diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f35fbb3..447939b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,22 @@ actually cutting it, and this file starts there.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Fixed
+
+- **`apply` no longer demands a GitHub App for a manifest that declares no
+  applications** (#103) — found live in the 2026-07-19 release drill, where a
+  databases-only manifest (`applications: {}`) rendered its plan of two
+  creates and then died in preflight on `no GitHub App bound`, over a binding
+  nothing in the run would ever have used: a GitHub App exists to clone
+  application source, cast reads it in exactly one call (the application
+  create), and databases and services never touch it. That unconditional
+  resolution gated infra-only projects — the databases a fleet's other
+  projects share — behind the GitHub-App browser-registration ceremony for no
+  reason. `apply` now resolves the App only when the desired state actually
+  contains an application; a manifest that does declare one still refuses on
+  a missing binding exactly as before, clean plan or not, because that
+  binding is state the next create will need.
+
 ### Added
 
 - **Tagged releases with a prebuilt dist asset, and an installer that
diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index dcff19d..db86494 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -1275,9 +1275,22 @@ async function runProject(
     );
   }
   const serverUuid = await ctx.client.serverUuid(ctx.binding.server);
-  const githubAppUuid = await ctx.client.githubAppUuid(
-    githubAppNameFor(ctx.bindings, orgRepo),
-  );
+  // A GitHub App is how Coolify clones application SOURCE, and cast reads it in
+  // exactly one place — the application create (buildExecutor's POST
+  // /applications/private-github-app). Databases and services never touch it,
+  // so it is resolved only when the manifest actually declares an application.
+  // Resolving it unconditionally is what killed a databases-only apply in
+  // preflight (#103, found live in the 2026-07-19 release drill): the plan
+  // rendered its two creates and then githubAppNameFor threw over a binding
+  // nothing in the run would ever have used — gating infra-only projects
+  // behind the GitHub-App browser-registration ceremony. Keyed off DESIRED
+  // rather than the plan's changes, deliberately: a manifest that declares an
+  // application keeps the refusal even on a clean plan, exactly as before —
+  // a missing binding there is state the next create will need, and the
+  // operator should hear about it now, not mid-bootstrap.
+  const githubAppUuid = desired.some((d) => d.kind === "application")
+    ? await ctx.client.githubAppUuid(githubAppNameFor(ctx.bindings, orgRepo))
+    : null;
   const exec = buildExecutor(ctx.client, {
     projectName,
     // The name the environment gets ON COOLIFY when apply creates it — so an
@@ -3155,7 +3168,10 @@ export function buildExecutor(
     projectName: string;
     envName: string;
     serverUuid: string;
-    githubAppUuid: string;
+    // null when the desired state declares no applications (#103): the App is
+    // read by the application create alone, and runProject only resolves one
+    // when there is an application for it to clone.
+    githubAppUuid: string | null;
     // The three names the multi-destination 400 has to be able to say back, and
     // the only reason they are here: none of them is on the wire. A create sends
     // `serverUuid`, but the operator wrote a server NAME — and the UUID they now
@@ -3379,6 +3395,16 @@ export function buildExecutor(
         );
         const projectUuid = await projectEnv();
         if (change.kind === "application") {
+          // Unreachable by construction (#103): githubAppUuid is null only
+          // when the desired state holds no applications, and a plan can only
+          // create resources the desired state holds. Guarded anyway — this is
+          // the uuid's single consumer, and a null slipping onto the wire
+          // would surface as a Coolify 422 about somebody else's field.
+          if (ctx.githubAppUuid === null) {
+            throw new Error(
+              "internal: application create reached an executor built without a GitHub App uuid — resolution was skipped as applications-free, yet the plan creates an application",
+            );
+          }
           const res = (await client.post("/applications/private-github-app", {
             project_uuid: projectUuid,
             environment_name: ctx.envName,
diff --git a/test/github-app-cli.test.ts b/test/github-app-cli.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dd8bb75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/github-app-cli.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,213 @@
+import { execFileSync, spawn } from "node:child_process";
+import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { createServer } from "node:http";
+import type { AddressInfo } from "node:net";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+// When does `apply` need a GitHub App at all? (#103, found live in the
+// 2026-07-19 release drill.)
