diff --git a/core/archipelago/src/container/quadlet.rs b/core/archipelago/src/container/quadlet.rs
index c8df26bc..680fa039 100644
--- a/core/archipelago/src/container/quadlet.rs
+++ b/core/archipelago/src/container/quadlet.rs
@@ -410,7 +410,18 @@ impl QuadletUnit {
             environment: app.environment.clone(),
             devices: app.devices.clone(),
             add_hosts: vec![("host.archipelago".into(), "10.89.0.1".into())],
-            network_aliases: vec![name.to_string()],
+            // Container always answers to its own name; manifest extras add the
+            // short hostnames peers bake in (e.g. indeedhub api/minio/relay).
+            // Only emitted for Bridge networks (slirp/pasta reject aliases).
+            network_aliases: {
+                let mut a = vec![name.to_string()];
+                for extra in &app.container.network_aliases {
+                    if !a.iter().any(|x| x == extra) {
+                        a.push(extra.clone());
+                    }
+                }
+                a
+            },
             entrypoint: app.container.entrypoint.clone(),
             command: app.container.custom_args.clone(),
             read_only_root: app.security.readonly_root,
@@ -1060,6 +1071,7 @@ app:
   version: 1.0.0
   container:
     image: registry/bitcoin-knots:1.0
+    network: archy-net
     entrypoint: ["/usr/local/bin/bitcoind"]
     custom_args: ["-server=1", "-rpcbind=0.0.0.0"]
   ports:
@@ -1080,7 +1092,7 @@ app:
   security:
     capabilities: ["NET_BIND_SERVICE"]
     readonly_root: true
-    network_policy: archy-net
+    network_policy: isolated
 "#;
         let m = AppManifest::parse(yaml).expect("manifest must parse");
         let u = QuadletUnit::from_manifest(&m, "bitcoin-knots");
@@ -1220,7 +1232,7 @@ app:
     image: x:latest
   volumes:
     - type: bind
-      source: /etc/host-conf
+      source: /var/lib/archipelago/x-conf
       target: /etc/conf
       options: ["ro"]
 "#;
@@ -1244,7 +1256,7 @@ app:
       target: /tmp
       tmpfs_options: "rw,size=64m"
     - type: bind
-      source: /var/lib/x
+      source: /var/lib/archipelago/x
       target: /data
       options: []
 "#;
@@ -1252,7 +1264,7 @@ app:
         let u = QuadletUnit::from_manifest(&m, "x");
         // tmpfs entry is dropped from bind_mounts; bind entry survives.
         assert_eq!(u.bind_mounts.len(), 1);
-        assert_eq!(u.bind_mounts[0].host, PathBuf::from("/var/lib/x"));
+        assert_eq!(u.bind_mounts[0].host, PathBuf::from("/var/lib/archipelago/x"));
     }
 
     #[test]
@@ -1431,6 +1443,31 @@ app:
         assert!(!publish_ports_changed(new, new));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn from_manifest_appends_manifest_network_aliases_for_bridge() {
+        let yaml = r#"
+app:
+  id: indeedhub-api
+  name: IndeedHub API
+  version: 1.0.0
+  container:
+    image: registry/indeedhub-api:1.0.0
+    network: indeedhub-net
+    network_aliases: [api]
+  security:
+    capabilities: []
+    network_policy: isolated
+"#;
+        let m = AppManifest::parse(yaml).expect("manifest must parse");
+        let u = QuadletUnit::from_manifest(&m, "indeedhub-api");
+        assert!(matches!(u.network, NetworkMode::Bridge(ref n) if n == "indeedhub-net"));
+        // Own name first, then the baked-in short alias the frontend nginx uses.
+        assert_eq!(u.network_aliases, vec!["indeedhub-api", "api"]);
+        let s = u.render();
+        assert!(s.contains("NetworkAlias=api"));
+        assert!(s.contains("PodmanArgs=--network-alias=api"));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn network_aliases_changed_detects_service_discovery_drift() {
         let old = "[Container]\nNetwork=archy-net\n";
@@ -1489,6 +1526,7 @@ app:
   version: 1.0.0
   container:
     image: registry/lnd:latest
+    network: archy-net
   ports:
     - host: 10009
       container: 10009
@@ -1504,7 +1542,7 @@ app:
     memory_limit: 1g
   security:
     capabilities: []
-    network_policy: archy-net
+    network_policy: isolated
 "#;
         let m = AppManifest::parse(yaml).unwrap();
         let body = QuadletUnit::from_manifest(&m, "lnd").render();
diff --git a/core/container/src/manifest.rs b/core/container/src/manifest.rs
index 73f76786..fa6d4a11 100644
--- a/core/container/src/manifest.rs
+++ b/core/container/src/manifest.rs
@@ -170,6 +170,17 @@ pub struct ContainerConfig {
     #[serde(default)]
     pub network: Option<String>,
 
