test(e2e): add rootless podman nix vm lane

.github/actions/setup-e2e-sandbox/action.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+name: Setup E2E Sandbox
+description: Download an architecture-matched prebuilt OpenShell sandbox binary for E2E tests
+
+inputs:
+  artifact-prefix:
+    description: Artifact name prefix; linux-<arch> is appended automatically
+    required: true
+
+runs:
+  using: composite
+  steps:
+    - name: Download prebuilt sandbox
+      uses: actions/download-artifact@3e5f45b2cfb9172054b4087a40e8e0b5a5461e7c # v8.0.1
+      with:
+        name: ${{ format('{0}-linux-{1}', inputs.artifact-prefix, runner.arch == 'X64' && 'amd64' || 'arm64') }}
+        path: .e2e/prebuilt-sandbox
+
+    - name: Configure prebuilt sandbox
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        set -euo pipefail
+        sandbox="$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.e2e/prebuilt-sandbox/openshell-sandbox"
+        if [[ ! -f "$sandbox" ]]; then
+          echo "downloaded artifact is missing $sandbox" >&2
+          exit 1
+        fi
+        chmod +x "$sandbox"
+        "$sandbox" --version
+        echo "OPENSHELL_SANDBOX_BIN=$sandbox" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"

.github/workflows/branch-e2e.yml

@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ jobs:
       runner: linux-arm64-cpu8
       cli-artifact-prefix: rust-binary-cli
       gateway-artifact-prefix: rust-binary-gateway
+      # The supervisor build uploads the openshell-sandbox binary artifact.
+      sandbox-artifact-prefix: rust-binary-supervisor
       vm-driver-artifact-name: driver-vm-linux-amd64
 
   gpu-e2e:

.github/workflows/e2e-test.yml

@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ on:
         required: false
         type: string
         default: ""
+      sandbox-artifact-prefix:
+        description: "Optional prebuilt sandbox artifact prefix (artifact suffix is linux-<arch>)"
+        required: false
+        type: string
+        default: ""
       vm-driver-artifact-name:
         description: "Optional prebuilt VM driver artifact name"
         required: false
@@ -129,6 +134,79 @@ jobs:
           OPENSHELL_MCP_CONFORMANCE_CLIENT_IMAGE: ${{ format('openshell-mcp-conformance-client:{0}', inputs.image-tag) }}
         run: ${{ matrix.cmd }}
 
+  e2e-podman-rootless:
+    name: E2E (rust-podman-rootless, Ubuntu 26.04 Nix VM)
+    # Run rootless Podman inside a Nix-managed Ubuntu guest so Podman, pasta,
+    # and user-namespace setup are provisioned by versioned repository tooling
+    # rather than mutable hosted-runner packages.
+    runs-on: ubuntu-26.04
+    timeout-minutes: 60
+    env:
+      MISE_GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ inputs['checkout-ref'] || github.sha }}
+          persist-credentials: false
+
+      - name: Use prebuilt OpenShell CLI
+        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-e2e-cli
+        with:
+          artifact-prefix: ${{ inputs.cli-artifact-prefix }}
+
+      - name: Use prebuilt OpenShell gateway
+        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-e2e-gateway
+        with:
+          artifact-prefix: ${{ inputs.gateway-artifact-prefix }}
+
+      - name: Use prebuilt OpenShell sandbox
+        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-e2e-sandbox
+        with:
+          artifact-prefix: ${{ inputs.sandbox-artifact-prefix }}
+
+      - uses: cachix/install-nix-action@13d8dd58da0234aa297dedd986986ccb8e7f3e24 # v31.11.1
+        with:
+          github_access_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      - uses: cachix/cachix-action@5f2d7c5294214f71b873db4b969586b980625e71 # v17
+        with:
+          name: openshell
+
+      - name: Install mise
+        run: |
+          curl https://mise.run | MISE_VERSION=v2026.4.25 sh
+          echo "$HOME/.local/bin" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
+          echo "$HOME/.local/share/mise/shims" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
+
+      - name: Install tools
+        run: mise install --locked
+
+      - name: Install system dependencies
+        run: |
+          sudo apt-get update
+          sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+            build-essential \
+            clang \
+            cmake \
+            libclang-dev \
+            libssl-dev \
+            libz3-dev \
+            openssh-client \
+            pkg-config
+
+      - name: Run rootless Podman E2E
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+
+          mise x -- e2e/run.sh \
+            --vm ubuntu-26-04 \
+            --with podman-rootless \
+            --host-cli-bin "$OPENSHELL_BIN" \
+            --gateway-bin "$OPENSHELL_GATEWAY_BIN" \
+            --sandbox-bin "$OPENSHELL_SANDBOX_BIN" \
+            --gateway-config e2e/configs/gateway/podman.toml \
+            --suite smoke
+
   e2e-vm:
     name: E2E (rust-vm-${{ matrix.suite }})
     # libkrun needs KVM, so this job must run directly on a GitHub-hosted

.github/workflows/release-dev.yml

@@ -69,8 +69,16 @@ jobs:
       cargo-version: ${{ needs.compute-versions.outputs.cargo_version }}
       auditable: true
 
+  build-cli:
+    needs: [compute-versions]
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
+    with:
+      component: cli
+      cargo-version: ${{ needs.compute-versions.outputs.cargo_version }}
+      auditable: true
+
   e2e:
-    needs: [build-gateway, build-supervisor]
+    needs: [build-gateway, build-supervisor, build-cli]
     permissions:
       actions: read
       contents: read
@@ -79,6 +87,10 @@ jobs:
     with:
       image-tag: ${{ github.sha }}
       runner: linux-arm64-cpu8
+      cli-artifact-prefix: rust-binary-cli
+      gateway-artifact-prefix: rust-binary-gateway
+      # The supervisor build uploads the openshell-sandbox binary artifact.
+      sandbox-artifact-prefix: rust-binary-supervisor
 
   tag-ghcr-dev:
     name: Tag GHCR Images as Dev

.github/workflows/release-tag.yml

@@ -93,8 +93,18 @@ jobs:
       checkout-ref: ${{ inputs.tag || github.ref }}
       auditable: true
 
+  build-cli:
+    needs: [compute-versions]
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/docker-build.yml
+    with:
+      component: cli
+      cargo-version: ${{ needs.compute-versions.outputs.cargo_version }}
+      image-tag: ${{ needs.compute-versions.outputs.source_sha }}
+      checkout-ref: ${{ inputs.tag || github.ref }}
+      auditable: true
+
   e2e:
-    needs: [compute-versions, build-gateway, build-supervisor]
+    needs: [compute-versions, build-gateway, build-supervisor, build-cli]
     permissions:
       actions: read
       contents: read
@@ -104,6 +114,10 @@ jobs:
       image-tag: ${{ needs.compute-versions.outputs.source_sha }}
       checkout-ref: ${{ inputs.tag || github.ref }}
       runner: linux-arm64-cpu8
+      cli-artifact-prefix: rust-binary-cli
+      gateway-artifact-prefix: rust-binary-gateway
+      # The supervisor build uploads the openshell-sandbox binary artifact.
+      sandbox-artifact-prefix: rust-binary-supervisor
 
   tag-ghcr-release:
     name: Tag GHCR Images for Release

TESTING.md

@@ -175,6 +175,12 @@ Run the Podman-backed Rust CLI e2e suite:
 mise run e2e:podman
 ```
 
+Run the rootless Podman suite in an Ubuntu 26.04 Nix test guest:
+
+```shell
+mise run e2e:podman:rootless
+```
+
 Run the VM-backed Rust CLI e2e suite:
 
 ```shell