diff --git a/docker/decoder/Dockerfile b/docker/decoder/Dockerfile
index 0e4d3db2..b3f85389 100644
--- a/docker/decoder/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/decoder/Dockerfile
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
       # expect drives Claude Code's one-time interactive gates for an
       # unattended run — see bin/claude-autonomous.
       expect \
+      # PulseAudio, for capturing audio without a sound card. `module-null-sink`
+      # is a real device as far as any application is concerned, so the emulator
+      # and Godot open it normally and `parec` records what they play. Without
+      # it, "does this actually sound right" is unanswerable in a container --
+      # and the cue-to-event bindings stay a name match rather than a
+      # measurement. See docs/port/AUDIO-VERIFICATION.md.
+      pulseaudio pulseaudio-utils \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # Pin the unversioned tool names to 19 so CMake, and anything that shells out to
diff --git a/docker/port/Dockerfile b/docker/port/Dockerfile
index a828d7aa..e0893494 100644
--- a/docker/port/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/port/Dockerfile
@@ -32,6 +32,13 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
       python3 jq ripgrep unzip file less nano tini sudo procps \
       # expect drives Claude Code's one-time interactive gates
       expect \
+      # PulseAudio, for capturing audio without a sound card. `module-null-sink`
+      # is a real device as far as any application is concerned, so the emulator
+      # and Godot open it normally and `parec` records what they play. Without
+      # it, "does this actually sound right" is unanswerable in a container --
+      # and the cue-to-event bindings stay a name match rather than a
+      # measurement. See docs/port/AUDIO-VERIFICATION.md.
+      pulseaudio pulseaudio-utils \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
 # ── Godot 4 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
diff --git a/docs/port/AUDIO-VERIFICATION.md b/docs/port/AUDIO-VERIFICATION.md
index 41c80c90..6ca19b4d 100644
--- a/docs/port/AUDIO-VERIFICATION.md
+++ b/docs/port/AUDIO-VERIFICATION.md
@@ -89,18 +89,25 @@ under a dummy driver" is a weaker claim than "heard", and the difference matters
 ## 3. A virtual device, when something insists on a real one
 
 For anything that opens a device rather than a bus — the emulator, most
-obviously — a PulseAudio **null sink** is a real device that records to a file:
+obviously — a PulseAudio **null sink** is a real device that records to a file.
+`pulseaudio-utils` is in both images, and `audio-capture` wraps it:
 
 ```bash
-pactl load-module module-null-sink sink_name=cap sink_properties=device.description=cap
-PULSE_SINK=cap <the application>
-parec -d cap.monitor --file-format=wav /tmp/captured.wav
+audio-capture run /tmp/menu.wav -- run-canary        # start sink, run, record
+audio-capture start                                  # or drive it by hand
+PULSE_SINK=cap godot --path port
+audio-capture record /tmp/out.wav &
 ```
 
-This is the route to capturing what the *game* plays — the menu move and confirm
-cues behind HANDOFF Q8 — rather than what we think it should play. It needs
-`pulseaudio-utils` in the image, so it is a rebuild, not something to reach for
-mid-iteration.
+This is the route to capturing what the **game** plays — the menu move and
+confirm cues behind HANDOFF Q8 — rather than what we believe it should play.
+Those bindings are currently a name match against the authors' own identifiers;
+a capture turns them into a measurement.
+
+⚠️ `audio-capture run` reports the peak level and **warns when the result is
+silent**, because silence is the failure that looks like success: a WAV of
+exactly the right duration, full of zeroes, because the application opened a
+different sink. A duration check alone would pass it.
 
 ## What none of this establishes
 
diff --git a/tools/audio-capture b/tools/audio-capture
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..1db19f04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/audio-capture
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Record what an application plays, with no sound card present.
+#
+#   audio-capture start                 bring up a null sink named `cap`
+#   audio-capture record OUT.wav &      record from it until killed
+#   audio-capture run OUT.wav -- CMD…   start, run CMD, stop, leave OUT.wav
+#
+# A null sink is a real device as far as the application is concerned: the
+# emulator and Godot open it exactly as they would hardware, and its monitor
+# source is what `parec` reads. This is the difference between "the file decodes"
+# and "the game played this" -- the second is a measurement, the first is not.
+#
+# Nothing here says the audio SOUNDS right; it says what was emitted. A human
+# listening still answers something none of this does.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SINK="${SYLPH_SINK:-cap}"
+
+ensure_daemon() {
+  pulseaudio --check 2>/dev/null || pulseaudio --start --exit-idle-time=-1 2>/dev/null || true
+  for _ in $(seq 30); do pactl info >/dev/null 2>&1 && return 0; sleep 0.2; done
+  echo "audio-capture: no PulseAudio daemon" >&2; return 1
+}
+
+case "${1:-}" in
+  start)
+    ensure_daemon
+    pactl list short sinks | grep -q "^[0-9]*[[:space:]]*$SINK[[:space:]]" \
+      || pactl load-module module-null-sink sink_name="$SINK" \
+           sink_properties=device.description="$SINK" >/dev/null
+    pactl set-default-sink "$SINK"
+    echo "audio-capture: sink '$SINK' ready; point apps at it with PULSE_SINK=$SINK"
+    ;;
+  record)
+    out="${2:?usage: audio-capture record OUT.wav}"
+    ensure_daemon
+    exec parec -d "${SINK}.monitor" --file-format=wav "$out"
+    ;;
+  run)
+    out="${2:?usage: audio-capture run OUT.wav -- COMMAND...}"; shift 2
+    [ "${1:-}" = "--" ] && shift
+    "$0" start
+    parec -d "${SINK}.monitor" --file-format=wav "$out" & rec=$!
+    # Kill the recorder on any exit path, or a failed run leaves it holding the
+    # monitor and the next capture silently records nothing.
+    trap 'kill "$rec" 2>/dev/null || true' EXIT
+    PULSE_SINK="$SINK" "$@" || true
+    sleep 1; kill "$rec" 2>/dev/null || true; wait "$rec" 2>/dev/null || true
+    trap - EXIT
+    if [ -s "$out" ]; then
+      dur=$(ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration -of csv=p=0 "$out" 2>/dev/null || echo "?")
+      echo "audio-capture: $out (${dur}s)"
+      # Silence is the failure that looks like success: a WAV of the right
+      # length, full of zeroes, because the app opened a different sink.
+      peak=$(ffmpeg -hide_banner -i "$out" -af astats=measure_perchannel=none -f null - 2>&1 \
+               | grep -m1 "Peak level" || true)
+      echo "            ${peak:-no level measured}"
+      case "$peak" in *"-inf"*) echo "            WARNING: silent -- did the app use this sink?" ;; esac
+    else
+      echo "audio-capture: nothing recorded" >&2; exit 1
+    fi
+    ;;
+  *) sed -n '2,12p' "$0" | sed 's/^# \{0,1\}//' ;;
+esac