+    /// Extra DNS aliases the container answers to on its `network`, in addition
+    /// to its own container name (which is always added). Mirrors podman
+    /// `--network-alias`. Used by multi-container stacks whose images reference
+    /// peers by a short baked-in hostname — e.g. indeedhub's frontend nginx
+    /// proxies to `api:4000` / `minio:9000` / `relay:8080`, so the api/minio/relay
+    /// members declare `network_aliases: [api]` / `[minio]` / `[relay]` to keep
+    /// those short names resolvable on the dedicated `indeedhub-net`. Ignored for
+    /// slirp4netns/pasta (podman rejects aliases there).
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub network_aliases: Vec<String>,
+
     /// Extra positional arguments appended to the container command
     /// after the image. Mirrors `SPEC_CUSTOM_ARGS` in
     /// `scripts/container-specs.sh` (bitcoin-knots prune/dbcache flags,
@@ -539,6 +550,25 @@ impl AppManifest {
             }
         }
 
+        // network_aliases: each must be a non-empty DNS label (lowercase
+        // alphanumeric + hyphen, no leading/trailing hyphen) so it renders as a
+        // valid podman --network-alias / aardvark-dns name.
+        for (i, alias) in self.app.container.network_aliases.iter().enumerate() {
+            let ok = !alias.is_empty()
+                && alias.len() <= 63
+                && alias
+                    .chars()
+                    .all(|c| c.is_ascii_lowercase() || c.is_ascii_digit() || c == '-')
+                && !alias.starts_with('-')
+                && !alias.ends_with('-');
+            if !ok {
+                return Err(ManifestError::Invalid(format!(
+                    "container.network_aliases[{i}] '{alias}' must be a non-empty DNS label \
+                     (lowercase a-z, 0-9, '-'; no leading/trailing '-')"
+                )));
+            }
+        }
+
         // custom_args: no empty strings (would inject literal "" into
         // the podman command line and confuse downstream parsing).
         for (i, a) in self.app.container.custom_args.iter().enumerate() {
@@ -1662,6 +1692,7 @@ app:
             pull_policy: "if-not-present".to_string(),
             build: None,
             network: None,
+            network_aliases: vec![],
             custom_args: vec![],
             entrypoint: None,
             derived_env: vec![
@@ -1716,6 +1747,7 @@ app:
             pull_policy: "if-not-present".to_string(),
             build: None,
             network: None,
+            network_aliases: vec![],
             custom_args: vec![],
             entrypoint: None,
             derived_env: vec![],
@@ -1758,6 +1790,7 @@ app:
             pull_policy: "if-not-present".to_string(),
             build: None,
             network: None,
+            network_aliases: vec![],
             custom_args: vec![],
             entrypoint: None,
             derived_env: vec![],
diff --git a/core/container/src/podman_client.rs b/core/container/src/podman_client.rs
index 35fcad36..1d4c06c0 100644
--- a/core/container/src/podman_client.rs
+++ b/core/container/src/podman_client.rs
@@ -385,11 +385,21 @@ impl PodmanClient {
             },
         });
         if let Some(network) = custom_network {
+            // The container always answers to its own name; manifest
+            // network_aliases add extra short hostnames peers may bake in
+            // (e.g. indeedhub's api/minio/relay). Dedup so a manifest that
+            // redundantly lists its own name doesn't double it.
+            let mut aliases = vec![name.to_string()];
+            for a in &manifest.app.container.network_aliases {
+                if !aliases.iter().any(|x| x == a) {
+                    aliases.push(a.clone());
+                }
+            }
             body.as_object_mut()
                 .expect("container create body is a JSON object")
                 .insert(
                     "networks".to_string(),
-                    serde_json::json!({ network: { "aliases": [name] } }),
+                    serde_json::json!({ network: { "aliases": aliases } }),
                 );
         }