diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b53ae9f..a6d3607 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -165,6 +165,11 @@ Every shared `prek` command runs through `tools/cooled_prek.sh`, which the `cool
 passes `--config .pre-commit-config.yaml`. Without it, prek prefers a root `prek.toml` and also runs nested
 configurations, which no guard checks.
 
+Hook environments install under the same seven-day upload cutoff, with the repository's uv settings ignored. A package
+with a `packages.<name>.uploaded-prior-to` exception in `[tool.nab]` is admitted up to that date in hook environments
+too, so a hook dependency pinned to a release newer than the cutoff, such as `sphinx` for `docstrfmt`, needs the same
+temporary exception the release lock uses. Delete the exception once the release is a week old.
+
 ## Start with a caller
 
 The [release preparation workflow](.github/workflows/prepare-release.yaml) in this repository calls the reusable
diff --git a/changelog.d/+cooled-prek-exceptions.change.md b/changelog.d/+cooled-prek-exceptions.change.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4215ff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/+cooled-prek-exceptions.change.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Admit the `[tool.nab]` per-package `uploaded-prior-to` exceptions in `cooled-prek` hook environments, so a hook
+dependency pinned past the seven-day cutoff installs the same way as the release lock. Before, prepare failed on such a
+pin.
diff --git a/tests/cooled_prek/test_cooled_prek.py b/tests/cooled_prek/test_cooled_prek.py
index e563f3e..0a83279 100644
--- a/tests/cooled_prek/test_cooled_prek.py
+++ b/tests/cooled_prek/test_cooled_prek.py
@@ -89,3 +89,42 @@ def test_cooled_prek_isolates_hook_installs(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
         "UV_NO_SOURCES": "1",
     }
     assert not leaked.keys() & environment.keys()
+
+
+def test_cooled_prek_admits_nab_cutoff_exceptions(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    fake = tmp_path / "prek"
+    fake.write_text('#!/bin/sh\ncat "$UV_CONFIG_FILE" >config\n')
+    fake.chmod(0o755)
+    (tmp_path / "pyproject.toml").write_text(
+        '[tool.nab]\nuploaded-prior-to = "P7D"\npackages.sphinx.uploaded-prior-to = 2026-10-21T00:05:13Z\n'
+        'packages.release-creator.uploaded-prior-to = "2026-10-26T18:24:46Z"\npackages.uv.decision-order = "stable"\n'
+    )
+
+    subprocess.run(
+        [str(Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2] / "tools/cooled_prek.sh"), "install-hooks"],
+        cwd=tmp_path,
+        env=os.environ | {"PATH": f"{tmp_path}:{os.environ['PATH']}"},
+        check=True,
+    )
+
+    assert (tmp_path / "config").read_text().splitlines() == [
+        "[exclude-newer-package]",
+        '"release-creator" = "2026-10-26T18:24:46Z"',
+        '"sphinx" = "2026-10-21T00:05:13Z"',
+    ]
+
+
+def test_cooled_prek_without_exceptions_sets_no_config_file(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    fake = tmp_path / "prek"
+    fake.write_text('#!/bin/sh\nprintf "%s" "${UV_CONFIG_FILE-unset}" >config\n')
+    fake.chmod(0o755)
+    (tmp_path / "pyproject.toml").write_text('[tool.nab]\nuploaded-prior-to = "P7D"\n')
+
+    subprocess.run(
+        [str(Path(__file__).resolve().parents[2] / "tools/cooled_prek.sh"), "install-hooks"],
+        cwd=tmp_path,
+        env=os.environ | {"PATH": f"{tmp_path}:{os.environ['PATH']}", "UV_CONFIG_FILE": "/leak/uv.toml"},
+        check=True,
+    )
+
+    assert (tmp_path / "config").read_text() == "unset"
diff --git a/tools/cooled_prek.sh b/tools/cooled_prek.sh
index 961791b..0627d7b 100755
--- a/tools/cooled_prek.sh
+++ b/tools/cooled_prek.sh
@@ -5,5 +5,28 @@ unset UV_CONFIG_FILE UV_INDEX UV_INDEX_URL UV_DEFAULT_INDEX UV_EXTRA_INDEX_URL
 unset UV_FIND_LINKS UV_EXCLUDE_NEWER_PACKAGE
 unset UV_INSECURE_HOST UV_SYSTEM_CERTS SSL_CERT_FILE SSL_CERT_DIR
 export UV_EXCLUDE_NEWER="7 days" UV_NO_CONFIG=1 UV_NO_SOURCES=1
-echo "Running prek $* with hook environments built under the 7 days cutoff, repository uv settings ignored"
+# uv pip, which prek calls, reads per-package cutoffs only from a config file, so the [tool.nab] exceptions the
+# release lock already admits are written to one that holds nothing else.
+exceptions=$(
+  python3 -I - <<'PY'
+import pathlib
+import tomllib
+
+path = pathlib.Path("pyproject.toml")
+packages = tomllib.loads(path.read_text()).get("tool", {}).get("nab", {}).get("packages", {}) if path.is_file() else {}
+for name, settings in sorted(packages.items()):
+    if (cutoff := settings.get("uploaded-prior-to")) is not None:
+        value = cutoff.isoformat().replace("+00:00", "Z") if hasattr(cutoff, "isoformat") else str(cutoff)
+        print(f'"{name}" = "{value}"')
+PY
+)
+if [[ -n "$exceptions" ]]; then
+  config=$(mktemp)
+  printf '[exclude-newer-package]\n%s\n' "$exceptions" >"$config"
+  export UV_CONFIG_FILE="$config"
+  echo "Running prek $* with hook environments built under the 7 days cutoff, repository uv settings ignored," \
+    "[tool.nab] cutoff exceptions admitted: $(tr '\n' ' ' <<<"$exceptions")"
+else
+  echo "Running prek $* with hook environments built under the 7 days cutoff, repository uv settings ignored"
+fi
 exec prek --config .pre-commit-config.yaml "$@"