diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 20722d0..36ea0d0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,8 +8,9 @@ re-invoking `harness once`. It is the execution core for the org's vertical
 stacks: humans and other agents interact with a stack only through Redmine
 (SoR), Discourse (docs) and Gitea (code), never by attaching to the loop.
 
-Status: 2026-08-28 — skeleton; MVP demo path live (single GLM turn through
-LiteLLM to REPORT, proven live 2026-08-28).
+Status: 2026-08-28 — skeleton + event receiver; MVP demo path live (single
+GLM turn through LiteLLM to REPORT, proven live 2026-08-28); `harness
+events` webhook receiver smoke-proven on LAN port 4100 the same day.
 
 ## Quickstart
 
@@ -19,13 +20,25 @@ on 2026-08-28 from a fresh clone.
 
 ### Build and test
 
+`dev.sh` routes every compile/vet/test path through the digest-pinned
+builder container (the host stays toolchain-free):
+
+```sh
+./dev.sh check   # = go build + go vet + go test, all inside the builder
+```
+
+The equivalent raw command:
+
 ```sh
 docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/h" -w /h \
   -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" -e HOME=/tmp \
-  golang:1.26-bookworm \
+  golang@sha256:e8c859f5632dcfde7b32d2012b4351728f6437930887c2f6a91ea242459e5514 \
   sh -c 'go build -o bin/harness ./cmd/harness && go vet ./... && go test ./...'
 ```
 
+(that digest = `golang:1.26-bookworm`; alpine lacks bash, which the exec
+tool's tests need.)
+
 Expected output (tail):
 
 ```text
@@ -90,6 +103,37 @@ exit code 1 (config error). The with-key path was proven live on 2026-08-28:
 the `[demo]` prompt "tell me about yourself" routed to `glm-5.3` via tier
 `mopac-primary` and the GLM self-description landed as the REPORT.
 
+### Webhook receiver (`harness events`)
+
+Redmine / Discourse / Gitea webhooks punch the harness through the event
+receiver. Configure `[events]` in `harness.toml` (secrets as env refs — see
+`harness.toml.example`), then:
+
+```sh
+HARNESS_REDMINE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=... HARNESS_DISCOURSE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=... \
+HARNESS_GITEA_WEBHOOK_SECRET=... ./dev.sh events
+```
+
+publishes port 4100 on the host LAN (override with `-listen`). Routes:
+
+| Route | Verification | Maps to |
+|---|---|---|
+| `POST /hooks/redmine` | shared-secret header (default `X-Redmine-Webhook-Secret`) | `dispatch_turn` on issue update/note |
+| `POST /hooks/discourse` | shared-secret header (default `X-Discourse-Webhook-Secret`) | `respond_turn` on post reply |
+| `POST /hooks/gitea` | HMAC-SHA256 `X-Gitea-Signature` over the raw body | `pipeline_step` on PR approved/merged |
+| `GET /healthz` | none | liveness |
+
+Unsigned or unverified deliveries get 401; verified ones are normalized to
+one internal event record, appended to `state/events/events.jsonl` (0600,
+deduped by provider event id: `X-Gitea-Delivery` / `X-Discourse-Event-Id`,
+payload-digest fallback), and handed to the conductor (turn dispatch is a
+stub until phase 3 wiring). End-to-end smoke, including the 401/200 paths
+and the JSONL record, driven with python urllib (curl is banned on host):
+
+```sh
+./dev.sh smoke
+```
+
 ### Help
 
 ```sh
@@ -122,6 +166,23 @@ file plus `REPORT-latest.md` (atomic tmp+rename). On a mid-turn LLM failure
 after content exists, a partial REPORT is still written with the error as the
 stop reason. Chaining is by re-invocation — there is no daemon.
 
