diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/Program.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/Program.cs
index 1104eb0f..921b5069 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/Program.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/Program.cs
@@ -111,7 +111,8 @@ var expanderUsesSharedSqlStore =
 var expanderServices = new ServiceCollection();
 if (expanderUsesSharedSqlStore)
 {
-    SecretsRegistration.EnsureCentralSharedStoreConnectionString(configuration);
+    SecretsRegistration.EnsureCentralSharedStoreConnectionString(
+        configuration, $"{SecretsRegistration.ReplicationModeKey}=Grpc");
     expanderServices.AddZbSecretsSqlServerStore(configuration, "Secrets");
 }
 else
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/SecretsRegistration.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/SecretsRegistration.cs
index 821138c0..5a144b39 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/SecretsRegistration.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/SecretsRegistration.cs
@@ -257,34 +257,45 @@ public static class SecretsRegistration
     }
 
     /// <summary>
-    /// The one definition of "a Central node in Grpc mode has a usable shared-store connection
-    /// string", shared by <see cref="AddScadaBridgeSecrets"/> and the Layer-A expander in
-    /// <c>Program.cs</c> so the two can never diverge. The expander runs FIRST on a real boot —
-    /// without this sharing, a bad value would die inside <c>SqlConnection</c> with a generic
-    /// "initialization string" format error before the designed message ever fired.
+    /// The one definition of "a Central node has a usable shared-store connection string", shared
+    /// by every caller that puts a Central node on the shared SQL-Server store — the Grpc-hub
+    /// branch of <see cref="AddScadaBridgeSecrets"/>, the <see cref="StoreProviderKey"/>=SqlServer
+    /// branch, and the Layer-A expander in <c>Program.cs</c> — so none of them can diverge on what
+    /// "usable" means. The expander runs FIRST on a real boot — without this sharing, a bad value
+    /// would die inside <c>SqlConnection</c> with a generic "initialization string" format error
+    /// before the designed message ever fired.
     /// </summary>
     /// <param name="config">Application configuration.</param>
+    /// <param name="triggerContext">
+    /// Names the setting that put this Central node on the shared store, e.g.
+    /// <c>"Secrets:Replication:Mode=Grpc"</c> or <c>"Secrets:Store:Provider=SqlServer"</c> — folded
+    /// into the blank-connection-string message so a boot failure on either path names its own
+    /// real trigger instead of misdescribing the other one (a Store:Provider=SqlServer failure
+    /// must not claim Grpc mode is in effect, and vice versa).
+    /// </param>
     /// <returns>The validated connection string.</returns>
     /// <exception cref="InvalidOperationException">
     /// <see cref="HubConnectionStringKey"/> is blank or contains a <c>${secret:}</c> reference.
     /// </exception>
-    internal static string EnsureCentralSharedStoreConnectionString(IConfiguration config)
+    internal static string EnsureCentralSharedStoreConnectionString(
+        IConfiguration config, string triggerContext)
     {
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(config);
+        ArgumentException.ThrowIfNullOrWhiteSpace(triggerContext);
 
         var hubConnectionString = config[HubConnectionStringKey];
 
         if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(hubConnectionString))
         {
-            // Fail closed, matching the mode's philosophy: central in Grpc mode REQUIRES the
+            // Fail closed, matching the mode's philosophy: this configuration REQUIRES the
             // shared SQL store. An independent local store per central node is exactly the
             // divergence scadaproj#4 recorded — one central hub answered authenticated followers
             // with an EMPTY manifest, so a hub failover would "succeed" against nothing and stop
             // convergence silently.
             throw new InvalidOperationException(
                 $"{HubConnectionStringKey} is empty, but this node is Central with "
-                    + $"{ReplicationModeKey}=Grpc. Central in Grpc mode requires the "
-                    + "SHARED SQL-Server secret store — an independent local store per "
+                    + $"{triggerContext}. That configuration requires the SHARED "
+                    + "SQL-Server secret store — an independent local store per "
                     + "central node is the divergence scadaproj#4 recorded (a hub "
                     + "failover would 'succeed' against an empty manifest). Supply the "
                     + "connection string via appsettings or the environment "
@@ -341,8 +352,9 @@ public static class SecretsRegistration
         {
             // Same fail-closed rules as the Grpc-mode central branch below: blank, or a
             // ${secret:} reference (bootstrap circularity — the pre-host expander needs this
-            // same store to resolve it).
-            EnsureCentralSharedStoreConnectionString(config);
+            // same store to resolve it). Names ITS OWN trigger (Store:Provider=SqlServer, not
+            // Replication:Mode=Grpc) — this branch runs only when replication is off.
+            EnsureCentralSharedStoreConnectionString(config, $"{StoreProviderKey}=SqlServer");
 
             // Registers the shared SQL-Server store as ISecretStore directly — no hub, no
             // follower sweep. Both central nodes just point at the same database, so they serve
@@ -364,7 +376,7 @@ public static class SecretsRegistration
                     // instead of surfacing later as a package validation message or a
                     // malformed-connection-string fault on first use. On a real boot the Layer-A
                     // expander in Program.cs has already run the same check even earlier.
-                    EnsureCentralSharedStoreConnectionString(config);
+                    EnsureCentralSharedStoreConnectionString(config, $"{ReplicationModeKey}=Grpc");
 
