diff --git a/internal/pkg/exec.go b/internal/pkg/exec.go
index 7760668a..9169980d 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/exec.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/exec.go
@@ -436,6 +436,7 @@ func (a *execArtifact) makeContainer(
 	if z.HostNet {
 		z.Hostname = "cure-net"
 	}
+	z.Quiet = flags&CSuppressInit != 0
 	z.Uid, z.Gid = (1<<10)-1, (1<<10)-1
 	z.Dir, z.Path, z.Args = a.dir, a.path, a.args
 	z.Env = slices.Concat(a.env, []string{EnvJobs + "=" + strconv.Itoa(jobs)})
diff --git a/internal/pkg/pkg.go b/internal/pkg/pkg.go
index 767c35a7..9e641df7 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/pkg.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/pkg.go
@@ -617,6 +617,10 @@ const (
 	// CPromoteVariant allows [pkg.Open] to promote an unextended on-disk cache
 	// to the current extension variant. This is a one-way operation.
 	CPromoteVariant
+
+	// CSuppressInit arranges for verbose output of the container init to be
+	// suppressed regardless of [message.Msg] state.
+	CSuppressInit
 )
 
 // toplevel holds [context.WithCancel] over caller-supplied context, where all