diff --git a/.changeset/cloud-tun-cap.md b/.changeset/cloud-tun-cap.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4584eca2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/cloud-tun-cap.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"ftw": patch
+---
+
+A box whose FTW Cloud link carries the phones' sessions says so in `hello_ok.caps` as `cloud.tun`, a new registry capability, so a phone uses that path only when the box takes it. The registry also names the carrier state `tunnel` for a session that FTW Cloud carries.
diff --git a/contract/registry.yaml b/contract/registry.yaml
index 0cfdaecc..63b4de55 100644
--- a/contract/registry.yaml
+++ b/contract/registry.yaml
@@ -103,6 +103,10 @@ capabilities:
   # only and offers no FTW Cloud. It says nothing about whether the owner
   # turned FTW Cloud on; the box's grant decides that.
   - cloud.link
+  # The box takes its app session through FTW Cloud, end to end, as `tun`
+  # (docs/protocol-cloud.md, Tunnel, in srcfl/ftw). Absent means a phone
+  # reaches the box through the relay, even when it knows the home id.
+  - cloud.tun
   # The box can take a watch: it opens the relay's exchange socket and mints
   # watch codes. Absent means the phone offers no Add watch. The wire is
   # docs/watch-exchange.md in srcfl/ftw-webapp.
@@ -274,7 +278,9 @@ client_errors:
 # the two into one enum cannot express "connected, but the inverter is quiet".
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 source_states: [live, lagging, stale, down, never]
-carrier_states: [webrtc, relay, cloud, cache, none]
+# tunnel is the box's own session carried by FTW Cloud, which cannot read it.
+# cloud is the box-signed copy FTW Cloud holds and can read.
+carrier_states: [webrtc, relay, tunnel, cloud, cache, none]
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # History resolutions backed by what the box actually stores.
diff --git a/docs/protocol-cloud.md b/docs/protocol-cloud.md
index eb37ccac..4558fed5 100644
--- a/docs/protocol-cloud.md
+++ b/docs/protocol-cloud.md
@@ -698,6 +698,10 @@ Noise session, in the app protocol's `hello_ok.cloud`.
   added later has no name on the phone until its next session with the box.
 - The box lists `cloud.link` in `hello_ok.caps` when its build can run the
   uplink. A build that names no service does not.
+- It also lists `cloud.tun` when its link carries the phones' own sessions
+  as [`tun`](#tunnel). A phone sends its box session through the service
+  only to a box that said so at its last hello, or to one it has never
+  reached when a v3 QR named the home. Otherwise it uses the relay.
 
 ## Tunnel
 
@@ -1106,6 +1110,8 @@ to the app.
 | `cloud_purposes` | List: `serve`, `stats` | `registry.yaml`, new block |
 | `cloud.link` | Capability: the box can run the FTW Cloud uplink. Absent means the app uses the relay only and offers no FTW Cloud | `registry.yaml`, `capabilities` |
 | `cloud` | Carrier state, between `relay` and `cache` | `registry.yaml`, `carrier_states` |
+| `cloud.tun` | Capability: the box takes its app session through the service as `tun`. Absent means the phone uses the relay, even when it knows the home id | `registry.yaml`, `capabilities` |
+| `tunnel` | Carrier state, between `relay` and `cloud`: the box's own session, carried by the service | `registry.yaml`, `carrier_states` |
 | `cloud.granted`, `cloud.revoked` | Push kinds, sent to every owner when FTW Cloud is turned on or off | `push-catalogue.yaml` |
 
 Class names, field names, close codes and the signing tags are not registry
diff --git a/go/cmd/ftw/cloud_link.go b/go/cmd/ftw/cloud_link.go
index 9fb18ed8..ca4e34eb 100644
--- a/go/cmd/ftw/cloud_link.go
+++ b/go/cmd/ftw/cloud_link.go
@@ -392,10 +392,16 @@ func (c *cloudSession) load() *cloudlink.Link {
 }
 
 // caps adds cloud.link to an app session's capabilities when this build can
-// run the uplink. A build that names no service says nothing.
+// run the uplink, and cloud.tun when the link also carries the phones' own
+// sessions. A build that names no service says nothing.
 func (c *cloudSession) caps(caps []string) []string {
-	if link := c.load(); link != nil && link.Available() {
-		return append(slices.Clip(caps), appproto.CapCloudLink)
+	link := c.load()
+	if link == nil || !link.Available() {
+		return caps
+	}
+	caps = append(slices.Clip(caps), appproto.CapCloudLink)
+	if link.TakesTun() {
+		caps = append(caps, appproto.CapCloudTun)
 	}
 	return caps
 }
diff --git a/go/cmd/ftw/cloud_link_test.go b/go/cmd/ftw/cloud_link_test.go
index d9d27184..08aa2459 100644
--- a/go/cmd/ftw/cloud_link_test.go
+++ b/go/cmd/ftw/cloud_link_test.go
@@ -164,8 +164,53 @@ func TestAppSessionsHearOfFTWCloudOnlyWhenItCanRun(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatalf("source %q named %q", id, name)
 		}
 	}
+	if slices.Contains(caps, appproto.CapCloudTun) {
+		t.Fatalf("cloud.tun from a link that takes no tun: %v", caps)
+	}
 }
 
