diff --git a/deploy/galactus/jorgecuadros-app.compose.yml b/deploy/galactus/jorgecuadros-app.compose.yml
index 4b243f5..2018669 100644
--- a/deploy/galactus/jorgecuadros-app.compose.yml
+++ b/deploy/galactus/jorgecuadros-app.compose.yml
@@ -38,7 +38,12 @@ services:
     labels:
       io.jorgecuadros.role: "api"
     dns:
+      # MagicDNS first, then a public resolver. Listing ONLY 100.100.100.100
+      # costs the container public name resolution — apk/npm/any outbound
+      # hostname stops resolving — because MagicDNS does not forward to an
+      # upstream unless the tailnet is configured with global nameservers.
       - ${TAILSCALE_DNS:-100.100.100.100}
+      - ${FALLBACK_DNS:-1.1.1.1}
     dns_search:
       - ${TAILNET_SUFFIX:-tail01aa2.ts.net}
     environment:
@@ -83,7 +88,12 @@ services:
     # Next server-side rendering can call the API by API_ORIGIN, which is the
     # same MagicDNS name — so the web container needs the resolver too.
     dns:
+      # MagicDNS first, then a public resolver. Listing ONLY 100.100.100.100
+      # costs the container public name resolution — apk/npm/any outbound
+      # hostname stops resolving — because MagicDNS does not forward to an
+      # upstream unless the tailnet is configured with global nameservers.
       - ${TAILSCALE_DNS:-100.100.100.100}
+      - ${FALLBACK_DNS:-1.1.1.1}
     dns_search:
       - ${TAILNET_SUFFIX:-tail01aa2.ts.net}
     environment:
diff --git a/deploy/scripts/pre-migrate-backup.mjs b/deploy/scripts/pre-migrate-backup.mjs
index 3218c56..e02a9a3 100644
--- a/deploy/scripts/pre-migrate-backup.mjs
+++ b/deploy/scripts/pre-migrate-backup.mjs
@@ -148,6 +148,34 @@ async function execInContainer(containerId, cmd, env = []) {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Run a SHORT command and return its combined output.
+ *
+ * Detached exec cannot report why anything failed, which once reduced a real
+ * failure to the single line "mysqldump exited 2" and cost a manual
+ * reproduction on the host to discover it was a missing auth plugin. Tty:true
+ * makes the start response a plain (non-multiplexed) stream that can just be
+ * read, at the cost of holding the connection open — fine for reading a small
+ * error file, which is why the dump itself still runs detached.
+ */
+async function execCapture(containerId, cmd) {
+  const created = await docker(`/containers/${containerId}/exec`, {
+    method: "POST",
+    body: JSON.stringify({
+      AttachStdout: true,
+      AttachStderr: true,
+      Tty: true,
+      Cmd: ["sh", "-c", cmd],
+    }),
+  });
+  const res = await fetch(`${DOCKER}/exec/${created.Id}/start`, {
+    method: "POST",
+    headers: { "X-API-Key": API_KEY, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
+    body: JSON.stringify({ Detach: false, Tty: true }),
+  });
+  return (await res.text()).trim();
+}
+
 async function main() {
   const container = await findApiContainer();
   if (!container) {
@@ -173,17 +201,27 @@ async function main() {
   // Password via MYSQL_PWD in the exec env, never on the command line — argv is
   // world-readable through `ps` inside the container.
   const flags = `--host=${conn.host} --port=${conn.port} --user=${shq(conn.user)}`;
+  const errFile = "/tmp/pre-migrate-backup.err";
   const dump =
     `set -o pipefail; mysqldump ${flags} --single-transaction --routines ` +
-    `--triggers --no-tablespaces ${shq(conn.database)} | gzip -c > ${shq(out)}`;
+    `--triggers --no-tablespaces ${shq(conn.database)} 2>${errFile} ` +
+    `| gzip -c > ${shq(out)}`;
 
