diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cd0cf62..6063b50 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -166,3 +166,12 @@ cython_debug/
 *.jpg
 *.gif
 nohup.out
+
+# The message database is private and never leaves this machine. A live
+# SQLite database is three files, so all three are named.
+*.sqlite3
+*.sqlite3-wal
+*.sqlite3-shm
+
+# Wine/Bottles scratch dir, never part of the bot.
+bottles/
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 976358d..ae547ee 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -45,6 +45,16 @@ repos:
         language: pygrep
         types: [python]
 
+      # This repository is public and holds a private message database. The
+      # database is gitignored, but three binary SQLite files reached the
+      # history anyway before this gate existed, so .gitignore is evidently
+      # not the whole defence. Exceptions go in .binary-allowlist.
+      - id: no-binaries
+        name: no binary or image files
+        entry: scripts/check_no_binaries.sh
+        language: script
+        pass_filenames: true
+
       # The shared 250-line cap. Checks only the files in the commit, so an
       # unrelated commit never breaks. No baseline, no allowlist -- those are
       # suppressions. The exemption list lives with the checker in ~/utils so
diff --git a/DOCS-signal-envelopes.md b/DOCS-signal-envelopes.md
index 3cdc780..c3f8a4d 100644
--- a/DOCS-signal-envelopes.md
+++ b/DOCS-signal-envelopes.md
@@ -28,6 +28,52 @@ Reference for the two JSON frames `signal-cli-rest-api` pushes down
 }
 ```
 
+## A message with an attachment
+
+Captured from the live API on 2026-08-30 with `LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG`, which makes
+the dispatcher log each frame's shape (keys and types, never values -- see
+`signal_bot/envelope_shape.py`). This is a caption-less PNG posted in the real
+group, reproduced exactly as the logger described it:
+
+```
+{account: str, envelope: {
+  dataMessage: {
+    attachments: [{caption: null, contentType: 'image/png', filename: null,
+                   height: int, id: str, size: int, uploadTimestamp: int,
+                   width: int} x1],
+    expiresInSeconds: int,
+    groupInfo: {groupId: str, groupName: str, revision: int, type: 'DELIVER'},
+    isExpirationUpdate: bool,
+    message: null,
+    timestamp: int,
+    viewOnce: bool},
+  serverDeliveredTimestamp: int, serverReceivedTimestamp: int,
+  source: str, sourceDevice: int, sourceName: str,
+  sourceNumber: str, sourceUuid: str, timestamp: int}}
+```
+
+Three things this settles, none of which were guessable:
+
+- `attachments` is a list of objects and the type lives in `contentType`. That
+  is what `models._attachments` reads and what `counting.media_kind` maps.
+- **A caption-less photo sends `message: null`**, not `""` and not an absent
+  key. Before 0.1.0 `should_count` ended in `bool(message.text)`, so every one
+  of these was silently worth nothing.
+- Read them off the *resolved* payload from `_payload()`, never off
+  `envelope["dataMessage"]` -- see "The trap this caused" below.
+
+Fields nothing reads yet, recorded so the next person does not have to capture
+them again: `expiresInSeconds`, `isExpirationUpdate`, `viewOnce`,
+`groupInfo.groupName`, `groupInfo.revision`, and the attachment's `caption`,
+`filename`, `width`, `height`, `size` and `uploadTimestamp`.
+
+**Open question, deliberately not assumed.** `caption` is a field on the
+attachment, and it was `null` here because this photo had none. Whether a
+photo *with* a caption puts the text in `message` or in `attachments[].caption`
+has not been observed yet. `char_len` currently measures `message` only, so if
+it turns out to be the latter, captioned photos are recording a length of 0.
+Leave `LOG_LEVEL=DEBUG` on and watch for `caption: str` to settle it.
+
 ## Somebody changed the membership: `groupInfo.type` is `UPDATE`
 
 The only frame that names *who* added the bot to a group, which is what
diff --git a/bottles/1/7e946f8d-f1a3-40f9-8d1e-b9f4139ab051/indexeddb.sqlite b/bottles/1/7e946f8d-f1a3-40f9-8d1e-b9f4139ab051/indexeddb.sqlite
deleted file mode 100644
index 4b95fc9..0000000
Binary files a/bottles/1/7e946f8d-f1a3-40f9-8d1e-b9f4139ab051/indexeddb.sqlite and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/bottles/1/7e946f8d-f1a3-40f9-8d1e-b9f4139ab051/indexeddb.sqlite-shm b/bottles/1/7e946f8d-f1a3-40f9-8d1e-b9f4139ab051/indexeddb.sqlite-shm
deleted file mode 100644
index 2b14358..0000000
Binary files a/bottles/1/7e946f8d-f1a3-40f9-8d1e-b9f4139ab051/indexeddb.sqlite-shm and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/bottles/1/7e946f8d-f1a3-40f9-8d1e-b9f4139ab051/indexeddb.sqlite-wal b/bottles/1/7e946f8d-f1a3-40f9-8d1e-b9f4139ab051/indexeddb.sqlite-wal
deleted file mode 100644
index 9f411fa..0000000
Binary files a/bottles/1/7e946f8d-f1a3-40f9-8d1e-b9f4139ab051/indexeddb.sqlite-wal and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/scripts/check_no_binaries.sh b/scripts/check_no_binaries.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..13ecefd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check_no_binaries.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# ============================================================================
+# Thin delegate to the shared gate in ~/utils.
+#
+# Copying the logic here is what lets one repo's idea of the rule drift from
+# every other repo's, so this script only locates the shared checker and
+# forwards its arguments.
+# ============================================================================
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+readonly SHARED_GATE="${UTILS_ROOT:-$HOME/utils}/scripts/check_no_binaries.sh"
+
+main() {
+	if [[ ! -x "$SHARED_GATE" ]]; then
+		echo "Error: shared gate not found at $SHARED_GATE" >&2
+		echo "       Clone github.com/kuhyx/utils to ~/utils, or set" >&2
+		echo "       UTILS_ROOT to where it lives." >&2
+		exit 1
+	fi
+
+	exec bash "$SHARED_GATE" "$@"
+}
+
+main "$@"