+//
+// A GitHub App exists to clone application source, and cast reads it in exactly
+// one call — the application create. But apply used to resolve it
+// unconditionally, after the plan had already rendered: a manifest declaring
+// only databases printed its creates and then died in preflight on "no GitHub
+// App bound", over a binding nothing in the run would ever have used. That
+// gates infra-only projects (databases shared by other projects) behind the
+// GitHub-App browser-registration ceremony for no reason.
+//
+// Both directions are pinned here, end to end against a stub Coolify:
+// a databases-only manifest applies with NO github_apps binding and the stub
+// never sees a /github-apps request — and a manifest that DOES declare an
+// application still refuses on the missing binding, with the same message.
+
+let recipient: string;
+let keyFile: string;
+
+beforeAll(() => {
+  const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "cast-age-"));
+  keyFile = join(dir, "age.key");
+  execFileSync("age-keygen", ["-o", keyFile], { stdio: "pipe" });
+  recipient = execFileSync("age-keygen", ["-y", keyFile], {
+    encoding: "utf8",
+  }).trim();
+});
+
+type Stub = { url: string; hits: string[]; close: () => Promise<void> };
+const stubs: Stub[] = [];
+
+// A box holding the project and its (empty) environment, so the plan is pure
+// creates — the drill's shape. `hits` records "METHOD path" so a test can
+// assert which routes a run touched, and which it never did.
+async function stubCoolify(): Promise<Stub> {
+  const hits: string[] = [];
+  const server = createServer((req, res) => {
+    const path = new URL(req.url ?? "", "http://x").pathname.replace(
+      "/api/v1",
+      "",
+    );
+    hits.push(`${req.method} ${path}`);
+    const json = (body: unknown) => {
+      res.writeHead(200, { "content-type": "application/json" });
+      res.end(JSON.stringify(body));
+    };
+    if (path === "/teams/current") return json({ id: 0, name: "Root Team" });
+    if (path === "/servers") return json([{ uuid: "s1", name: "drill-box" }]);
+    if (path === "/projects" && req.method === "GET")
+      return json([{ uuid: "p1", name: "drill-widget" }]);
+    if (path === "/projects/p1/staging") return json({});
+    if (path === "/projects/p1/environments")
+      return json([{ name: "staging" }]);
+    // The domain preflight's instance-wide read (only an application plan asks).
+    if (path === "/applications" && req.method === "GET") return json([]);
+    if (path === "/databases/redis" && req.method === "POST")
+      return json({ uuid: "db-9" });
+    if (path === "/deploy") return json({});
+    res.writeHead(404);
+    res.end("{}");
+  });
+  await new Promise<void>((r) => {
+    server.listen(0, "127.0.0.1", r);
+  });
+  const stub: Stub = {
+    url: `http://127.0.0.1:${(server.address() as AddressInfo).port}`,
+    hits,
+    close: () =>
+      new Promise<void>((r) => {
+        server.close(() => r());
+      }),
+  };
+  stubs.push(stub);
+  return stub;
+}
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  await Promise.all(stubs.splice(0).map((s) => s.close()));
+});
+
+// The drill's manifest: applications declared, and empty — this project IS its
+// databases.
+const DATABASES_ONLY = `project: drill-widget
+environments:
+  staging:
+    applications: {}
+    databases:
+      cache:
+        type: redis
+`;
+
+const WITH_APPLICATION = `project: drill-widget
+environments:
+  staging:
+    applications:
+      web:
+        source: { repo: heavy-duty/drill-widget, branch: main }
+        build: { pack: nixpacks, base_directory: / }
+        domains: ["http://web.example.com"]
+    databases:
+      cache:
+        type: redis
+`;
+
+// The state file the issue is about: no github_apps entry for this repo at all.
