diff --git a/scripts/installtests/build_release_assets_test.go b/scripts/installtests/build_release_assets_test.go
index 09a4d7bc8..c019783c2 100644
--- a/scripts/installtests/build_release_assets_test.go
+++ b/scripts/installtests/build_release_assets_test.go
@@ -1478,9 +1478,10 @@ func TestDockerBuildUsesCanonicalReleaseLdflags(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatalf("Dockerfile missing canonical release ldflags usage: %s", needle)
 		}
 	}
-	assertDigestPinnedDockerBase(t, dockerfile, `FROM --platform=linux/amd64 node:20-alpine@sha256:`)
-	assertDigestPinnedDockerBase(t, dockerfile, `FROM --platform=linux/amd64 golang:1.26.7-alpine@sha256:`)
-	assertDigestPinnedDockerBase(t, dockerfile, `FROM alpine:3.20@sha256:`)
+	assertDigestPinnedDockerStage(t, dockerfile, `FROM --platform=linux/amd64 node:20-alpine@sha256:`, ` AS frontend-builder`)
+	assertDigestPinnedDockerStage(t, dockerfile, `FROM --platform=linux/amd64 golang:1.26.7-alpine@sha256:`, ` AS backend-builder`)
+	assertDigestPinnedDockerStage(t, dockerfile, `FROM alpine:3.20@sha256:`, ` AS agent_runtime`)
+	assertDigestPinnedDockerStage(t, dockerfile, `FROM alpine:3.20@sha256:`, ` AS pulse-runtime-foundation`)
 	hostedStart := strings.Index(dockerfile, `FROM pulse-runtime-base AS hosted_runtime`)
 	runtimeStart := strings.Index(dockerfile, `FROM pulse-runtime-base AS runtime`)
 	if hostedStart == -1 || runtimeStart == -1 || hostedStart > runtimeStart {
diff --git a/scripts/installtests/dependency_update_test.go b/scripts/installtests/dependency_update_test.go
index 597c64ac6..23dc97b0f 100644
--- a/scripts/installtests/dependency_update_test.go
+++ b/scripts/installtests/dependency_update_test.go
@@ -5,12 +5,19 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 )
 
-// assertDigestPinnedDockerBase allows automated digest refreshes while still
-// rejecting shortened, malformed, or mutable base-image references.
-func assertDigestPinnedDockerBase(t *testing.T, dockerfile, prefix string) {
+// assertDigestPinnedDockerStage allows automated digest refreshes while still
+// rejecting shortened, malformed, mutable, or decoy base-image references for
+// the named production stage.
+func assertDigestPinnedDockerStage(t *testing.T, dockerfile, prefix, suffix string) {
 	t.Helper()
-	pattern := regexp.MustCompile(regexp.QuoteMeta(prefix) + `[0-9a-f]{64}(?:\s|$)`)
+	pattern := regexp.MustCompile(
+		`(?m)^` + regexp.QuoteMeta(prefix) + `[0-9a-f]{64}` + regexp.QuoteMeta(suffix) + `$`,
+	)
 	if !pattern.MatchString(dockerfile) {
-		t.Fatalf("Dockerfile base image must use a full immutable digest: %s<64 lowercase hex characters>", prefix)
+		t.Fatalf(
+			"Dockerfile stage must use a full immutable digest: %s<64 lowercase hex characters>%s",
+			prefix,
+			suffix,
+		)
 	}
 }
diff --git a/scripts/installtests/provider_msp_deploy_test.go b/scripts/installtests/provider_msp_deploy_test.go
index 96242d9ce..9cc5f8f89 100644
--- a/scripts/installtests/provider_msp_deploy_test.go
+++ b/scripts/installtests/provider_msp_deploy_test.go
@@ -332,9 +332,9 @@ func TestProviderMSPControlPlaneDockerfileBuildsReleaseLicenseBinary(t *testing.
 		"FROM alpine:3.21",
 		"CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o /pulse-control-plane ./cmd/pulse-control-plane",
 	)
-	assertDigestPinnedDockerBase(t, text, `FROM --platform=linux/amd64 node:20-alpine@sha256:`)
-	assertDigestPinnedDockerBase(t, text, `FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM golang:1.26.7-alpine@sha256:`)
-	assertDigestPinnedDockerBase(t, text, `FROM alpine:3.20@sha256:`)
+	assertDigestPinnedDockerStage(t, text, `FROM --platform=linux/amd64 node:20-alpine@sha256:`, ` AS frontend-builder`)
+	assertDigestPinnedDockerStage(t, text, `FROM --platform=$BUILDPLATFORM golang:1.26.7-alpine@sha256:`, ` AS builder`)
+	assertDigestPinnedDockerStage(t, text, `FROM alpine:3.20@sha256:`, ` AS control-plane-runtime-foundation`)
 }
 
 func assertContainsAll(t *testing.T, text string, required ...string) {
diff --git a/scripts/tests/test_dependabot_config.py b/scripts/tests/test_dependabot_config.py
index f3f112272..1ffbeb045 100644
--- a/scripts/tests/test_dependabot_config.py
+++ b/scripts/tests/test_dependabot_config.py
@@ -12,6 +12,18 @@ CONFIG = ROOT / ".github" / "dependabot.yml"
 SECURITY_SCAN = ROOT / ".github" / "workflows" / "security-scan.yml"
 
 
+def manifest_directories(filename: str) -> list[str]:
+    """Return repository-relative Dependabot directories for every manifest."""
+    directories = set()
+    for manifest in ROOT.rglob(filename):
+        relative = manifest.relative_to(ROOT)
+        if "node_modules" in relative.parts:
+            continue
+        parent = relative.parent.as_posix()
+        directories.add("/" if parent == "." else f"/{parent}")
+    return sorted(directories)
+
+
 class DependabotConfigTest(unittest.TestCase):
     @classmethod
     def setUpClass(cls) -> None:
@@ -26,17 +38,12 @@ class DependabotConfigTest(unittest.TestCase):
         )
         self.assertEqual(self.updates["github-actions"]["directory"], "/")
         self.assertEqual(
-            self.updates["gomod"]["directories"],
-            ["/", "/tests/integration/mock-github-server"],
+            sorted(self.updates["gomod"]["directories"]),
+            manifest_directories("go.mod"),
         )
         self.assertEqual(
-            self.updates["npm"]["directories"],
-            [
-                "/",
-                "/frontend-modern",
-                "/internal/cloudcp/portal/frontend",
-                "/tests/integration",
-            ],
+            sorted(self.updates["npm"]["directories"]),
+            manifest_directories("package-lock.json"),
         )
         self.assertEqual(
             self.updates["docker"]["directories"],
@@ -98,16 +105,17 @@ class DependabotConfigTest(unittest.TestCase):
         jobs = workflow["jobs"]
         self.assertEqual(
             set(jobs["govulncheck"]["strategy"]["matrix"]["directory"]),
-            {".", "tests/integration/mock-github-server"},
+            {
+                "." if path == "/" else path.removeprefix("/")
+                for path in manifest_directories("go.mod")
+            },
         )
         npm_sets = jobs["npm-audit"]["strategy"]["matrix"]["include"]
         self.assertEqual(
             {item["directory"] for item in npm_sets},
             {
-                ".",
-                "frontend-modern",
-                "internal/cloudcp/portal/frontend",
-                "tests/integration",
+                "." if path == "/" else path.removeprefix("/")
+                for path in manifest_directories("package-lock.json")
             },
         )
         scan_steps = jobs["npm-audit"]["steps"]