diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index a601f35d..3ee937fd 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -29,6 +29,14 @@ API_RATE_LIMIT=200
 # Increase for environments with many concurrent browser sessions behind shared NAT.
 API_POLLING_RATE_LIMIT=300
 
+# Public URL of THIS primary instance, used to bake an externally-reachable
+# SENCHO_PRIMARY_URL into pilot enrollment YAML. Set this when the primary
+# sits behind a reverse proxy or Cloudflare Tunnel so pilots on a different
+# network can dial the public hostname instead of the request Host header
+# the admin happens to be on (loopback, LAN, etc.). Must be http(s)://; no
+# trailing slash. When unset, enrollment falls back to the request Host.
+SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL=
+
 # ─── Pilot agent (remote host only) ──────────────────────────────
 # These three vars are required ONLY on a remote host running as a
 # pilot-agent reverse-tunnel container. The primary instance does not
diff --git a/backend/src/__tests__/pilot-enrollment.test.ts b/backend/src/__tests__/pilot-enrollment.test.ts
index eff731ef..ffd4099a 100644
--- a/backend/src/__tests__/pilot-enrollment.test.ts
+++ b/backend/src/__tests__/pilot-enrollment.test.ts
@@ -134,6 +134,71 @@ describe('POST /api/nodes (pilot_agent mode)', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL override in mintPilotEnrollment', () => {
+  const ORIGINAL = process.env.SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL;
+  afterAll(() => {
+    if (ORIGINAL === undefined) delete process.env.SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL;
+    else process.env.SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL = ORIGINAL;
+  });
+
+  it('bakes the env-var URL into composeYaml when set and valid', async () => {
+    process.env.SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL = 'https://sencho.example.com';
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .post('/api/nodes')
+      .set('Cookie', adminCookie)
+      .send({ name: 'pilot-public-url-set', type: 'remote', mode: 'pilot_agent' });
+
+    const parsed = parseYaml(res.body.enrollment.composeYaml) as ComposeFile;
+    expect(parsed.services.agent.environment.SENCHO_PRIMARY_URL).toBe('https://sencho.example.com');
+  });
+
+  it('strips a trailing slash from the env-var URL', async () => {
+    process.env.SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL = 'https://sencho.example.com/';
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .post('/api/nodes')
+      .set('Cookie', adminCookie)
+      .send({ name: 'pilot-public-url-trailing', type: 'remote', mode: 'pilot_agent' });
+
+    const parsed = parseYaml(res.body.enrollment.composeYaml) as ComposeFile;
+    expect(parsed.services.agent.environment.SENCHO_PRIMARY_URL).toBe('https://sencho.example.com');
+  });
+
+  it('falls back to request host when env var is unset', async () => {
+    delete process.env.SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL;
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .post('/api/nodes')
+      .set('Cookie', adminCookie)
+      .send({ name: 'pilot-public-url-unset', type: 'remote', mode: 'pilot_agent' });
+
+    const parsed = parseYaml(res.body.enrollment.composeYaml) as ComposeFile;
+    // Supertest sends requests with host = `127.0.0.1:<ephemeral-port>`,
+    // so the fallback URL must reflect that, not the env-var override.
+    expect(parsed.services.agent.environment.SENCHO_PRIMARY_URL).toMatch(/^http:\/\/127\.0\.0\.1:\d+$/);
+  });
+
+  it('falls back to request host when env var is malformed', async () => {
+    process.env.SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL = 'not a url';
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .post('/api/nodes')
+      .set('Cookie', adminCookie)
+      .send({ name: 'pilot-public-url-bad', type: 'remote', mode: 'pilot_agent' });
+
+    const parsed = parseYaml(res.body.enrollment.composeYaml) as ComposeFile;
+    expect(parsed.services.agent.environment.SENCHO_PRIMARY_URL).toMatch(/^http:\/\/127\.0\.0\.1:\d+$/);
+  });
+
+  it('rejects a loopback URL and falls back to the request host', async () => {
+    process.env.SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL = 'http://127.0.0.1:1852';
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .post('/api/nodes')
+      .set('Cookie', adminCookie)
+      .send({ name: 'pilot-public-url-loopback', type: 'remote', mode: 'pilot_agent' });
+
+    const parsed = parseYaml(res.body.enrollment.composeYaml) as ComposeFile;
+    expect(parsed.services.agent.environment.SENCHO_PRIMARY_URL).toMatch(/^http:\/\/127\.0\.0\.1:\d+$/);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('POST /api/nodes/:id/pilot/enroll', () => {
   it('regenerates the enrollment for an existing pilot node', async () => {
     const create = await request(app)
diff --git a/backend/src/routes/nodes.ts b/backend/src/routes/nodes.ts
index f8b3317d..e209c817 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/nodes.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/nodes.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,27 @@ import { getErrorMessage } from '../utils/errors';
 const NODE_SCOPE_MESSAGE = 'API tokens cannot manage nodes.';
 const REMOTE_META_CACHE_TTL = 3 * 60 * 1000;
 