+The event path is a second door into the same loop:
+
+```mermaid
+flowchart LR
+    RM["Redmine webhook"] --> V["VERIFY<br/>shared-secret / HMAC headers"]
+    DC["Discourse webhook"] --> V
+    GT["Gitea webhook"] --> V
+    V -->|401 unverified| X(["rejected"])
+    V --> N["NORMALIZE<br/>one Event record: source, kind, actor,<br/>subject id, digest, received-at"]
+    N --> S["STORE<br/>state/events/events.jsonl, append-only,<br/>dedup by provider event id"]
+    S -->|"dispatch_turn / respond_turn / pipeline_step"| C(["conductor (dispatch stub)"])
+```
+
+Verification rejects unsigned and unverified deliveries with 401 (no detail
+beyond "unverified"); secret material and header values never reach logs or
+the event log — only normalized fields and a payload digest do.
+
 ## CLI reference
 
 Subcommands (from `harness help`):
@@ -130,6 +191,7 @@ Subcommands (from `harness help`):
 |---|---|
 | `harness help` | print usage (also `-h`, `--help`) |
 | `harness once` | run ONE conductor iteration, then exit |
+| `harness events` | run the webhook receiver until SIGINT/SIGTERM |
 
 Flags for `once`:
 
@@ -140,6 +202,13 @@ Flags for `once`:
 | `-demo` | run the `[demo]` issue instead of Redmine intake |
 | `-task-id ID` | run only the task/issue with this id |
 
+Flags for `events`:
+
+| Flag | Meaning |
+|---|---|
+| `-config PATH` | config file (default `$HARNESS_CONFIG`, then `./harness.toml`) |
+| `-listen ADDR` | bind address (overrides `[events]` listen) |
+
 Exit codes:
 
 | Code | Meaning |
@@ -172,6 +241,11 @@ cannot rot):
 | | `default` | verdict for commands matching no rule: `allow` or `deny` (org preset: deny) |
 | | `allow`, `deny` | rule lists; deny beats allow; `cmd *` word-boundary, `pfx*` raw prefix, `pfx/**` path prefix, `*` universal; compound commands checked segment by segment; command substitution and subshells always denied |
 | `[demo]` | `id`, `subject`, `prompt`, `class` | the issue `--demo` runs instead of Redmine intake |
+| `[events]` | `listen` | receiver bind address (default `:4100`; publish via `docker -p`) |
+| | `state_dir` | event log dir (default `state/events`); `events.jsonl` created 0600 |
+| `[events.redmine]` | `secret_ref`, `secret_header` | shared-secret ref + header name (default `X-Redmine-Webhook-Secret`) |
+| `[events.discourse]` | `secret_ref`, `secret_header` | shared-secret ref + header name (default `X-Discourse-Webhook-Secret`) |
+| `[events.gitea]` | `secret_ref` | HMAC secret ref; verification is always `X-Gitea-Signature` (hex HMAC-SHA256 of the raw body) |
 
 Key refs accepted anywhere a `*_ref` appears: `env:NAME`, `file:PATH`,
 `literal:VALUE` (last resort), and `bw:REF` (reserved; errors until the
@@ -221,6 +295,8 @@ Sourced from [REPORT.md](REPORT.md) — keep both in sync.
 | Bounded turn | Works | LiteLLM chat, retry/backoff, tool loop capped at `max_rounds`, partial REPORT on mid-turn failure |
 | Exec tool | Works | allow-listed bash, segment-wise compound checks, timeout + truncation |
 | REPORT writeback | Works | timestamped file + `REPORT-latest.md`, atomic, full telemetry |
+| Event receiver | Works | `harness events`: verify (HMAC/shared-secret) → normalize → append-only JSONL with provider-id dedup → action mapping; smoke-proven on LAN port 4100 |
+| Event → turn dispatch | Stubbed | conductor `DispatchEvent` prints what it would do; wiring is phase 3 |
 | Tests | Works | table-driven, stdlib only; build/vet/test clean on go1.26 |
 | Redmine note writeback | Stubbed | REPORT is file-only today |
 | Budget/semaphore gate | Stubbed | tokens in REPORT, no cost/spend enforcement yet |
diff --git a/REPORT.md b/REPORT.md
index 54ef22a..d5260c7 100644
--- a/REPORT.md
+++ b/REPORT.md
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ without a key, so the live run needs exactly one thing:
 
 ## Stubbed / known gaps
 
+- Event → turn dispatch: `harness events` stores + maps events and hands
+  them to `Conductor.DispatchEvent`, which is a printing stub (phase 3).
 - Redmine issue-note writeback (SoR note after the REPORT) — file only.
 - Budget/semaphore GATE (LiteLLM spend APIs, class-aware slots) and cost
   in REPORT (tokens only today).
@@ -73,11 +75,65 @@ without a key, so the live run needs exactly one thing:
   transitions, so chained `once` re-picks the same issue (use --task-id).
 - Local inbox intake (DESIGN core-loop step 1, second half) — not started.
 
