diff --git a/bot_bottle/backend/macos_container/nested-containers-init.sh b/bot_bottle/backend/macos_container/nested-containers-init.sh
index 0c7c65f..8fcc363 100755
--- a/bot_bottle/backend/macos_container/nested-containers-init.sh
+++ b/bot_bottle/backend/macos_container/nested-containers-init.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,10 @@ if [ "$uid" -eq 0 ]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
-for command in podman docker fuse-overlayfs slirp4netns; do
+# pasta is podman 5's default rootless network helper. Checked here so a
+# missing package fails the bootstrap with a clear message rather than
+# letting every later `docker run` die with "could not find pasta".
+for command in podman docker fuse-overlayfs pasta slirp4netns; do
     command -v "$command" >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
         echo "missing nested-container prerequisite: $command" >&2
         exit 1
diff --git a/bot_bottle/backend/macos_container/nested_containers.py b/bot_bottle/backend/macos_container/nested_containers.py
index 5f90965..5edb4fc 100644
--- a/bot_bottle/backend/macos_container/nested_containers.py
+++ b/bot_bottle/backend/macos_container/nested_containers.py
@@ -41,10 +41,9 @@ _INIT = "/usr/local/libexec/bot-bottle/nested-containers-init"
 # Deliberately cryptic and short. podman derives conmon's attach socket as
 # `$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libpod/tmp/socket/<64-hex-id>/attach`, and a Unix socket
 # path may not exceed 108 bytes (`sun_path`). The descriptive
-# `/tmp/bot-bottle-podman-run` produced a 116-byte path, so every attached
-# `docker run` failed with "unable to upgrade to tcp, received 500" while
-# detached runs and image pulls worked fine. Do not lengthen this for
-# readability — it buys 8 bytes of headroom over the limit.
+# `/tmp/bot-bottle-podman-run` produced a 116-byte path — over the limit, so
+# attach would have broken as soon as anything got far enough to attach. Do
+# not lengthen this for readability; it buys 8 bytes of headroom.
 _RUNTIME_DIR = "/tmp/bbp"
 _SOCKET = f"{_RUNTIME_DIR}/podman.sock"
 _LOG = "/tmp/bot-bottle-nested-containers.log"
@@ -83,8 +82,12 @@ def build_image(
             "COPY --from=docker_cli /usr/local/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/"
             "docker-compose /usr/local/libexec/docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose\n"
             "RUN apt-get update \\\n"
+            # passt provides `pasta`, which podman 5 uses by default for
+            # rootless networking (podman 4 defaulted to slirp4netns). Without
+            # it every container fails to start with "could not find pasta".
+            # slirp4netns stays as the documented fallback.
             " && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends "
-            "fuse-overlayfs slirp4netns uidmap \\\n"
+            "fuse-overlayfs passt slirp4netns uidmap \\\n"
             " && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \\\n"
             # Deliberate: an empty subordinate range keeps podman on the
             # single-UID mapping that needs no CAP_SYS_ADMIN.  Adding ranges
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_macos_nested_containers.py b/tests/unit/test_macos_nested_containers.py
index 035a371..b064db5 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_macos_nested_containers.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_macos_nested_containers.py
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ class TestNestedContainersImage(unittest.TestCase):
             calls.append((image, context, dockerfile))
             text = Path(dockerfile).read_text(encoding="utf-8")
             self.assertIn("FROM agent:base", text)
-            self.assertIn("fuse-overlayfs slirp4netns uidmap", text)
+            self.assertIn("fuse-overlayfs passt slirp4netns uidmap", text)
             self.assertIn("USER node", text)
             self.assertTrue((Path(context) / "nested-containers-init.sh").is_file())
 
@@ -116,6 +116,19 @@ class TestNestedContainersImage(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual("agent:base-nested-containers", image)
         self.assertEqual("agent:base-nested-containers", calls[0][0])
 
+    def test_installs_pasta_for_podman_5_rootless_networking(self) -> None:
+        """podman 5 defaults to pasta where podman 4 used slirp4netns. Without
+        the passt package every nested container fails to start with "could
+        not find pasta" — pulls still work, which makes it look like a
+        compat-API bug rather than a missing dependency."""
+        seen: list[str] = []
+
+        def build(_image: str, _context: str, *, dockerfile: str) -> None:
+            seen.append(Path(dockerfile).read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+
+        nested_containers.build_image("agent:base", build)
+        self.assertIn("passt", seen[0])
+
     def test_strips_subordinate_ranges_so_podman_avoids_newuidmap(self) -> None:
         """The single-UID fallback is the entire reason podman works here.