diff --git a/scripts/buildkite/detect-issue.sh b/scripts/buildkite/detect-issue.sh
index d8773b6..efe303b 100755
--- a/scripts/buildkite/detect-issue.sh
+++ b/scripts/buildkite/detect-issue.sh
@@ -29,10 +29,8 @@ fi
 # pass the issue id explicitly (see scripts/buildkite/trigger-issue-build.sh / poll).
 if [[ -n "${RADICLE_ISSUE_ID:-}" ]]; then
   ISSUE_ID="$RADICLE_ISSUE_ID"
-  if command -v rad >/dev/null 2>&1 && rad issue show "$ISSUE_ID" --header >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-    :
-  else
-    echo "warn: rad issue show unavailable — using RADICLE_ISSUE_ID only" >&2
+  if ! bk_issue_cob_exists "$ISSUE_ID"; then
+    echo "warn: could not verify issue COB ${ISSUE_ID:0:7} via rad/git — continuing with RADICLE_ISSUE_ID" >&2
   fi
 elif bk_commit_is_new_issue "$COMMIT"; then
   ISSUE_ID="$COMMIT"
@@ -43,7 +41,7 @@ fi
 
 TITLE=""
 BODY=""
-if command -v rad >/dev/null 2>&1 && command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+if command -v python3 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
   if mapfile -t _details < <(bk_issue_details "$ISSUE_ID" 2>/dev/null); then
     TITLE="${_details[0]:-}"
     BODY="${_details[1]:-}"
diff --git a/scripts/buildkite/lib.sh b/scripts/buildkite/lib.sh
index e89fbe7..9027073 100755
--- a/scripts/buildkite/lib.sh
+++ b/scripts/buildkite/lib.sh
@@ -52,49 +52,222 @@ bk_commit_is_new_issue() {
     | grep -qxF "$commit"
 }
 
-# Parse rad issue show --header output into title + description.
+# True if issue_id is a xyz.radicle.issue COB (rad CLI and/or git remotes/storage).
+# Garden issues often live only under refs/namespaces/<nid>/refs/cobs/... — rad issue
+# show may miss them even after sync when the local node is not a delegate.
+bk_issue_cob_exists() {
+  local issue_id=$1 rid url root rad_home naked ref line
+  if [[ ! "$issue_id" =~ ^[0-9a-f]{40}$ ]]; then
+    return 1
+  fi
+  if command -v rad >/dev/null 2>&1 && rad issue show "$issue_id" --header >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    return 0
+  fi
+  root="$(bk_repo_root 2>/dev/null || true)"
+  [[ -n "$root" ]] || return 1
+
+  # Already fetched into this working tree.
+  if git -C "$root" cat-file -t "$issue_id" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    if git -C "$root" show "$issue_id:manifest" 2>/dev/null | grep -q 'xyz.radicle.issue'; then
+      return 0
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  # Local radicle storage (bootstrap hydrate).
+  rad_home="${RAD_HOME:-${HOME}/.radicle}"
+  rid="$(git -C "$root" remote get-url rad 2>/dev/null || true)"
+  if [[ "$rid" =~ rad://([A-Za-z0-9]+) ]]; then
+    naked="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+    if git -C "${rad_home}/storage/${naked}" cat-file -t "$issue_id" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+      return 0
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  # Garden / HTTPS remotes advertise namespaced COB refs.
+  while IFS= read -r url; do
+    [[ -n "$url" ]] || continue
+    while IFS= read -r line; do
+      ref="${line##*$'\t'}"
+      if [[ "$ref" == *"/refs/cobs/xyz.radicle.issue/${issue_id}" ]]; then
+        return 0
+      fi
+    done < <(git ls-remote "$url" 2>/dev/null || true)
+  done < <(
+    for candidate in origin rad; do
+      git -C "$root" remote get-url "$candidate" 2>/dev/null || true
+    done
+  )
+  return 1
+}
+
+# Parse issue title + description. Prefer `rad issue show`; fall back to reading
+# the issue COB commit (Garden HTTPS / $RAD_HOME/storage) when the CLI cannot
+# see another node's namespaced COB.
 bk_issue_details() {
   local issue_id=$1
-  python3 - "$issue_id" <<'PY'
+  local root rad_home
+  root="$(bk_repo_root 2>/dev/null || pwd)"
+  rad_home="${RAD_HOME:-${HOME}/.radicle}"
+  python3 - "$issue_id" "$root" "$rad_home" <<'PY'
+import json
+import os
 import re
 import subprocess
 import sys
 
