diff --git a/docs/forgejo-package-prune.md b/docs/forgejo-package-prune.md
index dccb73a..a2f3179 100644
--- a/docs/forgejo-package-prune.md
+++ b/docs/forgejo-package-prune.md
@@ -106,8 +106,14 @@ Migration and rollout sequence:
    other clusters' prior entries during outages. Run the hook on the durable
    host, or transfer the complete export there before invoking it.
 
-The publisher is implemented here; host migration and the activity-core mount
-and rollout-hook adoption are tracked in `RPF-WP-0028` until verified live.
+`tools/cmd/refresh-live-images` captures regular, init and ephemeral container
+images with a bounded kubectl call and publishes only after all requested
+contexts succeed. `CONTEXTS` selects contexts; `EXTRA_LIVE_FILES` supplies saved
+exports. Bare image names are accepted. Failed captures preserve the inventory.
+The host installation exposes `~/.local/bin/railiance-live-images-refresh`;
+invoke it after cluster image rollouts. Activity-core's `make refresh-live-images`
+delegates to the same implementation. Live installation evidence is tracked in
+`RPF-WP-0028`.
 
 ## Rollback procedure
 
diff --git a/scripts/refresh_live_images.py b/scripts/refresh_live_images.py
index 758804b..b25f4da 100644
--- a/scripts/refresh_live_images.py
+++ b/scripts/refresh_live_images.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import hashlib
 import json
 import os
 from pathlib import Path
+import re
 import tempfile
 
 
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ def read_images(path: Path) -> set[str]:
         image = line.strip()
         if not image or image.startswith("#"):
             continue
-        if any(c.isspace() for c in image) or "/" not in image:
+        if not re.fullmatch(r"[A-Za-z0-9][A-Za-z0-9._:/@+-]*", image):
             raise ValueError("invalid image export")
         images.add(image)
     if not images:
diff --git a/tests/test_live_images_inventory.py b/tests/test_live_images_inventory.py
index 8be8518..7bd58de 100644
--- a/tests/test_live_images_inventory.py
+++ b/tests/test_live_images_inventory.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 import importlib.util
+import os
 from pathlib import Path
+import subprocess
 import tempfile
 import unittest
 
@@ -11,6 +13,31 @@ SPEC.loader.exec_module(inventory)
 
 
 class InventoryTests(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_bare_image_names_are_valid(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp:
+            root = Path(tmp)
+            source = root / "source"
+            source.write_text("nginx:stable\n")
+            self.assertEqual(inventory.refresh(root / "all", [source])["images"], 1)
+
+    def test_capture_failure_keeps_prior_inventory(self):
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp:
+            root = Path(tmp)
+            output = root / "all"
+            output.write_text("forgejo.example/org/app:old\n")
+            kubectl = root / "kubectl"
+            kubectl.write_text('#!/bin/sh\necho forgejo.example/org/app:new\nexit 1\n')
+            kubectl.chmod(0o755)
+            env = {**os.environ, "PATH": str(root) + ":" + os.environ["PATH"], "OUT": str(output)}
+            command = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / "tools/cmd/refresh-live-images"
+            failed = subprocess.run(["bash", str(command)], env=env, capture_output=True)
+            self.assertNotEqual(failed.returncode, 0)
+            self.assertEqual(output.read_text(), "forgejo.example/org/app:old\n")
+            kubectl.write_text('#!/bin/sh\necho forgejo.example/org/app:new\n')
+            succeeded = subprocess.run(["bash", str(command)], env=env, capture_output=True)
+            self.assertEqual(succeeded.returncode, 0, succeeded.stderr)
+            self.assertEqual(len(output.read_text().splitlines()), 2)
+
     def test_refresh_preserves_other_clusters_and_previous_tags(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp:
             root = Path(tmp)
diff --git a/tools/cmd/refresh-live-images b/tools/cmd/refresh-live-images
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..8910e2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/cmd/refresh-live-images
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Capture complete cluster exports and atomically preserve the protection union.
+set -euo pipefail
+ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)"
+OUT="${OUT:-${HOME}/.local/state/railiance-platform/live-images/all.txt}"
+tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
+trap 'rm -rf "$tmpdir"' EXIT
+sources=()
+capture() {
+  local context="$1" file="$tmpdir/export-${#sources[@]}.txt"
+  local args=()
+  if [[ -n "$context" ]]; then args=(--context "$context"); fi
+  kubectl "${args[@]}" --request-timeout=30s get pods -A \
+    -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{range .spec.containers[*]}{.image}{"\n"}{end}{range .spec.initContainers[*]}{.image}{"\n"}{end}{range .spec.ephemeralContainers[*]}{.image}{"\n"}{end}{end}' > "$file"
+  sources+=(--source "$file")
+}
+if [[ -z "${CONTEXTS:-}" ]]; then
+  capture ""
+else
+  for context in $CONTEXTS; do capture "$context"; done
+fi
+for file in ${EXTRA_LIVE_FILES:-}; do sources+=(--source "$file"); done
+python3 "$ROOT/scripts/refresh_live_images.py" --output "$OUT" "${sources[@]}"