diff --git a/LIMITS.md b/LIMITS.md
index 18e7d1c..5b27671 100644
--- a/LIMITS.md
+++ b/LIMITS.md
@@ -97,25 +97,31 @@ floor.
 
 State these honestly; do not pretend they are free.
 
-### 3a. Network — and no proxy support
+### 3a. Network — and proxy support only through Node's opt-in
 
 `init` / `add` / `update` require a network. They require **no `git` binary at all**: pharn resolves
 the branch head over the GitHub REST API and downloads the repo tarball from `codeload.github.com`,
 extracting it itself (`src/lib/tar-extract.ts`). Nothing is spawned. There is no offline or
 air-gapped install path today.
 
-**pharn does not use an HTTP proxy.** Every network call goes through Node's global `fetch`, which
-reads **no** proxy environment variable — not `https_proxy`, not `HTTPS_PROXY`, not `no_proxy`, on
-any platform. In a network where direct egress is blocked, `pharn` cannot fetch, and setting a proxy
-variable will not change that.
+**pharn has no proxy support of its own.** Every network call goes through Node's global `fetch`,
+which by default reads **no** proxy environment variable — not `https_proxy`, not `HTTPS_PROXY`, not
+`no_proxy`. Node 22.21+ and 24+ can opt in with `NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY=1` (22.21+ and 24.5+ also accept
+`--use-env-proxy`, for example through `NODE_OPTIONS`); Node's `fetch` then reads `https_proxy`,
+`HTTPS_PROXY`, `http_proxy`, `HTTP_PROXY`, in that order, and honours `NO_PROXY`. Node 20, 21,
+22.0–22.20 and 23 have no opt-in: there, in a network where direct egress is blocked, `pharn` cannot
+fetch, and setting a proxy variable will not change that. The exact rules are in
+`docs/troubleshooting.md` → "Proxy environment variables".
 
 This is a **regression for one group of users**, and it is named here rather than left to be
 discovered: the previous clone path went through `degit`, which read `process.env.https_proxy`
 itself, so a user who had set exactly that lowercase spelling was proxied for the clone. They were
 already unproxied for `pharn update`'s and `status --no-drift`'s version checks, which were always
 plain `fetch` — so this makes one boundary consistent rather than newly broken, but it does break a
-working setup. Every network-bearing command warns before fetching when it finds a proxy variable
-set, so the failure is explained rather than silent.
+working setup.
+On a Node with the opt-in, turning it on restores proxying for every download, the clone included.
+Every network-bearing command says, before it fetches, whether this Node will use the proxy it found
+set, and if not, what would make it, so the failure is explained rather than silent.
 
 ### 3b. GitHub API rate limits
 
diff --git a/THREAT-MODEL.md b/THREAT-MODEL.md
index 18d8e70..bb04f9c 100644
--- a/THREAT-MODEL.md
+++ b/THREAT-MODEL.md
@@ -118,13 +118,15 @@ a test.
   ~2.4 MB tarball per distinct upstream commit, retained forever, each one an entry reusable by
   filename. Caches already on disk are inert but **not** removed — pharn deletes nothing outside the
   user's project; `docs/troubleshooting.md` says where they live and how to size them.
-- **No proxy support, stated as a limit.** Node's global `fetch` reads **no** proxy environment
-  variable, on any platform. The previous dependency read `process.env.https_proxy` itself — only
-  that lowercase spelling, and never `no_proxy`. So a user behind a corporate proxy who succeeded
-  before will now fail; `pharn update` and `status --no-drift` already failed for the same reason,
-  since those were always plain `fetch`. This makes one boundary consistent rather than newly broken,
-  and it is a named limit (`LIMITS.md` §3a), warned about before the fetch rather than surfacing as
-  an unexplained timeout.
+- **No proxy support of pharn's own, stated as a limit.** Node's global `fetch` reads **no** proxy
+  environment variable by default. Node 22.21+ and 24+ read them once the user opts in
+  (`NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY=1`; `--use-env-proxy` on 22.21+ and 24.5+), and then honour `NO_PROXY`; Node
+  20, 21, 22.0–22.20 and 23 have no opt-in. The previous dependency read `process.env.https_proxy`
+  itself — only that lowercase spelling, and never `no_proxy`. So a user behind a corporate proxy
+  who succeeded before now fails unless they opt in, and on a Node without the opt-in they cannot;
+  `pharn update` and `status --no-drift` already behaved the same, since those were always plain
+  `fetch`. It is a named limit (`LIMITS.md` §3a), and every network-bearing command says which case
+  applies before the fetch rather than letting it surface as an unexplained timeout.
 - **No silent transport change.** The previous path could fall back from an HTTP tarball to a spawned
   `git clone`, or take the commit hash from cache, emitting `warn` events that `fetchRepo` registered
   no listener for — so the silence was pharn's. There are no fallbacks now: the download either
@@ -199,9 +201,10 @@ a named per-field sanitizer, not a "the source repo is ours" assumption (P0).
     content. Extraction is also **not transactional** — a mid-extract rejection leaves a partial tree,
     which is why `fetchRepo` removes the temp dir on the error path rather than returning it.
   - **A named regression, not a hidden one.** Node's global `fetch` reads no proxy environment
-    variable, so a user behind a corporate proxy who succeeded via the old dependency's own
-    `https_proxy` read now fails. `LIMITS.md` §3a carries it, and every network-bearing command warns
-    before the fetch when a proxy is configured.
+    variable by default, so a user behind a corporate proxy who succeeded via the old dependency's
+    own `https_proxy` read now fails unless they opt in (`NODE_USE_ENV_PROXY=1`, Node 22.21+ and
+    24+; no opt-in exists on Node 20, 21, 22.0–22.20 or 23). `LIMITS.md` §3a carries it, and every
+    network-bearing command says which case applies before the fetch.
 
 - **4c. The stored content-hashes cover only what pharn wrote, at the matching stamp.** pharn does keep
   a per-file sha256 baseline — [`pharn.records.json`](docs/reference/pharn-records.md), stamped with the