diff --git a/src/actions/register-handlers.ts b/src/actions/register-handlers.ts
index ca967ea..e02caad 100644
--- a/src/actions/register-handlers.ts
+++ b/src/actions/register-handlers.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import { registerCatalogActionHandlers } from './catalog.handlers.js';
 import { registerTaskActionHandlers } from './task.handlers.js';
+import { bindDispatchEngine, type DispatchEngine } from '../jobs/dispatch.job.js';
 
 /**
  * Action handler registration.
@@ -14,8 +15,16 @@ import { registerTaskActionHandlers } from './task.handlers.js';
  *
  * An action whose handler is not registered here renders, is clickable, and
  * fails at call time. There is no author-time gate for it.
+ *
+ * It is also, not just incidentally, the only place `duly_dispatch` gets its
+ * data engine: `defineStack({ onEnable })` is the sole spot an ObjectStack
+ * application is handed `ctx.ql`, and `src/jobs/dispatch.job.ts` cannot reach
+ * one on its own (a job handler is invoked with `{ jobId, data, bundle }` —
+ * see that file's header, and objectstack#14094 upstream). So this function
+ * both registers action handlers AND binds the dispatch engine — two
+ * unrelated things sharing the one seam the platform gives an application.
  */
-export interface HandlerRegistrationContext {
+export interface HandlerRegistrationContext extends DispatchEngine {
   registerAction: (...args: unknown[]) => void;
 }
 
@@ -23,4 +32,8 @@ export function registerDulyActionHandlers(ql: HandlerRegistrationContext): void
   // Register handlers here, one call per feature:
   registerCatalogActionHandlers(ql);
   registerTaskActionHandlers(ql);
+  // Gives `duly_dispatch` its data engine (see file-header note above and
+  // dispatch.job.ts's own header). Until this call existed, the job was
+  // registered, scheduled and rendered configured — and dispatched nothing.
+  bindDispatchEngine(ql);
 }
diff --git a/test/catalog-instantiate.test.ts b/test/catalog-instantiate.test.ts
index 1a6e5c6..70087fe 100644
--- a/test/catalog-instantiate.test.ts
+++ b/test/catalog-instantiate.test.ts
@@ -529,6 +529,12 @@ describe('handler wiring', () => {
       registerAction: (...args: unknown[]) => {
         calls.push({ object: String(args[0]), action: String(args[1]), handler: args[2] });
       },
+      // Widened by #42 so `registerDulyActionHandlers` can also
+      // `bindDispatchEngine(ql)`; this suite is only about the action-handler
+      // registry, so these are unused no-ops rather than a real engine.
+      find: async () => [],
+      insert: async () => ({}),
+      update: async () => undefined,
     };
     registerDulyActionHandlers(ql);
     return calls;
diff --git a/test/dispatch-wiring.test.ts b/test/dispatch-wiring.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2c36751
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/dispatch-wiring.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { AppPlugin, ObjectKernel, createStandaloneStack } from '@objectstack/runtime';
+
+import stackConfig, { onEnable } from '../objectstack.config.js';
+import { DISPATCH_JOB_NAME, dulyDispatch, unbindDispatchEngine } from '../src/jobs/dispatch.job.js';
+
+/**
+ * Issue #42 — the dispatch engine is actually wired, not just wireable.
+ *
+ * Every other dispatch assertion in this repo (`test/dispatch.test.ts`) calls
+ * `bindDispatchEngine(data)` itself, by hand, before touching `dulyDispatch`.
+ * That is deliberately right for testing the PLANNER and the idempotency
+ * index — but it means that suite would keep passing GREEN even if
+ * `registerDulyActionHandlers` never called `bindDispatchEngine` at all, i.e.
+ * even if this issue's fix were reverted. A test-side bind papers over
+ * exactly the gap #42 exists to close.
+ *
+ * So this file boots the app the way a real host does — through
+ * `defineStack({ onEnable })` — and never calls `bindDispatchEngine` itself.
+ * If the wiring in `src/actions/register-handlers.ts` is missing, this file
+ * fails with "Job 'duly_dispatch' has no data engine", not with a false
+ * green.