+## Build phase 2b — events receiver (`mopac events`) — 2026-08-28
+
+Works:
+
+- **`harness events` CLI**: stdlib net/http receiver (no frameworks), runs
+  until SIGINT/SIGTERM, graceful shutdown, `-config` / `-listen` flags.
+  Routes `POST /hooks/{redmine,discourse,gitea}` + `GET /healthz`; GET on a
+  hook = 405, unknown path = 404, oversized body (> 1 MiB) = 413.
+- **Verification, deny-first**: gitea = hex HMAC-SHA256 of the raw body in
+  `X-Gitea-Signature` (constant-time `hmac.Equal`); redmine/discourse =
+  shared-secret header (constant-time compare; header names configurable,
+  defaults `X-Redmine-Webhook-Secret` / `X-Discourse-Webhook-Secret`).
+  Unsigned/unverified = 401 with a single generic error body; rejection
+  logs name the failure class only, never header values or secrets.
+- **Normalization**: one internal Event (source, kind, actor, canonical
+  subject id `redmine:issue:42` / `discourse:topic:7` /
+  `gitea:pr:ukrrs/MOPAC#5`, title, repo, provider event id, payload
+  sha256 digest, received-at) — tolerant extraction across known payload
+  variants (redmine_webhooks + flat shapes, Discourse headers + payload,
+  Gitea action/pull_request/issue shapes incl. closed+merged → pr_merged).
+- **Action mapping (DESIGN)**: redmine issue update/note/journal →
+  `dispatch_turn`; discourse post reply → `respond_turn`; gitea PR
+  approved/merged → `pipeline_step`; everything else stored-but-ignored.
+- **Persistence**: append-only `state/events/events.jsonl` (0600, dir
+  0700), dedup by provider event id (`X-Gitea-Delivery`,
+  `X-Discourse-Event-Id`, `X-Redmine-Delivery` when present; payload
+  digest fallback). Dedup index rebuilt from the file at startup (torn
+  tail line skipped), so replays across restarts still dedup —
+  at-least-once delivery, exactly-once reaction.
+- **Config**: `[events]` listen/state_dir + per-source secret refs
+  (`env:`/`file:`/`literal:`, resolved at startup; server refuses to start
+  with zero secrets). Full validation, ref values never echoed.
+- **dev.sh**: every build/vet/test/run path routes through the
+  digest-pinned builder `golang@sha256:e8c859f...` (= golang:1.26-bookworm;
+  alpine has no bash for the exec tool's tests).
+- **Tests**: table-driven — signature verification (7 HMAC + 5 shared
+  secret cases), normalization (13 payload/shape cases + action map),
+  store dedup/restart/torn-tail/permissions, end-to-end httptest (401/400/
+  200 paths, replay dedup, ignore-not-dispatched, oversized body, log/JSONL
+  secret-leak assertions). Docker `build/vet/test` clean.
+- **Smoke (live, LAN port 4100)**: containerized receiver driven by host
+  python3 urllib (curl banned on host): unsigned → 401, bad HMAC → 401,
+  wrong shared secret → 401, valid → 200 `stored` + JSONL line, replay →
+  200 `duplicate`, per-provider actions correct, stub dispatch fired once
+  per stored actionable event. `./dev.sh smoke` reproduces it end-to-end.
+
+Stubbed:
+
+- Event → turn dispatch (`Conductor.DispatchEvent` prints the would-be
+  action; real wiring lands in phase 3 per plan).
+- Cross-host/event forwarding (T1 replication later; JSONL is local-only).
+
 ## Next chunk (phase 3)
 
 1. bitwarden-go wrapper + `bw:` refs (unblocks secret posture).
 2. Full permission layer: tree-sitter bash scopes, write roots, symlink
    checks, per-vertical allow/deny presets.
 3. Redmine note writeback + status transition so chaining advances scope.
-4. Budget gate via LiteLLM spend APIs; cost line in REPORT.
-5. Streaming with truncation retry + turn resume.
+4. Event → turn dispatch wiring: stored actionable events actually chain
+   conductor iterations for the affected stack.
+5. Budget gate via LiteLLM spend APIs; cost line in REPORT.
+6. Streaming with truncation retry + turn resume.