diff --git a/.claude/agents/prose-asserter.md b/.claude/agents/prose-asserter.md
index c6e7ff162..0809870fe 100644
--- a/.claude/agents/prose-asserter.md
+++ b/.claude/agents/prose-asserter.md
@@ -83,6 +83,23 @@ closes with an incorporate") is evidenced from the recorded actions. A
 step about reasoning or output is evidenced from the walk. Where the two
 disagree about what was done, the recorded actions win.
 
+**Read them against each other, always, before ruling on anything.** Two
+divergences matter and both are reported under markers:
+
+- **Narrated but not recorded** — the walk claims a command or a file
+  write the record does not contain. Treat the record as right. A step
+  resting on that claim fails, and the discrepancy is a finding in its
+  own right, because it means the walker described something it did not
+  do.
+- **Recorded but not narrated** — the record holds a call the walk never
+  mentions. Usually harmless orientation, and not a failure by itself.
+  Report it anyway: a call that touched state and went unmentioned is the
+  shape a silent repair takes.
+
+This comparison is required, not a courtesy. The two streams exist so
+that neither has to be taken on trust, and that only holds if they are
+actually set against each other every time.
+
 The record settles *that* a call was made, never *why*. A call the walker
 made during a wrong turn of its own, and then abandoned, appears in the
 record exactly like one the prose asked for — only the walk says which it
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/discussion-entry-seeds-from-carrier/case.json b/tests/prose/cases/discussion-entry-seeds-from-carrier/case.json
index ac5027dd2..b0f907864 100644
--- a/tests/prose/cases/discussion-entry-seeds-from-carrier/case.json
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/discussion-entry-seeds-from-carrier/case.json
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
     "skills/workflow-shared/references/ensure-discovery-item.md"
   ],
   "invariants": {
-    "engine_before_write": true,
     "calls_include": [
       "manifest get pay.discussion.pay status"
     ],
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/investigation-entry-seeds-from-carrier/case.json b/tests/prose/cases/investigation-entry-seeds-from-carrier/case.json
index 64a64307a..d11bcfca0 100644
--- a/tests/prose/cases/investigation-entry-seeds-from-carrier/case.json
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/investigation-entry-seeds-from-carrier/case.json
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
     "skills/workflow-investigation-entry/references/invoke-skill.md"
   ],
   "invariants": {
-    "engine_before_write": true,
     "calls_include": [
       "manifest get crash-fix.investigation.crash-fix status",
       "render phase-note"
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/planning-entry-asks-for-late-context/case.json b/tests/prose/cases/planning-entry-asks-for-late-context/case.json
index 0ea0dade9..072803bfd 100644
--- a/tests/prose/cases/planning-entry-asks-for-late-context/case.json
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/planning-entry-asks-for-late-context/case.json
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
     "continue \u2014 nothing has changed since the specification"
   ],
   "invariants": {
-    "engine_before_write": true,
     "calls_include": [
       "render entry-gate pay.planning.pay",
       "manifest list",
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/review-entry-fresh/case.json b/tests/prose/cases/review-entry-fresh/case.json
index 6bfcb1428..1bac663c7 100644
--- a/tests/prose/cases/review-entry-fresh/case.json
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/review-entry-fresh/case.json
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
     "skills/workflow-review-entry/references/validate-phase.md"
   ],
   "invariants": {
-    "engine_before_write": true,
     "calls_include": [
       "render entry-gate pay.review.pay"
     ],
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/spec-entry-from-discussion/case.json b/tests/prose/cases/spec-entry-from-discussion/case.json
index 484e517cc..bbae6fa2a 100644
--- a/tests/prose/cases/spec-entry-from-discussion/case.json
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/spec-entry-from-discussion/case.json
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
     "skills/workflow-specification-entry/references/invoke-skill.md"
   ],
   "invariants": {
-    "engine_before_write": true,
     "calls_include": [
       "render entry-gate pay.specification.pay"
     ],
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/spec-entry-from-investigation/case.json b/tests/prose/cases/spec-entry-from-investigation/case.json
index 2c38f89d1..a2fd8f96b 100644
--- a/tests/prose/cases/spec-entry-from-investigation/case.json
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/spec-entry-from-investigation/case.json
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
     "skills/workflow-specification-entry/references/invoke-skill.md"
   ],
   "invariants": {
-    "engine_before_write": true,
     "calls_include": [
       "render entry-gate crash-fix.specification.crash-fix"
     ],
diff --git a/tests/prose/cases/start-lists-active-work/case.json b/tests/prose/cases/start-lists-active-work/case.json
index 93fc70255..a588da9ab 100644
--- a/tests/prose/cases/start-lists-active-work/case.json
+++ b/tests/prose/cases/start-lists-active-work/case.json
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
     "skills/workflow-start/SKILL.md"
   ],
   "invariants": {
-    "engine_before_write": true,
     "calls_include": [
       "engine.cjs boot",
       "gateway.cjs"
diff --git a/tests/prose/lib/invariants.cjs b/tests/prose/lib/invariants.cjs
index d9dcbd631..a9e3944f3 100644
--- a/tests/prose/lib/invariants.cjs
+++ b/tests/prose/lib/invariants.cjs
@@ -48,6 +48,38 @@ function isWrite(row) {
 