+function fixture(url: string, manifest: string) {
+  const checkout = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "cast-co-"));
+  mkdirSync(join(checkout, ".infra", "env"), { recursive: true });
+  writeFileSync(join(checkout, ".infra", "manifest.yaml"), manifest);
+
+  const state = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "cast-state-"));
+  mkdirSync(join(state, "secrets"));
+  writeFileSync(
+    join(state, ".coolify.env"),
+    `COOLIFY_BASE_URL="${url}"\nCOOLIFY_ACCESS_TOKEN="t"\n`,
+  );
+  // No template refs any secret, but the store still has to exist and open.
+  execFileSync("age", ["-r", recipient, "-o", "drill-widget.staging.env.age"], {
+    input: "\n",
+    cwd: join(state, "secrets"),
+    stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", "pipe"],
+  });
+  writeFileSync(
+    join(state, "environments.yaml"),
+    [
+      "environments:",
+      "  staging:",
+      "    server: drill-box",
+      "    team: { id: 0, name: Root Team }",
+      "github_apps: {}",
+      "",
+    ].join("\n"),
+  );
+  return { checkout, state };
+}
+
+function run(f: {
+  checkout: string;
+  state: string;
+}): Promise<{ code: number; output: string }> {
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    const child = spawn(
+      "node",
+      [
+        "dist/cli.js",
+        "apply",
+        "heavy-duty/drill-widget",
+        "--env",
+        "staging",
+        "--path",
+        f.checkout,
+        "--state",
+        f.state,
+      ],
+      {
+        stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "pipe"],
+        env: { ...process.env, CAST_AGE_KEY_FILE_STAGING: keyFile },
+      },
+    );
+    let output = "";
+    child.stdout.on("data", (d) => {
+      output += String(d);
+    });
+    child.stderr.on("data", (d) => {
+      output += String(d);
+    });
+    child.on("close", (code) => resolve({ code: code ?? 0, output }));
+  });
+}
+
+describe("cast apply — GitHub App resolved only for applications (#103)", () => {
+  it("applies a databases-only manifest with no github_apps binding, never asking for one", async () => {
+    const stub = await stubCoolify();
+    const f = fixture(stub.url, DATABASES_ONLY);
+    const r = await run(f);
+    expect(r.code).toBe(0);
+    // The apply went all the way through: the database was created and
+    // redeployed, not merely planned.
+    expect(r.output).toContain("applied + redeployed: cache");
+    expect(stub.hits).toContain("POST /databases/redis");
+    // The load-bearing absence: nothing in this run may ask Coolify for a
+    // GitHub App — the resolution, not just the create, must be skipped.
+    expect(stub.hits.some((h) => h.includes("/github-apps"))).toBe(false);
+    expect(r.output).not.toContain("no GitHub App bound");
+  });
+
+  it("still refuses a manifest WITH an application when the binding is missing", async () => {
+    const stub = await stubCoolify();
+    const f = fixture(stub.url, WITH_APPLICATION);
+    const r = await run(f);
+    expect(r.code).toBe(1);
+    // The message githubAppNameFor has always thrown, unchanged.
+    expect(r.output).toContain(
+      "no GitHub App bound for heavy-duty/drill-widget",
+    );
+    expect(r.output).toContain('github_apps["heavy-duty/drill-widget"]');
+    expect(r.output).toContain("bound repos: (none)");
+    // Refused in preflight: nothing was created — not even the database the
+    // manifest also declares.
+    expect(stub.hits.some((h) => h.startsWith("POST /databases"))).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      stub.hits.some((h) => h.includes("/applications/private-github-app")),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/wire.test.ts b/test/wire.test.ts
index aec3015..dc043b8 100644
--- a/test/wire.test.ts
+++ b/test/wire.test.ts
@@ -498,6 +498,107 @@ describe("buildExecutor createResource (application, dockercompose)", () => {
   });
 });
 
+// githubAppUuid is null when the desired state declares no applications (#103)
+// — legal for an executor that will only ever create databases and services,
+// and unreachable for an application create by construction. The guard exists
+// so that IF the construction is ever broken, the failure is cast's own
+// sentence and not a Coolify 422 about somebody else's field.
