diff --git a/internal/lua/plugin_shard.go b/internal/lua/plugin_shard.go
index d72ad90..b39bc5f 100644
--- a/internal/lua/plugin_shard.go
+++ b/internal/lua/plugin_shard.go
@@ -152,6 +152,9 @@ func (sp *shardPool) acquire(code, name string) (*worker, func(), error) {
 		w := sp.idle[n-1]
 		sp.idle = sp.idle[:n-1]
 		sp.mu.Unlock()
+		// Re-seed on every checkout, not only on boot: the operator may have
+		// changed the configuration since this VM was pooled.
+		sp.ps.seedShardConfig(name, w)
 		return w, func() { sp.release(w) }, nil
 	}
 	if sp.limit > 0 && sp.live >= sp.limit {
@@ -168,6 +171,9 @@ func (sp *shardPool) acquire(code, name string) (*worker, func(), error) {
 		sp.mu.Unlock()
 		return nil, nil, err
 	}
+	// A fresh shard has no state file and no plugin identity, so the shared
+	// plugin's configuration has to be pushed onto it (see seedShardConfig).
+	sp.ps.seedShardConfig(name, w)
 	return w, func() { sp.release(w) }, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/lua/plugin_shard_config_test.go b/internal/lua/plugin_shard_config_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20dfa11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/lua/plugin_shard_config_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,176 @@
+package lua
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// A shard VM is booted from the same plugin SOURCE but has no state file and no
+// plugin identity, so anything a plugin reads from its `prices` table
+// (configuration, as opposed to accumulated state) is empty unless the pool puts
+// it there.
+//
+// That asymmetry is invisible until a plugin's behaviour depends on its
+// configuration. The OpenDesign adapter is the first: it reads
+// prices.control_key, and without seeding it concluded "not configured" for every
+// host and reported a skip — while the identical call through the shared VM
+// worked.
+//
+// It mattered because the two paths do different jobs: the page probes through
+// the FANOUT (shard) path and records results through the shared one. A feature
+// broken on the shard path is dead in production and green in every test that
+// calls the shared VM.
+
+const shardConfigProbe = `
+local P = {}
+P.name = "cfgprobe"
+P.version = "1.0.0"
+P.exports = { "read_config" }
+P.read_config = function(payload)
+  local c = P.prices
+  return { key = (type(c) == "table") and c.control_key or nil }, nil
+end
+return P
+`
+
+func shardConfigPlugins(t *testing.T) *Plugins {
+	t.Helper()
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	pluginDir := filepath.Join(dir, "plugins")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(pluginDir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	vm := NewVM(filepath.Join(dir, "adapters"))
+	if err := vm.Start(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(vm.Stop)
+	if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(pluginDir, "cfgprobe.lua"),
+		[]byte(shardConfigProbe), 0o644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	ps := NewPlugins(vm, pluginDir)
+	t.Cleanup(ps.Close)
+	if err := ps.LoadDir(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	return ps
+}
+
+func configKeyOf(t *testing.T, out interface{}) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	m, ok := out.(map[string]interface{})
+	if !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("result is %T (%v), want a table", out, out)
+	}
+	s, _ := m["key"].(string)
+	return s
+}
+
+func TestShardSeesPluginConfiguration(t *testing.T) {
+	ps := shardConfigPlugins(t)
+	if err := ps.SetState("cfgprobe", map[string]interface{}{
+		"prices": map[string]interface{}{"control_key": "secret-value"},
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	// The shared path is the control: every pre-existing test exercises it, and
+	// it passes whether or not the pool seeds anything.
+	out, err := ps.Call("cfgprobe", "read_config", map[string]interface{}{})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("shared call: %v", err)
+	}
+	if got := configKeyOf(t, out); got != "secret-value" {
+		t.Fatalf("shared VM cannot read prices.control_key (%q) — the test itself "+
+			"is wrong, not the shard path", got)
+	}
+
+	// The shard path is the one the page uses.
+	outs, err := ps.ShardCall("cfgprobe", "read_config",
+		[]map[string]interface{}{{}, {}, {}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ShardCall: %v", err)
+	}
+	for i, o := range outs {
+		if got := configKeyOf(t, o); got != "secret-value" {
+			t.Fatalf("shard %d read prices.control_key as %q, want the configured "+
+				"value — a plugin that branches on its configuration behaves "+
+				"differently on the path the page actually uses", i, got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// A pooled VM is reused, so the seeding has to happen on every checkout rather
+// than only on boot, or a configuration change would be invisible to the pool
+// until the process restarted.
