diff --git a/apps/api/src/local-data-root.ts b/apps/api/src/local-data-root.ts
index 258db9d..6ddce5f 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/local-data-root.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/local-data-root.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ const fixedDirectories = [
   "logs/supervisor",
 ] as const;
 
+export function ensureLocalDataRuntimeDirectories(dataRoot: string) {
+  for (const directory of fixedDirectories) {
+    mkdirSync(join(resolve(dataRoot), directory), { recursive: true });
+  }
+}
+
 export const DATA_TRANSFER_POLICY = {
   allowed_downloads: ["original_generation", "jpg", "png"],
   application_backup: false,
@@ -219,9 +225,7 @@ export function initializeLocalDataRoot(input: {
 
   const createdRoot = !existsSync(validation.normalized_path);
   try {
-    for (const directory of fixedDirectories) {
-      mkdirSync(join(validation.normalized_path, directory), { recursive: true });
-    }
+    ensureLocalDataRuntimeDirectories(validation.normalized_path);
     openInstanceDatabase(join(validation.normalized_path, "db", "dada.sqlite3"));
     const configuration: InstanceConfiguration = {
       data_root: validation.normalized_path,
diff --git a/apps/api/src/main.ts b/apps/api/src/main.ts
index f7034b4..8975c21 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/main.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/main.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import { registrationNotice } from "@dada/shared-contracts";
 
 import { createApp } from "./app.js";
 import { readBrowserSupportRelease } from "./browser-support.js";
-import { defaultInstanceConfigPath, readConfiguredLocalDataRoot } from "./local-data-root.js";
+import { defaultInstanceConfigPath, ensureLocalDataRuntimeDirectories, readConfiguredLocalDataRoot } from "./local-data-root.js";
 import { ManagedStorage } from "./managed-storage.js";
 import { LatestExportService } from "./latest-exports.js";
 import { CreditService } from "./credits.js";
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ if (credentialChannelEnabled) {
       .update(`Dada/P0A/${purpose}/v1`, "utf8")
       .digest();
     const dataRoot = readConfiguredLocalDataRoot(instanceConfigPath);
+    ensureLocalDataRuntimeDirectories(dataRoot);
     const databasePath = join(dataRoot, "db", "dada.sqlite3");
     registration = new RegistrationService({
       adminAllowlistPepper: Buffer.from(clients.adminAllowlistPepper),
diff --git a/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor.Tests/Program.cs b/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor.Tests/Program.cs
index cf4a5b3..24a0a28 100644
--- a/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor.Tests/Program.cs
+++ b/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor.Tests/Program.cs
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ internal static class Program
             var supervisor = await TestSupervisorLifecycleAsync();
             await TestAmapProbeSecurityAsync();
             TestSecureConfigurationPersistence();
+            TestRuntimeDirectoryBootstrap();
             TestStructuredLogging();
             WriteEvidence(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DADA_EVIDENCE_DIR_SEC"), security);
             WriteEvidence(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("DADA_EVIDENCE_DIR_SUP"), supervisor);
@@ -125,6 +126,29 @@ internal static class Program
         }
     }
 
+    private static void TestRuntimeDirectoryBootstrap()
+    {
+        var root = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), $"dada-runtime-root-{Guid.NewGuid():N}");
+        try
+        {
+            Directory.CreateDirectory(root);
+            SupervisorRuntime.EnsureRuntimeDirectories(root);
+            foreach (var relativePath in new[]
+            {
+                "db", "content/references", "content/generated", "content/exports",
+                "managed-assets", "derived-assets", "staging",
+                "logs/api", "logs/worker", "logs/supervisor",
+            })
+            {
+                True(Directory.Exists(Path.Combine(root, relativePath)), $"runtime directory missing: {relativePath}");
+            }
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            if (Directory.Exists(root)) Directory.Delete(root, recursive: true);
+        }
+    }
+
     private static async Task<object> TestCredentialBoundaryAsync()
     {
         var store = new TestCredentialStore();
diff --git a/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor/Credentials.cs b/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor/Credentials.cs
index 15f3d84..1314546 100644
--- a/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor/Credentials.cs
+++ b/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor/Credentials.cs
@@ -50,7 +50,9 @@ internal static class CredentialProcessLauncher
         var credentials = new Dictionary<string, string>(StringComparer.Ordinal);
         foreach (var target in CredentialCatalog.RequiredFor(role))
         {
-            credentials[target] = store.Read(target) ?? string.Empty;
+            var value = store.Read(target);
+            if (role == ChildRole.Worker && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value)) throw new MissingCredentialException(target);
+            credentials[target] = value ?? string.Empty;
         }
 
         startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
@@ -98,7 +100,9 @@ internal static class CredentialProcessLauncher
         var credentials = new Dictionary<string, string>(StringComparer.Ordinal);
         foreach (var target in CredentialCatalog.RequiredFor(role))
         {
-            credentials[target] = store.Read(target) ?? string.Empty;
+            var value = store.Read(target);
+            if (role == ChildRole.Worker && string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value)) throw new MissingCredentialException(target);
+            credentials[target] = value ?? string.Empty;
         }
 
         startInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
diff --git a/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor/SupervisorRuntime.cs b/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor/SupervisorRuntime.cs
index a58fe69..91f2fdb 100644
--- a/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor/SupervisorRuntime.cs
+++ b/supervisor/Dada.Supervisor/SupervisorRuntime.cs
@@ -5,6 +5,19 @@ namespace Dada.Supervisor;
 
 internal sealed class SupervisorRuntime : IAsyncDisposable
 {
+    private static readonly string[] RequiredDataDirectories =
+    [
+        "db",
+        Path.Combine("content", "references"),
+        Path.Combine("content", "generated"),
+        Path.Combine("content", "exports"),
+        "managed-assets",
+        "derived-assets",
+        "staging",
+        Path.Combine("logs", "api"),
+        Path.Combine("logs", "worker"),
+        Path.Combine("logs", "supervisor"),
+    ];
     private readonly ICredentialStore credentials;
     private ManagedComponentSupervisor? api;
     private ManagedComponentSupervisor? worker;
@@ -26,6 +39,7 @@ internal sealed class SupervisorRuntime : IAsyncDisposable
         {
             return SupervisorState.StartupFailed;
         }
+        EnsureRuntimeDirectories(configuration.LocalDataRoot);
         try
         {
             logger = new StructuredJsonlLogger(Path.Combine(configuration.LocalDataRoot, "logs", "supervisor"), "supervisor");
@@ -42,12 +56,30 @@ internal sealed class SupervisorRuntime : IAsyncDisposable
         var workerEntry = Path.Combine(AppContext.BaseDirectory, "server", "worker.mjs");
         if (!File.Exists(node) || !File.Exists(apiEntry) || !File.Exists(workerEntry)) return SupervisorState.StartupFailed;
 
-        api = CreateComponent(node, apiEntry, ChildRole.Api, SupervisorState.ApiDegraded);
-        await api.StartAsync(cancellationToken);
+        try
+        {
+            api = CreateComponent(node, apiEntry, ChildRole.Api, SupervisorState.ApiDegraded);
+            await api.StartAsync(cancellationToken);
 
-        worker = CreateComponent(node, workerEntry, ChildRole.Worker, SupervisorState.WorkerDegraded);
-        await worker.StartAsync(cancellationToken);
-        return TryLog(new StructuredLogEvent("ready", ErrorCategory: "none")) ? SupervisorState.Ready : SupervisorState.StorageUnavailable;
+            worker = CreateComponent(node, workerEntry, ChildRole.Worker, SupervisorState.WorkerDegraded);
+            await worker.StartAsync(cancellationToken);
+            return TryLog(new StructuredLogEvent("ready", ErrorCategory: "none")) ? SupervisorState.Ready : SupervisorState.StorageUnavailable;
+        }
+        catch
+        {
+            await StopComponentsAsync();
+            return TryLog(new StructuredLogEvent("failed", ErrorCategory: "service_unavailable"))
+                ? SupervisorState.StartupFailed
+                : SupervisorState.StorageUnavailable;
+        }
+    }
+
+    internal static void EnsureRuntimeDirectories(string dataRoot)
+    {
+        foreach (var directory in RequiredDataDirectories)
+        {
+            Directory.CreateDirectory(Path.Combine(dataRoot, directory));
+        }
     }
 
     private void EnsureAdminPepper()
@@ -102,10 +134,26 @@ internal sealed class SupervisorRuntime : IAsyncDisposable
     }
 
     public async ValueTask DisposeAsync()
+    {
+        await StopComponentsAsync();
+    }
+
+    private async Task StopComponentsAsync()
     {
         var stops = new List<Task>();
         if (worker is not null) stops.Add(worker.DisposeAsync().AsTask());
         if (api is not null) stops.Add(api.DisposeAsync().AsTask());
-        await Task.WhenAll(stops);
+        try
+        {
+            await Task.WhenAll(stops);
+        }
+        catch
+        {
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            worker = null;
+            api = null;
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/package/postv1-runtime.test.mjs b/tests/package/postv1-runtime.test.mjs
index d69132c..6593924 100644
--- a/tests/package/postv1-runtime.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/package/postv1-runtime.test.mjs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import test from "node:test";
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
-import { mkdtemp, mkdir, readFile, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { mkdtemp, readFile, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
 import { join, resolve } from "node:path";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ test("portable package serves the product and keeps SQLite data across API resta
   assert.match(await readFile(join(packageRoot, "server", "worker", "dist", "worker.js"), "utf8"), /GenerationProcessor/);
   const root = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "dada-postv1-"));
   const dataRoot = join(root, "data");
-  await mkdir(join(dataRoot, "db"), { recursive: true });
   const configPath = join(root, "instance.json");
   await writeFile(configPath, JSON.stringify({ data_root: dataRoot, initialized: true, instance_id: "portable-test", schema_version: 1, secure_config_revision: 1, admin_allowlist_hashes: [], admin_recovery_hashes: [] }));
   let api = startApi(configPath, dataRoot);