-issue_id = sys.argv[1]
-proc = subprocess.run(
-    ["rad", "issue", "show", issue_id, "--header"],
-    capture_output=True,
-    text=True,
-)
-if proc.returncode != 0:
-    sys.stderr.write(proc.stderr or proc.stdout)
-    sys.exit(proc.returncode)
-
-text = proc.stdout
-title = ""
-body = ""
-
-title_match = re.search(r"Title\s+(.+?)\s+Issue", text, re.DOTALL)
-if title_match:
-    title = " ".join(title_match.group(1).split())
-
-lines = [ln.strip() for ln in text.splitlines()]
-for ln in lines:
-    if not ln or ln.startswith("╭") or ln.startswith("╰") or ln.startswith("│"):
-        continue
-    if re.match(r"^(Title|Issue|Author|Status)\b", ln):
-        continue
-    if re.match(r"^[●○]", ln):
-        continue
-    body = ln
-    break
-
-if not body:
-    for ln in reversed(lines):
-        cleaned = ln.strip("│ ").strip()
-        if cleaned and not re.match(r"^(Title|Issue|Author|Status)\b", cleaned):
-            body = cleaned
+issue_id, repo_root, rad_home = sys.argv[1:4]
+
+
+def run(cmd, cwd=None):
+    return subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True, cwd=cwd)
+
+
+def parse_rad_header(text: str):
+    title = ""
+    body = ""
+    title_match = re.search(r"Title\s+(.+?)\s+Issue", text, re.DOTALL)
+    if title_match:
+        title = " ".join(title_match.group(1).split())
+    lines = [ln.strip() for ln in text.splitlines()]
+    for ln in lines:
+        if not ln or ln.startswith("╭") or ln.startswith("╰") or ln.startswith("│"):
+            continue
+        if re.match(r"^(Title|Issue|Author|Status)\b", ln):
+            continue
+        if re.match(r"^[●○]", ln):
+            continue
+        body = ln
+        break
+    if not body:
+        for ln in reversed(lines):
+            cleaned = ln.strip("│ ").strip()
+            if cleaned and not re.match(r"^(Title|Issue|Author|Status)\b", cleaned):
+                body = cleaned
+                break
+    return title, body
+
+
+def git_show(git_dir: str | None, obj: str, path: str) -> str | None:
+    cmd = ["git"]
+    if git_dir:
+        cmd += ["--git-dir", git_dir]
+    cmd += ["show", f"{obj}:{path}"]
+    proc = run(cmd, cwd=None if git_dir else repo_root)
+    if proc.returncode != 0:
+        return None
+    return proc.stdout
+
+
+def ensure_cob_object() -> tuple[str | None, str | None]:
+    """Return (git_dir_or_None, issue_id) if the COB commit is readable."""
+    # Working tree object database.
+    if run(["git", "cat-file", "-t", issue_id], cwd=repo_root).returncode == 0:
+        return None, issue_id
+
+    # $RAD_HOME/storage/<rid>
+    rid_url = run(["git", "remote", "get-url", "rad"], cwd=repo_root).stdout.strip()
+    naked = ""
+    m = re.match(r"rad://([A-Za-z0-9]+)", rid_url or "")
+    if m:
+        naked = m.group(1)
+    if naked:
+        storage = os.path.join(rad_home, "storage", naked)
+        if os.path.isdir(storage) and run(
+            ["git", "--git-dir", storage, "cat-file", "-t", issue_id]
+        ).returncode == 0:
+            return storage, issue_id
+
+    # Discover namespaced COB on remotes and fetch into a disposable ref.
+    remotes = []
+    for name in ("origin", "rad"):
+        url = run(["git", "remote", "get-url", name], cwd=repo_root).stdout.strip()
+        if url:
+            remotes.append(url)
+    cob_ref = None
+    remote_url = None
+    for url in remotes:
+        ls = run(["git", "ls-remote", url])
+        for line in ls.stdout.splitlines():
+            parts = line.split()
+            if len(parts) < 2:
+                continue