   const code = await execInContainer(container.Id, dump, [
     `MYSQL_PWD=${conn.password}`,
   ]);
   if (code !== 0) {
-    // Leave the truncated file behind for inspection but never let the deploy
-    // proceed believing it has a restore point.
-    throw new Error(`mysqldump exited ${code} — refusing to migrate`);
+    // An exit code alone is not actionable — surface what mysqldump actually
+    // said. Leave the truncated file behind for inspection, but never let the
+    // deploy proceed believing it has a restore point.
+    const stderr = await execCapture(
+      container.Id,
+      `tail -20 ${errFile} 2>/dev/null`,
+    );
+    throw new Error(
+      `mysqldump exited ${code} — refusing to migrate` +
+        (stderr ? `\n--- mysqldump stderr ---\n${stderr}` : ""),
+    );
   }
 
   // Detached exec gives no stdout, so prove the artefact separately: non-empty
diff --git a/docker/api.Dockerfile b/docker/api.Dockerfile
index 711bce6..c5c47fb 100644
--- a/docker/api.Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/api.Dockerfile
@@ -38,7 +38,15 @@ ENV NODE_ENV=production
 # runtime (linux-musl-openssl-3.0.x) and aborts with "Please manually install
 # OpenSSL" without it. Node bundles its own OpenSSL, so nothing else in this
 # image pulls the system package in.
-RUN apk add --no-cache python3 mdbtools mysql-client openssl \
+# mariadb-connector-c is REQUIRED, not incidental. Alpine's `mysql-client` is
+# MariaDB's client, and it ships with an EMPTY /usr/lib/mariadb/plugin — so it
+# cannot perform caching_sha2_password, which is MySQL 8.4's default and
+# effectively only auth method. Without this package every mysqldump/mysql call
+# from the container dies with:
+#   ERROR 1045: Plugin caching_sha2_password could not be loaded
+# That breaks the pre-migrate deploy backup AND the whole "Operaciones" admin
+# panel (backup, restore, sync, re-import all shell out to these binaries).
+RUN apk add --no-cache python3 mdbtools mysql-client mariadb-connector-c openssl \
  && apk add --no-cache --virtual .pybuild python3-dev build-base \
  && rm -rf /var/cache/apk/*
 
diff --git a/docs/DEPLOY_AND_MIGRATIONS.md b/docs/DEPLOY_AND_MIGRATIONS.md
index 4706b67..260b452 100644
--- a/docs/DEPLOY_AND_MIGRATIONS.md
+++ b/docs/DEPLOY_AND_MIGRATIONS.md
@@ -232,6 +232,27 @@ moment the app is served over TLS or reachable off-tailnet. Behind a
 TLS-terminating reverse proxy, set `trust proxy` on the Nest app instead of
 disabling the flag.
 
+## The MySQL client inside the API image
+
+Alpine's `mysql-client` package is **MariaDB's** client, and it installs an
+empty `/usr/lib/mariadb/plugin`. It therefore cannot speak
+`caching_sha2_password`, which is MySQL 8.4's default and effectively only auth
+method, and every `mysqldump`/`mysql` call from the container fails with:
+
+```
+ERROR 1045: Plugin caching_sha2_password could not be loaded:
+  ... /usr/lib/mariadb/plugin/caching_sha2_password.so: No such file or directory
+```
+
+`mariadb-connector-c` supplies that plugin and is installed in
+`docker/api.Dockerfile` for exactly this reason — do not drop it as an unused
+dependency. It affects far more than the deploy backup: the entire
+**Operaciones** panel (backup, restore, sync, re-import) shells out to these
+binaries, so without it none of those work in a container either. The feature
+had only ever been exercised with the API running on a developer machine, where
+the Oracle client is installed, which is why this went unnoticed until the
+first containerised deploy.
+
 ## Known caveats in the deploy path
 
 - The pre-migrate backup step sets `NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0` because