diff --git a/tools/ui-ota/publish.mjs b/tools/ui-ota/publish.mjs
index fdae4c67..b23a5b98 100644
--- a/tools/ui-ota/publish.mjs
+++ b/tools/ui-ota/publish.mjs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 // which deploys from the live folder; a cut is staged in a scratch copy (IGNEUM_DLSITE) as every other publish.
 //
 //   node tools/ui-ota/publish.mjs --version 1.0.1 --min-engine 0.3.19 [--notes "one line"] [--dry-run] [--deploy] [--public]
+//                                 [--ui-pair-override "reason"]   ship an interface from another UI tree knowingly (the pair rule)
 //   node tools/ui-ota/publish.mjs --verify [--url https://dl.igneum.network/dl/<token>/igneum-app-latest.json]
 //                                             the live manifest's ui entry against the bundle in the folder (the read-back)
 //   node tools/ui-ota/publish.mjs --self-test  pack, hash, sign and verify with a throwaway key in a scratch folder
@@ -161,6 +162,8 @@ function main() {
   const pm = path.join(root, 'packaging/ota/publish-manifest.sh');
   const args = ['--version', arg('--app-version', readFolderVersion(dest)), '--ui', uiJson, '--notes', notes || `interface ${version} over the air`];
   if (flag('--deploy')) args.push('--deploy');
+  // the version pair (packaging/ota/publish-manifest.sh): an interface from another UI tree ships only with a logged reason
+  if (arg('--ui-pair-override', '')) args.push('--ui-pair-override', arg('--ui-pair-override', ''));
   if (flag('--public')) args.push('--public');
   console.log(`publish-manifest.sh ${args.join(' ').split(token).join('<token>')}`);
   const r = spawnSync('bash', [pm, ...args], { stdio: 'inherit', env: { ...process.env, IGNEUM_DLSITE: dlsite } });