diff --git a/mcp/comment.ts b/mcp/comment.ts
index 3522221..4ff456e 100644
--- a/mcp/comment.ts
+++ b/mcp/comment.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@ import { execute, tool } from "./shared.ts";
  */
 export const LEAPING_INTO_ACTION_PREFIX = "Leaping into action";
 
+export function isLeapingIntoActionCommentBody(body: string): boolean {
+  const content = stripExistingFooter(body).trimStart();
+  const firstLine = content.split(/\r?\n/, 1)[0]?.trimEnd() ?? "";
+  return new RegExp(`(^|\\s)${LEAPING_INTO_ACTION_PREFIX}(\\.\\.\\.)?$`).test(firstLine);
+}
+
 function buildCommentFooter(ctx: ToolContext, customParts?: string[]): string {
   const runId = ctx.runId;
   return buildPullfrogFooter({
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 7ba79ed..cfda094 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "pullfrog",
-  "version": "0.0.201",
+  "version": "0.0.202",
   "type": "module",
   "bin": {
     "pullfrog": "dist/cli.mjs",
diff --git a/runCli.ts b/runCli.ts
index 22e7276..b57907b 100644
--- a/runCli.ts
+++ b/runCli.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
-import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
+import { accessSync, constants, existsSync } from "node:fs";
 import { delimiter, dirname, join } from "node:path";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
 import actionPackageJson from "./package.json" with { type: "json" };
@@ -20,6 +20,48 @@ interface RuntimeContext {
 const NPM_REGISTRY = "https://registry.npmjs.org";
 const FALLBACK_PACKAGE_SPEC = `pullfrog@^${actionPackageJson.version}`;
 
+function getErrorMessage(error: unknown): string {
+  return error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
+}
+
+function canAccessExecutable(path: string): boolean {
+  try {
+    accessSync(path, constants.X_OK);
+    return true;
+  } catch {
+    if (process.platform !== "win32") {
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  try {
+    accessSync(path, constants.F_OK);
+    return true;
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+function resolveExecutable(params: { command: string; env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv }): string | null {
+  const pathValue = params.env.PATH ?? "";
+  const pathEntries = pathValue.split(delimiter).filter(Boolean);
+  const extensions =
+    process.platform === "win32"
+      ? (params.env.PATHEXT ?? ".COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD").split(";").filter(Boolean)
+      : [""];
+
+  for (const pathEntry of pathEntries) {
+    for (const extension of extensions) {
+      const candidate = join(pathEntry, `${params.command}${extension.toLowerCase()}`);
+      if (canAccessExecutable(candidate)) {
+        return candidate;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return null;
+}
+
 function createRuntimeContext(): RuntimeContext {
   const actionRoot = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
   const nodeBinDir = dirname(process.execPath);
@@ -38,28 +80,77 @@ function createRuntimeContext(): RuntimeContext {
   };
 }
 
-function runNpx(context: RuntimeContext, packageSpec: string, cliArgs: string[]): void {
-  const npxPath =
-    process.platform === "win32"
-      ? join(context.nodeBinDir, "npx.cmd")
-      : join(context.nodeBinDir, "npx");
-  execFileSync(npxPath, ["--yes", packageSpec, ...cliArgs], {
-    cwd: process.env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE || context.actionRoot,
+function runCommand(params: { context: RuntimeContext; command: string; args: string[] }): void {
+  execFileSync(params.command, params.args, {
+    cwd: process.env.GITHUB_WORKSPACE || params.context.actionRoot,
     stdio: "inherit",
-    env: context.env,
+    env: params.context.env,
   });
 }
 