 const NAMES = ['engine_before_write', 'calls_include', 'calls_exclude', 'calls_in_order'];
 
+/**
+ * Prose the walk actually opened, as repo-relative paths.
+ *
+ * A world holds the skills at `.claude/skills/`; the corpus names them at
+ * `skills/`. Same file, two addresses, so one is translated to the other.
+ */
+function proseRead(rows) {
+  const seen = new Set();
+  for (const row of rows) {
+    if (row.tool !== 'Read') continue;
+    const m = row.detail.match(/\.claude\/skills\/(.+\.md)$/);
+    if (m) seen.add(`skills/${m[1]}`);
+  }
+  return seen;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Prose a walk went through but the case never declared.
+ *
+ * `files` is not documentation: it decides whether a change to a file
+ * selects this case for a run. A file the walk traverses and the case
+ * omits is prose that can be edited without ever re-running the test that
+ * covers it. Reported, never corrected — which files belong is an
+ * authoring judgement, and the reachable set is far wider than the walked
+ * one, so a list assembled by following every link would select this case
+ * for branches it deliberately stops before.
+ */
+function undeclaredProse(rows, declared) {
+  const listed = new Set(declared || []);
+  return [...proseRead(rows)].filter((f) => !listed.has(f)).sort();
+}
+
 /** The commands the walk ran, in order. */
 function commands(rows) {
   return rows.filter((r) => r.tool === 'Bash' && r.event === 'PreToolUse').map((r) => r.detail);
@@ -184,4 +216,4 @@ function declarationErrors(declared) {
   return errors;
 }
 
-module.exports = { check, format, declarationErrors, NAMES };
+module.exports = { check, format, declarationErrors, undeclaredProse, NAMES };
diff --git a/tests/prose/lib/prompts.cjs b/tests/prose/lib/prompts.cjs
index c1132c34c..bbc70688c 100644
--- a/tests/prose/lib/prompts.cjs
+++ b/tests/prose/lib/prompts.cjs
@@ -73,12 +73,13 @@ function walkerPrompt({ worldDir, situation, task, scope, stubs, answers }) {
   return `${parts.join('\n\n')}\n`;
 }
 
-function asserterPrompt({ expected, world, actions, checks, walk, substitutions }) {
+function asserterPrompt({ expected, world, actions, checks, walk, substitutions, scope }) {
   const t = loadTemplate('asserter');
   const parts = [fill(t.main, { expected })];
   if (world) parts.push(fill(t.world, { expecting: world.expecting, delta: world.delta }));
   if (actions) parts.push(fill(t.actions, { actions }));
   if (checks) parts.push(fill(t.checks, { checks }));
+  if (scope) parts.push(fill(t.scope, { scope }));
   if (substitutions) parts.push(fill(t.substitutions, { substitutions }));
   if (walk) parts.push(fill(t.walk, { walk }));
   return `${parts.join('\n\n')}\n`;
diff --git a/tests/prose/prompts/asserter.md b/tests/prose/prompts/asserter.md
index a012670c5..dac165e84 100644
--- a/tests/prose/prompts/asserter.md
+++ b/tests/prose/prompts/asserter.md
@@ -53,6 +53,19 @@ verdict.
 