+describe("buildExecutor createResource (no GitHub App resolved, #103)", () => {
+  type Call = { method: string; path: string; body?: unknown };
+
+  // Records every request, so a test can assert what was NOT sent — the
+  // silently-included github_app_uuid is the shape of bug this pins against.
+  function recorder(handler: (path: string) => Response): {
+    calls: Call[];
+    fetchImpl: typeof fetch;
+  } {
+    const calls: Call[] = [];
+    const fetchImpl = vi.fn(async (url: string | URL, init?: RequestInit) => {
+      const path = new URL(String(url)).pathname;
+      calls.push({
+        method: init?.method ?? "GET",
+        path,
+        body: init?.body ? JSON.parse(String(init.body)) : undefined,
+      });
+      return handler(path);
+    }) as unknown as typeof fetch;
+    return { calls, fetchImpl };
+  }
+
+  const ctx = {
+    projectName: "drill-widget",
+    envName: "staging",
+    serverUuid: "srv-1",
+    githubAppUuid: null,
+    serverName: "drill-box",
+    orgRepo: "heavy-duty/drill-widget",
+    bindingEnv: "staging",
+  };
+
+  it("creates a database without one, sending no github_app_uuid", async () => {
+    const { calls, fetchImpl } = recorder((path) => {
+      if (path === "/api/v1/projects")
+        return new Response(
+          JSON.stringify([{ uuid: "proj-1", name: "drill-widget" }]),
+          { status: 200 },
+        );
+      if (path === "/api/v1/projects/proj-1/environments")
+        return new Response(JSON.stringify([{ name: "staging" }]), {
+          status: 200,
+        });
+      return new Response(JSON.stringify({ uuid: "db-9" }), { status: 201 });
+    });
+    const exec = buildExecutor(
+      new CoolifyClient("https://coolify.test", "tok", fetchImpl),
+      ctx,
+    );
+    const uuid = await exec.createResource({
+      kind: "database",
+      name: "cache",
+      op: "create",
+      fieldDiffs: [{ field: "type", desired: "redis", updatable: false }],
+      envDiffs: [],
+    });
+    expect(uuid).toBe("db-9");
+    const create = calls.find((c) => c.path === "/api/v1/databases/redis");
+    expect(create?.body).not.toHaveProperty("github_app_uuid");
+  });
+
+  it("refuses an application create with cast's own internal error, not a wire 422", async () => {
+    const { calls, fetchImpl } = recorder((path) => {
+      if (path === "/api/v1/projects")
+        return new Response(
+          JSON.stringify([{ uuid: "proj-1", name: "drill-widget" }]),
+          { status: 200 },
+        );
+      if (path === "/api/v1/projects/proj-1/environments")
+        return new Response(JSON.stringify([{ name: "staging" }]), {
+          status: 200,
+        });
+      return new Response("{}", { status: 200 });
+    });
+    const exec = buildExecutor(
+      new CoolifyClient("https://coolify.test", "tok", fetchImpl),
+      ctx,
+    );
+    await expect(
+      exec.createResource({
+        kind: "application",
+        name: "web",
+        op: "create",
+        fieldDiffs: [
+          { field: "build_pack", desired: "nixpacks", updatable: false },
+        ],
+        envDiffs: [],
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow(/internal: application create/);
+    // The refusal happened before anything went near the create route.
+    expect(
+      calls.some((c) => c.path === "/api/v1/applications/private-github-app"),
+    ).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
+
 // Placement is create-time only, and every kind needs it: Coolify runs the same
 // destination logic in ApplicationsController, DatabasesController and
 // ServicesController, and 400s on a multi-destination server for whichever one