+/**
+ * Pick the URL the pilot agent should dial. SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL wins when set
+ * and well-formed, because the request Host header is only reachable from
+ * the network the operator opened the dialog from. Pilots on a public cloud
+ * cannot dial a LAN or loopback address, so an explicit public URL is the
+ * only thing that lets the enrolled YAML work unmodified.
+ */
+function resolvePrimaryUrl(req: Request): string {
+  const override = process.env.SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL?.trim();
+  if (override) {
+    const check = isValidRemoteUrl(override);
+    if (check.valid) return override.replace(/\/$/, '');
+    console.warn(`[Enrollment] SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL is set but invalid (${check.reason}); falling back to request host.`);
+  }
+  const forwardedProto = req.headers['x-forwarded-proto'];
+  const protoHeader = Array.isArray(forwardedProto) ? forwardedProto[0] : forwardedProto;
+  const protocol = protoHeader || req.protocol || 'http';
+  const host = req.get('host') || 'localhost:1852';
+  return `${protocol}://${host}`;
+}
+
 function mintPilotEnrollment(nodeId: number, req: Request): { token: string; expiresAt: number; composeYaml: string } {
   const db = DatabaseService.getInstance();
   const jwtSecret = db.getGlobalSettings().auth_jwt_secret;
@@ -38,11 +59,7 @@ function mintPilotEnrollment(nodeId: number, req: Request): { token: string; exp
   const tokenHash = crypto.createHash('sha256').update(token).digest('hex');
   db.createPilotEnrollment(nodeId, tokenHash, expiresAt);
 
-  const forwardedProto = req.headers['x-forwarded-proto'];
-  const protoHeader = Array.isArray(forwardedProto) ? forwardedProto[0] : forwardedProto;
-  const protocol = protoHeader || req.protocol || 'http';
-  const host = req.get('host') || 'localhost:1852';
-  const primaryUrl = `${protocol}://${host}`;
+  const primaryUrl = resolvePrimaryUrl(req);
 
   // Top-level `name` plus `container_name` make the agent container's HOSTNAME
   // equal to `sencho-agent`, which is how SelfUpdateService locates its own
diff --git a/docs/features/pilot-agent.mdx b/docs/features/pilot-agent.mdx
index 55978a91..9169f2d6 100644
--- a/docs/features/pilot-agent.mdx
+++ b/docs/features/pilot-agent.mdx
@@ -27,6 +27,18 @@ Deploying with Docker Compose also lets the primary trigger over-the-air updates
 
 Only outbound HTTPS from the remote to the primary is required. Nothing else is exposed.
 
+## Setting the primary's public URL
+
+The enrollment dialog bakes the primary's URL into the compose file under `SENCHO_PRIMARY_URL`. The primary infers that URL from the request the admin's browser sent, which works on a LAN but breaks when the pilot lives on a different network (a public cloud VPS, for example) and the admin happened to open the dialog at `http://127.0.0.1:1852` or a LAN address.
+
+Set `SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL` on the primary to lock in a publicly-routable URL:
+
+```bash
+-e SENCHO_PUBLIC_URL=https://sencho.example.com
+```
+
+Any HTTPS hostname reachable from the pilot works: a Cloudflare Tunnel, a reverse proxy, a port-forwarded home network with DDNS. The primary validates the value (must be `http(s)://`, no loopback) and falls back to the request host when unset.
+
 ## Enrollment walkthrough
 
 ### 1. Add the node on the primary