diff --git a/local/scripts/build-redbear.sh b/local/scripts/build-redbear.sh
index 5435c2ae33..c76acee5a9 100755
--- a/local/scripts/build-redbear.sh
+++ b/local/scripts/build-redbear.sh
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ PROJECT_ROOT="$(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/../.." && pwd)"
 # REDBEAR_VERSION (which tracks the OS release derived from the git branch).
 # Starts at 1.0 and is bumped AUTOMATICALLY on every change by the pre-commit
 # git hook (local/scripts/bump-build-version.sh); do not edit the minor by hand.
-BUILD_REDBEAR_VERSION="1.7"
+BUILD_REDBEAR_VERSION="1.8"
 
 # ── Colorized output ──────────────────────────────────
 # Enabled only on a TTY with NO_COLOR unset, so redirected build logs and CI
@@ -772,6 +772,46 @@ if [ "$NO_CACHE" != "1" ]; then
     done
 
 
+    # Vendored-recipe source staleness (the Qt/KDE 6.11.0->6.11.1 / 6.10->6.28
+    # class). Many recipes under local/recipes vendor their upstream tree in git
+    # at <recipe>/source/ AND declare a [source] tar=. Cookbook keys its build
+    # cache on the source.tar hash (source_identifier), but the ACTUAL build
+    # input is the vendored source/ tree. When a version bump propagates into
+    # source/ WITHOUT changing source.tar (e.g. source.tar was already the new
+    # version, or a manual source/ edit), cookbook sees an unchanged
+    # source_identifier and reuses a STALE stage — the desktop then builds the
+    # old version (qtshadertools wanted Qt 6.11.1 but got a cached 6.11.0 qtbase).
+    #
+    # Fix: fingerprint each vendored source/ by its git tree hash (content-based,
+    # mtime-independent) plus a working-tree-dirty flag, and rm that recipe's
+    # target/ when it changes. First observation for a recipe only SEEDS the
+    # fingerprint (no invalidation) so this never triggers a spurious full
+    # rebuild; thereafter any source/ change forces exactly that recipe to
+    # re-cook. Mirrors verify-external-source-versions.sh at the cache layer.
+    while IFS= read -r _rt; do
+        _rdir="$(dirname "$_rt")"
+        _sdir="$_rdir/source"
+        [ -d "$_sdir" ] || continue
+        _tgt="$_rdir/target/x86_64-unknown-redox"
+        [ -f "$_tgt/stage.pkgar" ] || continue          # nothing cooked yet -> nothing stale
+        _relsrc="${_sdir#"$PROJECT_ROOT"/}"
+        _tree="$(git -C "$PROJECT_ROOT" rev-parse "HEAD:$_relsrc" 2>/dev/null || echo "")"
+        [ -n "$_tree" ] || continue                      # source/ not git-tracked -> skip
+        _dirty=""
+        git -C "$PROJECT_ROOT" diff --quiet HEAD -- "$_relsrc" 2>/dev/null || _dirty="-dirty"
+        [ -n "$(git -C "$PROJECT_ROOT" ls-files --others --exclude-standard -- "$_relsrc" 2>/dev/null)" ] && _dirty="-dirty"
+        _cur="${_tree}${_dirty}"
+        _fp="$_tgt/.redbear-source-tree"
+        _last="$(cat "$_fp" 2>/dev/null || echo "")"
+        if [ -z "$_last" ]; then
+            printf '%s\n' "$_cur" > "$_fp"               # seed only, trust the existing build
+        elif [ "$_cur" != "$_last" ]; then
+            echo "${C_INFO}>>>${C_RESET} Stale vendored source: $(basename "$_rdir") (source/ changed since last cook) — invalidating target/"
+            rm -rf "$_rdir/target"
+            STALE_DETECTED=1
+        fi
+    done < <(find "$PROJECT_ROOT/local/recipes" -name recipe.toml -not -path '*/wip/*' 2>/dev/null)
+
     # (The blanket "wipe every recipe's build/sysroot when a runtime fork changed"
     # step used to live here. It was the bug: it recompiled the entire dynamically
     # -linked desktop — Qt, KF6, mesa, sddm — on any relibc/base/syscall change,