diff --git a/checksums.json b/checksums.json
index 9222a6f..df59297 100644
--- a/checksums.json
+++ b/checksums.json
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@
       }
     },
     "quarto": {
-      "pinned_version": "1.8.24",
+      "pinned_version": "1.10.18",
       "archive_format": "tar.gz / deb / pkg / msi",
       "archive_url_template": "https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/releases/download/v{version}/quarto-{version}-linux-{arch}.tar.gz",
       "checksum_asset": "quarto-{version}-checksums.txt",
@@ -131,6 +131,10 @@
         "1.8.24": {
           "amd64": "6b83c1c9b6f2ce6454798b42260bd2ee184551d74debe817b8aaf28b09ac22d0",
           "arm64": "89a97a65a242a5b9b010a9f9978928c1d8e4ac02a558c9cd91a110c3f2611fdd"
+        },
+        "1.10.18": {
+          "amd64": "afad071b5bd22c02f2d300695743189d3650e0537a53073e654b630cff2b0c73",
+          "arm64": "f6a07df68e25330b5df34f65d3df66bca605acce3b830c593a58e91884d4cf6c"
         }
       }
     },
diff --git a/features/quarto-chromium/feature.json b/features/quarto-chromium/feature.json
index dc771aa..cf85f69 100644
--- a/features/quarto-chromium/feature.json
+++ b/features/quarto-chromium/feature.json
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
     "email": "emmanuel.bruno@univ-tln.fr"
   },
   "postInstallCheck": {
-    "command": "sh -c 'command -v chromium >/dev/null 2>&1 || command -v chromium-browser >/dev/null 2>&1 || find ${HOME}/.local/share/quarto/chromium ${HOME}/.quarto ${HOME}/.local/share/quarto-chromium \\( -type f -o -type l \\) \\( -name chrome -o -name chromium -o -name chromium-browser -o -name headless_shell \\) -print -quit 2>/dev/null | grep -q .'",
-    "description": "Verify Chromium is available for Quarto rendering"
+    "command": "chromium_bin=\"$(command -v chromium || command -v chromium-browser || command -v chrome-headless-shell || command -v headless_shell || true)\"\nif [ -z \"${chromium_bin}\" ]; then\n  echo \"quarto-chromium: CHECK FAIL - no chromium/chromium-browser/chrome-headless-shell on PATH\" >&2\n  exit 1\nfi\nerr_file=\"$(mktemp)\"\nbin_base=\"$(basename \"${chromium_bin}\")\"\ncase \"${bin_base}\" in\n  chrome-headless-shell|headless_shell)\n    out=\"$(timeout 60 \"${chromium_bin}\" --disable-gpu --dump-dom about:blank 2>\"${err_file}\")\" && rc=0 || rc=$?\n    ;;\n  *)\n    out=\"$(timeout 60 \"${chromium_bin}\" --headless --disable-gpu --dump-dom about:blank 2>\"${err_file}\")\" && rc=0 || rc=$?\n    ;;\nesac\nif [ \"${rc}\" -ne 0 ]; then\n  echo \"quarto-chromium: CHECK FAIL - headless chromium exited ${rc}\" >&2\n  cat \"${err_file}\" >&2\n  rm -f \"${err_file}\"\n  exit 1\nfi\nrm -f \"${err_file}\"\nif [ -z \"${out}\" ]; then\n  echo \"quarto-chromium: CHECK FAIL - headless chromium produced no output\" >&2\n  exit 1\nfi\necho \"quarto-chromium: check OK (headless chromium rendered via ${chromium_bin})\"",
+    "description": "Functionally verify headless Chromium starts and renders (CI-safe shim + shared libraries), not just that the binary exists"
   },
   "documentationURL": "./features/quarto-chromium/README.md"
 }
diff --git a/features/quarto-chromium/install.sh b/features/quarto-chromium/install.sh
index 29aea20..4a6876a 100755
--- a/features/quarto-chromium/install.sh
+++ b/features/quarto-chromium/install.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,38 @@ HOME_DIR="/home/${NB_USER}"
 
 echo "quarto-chromium: installing Chromium runtime"
 
