', () => {
   const { env } = envWith(null, { extra: { CLAUDE_SETTINGS_PATH: '/somewhere/settings.json' } });
   const notes = retiredEnvNotes(env);