diff --git a/kubernetes/apps/authentik/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml b/kubernetes/apps/authentik/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
index 256aa150..1cb48153 100644
--- a/kubernetes/apps/authentik/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/apps/authentik/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
@@ -15,4 +15,4 @@ spec:
     name: hetzner-s3-creds # keeps the old Secret's name — consumers unchanged
   dataFrom:
     - extract:
-        key: seed/authentik/hetzner-creds
+        key: infrastructure/hetzner-s3
diff --git a/kubernetes/apps/home-assistant/ha-pg-hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml b/kubernetes/apps/home-assistant/ha-pg-hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
index 2f666186..f097ff23 100644
--- a/kubernetes/apps/home-assistant/ha-pg-hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/apps/home-assistant/ha-pg-hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
@@ -1,21 +1,14 @@
 ---
 # Barman S3 credentials for ha-pg.
 #
-# FOLLOW-UP (#397): sourced from seed/paperless/hetzner-creds, which is not where
-# they belong. woodpecker/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml has the identical
-# problem and the same note. The values are the same today, so this is correct
-# but coupled: rotating paperless's Hetzner credentials would silently change
-# the backup credentials for Home Assistant and Woodpecker too.
+# One shared path for one shared credential — see the note in
+# ../paperless/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml.
 #
-# The fix is one dedicated path per consumer (seed/home-assistant/hetzner-creds)
-# and a one-line change to the `key:` below. Creating it needs an OpenBao write:
-#
-#   bao kv put homelab/seed/home-assistant/hetzner-creds \
-#     @<(bao kv get -format=json homelab/seed/paperless/hetzner-creds | jq '.data.data')
-#
-# Note the mount is `homelab`, so the path is homelab/seed/... — #397 records a
-# 403 on `bao kv list seed`, which was a wrong-path error rather than a
-# permissions problem.
+# The earlier note here proposed a dedicated seed/home-assistant path. That was
+# the wrong direction: it would have made a fifth copy of the same key look like
+# a fourth independent credential. It did get one thing right, and it is worth
+# keeping: the 403 recorded in #397 was a wrong-path error, not a permissions
+# problem, because the mount is `homelab` and the path is homelab/seed/...
 #
 # The namespace allowlist on the openbao ClusterSecretStore
 # (infrastructure/post-crds/openbao-clustersecretstore.yaml) must include this
@@ -35,4 +28,4 @@ spec:
     name: hetzner-s3-creds
   dataFrom:
     - extract:
-        key: seed/paperless/hetzner-creds
+        key: infrastructure/hetzner-s3
diff --git a/kubernetes/apps/immich/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml b/kubernetes/apps/immich/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
index ccb23e84..521cd9a4 100644
--- a/kubernetes/apps/immich/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/apps/immich/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
@@ -15,4 +15,4 @@ spec:
     name: hetzner-s3-creds # keeps the old Secret's name — consumers unchanged
   dataFrom:
     - extract:
-        key: seed/immich/hetzner-creds
+        key: infrastructure/hetzner-s3
diff --git a/kubernetes/apps/paperless/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml b/kubernetes/apps/paperless/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
index e547d073..0c39a497 100644
--- a/kubernetes/apps/paperless/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/apps/paperless/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,27 @@
+# CANONICAL NOTE on the Hetzner S3 credentials. The other consumers point here
+# rather than repeating it.
+#
+# There is exactly ONE Hetzner S3 key, and every barman ObjectStore in this
+# cluster uses it. It used to live under four paths — seed/paperless,
+# seed/authentik, seed/immich, seed/trmnl — with byte-identical contents,
+# verified by comparing SHA-256 fingerprints of the synced Secrets rather than
+# by reading them. The same key also sits in infrastructure/velero-hetzner, in
+# a different shape (a single `cloud` field holding an AWS credentials file);
+# its access key id fingerprints the same.
+#
+# Per-app paths implied a separation that did not exist. Rotating the key at
+# Hetzner changes it for everyone regardless of how many paths hold a copy, so
+# the separate paths bought nothing and cost a standing invitation to believe
+# otherwise — #397 was opened on exactly that misreading, proposing to give
+# woodpecker a fifth copy.
+#
+# Real separation needs one Hetzner key per consumer, and Hetzner keys can only
+# be created by hand in their console. Until someone wants that, one path is the
+# honest representation.
+#
+# Not yet folded in: velero. It needs the credentials file form, so moving it
+# here means templating the INI from these fields — worth doing, not worth
+# bundling with a path swap that touches every database backup.
 apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1
 kind: ExternalSecret
 metadata:
@@ -15,4 +39,4 @@ spec:
     name: hetzner-s3-creds # keeps the old Secret's name — consumers unchanged
   dataFrom:
     - extract:
-        key: seed/paperless/hetzner-creds
+        key: infrastructure/hetzner-s3
diff --git a/kubernetes/apps/trmnl/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml b/kubernetes/apps/trmnl/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
index 6a9a2775..c7cf88ef 100644
--- a/kubernetes/apps/trmnl/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/apps/trmnl/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@ spec:
     name: hetzner-s3-creds
   dataFrom:
     - extract:
-        key: seed/trmnl/hetzner-creds
+        key: infrastructure/hetzner-s3
diff --git a/kubernetes/apps/woodpecker/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml b/kubernetes/apps/woodpecker/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
index 281982cd..aa8a26d0 100644
--- a/kubernetes/apps/woodpecker/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/apps/woodpecker/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 ---
 # Barman S3 credentials for wp-pg.
 #
-# Sourced from seed/paperless/hetzner-creds, which is not where they belong.
-# Issue #397 wants woodpecker to own seed/woodpecker/hetzner-creds; creating
-# that path needs OpenBao write access (`bao kv list seed` → 403 for the
-# identities available here), so it stays open. The values are identical, so it
-# is a one-line swap of the `key:` below once the path exists.
+# One shared path for one shared credential — see the note in
+# ../paperless/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml.
 #
 # The namespace allowlist on the openbao ClusterSecretStore
 # (infrastructure/post-crds/openbao-clustersecretstore.yaml) must include this
@@ -24,4 +21,4 @@ spec:
     name: hetzner-s3-creds
   dataFrom:
     - extract:
-        key: seed/paperless/hetzner-creds
+        key: infrastructure/hetzner-s3
diff --git a/kubernetes/apps/wordpress/externalsecret.yaml b/kubernetes/apps/wordpress/externalsecret.yaml
index 2698aabd..a8640df6 100644
--- a/kubernetes/apps/wordpress/externalsecret.yaml
+++ b/kubernetes/apps/wordpress/externalsecret.yaml
@@ -36,11 +36,9 @@ spec:
   target:
     name: hetzner-s3-creds
   dataFrom:
-    # Reuses the paperless copy of the shared Hetzner S3 credentials (identical
-    # ACCESS_KEY_ID / ACCESS_SECRET_KEY / REGION) to avoid seeding a new OpenBao
-    # path for this migration — same approach woodpecker took. FOLLOW-UP: give
-    # wordpress its own seed/wordpress/hetzner-creds path once OpenBao can be
-    # written, and repoint this here (the value is the same, so it's a drop-in
-    # swap).
+    # One shared path for one shared credential. There is a single Hetzner S3
+    # key behind all of these — see the note in
+    # ../paperless/hetzner-creds-externalsecret.yaml for why per-app paths were
+    # the wrong shape and what would have to change for them to be right.
     - extract:
-        key: seed/paperless/hetzner-creds
+        key: infrastructure/hetzner-s3