+# Shared libraries required by the Chromium binary that 'quarto install
+# chromium' downloads (verified via ldd against the bundled build:
+# libnss3, libnspr4, libatk*, libatk-bridge*, libcups, libdrm,
+# libxkbcommon, libXcomposite, libXdamage, libXfixes, libXrandr, libgbm,
+# libpango, libcairo, libgtk-3, libasound, libatspi, libxshmfence).
+# Without these the binary dies at startup with
+# "error while loading shared libraries: libnss3.so", which Quarto's
+# server-side render reports only as a bare "ERROR: AssertionError:".
+# (noble 24.04 t64 package names; verified with apt-get install --dry-run.)
+export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+apt-get update -qq
+apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+    libnss3 \
+    libnspr4 \
+    libatk1.0-0t64 \
+    libatk-bridge2.0-0t64 \
+    libcups2t64 \
+    libdrm2 \
+    libxkbcommon0 \
+    libxcomposite1 \
+    libxdamage1 \
+    libxfixes3 \
+    libxrandr2 \
+    libgbm1 \
+    libpango-1.0-0 \
+    libcairo2 \
+    libasound2t64 \
+    libatspi2.0-0t64 \
+    libgtk-3-0t64 \
+    libxshmfence1
+rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 # Use the available Quarto binary (search PATH or common /opt/quarto/* location)
 TMP_SCRIPT="/tmp/quarto-chromium-install-${NB_USER}.sh"
 cat > "${TMP_SCRIPT}" <<'BASH'
@@ -33,7 +65,9 @@ if [ -z "${QUARTO_BIN}" ]; then
   done
 fi
 if [ -n "${QUARTO_BIN}" ] && [ -x "${QUARTO_BIN}" ]; then
-  CI=true "${QUARTO_BIN}" install --no-prompt --log "${HOME}/.quarto-chromium-install.log" --log-level debug chromium \
+  CI=true "${QUARTO_BIN}" install --no-prompt --log "${HOME}/.quarto-chromium-install.log" --log-level debug chrome-headless-shell \
+    || CI=true "${QUARTO_BIN}" install chrome-headless-shell --no-prompt \
+    || CI=true "${QUARTO_BIN}" install --no-prompt --log "${HOME}/.quarto-chromium-install.log" --log-level debug chromium \
     || CI=true "${QUARTO_BIN}" install chromium --no-prompt \
     || true
 else
@@ -51,7 +85,10 @@ find_chromium_bin() {
     "${HOME_DIR}/.quarto/bin/chromium" \
     "${HOME_DIR}/.quarto/bin/chromium-browser" \
     "${HOME_DIR}/.quarto/bin/chrome" \
+    "${HOME_DIR}/.quarto/bin/chrome-headless-shell" \
+    "${HOME_DIR}/.quarto/bin/headless_shell" \
     "${HOME_DIR}/.local/share/quarto/chromium/linux-"*/chrome-linux/chrome \
+    "${HOME_DIR}/.local/share/quarto/chrome-headless-shell/linux-"*/chrome-headless-shell \
     "${HOME_DIR}/.local/share/quarto-chromium/chromium" \
     "${HOME_DIR}/.local/share/quarto-chromium/chromium-browser" \
     "${HOME_DIR}/.local/share/quarto-chromium/chrome" \
@@ -84,7 +121,7 @@ find_chromium_bin() {
   do
     [ -d "${search_dir}" ] || continue
     found=$(
-      find "${search_dir}" \( -type f -o -type l \) \( -name chrome -o -name chromium -o -name chromium-browser -o -name headless_shell \) 2>/dev/null |
+      find "${search_dir}" \( -type f -o -type l \) \( -name chrome -o -name chrome-headless-shell -o -name chromium -o -name chromium-browser -o -name headless_shell \) 2>/dev/null |
         while IFS= read -r candidate; do
           if [ -x "${candidate}" ]; then
             printf '%s\n' "${candidate}"
@@ -101,6 +138,63 @@ find_chromium_bin() {
   return 1
 }
 
