diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9b61494c7b..ad6265ee67 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -137,6 +137,13 @@ aggregate instead: an italic *Catalog* line at the end of the version section an
   were served as bare `text/plain`, which a strict client decodes as Latin-1 mojibake. nginx now
   declares `charset utf-8` on text responses in both server blocks, and the daily bot-serving
   monitor asserts it on `llms.txt` (#10492).
+- **The image bucket is no longer publicly listable** — `allUsers` held
+  `roles/storage.objectViewer` on `anyplot-images`, whose bundled `storage.objects.list` let
+  anyone enumerate the whole bucket, including the `staging/` prefix where unreviewed pre-merge
+  renders sit indistinguishable from promoted ones. Swapped to `roles/storage.legacyObjectReader`
+  (get-only): every render URL keeps working (verified live incl. CORS), only the directory
+  listing is gone. Applied 2026-08-19 via gcloud — bucket IAM does not deploy with the repo; the
+  policy and re-apply procedure are recorded in the project guide (#10493).
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/agentic/docs/project-guide.md b/agentic/docs/project-guide.md
index 3f640d5196..495ad3a201 100644
--- a/agentic/docs/project-guide.md
+++ b/agentic/docs/project-guide.md
@@ -395,6 +395,30 @@ page under `COEP: require-corp` must load the renders with a `crossorigin`
 attribute (or through its own proxy); plain same-tab fetches and `<img>` tags
 are unaffected.
 
+### Bucket public-access policy
+
+Objects are publicly fetchable by URL, but the bucket is NOT publicly listable:
+`allUsers` holds `roles/storage.legacyObjectReader` (grants `storage.objects.get`
+only). It previously held `roles/storage.objectViewer`, whose bundled
+`storage.objects.list` let anyone enumerate the whole bucket — including the
+`staging/` prefix, where unreviewed pre-merge renders sit indistinguishable
+from promoted ones (AI-access audit 2026-08-19; changed 2026-08-19). Like the
+CORS policy above, this is bucket metadata that does not deploy with the repo —
+re-apply after a bucket rebuild. Both commands are needed: adding the get-only
+role does not remove public listability if an `objectViewer` binding exists
+(the removal is a no-op when the binding is already absent):
+
+```bash
+gcloud storage buckets add-iam-policy-binding gs://anyplot-images \
+  --member=allUsers --role=roles/storage.legacyObjectReader
+gcloud storage buckets remove-iam-policy-binding gs://anyplot-images \
+  --member=allUsers --role=roles/storage.objectViewer
+```
+
+Never grant `allUsers` a role that includes `storage.objects.list`. To verify:
+an object URL must return 200 anonymously, while
+`https://storage.googleapis.com/storage/v1/b/anyplot-images/o` must return 401.
+
 ## Tech Stack
 
 - **Backend**: FastAPI, SQLAlchemy (async), PostgreSQL, Python 3.13+