diff --git a/mdl-examples/bug-tests/312-validate-skip-excluded-microflows.mdl b/mdl-examples/bug-tests/312-validate-skip-excluded-microflows.mdl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c15bacbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mdl-examples/bug-tests/312-validate-skip-excluded-microflows.mdl
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+-- ============================================================================
+-- Bug #312: Reference validation flagged broken calls inside excluded microflows
+-- ============================================================================
+--
+-- Symptom (before fix):
+--   `mxcli check --references` walked every microflow body — including ones
+--   marked `@excluded` — and reported missing microflow / page / java-action
+--   references in them. Excluded documents are not part of the build, and
+--   Studio Pro tolerates dangling references in them, so this produced
+--   false positives during agentic workflows that legitimately stash
+--   broken intermediate state inside excluded scaffolding.
+--
+-- Root cause:
+--   The validator collected references from every CreateMicroflowStmt
+--   without checking the Excluded flag.
+--
+-- After fix:
+--   `validate.go` skips reference collection for excluded microflows.
+--   Included microflows are still validated normally, so the negative
+--   case (typo in a real call) still fails the check.
+--
+-- Usage:
+--   mxcli check --references mdl-examples/bug-tests/312-validate-skip-excluded-microflows.mdl -p app.mpr
+--   The check must succeed: the excluded microflow's broken call to
+--   BugTest312.NoSuchTarget is ignored.
+--
+--   To verify the negative case still triggers, remove `@excluded` from
+--   the second microflow and re-run — `mxcli check --references` should
+--   then report the missing reference.
+-- ============================================================================
+
+create module BugTest312;
+
+create microflow BugTest312.MF_RealTarget ()
+returns string as $msg
+begin
+  return 'real target';
+end;
+/
+
+-- Excluded scaffolding that contains a broken call. mxcli check --references
+-- must NOT report this as an error.
+@excluded
+create microflow BugTest312.MF_ExcludedWithBrokenCall ()
+returns string as $msg
+begin
+  declare $msg string = empty;
+  $msg = call microflow BugTest312.NoSuchTarget();
+  return $msg;
+end;
+/
+
+-- Negative control: an INCLUDED microflow whose call is valid. Together with
+-- the excluded one above, the check confirms the validator still walks
+-- non-excluded microflows.
+create microflow BugTest312.MF_IncludedValid ()
+returns string as $msg
+begin
+  declare $msg string = empty;
+  $msg = call microflow BugTest312.MF_RealTarget();
+  return $msg;
+end;
+/
diff --git a/mdl/executor/bugfix_regression_test.go b/mdl/executor/bugfix_regression_test.go
index 0e1ed366..563d542c 100644
--- a/mdl/executor/bugfix_regression_test.go
+++ b/mdl/executor/bugfix_regression_test.go
@@ -696,3 +696,68 @@ func TestCallMicroflowUnknownResultTypeStillDeclaresVariable(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal("expected Result to remain declared after unresolved call return type")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestValidateMicroflowReferencesSkipsExcludedMicroflow(t *testing.T) {
+	moduleID := model.ID("module-1")
+	backend := &mock.MockBackend{
+		IsConnectedFunc: func() bool { return true },
+		ListModulesFunc: func() ([]*model.Module, error) {
+			return []*model.Module{{
+				BaseElement: model.BaseElement{ID: moduleID},
+				Name:        "SyntheticAudit",
+			}}, nil
+		},
+		ListMicroflowsFunc: func() ([]*microflows.Microflow, error) {
+			return nil, nil
+		},
+	}
+	ctx, _ := newMockCtx(t, withBackend(backend))
+
+	stmt := &ast.CreateMicroflowStmt{
+		Excluded: true,
+		Name:     ast.QualifiedName{Module: "SyntheticAudit", Name: "ExcludedLegacyFlow"},
+		Body: []ast.MicroflowStatement{
+			&ast.CallMicroflowStmt{
+				MicroflowName: ast.QualifiedName{Module: "SyntheticAudit", Name: "DeletedScaffoldFlow"},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	if err := validate(ctx, stmt); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("excluded microflow reference validation returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestValidateMicroflowReferencesReportsIncludedMissingMicroflow(t *testing.T) {
+	moduleID := model.ID("module-1")
+	backend := &mock.MockBackend{
+		IsConnectedFunc: func() bool { return true },
+		ListModulesFunc: func() ([]*model.Module, error) {
+			return []*model.Module{{
+				BaseElement: model.BaseElement{ID: moduleID},
+				Name:        "SyntheticAudit",
+			}}, nil
+		},
+		ListMicroflowsFunc: func() ([]*microflows.Microflow, error) {
+			return nil, nil
+		},
+	}
+	ctx, _ := newMockCtx(t, withBackend(backend))
+
+	stmt := &ast.CreateMicroflowStmt{
+		Name: ast.QualifiedName{Module: "SyntheticAudit", Name: "IncludedFlow"},
+		Body: []ast.MicroflowStatement{
+			&ast.CallMicroflowStmt{
+				MicroflowName: ast.QualifiedName{Module: "SyntheticAudit", Name: "DeletedScaffoldFlow"},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	err := validate(ctx, stmt)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected missing microflow reference error")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "microflow not found: SyntheticAudit.DeletedScaffoldFlow") {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected validation error: %v", err)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/mdl/executor/validate.go b/mdl/executor/validate.go
index 88f52f49..8621e2db 100644
--- a/mdl/executor/validate.go
+++ b/mdl/executor/validate.go
@@ -396,6 +396,12 @@ func validateMicroflowReferences(ctx *ExecContext, s *ast.CreateMicroflowStmt, s
 	if !ctx.Connected() || len(s.Body) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}
+	if s.Excluded {
+		// Studio Pro allows excluded documents to keep stale references. Reference
+		// checks should not fail a roundtrip audit for microflows that are not part
+		// of the runnable app.
+		return nil
+	}
 
 	// Collect all references from the microflow body
 	refs := &microflowRefCollector{}