+# Wrap the real Chromium binary IN PLACE with a CI-safe shim.
+#
+# Why: courseware render CI runs the container as root in a restricted
+# docker context. Quarto's own browser spawn (criClient in quarto.js)
+# passes --no-sandbox --disable-gpu but NOT --disable-dev-shm-usage, and
+# the default 64 MB /dev/shm is too small for headless Chrome, so the
+# Chromium child dies at startup and Quarto's error path reports a bare
+# "ERROR: AssertionError:" instead of the real cause. The shim bakes in
+# the CI-safe flags for every invocation.
+#
+# In-place wrapping keeps all of Quarto's discovery routes on the shim:
+# the /usr/local/bin + ~/.local/bin symlinks created below, and Quarto's
+# own install dir (~/.local/share/quarto/chromium/...), all resolve to
+# this same file.
+wrap_chromium_shim() {
+  local bin="$1"
+  local real bin_name resolved
+  resolved="$(readlink -f "${bin}" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+  if [ -n "${resolved}" ]; then
+    bin="${resolved}"
+  fi
+  real="${bin}.real"
+  bin_name="$(basename "${bin}")"
+
+  # Idempotent: a shim is already in place.
+  if [ -e "${bin}" ] && head -n 5 "${bin}" 2>/dev/null | grep -q 'solen-chromium-shim'; then
+    echo "quarto-chromium: shim already in place at ${bin}"
+    return 0
+  fi
+
+  if [ -e "${bin}" ]; then
+    # Fresh binary at the public path (first run, or 'quarto install
+    # chromium' replaced the shim on a re-run): move it aside, overwriting
+    # any stale .real.
+    mv -f "${bin}" "${real}"
+  elif [ ! -e "${real}" ]; then
+    echo "quarto-chromium: ERROR: no Chromium binary at ${bin} to wrap" >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
+  # else: public path gone but .real remains — fall through and re-write
+  # the shim pointing at it.
+
+  cat > "${bin}" <<SHIM
+#!/bin/sh
+# solen-chromium-shim: CI-safe flags for headless Chromium in restricted
+# containers (baked by features/quarto-chromium; original: ${bin_name}.real)
+# Resolve our canonical path first: this shim is commonly invoked through
+# the /usr/local/bin + ~/.local/bin symlinks, where \$0 would point at the
+# symlink and dirname(\$0) would miss ${bin_name}.real next to the original.
+self="\$(readlink -f "\$0" 2>/dev/null || echo "\$0")"
+exec "\$(dirname "\$self")/${bin_name}.real" --no-sandbox --disable-gpu --disable-dev-shm-usage "\$@"
+SHIM
+  chmod 0755 "${bin}"
+  chown "${NB_UID}":"${NB_GID}" "${bin}" "${real}" || true
+  echo "quarto-chromium: installed CI-safe shim at ${bin} (original: ${real})"
+}
+
 CHROMIUM_BIN="$(find_chromium_bin || true)"
 if [ -n "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" ]; then
   echo "quarto-chromium: found Chromium binary at ${CHROMIUM_BIN}"
@@ -146,11 +240,18 @@ if [ -n "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" ]; then
   mkdir -p "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin" || true
   ln -sf "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" /usr/local/bin/chromium || true
   ln -sf "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" /usr/local/bin/chromium-browser || true
+  ln -sf "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" /usr/local/bin/chrome-headless-shell || true
+  ln -sf "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" /usr/local/bin/headless_shell || true
   ln -sf "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/chromium" || true
   ln -sf "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/chromium-browser" || true
-  chown "${NB_UID}":"${NB_GID}" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/chromium" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/chromium-browser" || true
+  ln -sf "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/chrome-headless-shell" || true
+  ln -sf "${CHROMIUM_BIN}" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/headless_shell" || true
+  chown "${NB_UID}":"${NB_GID}" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/chromium" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/chromium-browser" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/chrome-headless-shell" "${HOME_DIR}/.local/bin/headless_shell" || true
+
+  # Bake the CI-safe flags into the binary itself (idempotent).
+  wrap_chromium_shim "${CHROMIUM_BIN}"
 else
-  echo "quarto-chromium: WARNING: Chromium binary not found after installation" >&2
+  echo "quarto-chromium: ERROR: Chromium/Chrome Headless Shell binary not found after installation" >&2
   for search_dir in \
     "${HOME_DIR}/.local/share/quarto/chromium" \
     "${HOME_DIR}/.local/share/quarto" \
@@ -162,12 +263,13 @@ else
     /var/cache
   do
     [ -d "${search_dir}" ] || continue
-    find "${search_dir}" -maxdepth 6 \( -type f -o -type l \) \( -name chrome -o -name chromium -o -name chromium-browser -o -name headless_shell \) 2>/dev/null | head -n 20 || true
+    find "${search_dir}" -maxdepth 6 \( -type f -o -type l \) \( -name chrome -o -name chrome-headless-shell -o -name chromium -o -name chromium-browser -o -name headless_shell \) 2>/dev/null | head -n 20 || true
   done
   if [ -f "${HOME_DIR}/.quarto-chromium-install.log" ]; then
     echo "quarto-chromium: Quarto install log tail:" >&2
     tail -n 40 "${HOME_DIR}/.quarto-chromium-install.log" >&2 || true
   fi
+  exit 1
 fi
 