+            ref = parts[1]
+            if ref.endswith(f"/refs/cobs/xyz.radicle.issue/{issue_id}"):
+                cob_ref = ref
+                remote_url = url
+                break
+        if cob_ref:
             break
+    if not cob_ref or not remote_url:
+        return None, None
+
+    local_ref = f"refs/radicle-issue-cache/{issue_id}"
+    fetch = run(
+        ["git", "fetch", "--no-tags", remote_url, f"+{cob_ref}:{local_ref}"],
+        cwd=repo_root,
+    )
+    if fetch.returncode != 0:
+        sys.stderr.write(fetch.stderr or fetch.stdout)
+        return None, None
+    return None, issue_id
+
+
+def parse_cob_actions(git_dir: str | None, obj: str):
+    title = ""
+    body = ""
+    # Action files are numeric blobs on the COB commit (0 = comment, 1 = edit, …).
+    ls = run(
+        ["git"]
+        + (["--git-dir", git_dir] if git_dir else [])
+        + ["ls-tree", "-r", "--name-only", obj],
+        cwd=None if git_dir else repo_root,
+    )
+    if ls.returncode != 0:
+        return title, body
+    names = sorted(
+        (n for n in ls.stdout.splitlines() if re.fullmatch(r"[0-9]+", n)),
+        key=int,
+    )
+    for name in names:
+        raw = git_show(git_dir, obj, name)
+        if not raw:
+            continue
+        try:
+            data = json.loads(raw)
+        except json.JSONDecodeError:
+            continue
+        typ = data.get("type")
+        if typ == "edit" and data.get("title"):
+            title = str(data["title"]).strip()
+        elif typ == "comment" and body == "" and data.get("body") is not None:
+            body = str(data["body"]).strip()
+    return title, body
+
+
+# 1) Preferred: rad CLI
+proc = run(["rad", "issue", "show", issue_id, "--header"])
+if proc.returncode == 0 and proc.stdout.strip():
+    title, body = parse_rad_header(proc.stdout)
+    if title or body:
+        print(title)
+        print(body)
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+# 2) Fallback: raw issue COB commit
+git_dir, obj = ensure_cob_object()
+if not obj:
+    sys.stderr.write(proc.stderr or proc.stdout or "issue COB not found\n")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+manifest = git_show(git_dir, obj, "manifest") or ""
+if "xyz.radicle.issue" not in manifest:
+    sys.stderr.write("object is not an xyz.radicle.issue COB\n")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+title, body = parse_cob_actions(git_dir, obj)
+if not title and not body:
+    sys.stderr.write("issue COB has no title/body actions\n")
+    sys.exit(1)
 
 print(title)
 print(body)
diff --git a/scripts/buildkite/trigger-issue-build.sh b/scripts/buildkite/trigger-issue-build.sh
index 68a20af..1902a2d 100755
--- a/scripts/buildkite/trigger-issue-build.sh
+++ b/scripts/buildkite/trigger-issue-build.sh
@@ -43,12 +43,11 @@ bk_require_cmd git
 bk_require_cmd curl
 bk_require_cmd jq
 
-# Prefer validating via rad when available; otherwise accept the id (poll already
-# filtered to xyz.radicle.issue COB refs).
-if command -v rad >/dev/null 2>&1 && git remote get-url rad >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-  if ! rad issue show "$ISSUE_ID" --header >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-    bk_die "not a valid issue: $ISSUE_ID"
-  fi
+# Validate via rad issue show and/or namespaced COB refs (Garden HTTPS). Poll
+# already filters to xyz.radicle.issue COBs; rad CLI alone often misses other
+# nodes' namespace refs even after sync.
+if ! bk_issue_cob_exists "$ISSUE_ID"; then
+  bk_die "not a valid issue: $ISSUE_ID"
 fi
 
 COMMIT="$(git rev-parse "$BRANCH")"