diff --git a/packages/nopy/src/cubes/dependencies.ts b/packages/nopy/src/cubes/dependencies.ts
index 57852f8..eb7f41e 100644
--- a/packages/nopy/src/cubes/dependencies.ts
+++ b/packages/nopy/src/cubes/dependencies.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,18 @@ export class BuildContext {
   public readonly cubeSessions: CubeSession[] = [];
   private readonly resolvedCubes = new Set<string>();
 
+  /**
+   * The (cube, host) pairs currently being resolved, innermost last.
+   *
+   * `resolvedCubes` cannot serve here: it is written by `buildDeployCall`, which
+   * runs *after* the recursive descent, so a cycle never reaches it — the two
+   * cubes just recurse until the stack overflows. It cannot be widened into a
+   * "seen" set either, because re-entering a cube with different `param`
+   * overrides is a legitimate thing for a dependency or a hook to do. What is
+   * never legitimate is re-entering one that has not finished.
+   */
+  private readonly resolving: { cubeId: string; host: string }[] = [];
+
   constructor(
     public readonly allCubes: Record<string, Cube>,
     public readonly variables: Variables,
@@ -130,6 +142,25 @@ export class BuildContext {
     this.assertVariablesComplete(cube);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Fails a run whose dependency graph loops back on itself.
+   *
+   * Names the whole path rather than just the repeated cube: with dependencies
+   * declared dynamically — and hooks free to `exec` anything at all — the edge
+   * that closed the loop is rarely the one you would guess from the two ends.
+   */
+  private assertNoCycle(cubeId: string, host: string): void {
+    const at = this.resolving.findIndex((f) => f.cubeId === cubeId && f.host === host);
+    if (at === -1) return;
+
+    const path = [...this.resolving.slice(at).map((f) => f.cubeId), cubeId].join(' → ');
+    throw new NopyUsageError(
+      `Circular dependency on ${host}: ${path}. ` +
+        'A cube cannot depend on itself, directly or through a chain — check the ' +
+        '`dependencies()` of each cube named, and any `before`/`after` hook that calls `exec`.'
+    );
+  }
+
   /**
    * Resolves a cube, its dependencies, and hooks recursively
    */
@@ -145,6 +176,22 @@ export class BuildContext {
 
     log.debug('Resolving cube', { cubeId, host });
 
+    this.assertNoCycle(cubeId, host);
+    this.resolving.push({ cubeId, host });
+    try {
+      await this.visitCube(cube, host, overrides);
+    } finally {
+      this.resolving.pop();
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * The body of {@link resolveCube}, once the cube is known and the cycle guard
+   * has admitted it.
+   */
+  private async visitCube(cube: Cube, host: string, overrides: CubeVariables): Promise<void> {
+    const cubeId = cube.id;
+
     // 1. Declare secrets and schema, then assign overrides and defaults. Both
     //    declarations have to come first: the cube's first assignment is what
     //    seeds the config `env` onto it, and by then it must already be known
diff --git a/packages/nopy/tests/cubes.dependencies.edge.test.ts b/packages/nopy/tests/cubes.dependencies.edge.test.ts
index dff1bad..932185b 100644
--- a/packages/nopy/tests/cubes.dependencies.edge.test.ts
+++ b/packages/nopy/tests/cubes.dependencies.edge.test.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { z } from 'zod';
 import { BuildContext } from '../src/cubes/dependencies.js';
 import { Variables } from '../src/nopy.common.js';
 import type { NopyConfig } from '../src/nopy.config.js';
+import { NopyUsageError } from '../src/nopy.errors.js';
 import type { NopySession } from '../src/nopy.session.js';
 
 vi.mock('../src/nopy.prompts.js', async () => {
@@ -61,6 +62,104 @@ describe('BuildContext error handling', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('BuildContext cycle detection', () => {
+  const depCube = (id: string, deps: string[]) =>
+    new Cube(
+      Manifest.create({ id, name: id, schema: z.object({}), dependencies: () => deps }),
+      `/test/${id}`,
+      'deploy.py'
+    );
+
+  const build = (cubes: Cube[]) =>
+    new BuildContext(
+      Object.fromEntries(cubes.map((c) => [c.id, c])),
+      new Variables(),
+      session(),
+      config,
+      { method: 'ssh' },
+      { useDefaults: true }
+    );
+
+  it('rejects a cube that depends on itself', async () => {
+    const context = build([depCube('cube-a', ['cube-a'])]);
+
+    await expect(context.resolveCube('cube-a', 'host1')).rejects.toThrow(
+      'Circular dependency on host1: cube-a → cube-a'
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('names the whole path of a longer loop', async () => {
+    const context = build([
+      depCube('cube-a', ['cube-b']),
+      depCube('cube-b', ['cube-c']),
+      depCube('cube-c', ['cube-a']),
+    ]);
+
+    await expect(context.resolveCube('cube-a', 'host1')).rejects.toThrow(
+      'Circular dependency on host1: cube-a → cube-b → cube-c → cube-a'
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('reports the loop as usage rather than overflowing the stack', async () => {
+    const context = build([depCube('cube-a', ['cube-b']), depCube('cube-b', ['cube-a'])]);
+
+    // The point of the finding: before the guard this recursed until V8 gave up,
+    // and a RangeError names no cube and reads as a nopy crash rather than a
+    // manifest that says something impossible.
+    await expect(context.resolveCube('cube-a', 'host1')).rejects.toBeInstanceOf(NopyUsageError);
+    expect(context.deployCalls).toHaveLength(0);
+  });
+
+  it('catches a loop a hook closes rather than a dependency', async () => {
+    const a = new Cube(
+      Manifest.create({
+        id: 'cube-a',
+        name: 'A',
+        schema: z.object({}),
+        dependencies: () => ['cube-b'],
+      }),
+      '/test/cube-a',
+      'deploy.py'
+    );
+    const b = new Cube(
+      Manifest.create({
+        id: 'cube-b',
+        name: 'B',
+        schema: z.object({}),
+        before: [async (ctx) => ctx.exec('cube-a', {})],
+      }),
+      '/test/cube-b',
+      'deploy.py'
+    );
+
+    await expect(build([a, b]).resolveCube('cube-a', 'host1')).rejects.toThrow(
+      'Circular dependency on host1: cube-a → cube-b → cube-a'
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('allows a diamond, where the shared cube is entered twice but never nested', async () => {
+    const context = build([
+      depCube('top', ['left', 'right']),
+      depCube('left', ['shared']),
+      depCube('right', ['shared']),
+      depCube('shared', []),
+    ]);
+
+    await context.resolveCube('top', 'host1');
+
+    expect(context.deployCalls.map((c) => c.cube)).toEqual(['shared', 'left', 'right', 'top']);
+  });
+
+  it('allows the same cube on a different host', async () => {
+    const context = build([depCube('cube-a', [])]);
+
+    await context.resolveCube('cube-a', 'host1');
+    await context.resolveCube('cube-a', 'host2');
+
+    expect(context.deployCalls.map((c) => c.host)).toEqual(['host1', 'host2']);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('BuildContext log configuration', () => {
   const build = (log: NopyConfig['log']) =>
     new BuildContext(