 echo "quarto-chromium: installation complete"
diff --git a/features/quarto-cli/feature.json b/features/quarto-cli/feature.json
index ba6de83..17f7812 100644
--- a/features/quarto-cli/feature.json
+++ b/features/quarto-cli/feature.json
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
   "options": {
     "QUARTO_VERSION": {
       "type": "string",
-      "default": "1.8.24",
+      "default": "1.10.18",
       "description": "Specific Quarto version to install"
     }
   },
diff --git a/features/quarto-cli/install.sh b/features/quarto-cli/install.sh
index 1f9f1e1..d040d1e 100755
--- a/features/quarto-cli/install.sh
+++ b/features/quarto-cli/install.sh
@@ -149,11 +149,32 @@ fi
 
 echo "quarto-cli: found runtime at ${INSTDIR} -> ${QUARTO_EXE}"
 
+# The tarball ships bundled tools (typst, pandoc, deno, ...) under
+# <install-dir>/bin/tools/<arch>/ (arch = x86_64 | aarch64). Quarto
+# itself locates them relative to its own binary (QUARTO_BIN_PATH), so
+# renders work without PATH; expose the dir on PATH so that direct
+# `typst` invocations (user notebook cells, scripts) resolve too.
+QUARTO_TOOLS_DIR=""
+for cand in "$(dirname "$QUARTO_EXE")"/tools/*/typst; do
+  if [ -x "$cand" ]; then
+    QUARTO_TOOLS_DIR="$(dirname "$cand")"
+    break
+  fi
+done
+if [ -n "${QUARTO_TOOLS_DIR}" ]; then
+  echo "quarto-cli: bundled tools dir at ${QUARTO_TOOLS_DIR}"
+fi
+
+QUARTO_PATH_ADD="${CONDA_DIR}/bin:$(dirname "$QUARTO_EXE")"
+if [ -n "${QUARTO_TOOLS_DIR}" ]; then
+  QUARTO_PATH_ADD="${QUARTO_PATH_ADD}:${QUARTO_TOOLS_DIR}"
+fi
+
 # Create wrapper in /usr/local/bin
 mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
 cat > /usr/local/bin/quarto <<WRAPPER
 #!/bin/sh
-export PATH="${CONDA_DIR}/bin:$(dirname "$QUARTO_EXE"):\$PATH"
+export PATH="${QUARTO_PATH_ADD}:\$PATH"
 export QUARTO_PYTHON="${CONDA_DIR}/bin/python3"
 exec "$QUARTO_EXE" "\$@"
 WRAPPER
@@ -163,7 +184,7 @@ chown root:root /usr/local/bin/quarto
 # Add to system PATH via profile.d
 mkdir -p /etc/profile.d
 cat > /etc/profile.d/quarto.sh <<PROFILE
-export PATH="${CONDA_DIR}/bin:$(dirname "$QUARTO_EXE"):\$PATH"
+export PATH="${QUARTO_PATH_ADD}:\$PATH"
 export QUARTO_PYTHON="${CONDA_DIR}/bin/python3"
 PROFILE
 chmod 644 /etc/profile.d/quarto.sh
diff --git a/scripts/utils/update-checksums.sh b/scripts/utils/update-checksums.sh
index 26882b5..5f59cad 100755
--- a/scripts/utils/update-checksums.sh
+++ b/scripts/utils/update-checksums.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 # Script to download binaries for pinned versions and compute SHA256 checksums
 # It updates `checksums.json` (repo root) with entries like:
-# { "quarto": { "1.8.24": { "amd64": "<sha256>" } } }
+# { "quarto": { "1.10.18": { "amd64": "<sha256>" } } }
 
 REPO_ROOT=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/.." && pwd)
 # Single source of truth: repo-root checksums.json and versions.json
diff --git a/versions.json b/versions.json
index 8b7470a..48e5e31 100644
--- a/versions.json
+++ b/versions.json
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
     "buildx": "v0.30.1",
     "compose": "v5.0.1",
     "docker": "27-cli",
-    "quarto": "v1.8.26",
+    "quarto": "v1.10.18",
     "node": "22.12.0",
     "docker-ce": "27.5.1",
     "docker-compose": "v5.0.1",
diff --git a/versions/versions.yaml b/versions/versions.yaml
index feb6cf4..e415350 100644
--- a/versions/versions.yaml
+++ b/versions/versions.yaml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ tools:
       - type: github
         repo: "docker/cli"
   quarto:
-    version: "v1.8.26"
+    version: "v1.10.18"
     sources:
       - type: github
         repo: "quarto-dev/quarto-cli"