 {{checks}}
 
+=== scope ===
+
+UNDECLARED PROSE — files this walk opened that the case does not list,
+computed from the record.
+
+The case's file list decides whether editing a file selects this case for
+a run, so prose missing from it can be changed without the test that
+covers it ever running again. This is a finding about the case, never
+about the prose or the walk: report it under markers and let it affect
+nothing else.
+
+{{scope}}
+
 === substitutions ===
 
 HARNESS SUBSTITUTIONS the case armed for this walk. Where the recorded
diff --git a/tests/prose/run.cjs b/tests/prose/run.cjs
index fc3732ac7..9af456393 100644
--- a/tests/prose/run.cjs
+++ b/tests/prose/run.cjs
@@ -155,7 +155,9 @@ function cmdAssert(argv) {
       + 'registry has reloaded since it changed, and that this project is trusted '
       + '(hasTrustDialogAccepted). Do not judge this run.');
   }
-  const checks = invariants.format(invariants.check(worlds.readActionRows(dir), c.invariants));
+  const rows = worlds.readActionRows(dir);
+  const checks = invariants.format(invariants.check(rows, c.invariants));
+  const undeclared = invariants.undeclaredProse(rows, c.files.map((f) => f.path));
   const walk = worlds.readWalkLog(dir);
   // Same stance as the action log: the walk is harness-captured, so its
   // absence is a broken hook, not a quiet walk. Judging without it would
@@ -175,7 +177,10 @@ function cmdAssert(argv) {
     }).join('\n')
     : null;
   process.stdout.write(
-    prompts.asserterPrompt({ expected: c.assert, world, actions, checks, walk, substitutions }),
+    prompts.asserterPrompt({
+      expected: c.assert, world, actions, checks, walk, substitutions,
+      scope: undeclared.length ? undeclared.map((f) => `- ${f}`).join('\n') : null,
+    }),
   );
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/scripts/test-prose-invariants.cjs b/tests/scripts/test-prose-invariants.cjs
index 867abaaa6..b96a82ff1 100644
--- a/tests/scripts/test-prose-invariants.cjs
+++ b/tests/scripts/test-prose-invariants.cjs
@@ -289,3 +289,39 @@ describe('entry points — where a walk may begin', () => {
     assert.deepEqual(cases.validateCorpus(cases.loadAllCases()), []);
   });
 });
+
+describe('undeclared prose — the case list against what the walk opened', () => {
+  const rd = (detail) => ({ event: 'PreToolUse', tool: 'Read', detail });
+
+  it('names prose the walk opened that the case never declared', () => {
+    const rows = [
+      rd('./.claude/skills/workflow-specification-entry/SKILL.md'),
+      rd('./.claude/skills/workflow-specification-entry/references/validate-phase.md'),
+    ];
+    assert.deepEqual(
+      invariants.undeclaredProse(rows, ['skills/workflow-specification-entry/SKILL.md']),
+      ['skills/workflow-specification-entry/references/validate-phase.md'],
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('is quiet when the list already covers the walk', () => {
+    const rows = [rd('./.claude/skills/workflow-review-entry/SKILL.md')];
+    assert.deepEqual(invariants.undeclaredProse(rows, ['skills/workflow-review-entry/SKILL.md']), []);
+  });
+
+  it('ignores files that are not prose — a walk reads world state too', () => {
+    const rows = [rd('./.workflows/pay/manifest.json'), rd('./.workflows/pay/discussion/pay.md')];
+    assert.deepEqual(invariants.undeclaredProse(rows, []), []);
+  });
+
+  it('ignores commands — only what was opened counts', () => {
+    const rows = [bash('cd . && cat .claude/skills/workflow-start/SKILL.md')];
+    assert.deepEqual(invariants.undeclaredProse(rows, []), []);
+  });
+
+  it('reports each file once however often it was reopened', () => {
+    const f = './.claude/skills/workflow-start/references/active-work.md';
+    assert.deepEqual(invariants.undeclaredProse([rd(f), rd(f)], []),
+      ['skills/workflow-start/references/active-work.md']);
+  });
+});