+// A phone hears cloud.tun only from a box whose link carries its session, so
+// a phone that knows the home id never waits on a tunnel the box cannot take.
+func TestAppSessionsHearOfTheTunnelOnlyWhenTheLinkTakesIt(t *testing.T) {
+	key, err := ecdsa.GenerateKey(elliptic.P256(), rand.Reader)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	keys := []*ecdsa.PublicKey{&key.PublicKey}
+	open := func(tunnel cloudlink.Tunnel, keys []*ecdsa.PublicKey) []string {
+		st, err := state.Open(filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "state.db"))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		t.Cleanup(func() { st.Close() })
+		link, err := cloudlink.New(cloudlink.Options{
+			Site: quietCloudSite{}, Roster: noPhones{}, KV: st, Tunnel: tunnel,
+			KeyPath: filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "cloud.key"), ServiceKeys: keys,
+			Logger: slog.New(slog.NewTextHandler(io.Discard, nil)),
+		})
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		c := &cloudSession{}
+		c.bind(link)
+		return c.caps(appproto.DefaultCaps())
+	}
+	if caps := open(nil, keys); slices.Contains(caps, appproto.CapCloudTun) {
+		t.Fatalf("no tunnel: %v", caps)
+	}
+	if caps := open(nopTunnel{}, []*ecdsa.PublicKey{}); slices.Contains(caps, appproto.CapCloudTun) || slices.Contains(caps, appproto.CapCloudLink) {
+		t.Fatalf("a build that names no service: %v", caps)
+	}
+	if caps := open(nopTunnel{}, keys); !slices.Contains(caps, appproto.CapCloudTun) || !slices.Contains(caps, appproto.CapCloudLink) {
+		t.Fatalf("a link with a tunnel: %v", caps)
+	}
+}
+
+type nopTunnel struct{}
+
+func (nopTunnel) Deliver(cloudwire.Tun) {}
+func (nopTunnel) Drop()                 {}
+
 // FTW Cloud's live body is the same field set the app session streams, and
 // each phase follows the site meter's freshness there too. The fuse is
 // config, so it names no driver.
diff --git a/go/internal/appproto/protocol.go b/go/internal/appproto/protocol.go
index 26783d47..66261447 100644
--- a/go/internal/appproto/protocol.go
+++ b/go/internal/appproto/protocol.go
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ const (
 	CapPriceSpot          = protocol.CapPriceSpot
 	CapApiPassthrough     = protocol.CapApiPassthrough
 	CapCloudLink          = protocol.CapCloudLink
+	CapCloudTun           = protocol.CapCloudTun
 	CapCmdExchange        = protocol.CapCmdExchange
 	ScopeLiveRead         = protocol.ScopeLiveRead
 	ScopeHistoryRead      = protocol.ScopeHistoryRead
diff --git a/go/internal/cloudlink/link.go b/go/internal/cloudlink/link.go
index 3c5d26fd..3ee70ad1 100644
--- a/go/internal/cloudlink/link.go
+++ b/go/internal/cloudlink/link.go
@@ -794,6 +794,10 @@ func (l *Link) Home() string {
 // uplink at all. Release builds without service keys cannot.
 func (l *Link) Available() bool { return len(l.opts.ServiceKeys) > 0 }
 
+// TakesTun reports whether the link carries the phones' own sessions as tun,
+// so a phone that knows the home id can reach the box without the relay.
+func (l *Link) TakesTun() bool { return l.Available() && l.opts.Tunnel != nil }
+
 // SessionInfo is what a phone needs, over its Noise session with the box, to
 // reach this home through FTW Cloud: the home id, the key that signs the
 // readable copy, the boot that anchors its times and names for the opaque
diff --git a/go/protocol/contract_gen.go b/go/protocol/contract_gen.go
index f808a477..0dc9e9ef 100644
--- a/go/protocol/contract_gen.go
+++ b/go/protocol/contract_gen.go
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ const (
 	CapPriceSpot       = "price.spot"
 	CapApiPassthrough  = "api.passthrough"
 	CapCloudLink       = "cloud.link"
+	CapCloudTun        = "cloud.tun"
 	CapCmdExchange     = "cmd.exchange"
 )
 
@@ -147,6 +148,7 @@ var AllCapabilities = []string{
 	CapPriceSpot,
 	CapApiPassthrough,
 	CapCloudLink,
+	CapCloudTun,
 	CapCmdExchange,
 }