                     // Central's store is the SHARED SQL-Server store: registers
                     // SqlServerSecretStore as ISecretStore BEFORE calling AddZbSecrets internally,
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/StartupValidator.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/StartupValidator.cs
index a353e2c6..ef65431e 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/StartupValidator.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/StartupValidator.cs
@@ -238,6 +238,7 @@ public static class StartupValidator
         var seedNodes = configuration.GetSection("ScadaBridge:Cluster:SeedNodes").Get<List<string>>();
         var provider = InboundApiKeyStoreOptions.ReadProvider(configuration);
         var secretsStoreProvider = configuration["Secrets:Store:Provider"];
+        var secretsReplicationEnabled = configuration.GetValue<bool>("Secrets:Replication:Enabled");
         var isClusteredCentral = role == "Central" && seedNodes is { Count: >= 2 };
 
         var warnings = new List<string>();
@@ -255,7 +256,16 @@ public static class StartupValidator
         // explicitly "Sqlite". A fleet that ships secrets to sites on every artifact deploy needs
         // both central nodes to deploy the SAME secret set; a per-node store means each node has
         // silently drifted the moment anyone edits a secret on only one of them.
+        //
+        // Gated off when Secrets:Replication:Enabled is true (review round 1, finding #1): that
+        // flag already puts this central node on a topology that shares state across the pair —
+        // the pre-existing gRPC hub (whose OWN central-side store is the shared SQL-Server store,
+        // not per-node SQLite — see SecretsRegistration's Grpc branch) or SQL-Server replication
+        // (ReplicatingSecretStore). Firing this warning there would be a false positive against
+        // the design's own named production topology (scadaproj#3), telling an operator to set a
+        // key that is already functionally moot.
         if (isClusteredCentral
+            && !secretsReplicationEnabled
             && !string.Equals(secretsStoreProvider, "SqlServer", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
         {
             warnings.Add(
diff --git a/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/SecretsReplicationWiringTests.cs b/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/SecretsReplicationWiringTests.cs
index 3a1b2213..03d4e601 100644
--- a/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/SecretsReplicationWiringTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/SecretsReplicationWiringTests.cs
@@ -230,9 +230,15 @@ public class SecretsReplicationWiringTests
         var ex = Assert.Throws<InvalidOperationException>(
             () => services.AddScadaBridgeSecrets(config, SecretsNodeRole.Central));
 
-        // Same helper, same message style as the Grpc-mode central check.
+        // Same helper, same message style as the Grpc-mode central check — but this path's
+        // message must name ITS OWN trigger (review round 1, finding #2), never claim
+        // Secrets:Replication:Mode=Grpc, which is not in effect here.
         Assert.Contains(
             SecretsRegistration.HubConnectionStringKey, ex.Message, StringComparison.Ordinal);
+        Assert.Contains(
+            $"{SecretsRegistration.StoreProviderKey}=SqlServer", ex.Message, StringComparison.Ordinal);
+        Assert.DoesNotContain(
+            $"{SecretsRegistration.ReplicationModeKey}=Grpc", ex.Message, StringComparison.Ordinal);
     }
 
     [Fact]
@@ -267,6 +273,32 @@ public class SecretsReplicationWiringTests
         Assert.IsType<SqliteSecretStore>(provider.GetRequiredService<ISecretStore>());
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Precedence pin (review round 1, finding #3): with BOTH triggers configured, the
+    /// pre-existing <c>Secrets:Replication:Enabled=true</c> Grpc-hub topology wins, and the new
+    /// Store:Provider=SqlServer branch defers to it rather than skipping hub registration. The
+    /// Store:Provider branch's own guard (<c>!ReplicationEnabledKey</c>) is what makes this so —
+    /// this test locks the ordering in against a future refactor of
+    /// <see cref="SecretsRegistration.AddScadaBridgeSecrets"/> that reorders the two branches.
+    /// </summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public void Central_ReplicationEnabledGrpcMode_TakesPrecedenceOverStoreProvider()
+    {
+        IConfiguration config = BuildConfig(
+        [
+            .. GrpcCentralConfig(),
+            ("Secrets:Store:Provider", "SqlServer"),
+        ]);
+
+        using ServiceProvider provider = BuildProvider(config, SecretsNodeRole.Central);
+
+        // Same shared SQL-Server store either way, but the Grpc hub is ALSO wired here — the
+        // Store:Provider-only path never registers the interceptor or the follower sweep.
+        Assert.IsType<SqlServerSecretStore>(provider.GetRequiredService<ISecretStore>());
+        Assert.NotNull(provider.GetService<SecretsHubAuthInterceptor>());
+        Assert.True(SecretsRegistration.UsesGrpcHub(config));
+    }
+
     // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     // SQL-Server mode — regression pins. Behaviour must be byte-for-byte what it was before the
     // mode key existed, both when the mode is left unset and when it is named explicitly.
diff --git a/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/StartupValidatorTests.cs b/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/StartupValidatorTests.cs
index 3d5c3527..628fe73f 100644
--- a/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/StartupValidatorTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/StartupValidatorTests.cs
@@ -771,6 +771,25 @@ public class StartupValidatorTests
         Assert.Empty(warnings);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public void ClusteredCentral_ReplicationEnabled_NoSecretsStoreWarning()
+    {
+        // Review round 1, finding #1: Secrets:Replication:Enabled=true already puts this central
+        // node on a topology that shares state across the pair — the pre-existing gRPC hub
+        // (whose central-side store is the shared SQL-Server store, not per-node SQLite) or
+        // SQL-Server replication. No Secrets:Store:Provider is set at all here — the exact case
+        // that used to warn before this fix — and it must stay silent because the node is not
+        // actually on a per-node SQLite store in this configuration.
+        var values = ValidCentralConfig();
+        values["ScadaBridge:InboundApi:ApiKeyStore:Provider"] = "SqlServer";
+        values["Secrets:Replication:Enabled"] = "true";
+        var config = BuildConfig(values);
+
+        var warnings = StartupValidator.CollectWarnings(config);
+
+        Assert.Empty(warnings);
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public void CollectWarnings_SilentForSingleSeedCentral()
     {