diff --git a/.github/actions/folio-app/action.yml b/.github/actions/folio-app/action.yml
index 297a226..5f105ad 100644
--- a/.github/actions/folio-app/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/folio-app/action.yml
@@ -39,10 +39,22 @@ runs:
 
     # idb-companion is not in homebrew-core, only in facebook/homebrew-fb, so
     # it has to be named by its full tap path. xcodegen and just are core.
+    #
+    # The tap is checked out at the 1.1.8 formula because companionassets stages
+    # bin/ and Frameworks/ as siblings and names its output companion-1.1.8. The
+    # tap moved to 1.5.0, which drops the top-level Frameworks/, so floating on
+    # it broke the staging and made the embedded version string a lie. Moving to
+    # 1.5.0 is a companion change, not a CI one.
     - name: Install idb-companion, xcodegen and just
       if: inputs.platform == 'ios'
       shell: bash
-      run: brew install facebook/fb/idb-companion xcodegen just
+      env:
+        HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE: 1
+      run: |
+        brew install xcodegen just
+        brew tap facebook/fb
+        git -C "$(brew --repository facebook/fb)" checkout --quiet c0386793f59da10c619787f2aa18d938ef1d69c9
+        brew install facebook/fb/idb-companion
 
     # Both asset tarballs are built by the prepare scripts, and the runner
     # bundle is an xcodebuild of companion/Sources. Keyed on the scripts and
diff --git a/docs/development/ci.md b/docs/development/ci.md
index 2ac40e4..4f3d6fb 100644
--- a/docs/development/ci.md
+++ b/docs/development/ci.md
@@ -345,3 +345,26 @@ npm trust list @sanderling/spec
 The job installs npm 11.5.1 or newer before publishing, because
 `actions/setup-node` writes an empty `_authToken` line into `.npmrc` and an older
 npm reads that as "auth is configured" and never asks for an OIDC token.
+
+## The ios companion is pinned, and its cache does not save the build
+
+`.github/actions/folio-app/action.yml` checks the `facebook/fb` tap out at commit
+`c0386793`, the 1.1.8 formula, before installing `idb-companion`. Floating on the
+tap broke the leg on 2026-08-18: the tap moved to 1.5.0, whose bundle has no
+top-level `Frameworks/`, and `companionassets/prepare.sh` stages `bin/` and
+`Frameworks/` as siblings because the binary resolves frameworks through
+`@rpath`. It also names its output `companion-1.1.8.tar.gz` from a hard-coded
+`VERSION`, so a floating tap made that version string a lie: CI built a tarball
+called 1.1.8 out of whatever the tap was serving that day. Moving to 1.5.0 is a
+change to the companion, not to CI.
+
+The `ios-assets` cache does not protect against this, and it is worth knowing why
+before trusting it. It restores, and the build runs anyway: git stamps the
+checked-out `prepare.sh` with checkout time while the restored tarball keeps the
+mtime it was archived with, so make always reads the target as stale. The
+2026-08-18 failure logged `Cache hit` and `Cache restored successfully`, then ran
+`prepare.sh` and died. So every ios run rebuilds the companion from whatever
+`brew` just installed, and a green master says nothing about the tap.
+
+Master looked green through the breakage only because its last run predated the
+tap moving, not because anything shielded it.