diff --git a/data-machine-code.php b/data-machine-code.php
index 36c0a69..e437322 100644
--- a/data-machine-code.php
+++ b/data-machine-code.php
@@ -119,6 +119,16 @@ function datamachine_code_bootstrap() {
 	add_action('wp_abilities_api_categories_init', 'datamachine_code_register_ability_categories');
 }
 add_action('plugins_loaded', 'datamachine_code_bootstrap', 20);
+add_action(
+	'activated_plugin',
+	static function (): void {
+		datamachine_code_bootstrap();
+	},
+	20
+);
+if ( function_exists('did_action') && did_action('plugins_loaded') ) {
+	datamachine_code_bootstrap();
+}
 
 /**
  * Register DMC-owned webhook verifier modes with Data Machine core.
diff --git a/tests/smoke-github-issue-publish-handler.php b/tests/smoke-github-issue-publish-handler.php
index 591f582..a040680 100644
--- a/tests/smoke-github-issue-publish-handler.php
+++ b/tests/smoke-github-issue-publish-handler.php
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@
 $assert(false !== strpos($handler, 'GitHubAbilities::createIssue'), 'handler delegates issue creation to GitHubAbilities');
 $assert(false !== strpos($settings, "'labels'") && false !== strpos($settings, "'assignees'"), 'settings expose labels and assignees defaults');
 $assert(false !== strpos($plugin, 'new \\DataMachineCode\\Handlers\\GitHub\\GitHubIssuePublish();'), 'plugin bootstraps GitHub issue publish handler');
+$assert(false !== strpos($plugin, "did_action('plugins_loaded')") && false !== strpos($plugin, 'datamachine_code_bootstrap();'), 'plugin bootstraps immediately when loaded after plugins_loaded');
+$assert(false !== strpos($plugin, "'activated_plugin'") && false !== strpos($plugin, 'datamachine_code_bootstrap();'), 'plugin retries bootstrap after late activation completes');
 
 echo "\n";
 if (empty($failures) ) {