+func TestShardConfigFollowsAConfigurationChange(t *testing.T) {
+	ps := shardConfigPlugins(t)
+	if err := ps.SetState("cfgprobe", map[string]interface{}{
+		"prices": map[string]interface{}{"control_key": "first"},
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := ps.ShardCall("cfgprobe", "read_config", []map[string]interface{}{{}}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if err := ps.SetState("cfgprobe", map[string]interface{}{
+		"prices": map[string]interface{}{"control_key": "second"},
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	outs, err := ps.ShardCall("cfgprobe", "read_config",
+		[]map[string]interface{}{{}, {}, {}, {}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for i, o := range outs {
+		if got := configKeyOf(t, o); got != "second" {
+			t.Fatalf("shard %d still reads %q after the configuration changed to "+
+				"%q — pooled VMs keep a stale configuration", i, got, "second")
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// Reading must not disturb the shared value. That is what makes it acceptable to
+// seed configuration into a VM whose state is otherwise throwaway, and it is why
+// the seeding is a one-way copy rather than a reference to the shared table.
+func TestShardConfigSeedingDoesNotAliasSharedState(t *testing.T) {
+	ps := shardConfigPlugins(t)
+	if err := ps.SetState("cfgprobe", map[string]interface{}{
+		"prices": map[string]interface{}{"control_key": "keep-me"},
+	}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	outs, err := ps.ShardCall("cfgprobe", "read_config", []map[string]interface{}{{}})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if got := configKeyOf(t, outs[0]); got != "keep-me" {
+		t.Fatalf("shard read %q", got)
+	}
+	out, err := ps.Call("cfgprobe", "read_config", map[string]interface{}{})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if got := configKeyOf(t, out); got != "keep-me" {
+		t.Fatalf("the shared configuration changed to %q after a shard read", got)
+	}
+}
+
+// TestQuotaProbesThroughTheFanoutPath is the reason the above matters. If the
+// quota page stopped probing through fanout, seeding shards would be dead code
+// and the asymmetry could return unnoticed.
+func TestQuotaProbesThroughTheFanoutPath(t *testing.T) {
+	src := readShippedPlugin(t, "quota.lua")
+	if !strings.Contains(src, "pluginAPI.fanout(") {
+		t.Fatal("quota.lua no longer probes through the fanout (shard) path — the " +
+			"page and the tests would then exercise different code, which is how " +
+			"the missing shard configuration stayed hidden")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(src, "memo_record") {
+		t.Fatal("quota.lua no longer records through memo_record")
+	}
+}
diff --git a/internal/lua/plugins.go b/internal/lua/plugins.go
index 29f45ba..149ce37 100644
--- a/internal/lua/plugins.go
+++ b/internal/lua/plugins.go
@@ -1172,6 +1172,54 @@ func audienceAllows(want, role string) bool {
 // upgrade would overwrite anyway.
 type visibilityOverrides map[string]string
 
+// seedShardConfig copies the shared plugin's `prices` table onto a shard VM.
+//
+// `prices` is CONFIGURATION, as opposed to `state` (accumulated history). A shard
+// must not write state — its copy is thrown away — but it must be able to READ
+// the operator's configuration, or a plugin that branches on its configuration
+// behaves one way through Plugins.Call and another through ShardCall.
+//
+// Found by the OpenDesign adapter, which reads prices.control_key: without this, a
+// fanout probe saw an empty table, concluded "not configured", and reported a
+// skip for every host — while the identical call through the shared VM worked.
+// The page uses the fanout path, so the feature would have been dead in
+// production and alive in every test that called the shared VM.
+//
+// Called on every checkout (boot and reuse), so a configuration change reaches
+// pooled VMs too. The push is a copy: shards get the same values, never a live
+// reference to the shared table.
+func (ps *Plugins) seedShardConfig(name string, w *worker) {
+	if ps == nil || w == nil || w.L == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	ps.mu.RLock()
+	p := ps.find(name)
+	ps.mu.RUnlock()
+	if p == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	p.mu.Lock()
+	if p.state == nil || p.state.L == nil || p.state.L == w.L {
+		p.mu.Unlock()
+		return
+	}
+	prices := snapshotField(p.state.L, "prices")
+	p.mu.Unlock()
+	if prices == nil {
+		return
+	}
+	L := w.L
+	L.SetTop(0)
+	defer L.SetTop(0)
+	L.GetGlobal(pluginGlobal)
+	if L.IsNil(-1) {
+		return
+	}
+	plug := L.GetTop()
+	pushGoValue(L, prices)
+	L.SetField(plug, "prices")
+}
+
 // SetPluginVisibility records an operator override for a plugin's audience. An
 // empty value clears the override and restores the plugin's own default.
 func (ps *Plugins) SetPluginVisibility(plugin, audience string) {