+ *
+ * ── Reproducing the real onEnable-merge, not `new AppPlugin(stack)` ────────
+ * `objectstack.config.ts` exports `defineStack(...)` as `default` and
+ * `onEnable` as a SEPARATE named export sitting beside it — `defineStack`
+ * itself is never handed `onEnable`. Measured on `@objectstack/runtime`
+ * 17.2.0, `AppPlugin` only invokes `onEnable` when it is a property of the
+ * bundle object it was constructed with (`this.bundle`), and measured on
+ * `@objectstack/cli` 17.2.0 `serve.ts`, the CLI gets there by merging the
+ * module's named exports onto its default export before constructing
+ * `AppPlugin` — a comment there spells out why: "Without this AppPlugin can
+ * never invoke runtime hooks declared as `export const onEnable = ...`
+ * alongside the default `defineStack(...)` export." `test/task-actions.test.ts`
+ * hits the same fact from the other side, passing only the default export and
+ * noting `onEnable` is therefore never invoked, and registering handlers by
+ * hand instead.
+ *
+ * This test does what the CLI does — `{ ...stackConfig, onEnable }` — so
+ * `AppPlugin` finds `onEnable` on the bundle exactly as `objectstack dev`
+ * would, and this is the one file in the repo that boots the config the way
+ * a real host does.
+ */
+
+let kernel: { getService(name: string): unknown; shutdown?(): Promise<void> } | undefined;
+let data: {
+  find(o: string, q?: Record<string, unknown>, x?: Record<string, unknown>): Promise<Array<Record<string, unknown>>>;
+  insert(o: string, d: Record<string, unknown>, x?: Record<string, unknown>): Promise<Record<string, unknown>>;
+};
+
+beforeAll(async () => {
+  // Defensive only: vitest gives each test FILE its own module registry, so
+  // this module-scope binding cannot see another file's leftover state. This
+  // just guards against booting on top of a bind this file did not make.
+  unbindDispatchEngine();
+
+  const { plugins } = await createStandaloneStack({
+    databaseDriver: 'memory',
+    skipSeedData: true,
+    // Left to its default this resolves `<cwd>/dist/objectstack.json`; a local
+    // `pnpm build` would then make this suite report on the last BUILD rather
+    // than on `src/`, passing with the wiring reverted. Same guard as the
+    // sibling suites, for the same reason.
+    artifactPath: 'dist/objectstack.this-suite-must-not-load-an-artifact.json',
+  });
+  const k = new ObjectKernel();
+  for (const plugin of plugins) await k.use(plugin);
+
+  // The merge under test: the config's `default` export plus its `onEnable`
+  // named export, exactly as `objectstack serve`/`objectstack dev` load it —
+  // NOT `new AppPlugin(stackConfig)` alone, which is the shape
+  // `test/task-actions.test.ts` uses precisely because it does NOT want
+  // `onEnable` invoked.
+  const bundle = { ...stackConfig, onEnable };
+  await k.use(new AppPlugin(bundle, undefined, { skipSeedData: true }));
+  await k.bootstrap();
+
+  kernel = k as unknown as typeof kernel;
+  data = k.getService('data') as typeof data;
+}, 180_000);
+
+afterAll(async () => {
+  await kernel?.shutdown?.();
+  unbindDispatchEngine();
+});
+
+describe('the dispatch engine is bound at boot, through the real onEnable path', () => {
+  it('dulyDispatch runs against the real engine with no test-side bindDispatchEngine call', async () => {
+    const created = await data.insert('duly_duty', {
+      name: 'File the emissions return',
+      form: 'recurring',
+      owner: 'user_alice',
+      source: 'catalog',
+      status: 'active',
+      frequency: 'monthly',
+      due_anchor: 'period_start',
+      due_offset_days: 4,
+      lead_days: 0,
+      timezone: 'UTC',
+    });
+    const dutyId = String((Array.isArray(created) ? created[0] : created).id);
+
+    // If `registerDulyActionHandlers` never called `bindDispatchEngine`, this
+    // throws "Job 'duly_dispatch' has no data engine …" — see
+    // `requireDispatchEngine` in dispatch.job.ts. It does not, because
+    // `onEnable` ran during `bootstrap()` above and bound the real `ql`.
+    const outcome = await dulyDispatch({ jobId: DISPATCH_JOB_NAME });
+    expect(outcome.outcome).toBe('completed');
+
+    const tasks = await data.find('duly_task', { where: { duty: dutyId } });
+    expect(tasks).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(tasks[0]).toMatchObject({
+      duty: dutyId,
+      owner: 'user_alice',
+      status: 'open',
+    });
+  });
+});