diff --git a/.builds/test.yml b/.builds/test.yml
index 72971a819fa035e59548bd2be230b6cde32b9254..746c4cae9df58d85b484e81acb156573328843fd 100644
--- a/.builds/test.yml
+++ b/.builds/test.yml
@@ -10,10 +10,9 @@ # Dogfoods the published cacher binary (from pages.sr.ht) to cache:
 #   * The Go tarball, via `cacher download --url` fallback.
 #   * ~/go/pkg/mod, keyed on sha256(go.sum) — biggest win, the docker
 #     SDK transitives pulled in by testcontainers are heavy.
-#   * The Garage docker image, via `cacher docker {exists,download,
-#     upload}`. Switch to `cacher docker download --pull` after the
-#     next release; the single-command form lives on master but
-#     isn't in v0.1.0.
+#   * The Garage docker image, via `cacher docker download --pull` —
+#     single call that does cache HIT → docker load, or cache MISS →
+#     docker pull + seed.
 image: ubuntu/noble
 packages:
   - curl
@@ -90,16 +89,8 @@       docker version
   - cache_garage_image: |
       # Key derived from the image ref so a version bump invalidates
       # the cache automatically: dxflrs/garage:v2.3.0 → dxflrs-garage-v2.3.0
-      # stderr swallowed on `exists` because v0.1.0 still dumps the
-      # cobra Usage block on a miss (SilenceUsage lands in the next
-      # release).
       KEY="docker/$(echo "$GARAGE_IMAGE" | tr '/:' '-').tar.zst"
-      if cacher docker exists "$KEY" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-        cacher docker download "$KEY" "$GARAGE_IMAGE"
-      else
-        docker pull "$GARAGE_IMAGE"
-        cacher docker upload "$KEY" "$GARAGE_IMAGE"
-      fi
+      cacher docker download "$KEY" "$GARAGE_IMAGE" --pull
       docker images "$GARAGE_IMAGE"
   - test_e2e: |
       cd ci-cacher