diff --git a/.claude/tasks/0005-storage-zfs-foundation.md b/.claude/tasks/0005-storage-zfs-foundation.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72ee4ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.claude/tasks/0005-storage-zfs-foundation.md
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+---
+spec: guests
+blocked-by: 0002-guest-walking-skeleton
+---
+
+## What to build
+
+The host-level pool-import foundation, `modules.storage.zfs`, plus the shared `storage` group that makes identity-mapped pool writes work.
+A Host declares its host id, the pools to import, and their dataset mountpoints; the pools are durable state that is imported, never rebuilt, so a service's data survives any rebuild or reimage.
+A shared `storage` group with a fixed gid lives in the shared portion of the base config that both the host base and the guest-base include, giving 1:1 group ownership between a Host and its Guests.
+This slice establishes the group and the pool import; a Guest actually writing to a mount as that group is the Guest storage placement slice.
+
+## Acceptance criteria
+
+- [x] `modules.storage.zfs` declares an `enable` option and its option path mirrors its file location per the Namespace convention.
+- [x] A Host declares its host id, its pools, and their dataset mountpoints; enabling the Module imports those pools rather than recreating them.
+- [x] A shared `storage` group with a fixed gid is defined in the shared base and is present identically on both a Host and its Guests.
+- [x] A Host enabling `modules.storage.zfs` builds, and the `storage` gid is verifiable by `nix eval`. Verified by ad-hoc enablement on `neogaia`; the enablement is not committed (see notes).
+
+## Implementation Notes
+
+The pool import is realized by `boot.zfs.extraPools`, which imports the named pools rather than creating them, so a rebuild never touches pool contents.
+`boot.supportedFilesystems = [ "zfs" ]` pulls the ZFS stack into the kernel and boot even on a host whose root is another filesystem, and `networking.hostId` is required because ZFS refuses to import a pool without a host id to stamp ownership onto.
+Declared dataset mountpoints become plain `fileSystems` entries with `fsType = "zfs"`, orthogonal to the import: a pool with an empty map is still imported, leaving its datasets to their own ZFS `mountpoint` property.
+
+`pools` is typed `attrsOf (attrsOf path)` — pool name to a dataset-relative-path to mountpoint map — rather than a per-pool submodule.
+No per-pool option beyond the mount map is foreseen at host level, so the extra submodule layer would have been speculative.
+
+The `storage` group carries a fixed gid of 2000, placed in `base.nix` so a host and every guest built from this flake carry the identical number.
+That identity is the whole write mechanism: an identity-mapped container write lands on the pool as the same numeric group with no per-service permission juggling.
+2000 sits above the ids NixOS assigns automatically, so no generated account collides with it.
+This slice only defines the group and the import; a Guest actually writing to a mount as this group is the Guest storage placement slice.
+
+No host commits an enablement of this Module.
+The repo's only host is `neogaia`, a laptop with a btrfs root, no ZFS pools, and a bleeding-edge CachyOS kernel whose `zfs-kernel-2.4.3` build is marked broken — so a committed ZFS enablement there would be both dishonest and unbuildable.
+This mirrors the networking foundation's decision (task 0003) to verify by temporary enablement rather than commit one to a host that cannot honestly carry the feature.
+The enabled build was verified through `nixosConfigurations.neogaia.extendModules`, enabling the Module against a declared pool and forcing `boot.kernelPackages = pkgs.linuxPackages` (a ZFS-supported kernel) so the incompatibility of *neogaia's* kernel choice does not mask the Module's own correctness; the full `nixos-system-neogaia` toplevel built.
+The `storage` gid was verified identical (2000) on both the host config and the sample guest's interior, and `nix flake check` passes on the committed, module-inert tree.
+The standing enablement waits for the first real storage host, supplied when that host is added.
diff --git a/base.nix b/base.nix
index 6c02160..aa37aab 100644
--- a/base.nix
+++ b/base.nix
@@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ in
       extraGroups = [ "wheel" ];
     };
 
+    # The shared write group.
+    # Its gid is fixed, so a host and every guest carry the same number.
+    # An identity-mapped container write then lands on the pool as this group, sparing every service the permission juggling.
+    # 2000 clears the system-group ids assigned automatically and leaves headroom above the primary user, so nothing else claims it.
+    users.groups.storage.gid = 2000;
+
     # home-manager as a NixOS module: one build produces the system and user
     # environment together, sharing the system's pkgs and installing user
     # packages into the system profile.
diff --git a/modules/storage/zfs.nix b/modules/storage/zfs.nix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9cd58fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/storage/zfs.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+{
+  config,
+  lib,
+  ...
+}:
+# The host-level ZFS pool import: durable service state a host mounts, never rebuilds.
+let
+  cfg = config.modules.storage.zfs;
+in
+{
+  options.modules.storage.zfs = {
+    enable = lib.mkEnableOption "importing durable ZFS pools that hold service state";
+
+    hostId = lib.mkOption {
+      type = lib.types.strMatching "[0-9a-f]{8}";
+      example = "deadbeef";
+      description = ''
+        This host's 8-hex-digit ZFS host id, written to `networking.hostId`. ZFS
+        stamps an imported pool with the importing host's id, so a pool still
+        held by another machine is refused rather than silently dual-mounted. It
+        must be fixed for the machine and distinct across machines that can reach
+        the same pool.
+      '';
+    };
+
+    pools = lib.mkOption {
+      type = lib.types.attrsOf (lib.types.attrsOf lib.types.path);
+      default = { };
+      example = lib.literalExpression ''
+        {
+          tank = {
+            media = "/srv/media";
+            downloads = "/srv/downloads";
+          };
+        }
+      '';
+      description = ''
+        The ZFS pools to import at boot, keyed by pool name, each pool mapping a
+        dataset path relative to it to that dataset's mountpoint. A pool is
+        durable state imported as it stands, never created or destroyed by a
+        rebuild, so a service's data survives any rebuild or reimage. A pool
+        with an empty map is still imported, leaving each dataset to its own ZFS
+        `mountpoint` property.
+      '';
+    };
+  };
+
+  config = lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
+    # The ZFS stack in the kernel and boot, needed even where the root filesystem is another kind.
+    boot.supportedFilesystems = [ "zfs" ];
+
+    # ZFS refuses to import a pool without a host id to stamp its ownership onto.
+    networking.hostId = cfg.hostId;
+
+    # The declared pools are imported at boot, distinct from any pool backing the root filesystem.
+    boot.zfs.extraPools = lib.attrNames cfg.pools;
+
+    # Each declared dataset is mounted at its host path as a native ZFS filesystem.
+    fileSystems = lib.mkMerge (
+      lib.mapAttrsToList (
+        pool: mounts:
+        lib.mapAttrs' (
+          dataset: mountpoint:
+          lib.nameValuePair mountpoint {
+            device = "${pool}/${dataset}";
+            fsType = "zfs";
+          }
+        ) mounts
+      ) cfg.pools
+    );
+  };
+}