diff --git a/cmd/membershipd/main.go b/cmd/membershipd/main.go
index 78581e3e..4fab090d 100644
--- a/cmd/membershipd/main.go
+++ b/cmd/membershipd/main.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 
 func main() {
 	var (
+		bind      = flag.String("bind", "127.0.0.1", "network interface to bind the HTTP API and the embedded NATS to; use 0.0.0.0 to accept LAN/remote peers")
 		natsURL   = flag.String("nats-url", "", "external NATS url; empty starts an embedded server")
 		httpPort  = flag.String("http-port", "8470", "HTTP port for the control-plane API")
 		dbPath    = flag.String("db", "./local_files/unibus.db", "SQLite database path")
@@ -40,7 +41,10 @@ func main() {
 	natsClientURL := *natsURL
 	if natsClientURL == "" {
 		var err error
-		ns, err = embeddednats.Start(*natsStore, *natsPort)
+		// Bind the embedded NATS to the same interface as the HTTP API so a single
+		// --bind flag governs reachability: 127.0.0.1 keeps the whole stack
+		// loopback-only; 0.0.0.0 exposes both planes to the LAN.
+		ns, err = embeddednats.StartHost(*natsStore, *bind, *natsPort)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Fatalf("start embedded nats: %v", err)
 		}
@@ -65,7 +69,7 @@ func main() {
 	log.Printf("blob store: %s", *storeDir)
 
 	srv := membership.NewServer(store, blobs)
-	addr := "127.0.0.1:" + *httpPort
+	addr := *bind + ":" + *httpPort
 	httpSrv := &http.Server{Addr: addr, Handler: srv}
 
 	go func() {
diff --git a/pkg/embeddednats/embeddednats.go b/pkg/embeddednats/embeddednats.go
index 8707ba35..1116b97e 100644
--- a/pkg/embeddednats/embeddednats.go
+++ b/pkg/embeddednats/embeddednats.go
@@ -13,13 +13,27 @@ import (
 )
 
 // Start launches an embedded nats-server with JetStream enabled, listening on
-// the given port and persisting JetStream state under storeDir. It blocks until
-// the server is ready to accept connections (up to 5s) and returns the running
-// server. The caller is responsible for calling Shutdown on it.
+// the given port and persisting JetStream state under storeDir. The listen host
+// is left at the nats-server default ("0.0.0.0", all interfaces). It blocks
+// until the server is ready to accept connections (up to 5s) and returns the
+// running server. The caller is responsible for calling Shutdown on it.
+//
+// Start is a thin backward-compatible wrapper over StartHost; callers that need
+// to control the bind interface (loopback vs LAN) should use StartHost directly.
 func Start(storeDir string, port int) (*server.Server, error) {
+	return StartHost(storeDir, "", port)
+}
+
+// StartHost is Start with explicit control over the bind interface. host selects
+// which network interface the data plane listens on: pass "127.0.0.1" to keep
+// NATS loopback-only (the safe default for a single-host dev stack) or "0.0.0.0"
+// to expose it to the LAN so remote peers (phones, other PCs) can connect. An
+// empty host falls back to the nats-server default ("0.0.0.0", all interfaces).
+func StartHost(storeDir, host string, port int) (*server.Server, error) {
 	opts := &server.Options{
 		JetStream:  true,
 		StoreDir:   storeDir,
+		Host:       host,
 		Port:       port,
 		DontListen: false,
 		// Keep the embedded server quiet by default; the host app logs the URLs.