diff --git a/scripts/orchestrator.sh b/scripts/orchestrator.sh
index 3cb9c6e..b683f5f 100644
--- a/scripts/orchestrator.sh
+++ b/scripts/orchestrator.sh
@@ -140,6 +140,8 @@ install_hub() {
 	mkdir -p "${HUB}" "${STATE}" "${APPROVALS}" "${COUNCIL}" "${HOME}/.claude/projects" "${HOME}/Repositories" "${HOME}/.local/share/worktrees" "${UNITS}" "${APPROVERS}"
 	chmod 700 "${APPROVERS}"
 	cp -a "${REPO_ROOT}/orchestrator/." "${HUB}/"
+	# Python loads a cached .pyc whose header matches the source mtime and size, and cp -a keeps the mtime: one planted in the sandbox-writable tree would run on the host
+	find "${HUB}" -name __pycache__ -type d -prune -exec rm -rf {} +
 	chmod +x "${HUB}/client/permission_hook.py" "${HUB}/client/runner.py" "${HUB}/client/approval.py"
 	log "skills: the PermissionRequest hook client is ${HUB}/client/permission_hook.py"
 	log "skills: approvals need a pinned passkey: settings, 'Passkey registrieren', then 'make orchestrator-pin CREDENTIAL=<blob>'; until then every executor refuses"
diff --git a/tests/test_orchestrator_migration.py b/tests/test_orchestrator_migration.py
index 4d2f631..3ad1b08 100644
--- a/tests/test_orchestrator_migration.py
+++ b/tests/test_orchestrator_migration.py
@@ -137,6 +137,14 @@ class TestOrchestratorMigration(unittest.TestCase):
         legacy_calls = [call for call in second["calls"][len(first["calls"]) :] if any(OLD in arg for arg in call)]
         self.assertEqual(legacy_calls, [["docker", "image", "inspect", f"{OLD}:local"], ["claude", "mcp", "get", OLD]])
 
+    def test_install_ships_no_bytecode_from_the_tree(self):
+        planted = REPO_ROOT / "orchestrator" / "client" / "__pycache__" / "planted.cpython-0.pyc"
+        planted.parent.mkdir(exist_ok=True)
+        planted.write_bytes(b"planted")
+        self.addCleanup(planted.unlink, True)
+        self.install()
+        self.assertEqual(sorted((self.home / ".local" / "share" / NEW).rglob("__pycache__")), [])
+
     def test_old_names_live_only_in_the_migration(self):
         done = subprocess.run(["git", "grep", "-niE", "kvb[-_]hub", "--", ".", ":!docs/requirements", f":!{Path(__file__).relative_to(REPO_ROOT)}"], cwd=REPO_ROOT, capture_output=True, text=True, check=False)
         hits = sorted(line.split(":", 2)[0] + ":" + line.split(":", 2)[2].strip() for line in done.stdout.splitlines())