diff --git a/docker/scripts/sdk-startup-hook.sh b/docker/scripts/sdk-startup-hook.sh
index 222042c1..c5ffc5bd 100644
--- a/docker/scripts/sdk-startup-hook.sh
+++ b/docker/scripts/sdk-startup-hook.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,17 @@ LOG_FILE="/tmp/sdk-server.log"
 BRIEFING_FILE="/app/briefing.md"
 PRECOMPACT_FILE="/tmp/roboco-precompact-${AGENT_ID}.md"
 
+# #179: this hook runs with cwd = the agent's workspace, so a bare
+# `uv run` resolves a cwd-relative `.venv` (≠ the baked /app/.venv),
+# ignores VIRTUAL_ENV with a warning, and RE-SYNCS the full dependency
+# set (torch/lancedb/pyarrow/scipy, ~350MB) into a fresh venv. On a cold
+# uv wheel cache (first spawn after an image rebuild) that download takes
+# minutes and the SDK/MCP layer never comes up before the agent reaps.
+# Pin uv to the pre-baked image venv so it starts instantly regardless
+# of cwd. (The orchestrator sets the same var in every MCP server's env
+# in the generated mcp-config.json — keep both in sync.)
+export UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT=/app/.venv
+
 # --- SDK bring-up ---------------------------------------------------------
 if ! curl -sf "http://localhost:${SDK_PORT}/health" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
     echo "[SDK] Starting for agent ${AGENT_ID} on port ${SDK_PORT}..."
diff --git a/roboco/runtime/orchestrator.py b/roboco/runtime/orchestrator.py
index 0996cfa9..d82af0f8 100644
--- a/roboco/runtime/orchestrator.py
+++ b/roboco/runtime/orchestrator.py
@@ -1878,6 +1878,19 @@ class AgentOrchestrator:
             "ROBOCO_ORCHESTRATOR_URL": api_url,
             "ROBOCO_AGENT_ID": agent_uuid,
             "ROBOCO_AGENT_ROLE": agent_role,
+            # #179: every MCP server is launched as `uv run python -m
+            # roboco.mcp.<server>` by Claude Code, with cwd = the agent's
+            # WORKSPACE (not /app). Without this, `uv run` resolves a
+            # cwd-relative `.venv` (≠ the baked /app/.venv), ignores the
+            # image's VIRTUAL_ENV with a warning, and RE-SYNCS the full
+            # dependency set (torch/lancedb/pyarrow/scipy, ~350MB) into a
+            # fresh venv on every spawn — masked by a warm uv wheel cache,
+            # but on a cold cache (first spawn after an image rebuild) the
+            # download takes minutes and the MCP servers never come up
+            # before the agent burns its budget. Pinning the project env
+            # to the pre-baked venv makes `uv run` reuse it instantly,
+            # regardless of cwd.
+            "UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT": "/app/.venv",
         }
 
         # Add git context if available
diff --git a/tests/unit/runtime/test_spawn_strict_mcp.py b/tests/unit/runtime/test_spawn_strict_mcp.py
index 0645279e..aee8cb3a 100644
--- a/tests/unit/runtime/test_spawn_strict_mcp.py
+++ b/tests/unit/runtime/test_spawn_strict_mcp.py
@@ -9,9 +9,11 @@ etc. The flag tells the CLI to load ONLY the servers from --mcp-config.
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import json
 from pathlib import Path
 from unittest.mock import patch
 
+import pytest
 from roboco.models.runtime import OrchestratorAgentConfig, SpawnGitContext
 from roboco.runtime.orchestrator import AgentOrchestrator
 
@@ -67,3 +69,26 @@ class TestSpawnStrictMcpConfig:
             f"--strict-mcp-config should appear near --mcp-config; "
             f"strict_idx={strict_idx}, mcp_idx={mcp_idx}. Cmd: {cmd}"
         )
+
+
+class TestMcpConfigPinsBakedVenv:
+    """#179: every generated MCP server launch must pin uv to the baked
+    image venv so `uv run` (cwd = workspace) reuses /app/.venv instead of
+    re-syncing the full dependency set (~350MB) on every spawn."""
+
+    @pytest.mark.asyncio
+    async def test_every_mcp_server_env_pins_uv_project_environment(self) -> None:
+        orch = AgentOrchestrator.__new__(AgentOrchestrator)
+        # be-dev-1 is a known agent (resolves role + uuid); generation is
+        # otherwise pure (writes a json file and returns its path).
+        config_path = await orch._generate_mcp_config("be-dev-1")
+        config = json.loads(Path(config_path).read_text())
+        servers = config["mcpServers"]
+        assert servers, "expected at least the four core MCP servers"
+        for name, spec in servers.items():
+            assert spec["command"] == "uv", f"{name} should launch via uv"
+            assert spec["env"].get("UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT") == "/app/.venv", (
+                f"MCP server {name!r} is missing UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT="
+                f"/app/.venv — without it `uv run` re-downloads deps into a "
+                f"cwd-relative venv on every spawn (#179). env={spec['env']}"
+            )