diff --git a/tools/autoplay-batch.sh b/tools/autoplay-batch.sh
index 74d2dc26..98a4bc36 100755
--- a/tools/autoplay-batch.sh
+++ b/tools/autoplay-batch.sh
@@ -144,7 +144,12 @@ echo "============================================================"
 # Remote mode delegates to run_ap3.sh on the remote host, which is expected to
 # have a fresh build already (or the caller ran build-gdext.sh manually).
 # Uses a timestamped CARGO_TARGET_DIR to avoid collisions on multi-tenant hosts.
-if [ -z "$AUTOPLAY_HOST" ]; then
+#
+# Container mode (AUTOPLAY_GODOT_BIN set): the mc-ai docker image bakes the .so
+# at image-build time and the entrypoint installs it into the bind-mounted
+# worktree before this script runs, so the rebuild is both unnecessary and
+# unrunnable (the runtime image has no cargo).
+if [ -z "$AUTOPLAY_HOST" ] && [ -z "${AUTOPLAY_GODOT_BIN:-}" ]; then
     echo "--- p1-45: rebuilding GDExtension before batch (CARGO_TARGET_DIR isolation) ---"
     MC_BUILD_STAMP="$(date +%s)"
     export CARGO_TARGET_DIR="/tmp/mc-build-${MC_BUILD_STAMP}/target"