+// resolve a launcher binary by walking PATH (which already has the action
+// runtime's nodeBinDir prepended). some hosted Node 24 runner pools ship
+// `node` at `externals/node24/bin/node` without the sibling `npx`/`corepack`,
+// so a hardcoded sibling path can't be relied on — fall back to whatever the
+// runner image provides on PATH.
+function requireExecutable(params: {
+  context: RuntimeContext;
+  command: string;
+  purpose: string;
+}): string {
+  const resolved = resolveExecutable({ command: params.command, env: params.context.env });
+  if (!resolved) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `could not find ${params.command} on PATH (needed to ${params.purpose}); ` +
+        `runtime PATH was: ${params.context.env.PATH ?? "<empty>"}`
+    );
+  }
+  return resolved;
+}
+
+function runPackageCli(context: RuntimeContext, packageSpec: string, cliArgs: string[]): void {
+  const npxPath = resolveExecutable({ command: "npx", env: context.env });
+  if (npxPath) {
+    runCommand({ context, command: npxPath, args: ["--yes", packageSpec, ...cliArgs] });
+    return;
+  }
+
+  const corepackPath = resolveExecutable({ command: "corepack", env: context.env });
+  if (corepackPath) {
+    console.warn("» npx not found, using corepack pnpm dlx");
+    runCommand({ context, command: corepackPath, args: ["pnpm", "dlx", packageSpec, ...cliArgs] });
+    return;
+  }
+
+  throw new Error(
+    `could not find npx or corepack on PATH to run ${packageSpec}; ` +
+      `runtime PATH was: ${context.env.PATH ?? "<empty>"}`
+  );
+}
+
 function ensureActionDependencies(context: RuntimeContext): void {
   const nodeModulesPath = join(context.actionRoot, "node_modules");
   if (existsSync(nodeModulesPath)) {
     return;
   }
 
-  const corepackPath =
-    process.platform === "win32"
-      ? join(context.nodeBinDir, "corepack.cmd")
-      : join(context.nodeBinDir, "corepack");
+  const corepackPath = requireExecutable({
+    context,
+    command: "corepack",
+    purpose: "install action dependencies via pnpm",
+  });
+  const adjacentCorepack = join(
+    context.nodeBinDir,
+    process.platform === "win32" ? "corepack.cmd" : "corepack"
+  );
+  if (corepackPath !== adjacentCorepack) {
+    // bad-runner case: GitHub's externals/node24/bin/ is missing the corepack
+    // sibling, so we resolved via PATH instead. logging this lets us correlate
+    // bootstrap path to runner pool when validating the fix.
+    console.warn(
+      `» nodeBinDir corepack missing (${adjacentCorepack}); using PATH-resolved ${corepackPath}`
+    );
+  }
   execFileSync(corepackPath, ["pnpm", "install", "--frozen-lockfile", "--ignore-scripts"], {
     cwd: context.actionRoot,
     stdio: "inherit",
@@ -87,7 +178,7 @@ function runPullfrogCliInner(context: RuntimeContext, cliArgs: string[]): void {
     return;
   }
 
-  runNpx(context, FALLBACK_PACKAGE_SPEC, cliArgs);
+  runPackageCli(context, FALLBACK_PACKAGE_SPEC, cliArgs);
 }
 
 export function runPullfrogCli(params: RunPullfrogCliParams): void {
@@ -96,7 +187,8 @@ export function runPullfrogCli(params: RunPullfrogCliParams): void {
   if (params.swallowErrors) {
     try {
       runPullfrogCliInner(context, params.cliArgs);
-    } catch {
+    } catch (error) {
+      console.warn(`» pullfrog cleanup bootstrap failed: ${getErrorMessage(error)}`);
       // best-effort cleanup
     }
     return;
diff --git a/utils/postCleanup.ts b/utils/postCleanup.ts
index f942f06..3084a18 100644
--- a/utils/postCleanup.ts
+++ b/utils/postCleanup.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { LEAPING_INTO_ACTION_PREFIX } from "../mcp/comment.ts";
+import { isLeapingIntoActionCommentBody } from "../mcp/comment.ts";
 import { getApiUrl } from "./apiUrl.ts";
 import { buildPullfrogFooter } from "./buildPullfrogFooter.ts";
 import { log } from "./cli.ts";
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ async function validateStuckProgressComment(ctx: PostCleanupContext): Promise<nu
 
     const body = commentResult.data.body ?? "";
 
-    if (body.startsWith(LEAPING_INTO_ACTION_PREFIX)) {
+    if (isLeapingIntoActionCommentBody(body)) {
       log.info(`[post] comment ${commentId} is stuck on "Leaping into action"`);
       return commentId;
     }