diff --git a/Dockerfile.astera b/Dockerfile.astera
index c159a837..97999810 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.astera
+++ b/Dockerfile.astera
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
 
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
         bash \
+        bsdextrautils \
         ca-certificates \
         curl \
         dnsutils \
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
         nano \
         ncdu \
         rsync \
+        tcsh \
         tini \
         tmux \
         vim \
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@ RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
     && install -m 0755 /app/run_experiments.sh /usr/local/bin/run_experiments.sh \
     && install -m 0755 /app/run_all_models.sh /usr/local/bin/run_all_models.sh \
     && for cmd in \
-        bash curl dig emacs git htop nano ncdu ping rsync tini tmux vim wget zsh; do \
+        bash column csh curl dig emacs git htop nano ncdu ping rsync tini tmux vim wget zsh; do \
           command -v "${cmd}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || exit 1; \
         done
 
@@ -68,6 +70,15 @@ RUN install -m 0644 \
     && EXT_VERSION="${EXT_VERSION}" bash /usr/local/share/sampleworks/astera/install-ext.sh \
     && bash /usr/local/share/sampleworks/astera/install-ext-shell-hooks.sh
 
+# SBGrid lives on the shared sbgrid-programs PVC, auto-mounted read-only at
+# /programs by the actl catalog. /programs is created empty so the guarded init
+# is a clean no-op when the PVC is not mounted.
+RUN mkdir -p /programs \
+    && install -m 0644 \
+        /usr/local/share/sampleworks/astera/sbgrid-shell.sh \
+        /etc/profile.d/sbgrid-shell.sh \
+    && bash /usr/local/share/sampleworks/astera/install-sbgrid-shell-hooks.sh
+
 WORKDIR /home/dev
 
 # ACTL workspace pods intentionally keep the inherited root runtime user: the
diff --git a/docker/astera/install-sbgrid-shell-hooks.sh b/docker/astera/install-sbgrid-shell-hooks.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..8942d317
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/astera/install-sbgrid-shell-hooks.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Wire the guarded SBGrid init into every shell actl might open, mirroring
+# install-ext-shell-hooks.sh. Idempotent: re-running never double-appends.
+
+profile_script="/etc/profile.d/sbgrid-shell.sh"
+profile_comment="# Sampleworks: put SBGrid on \$PATH when /programs is mounted."
+profile_line="[ -r ${profile_script} ] && . ${profile_script}"
+
+touch /root/.bashrc /home/dev/.bashrc
+
+for profile_file in /etc/bash.bashrc /root/.bashrc /home/dev/.bashrc /etc/zsh/zshrc /etc/zsh/zprofile; do
+    if [ ! -e "${profile_file}" ]; then
+        continue
+    fi
+    if grep -Fqs "${profile_line}" "${profile_file}"; then
+        continue
+    fi
+    printf '\n%s\n%s\n' "${profile_comment}" "${profile_line}" >> "${profile_file}"
+done
diff --git a/docker/astera/sbgrid-shell.sh b/docker/astera/sbgrid-shell.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..33bdc94a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker/astera/sbgrid-shell.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# Put the SBGrid collection on $PATH when it is mounted.
+#
+# SBGrid is a site installation on the shared `sbgrid-programs` PVC, which the
+# actl catalog auto-mounts read-only at /programs for every diffuse profile. It
+# is not part of this image — the collection is well over a terabyte — so this
+# script must be a no-op whenever the mount is absent (any non-diffuse
+# workspace, or a run with --no-mount). Every step is guarded accordingly:
+# /programs is an ordinary empty directory without the PVC.
+#
+# Set SBGRID_NO_AUTOINIT=1 before shell start to opt out.
+
+if [ -z "${SBGRID_NO_AUTOINIT:-}" ] && [ -z "${SBGRID_INITIALISED:-}" ] && [ -r /programs/sbgrid.shrc ]; then
+    SBGRID_INITIALISED=1
+    export SBGRID_INITIALISED
+    # sbgrid.shrc runs commands that return non-zero benignly, so it aborts
+    # under `set -e` and would take the whole shell with it. It is also chatty
+    # on first run and writes into $HOME. Neither should be able to break shell
+    # startup, hence the redirect and the `|| true`.
+    . /programs/sbgrid.shrc >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+fi