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+---
+status: accepted
+summary: Do not restructure the validate->emit seam as parse-don't-validate (a typed CheckedDocument that emit consumes); the registry + complete-gate changes already delivered the safety, and the residual type-enforcement gap is CLI-unreachable and not worth a typed-model rewrite plus a breaking API.
+supersedes: null
+superseded_by: null
+---
+
+# Reject parse-don't-validate for the validate -> emit seam
+
+**Decision:** Keep `validate(compose) -> warnings` and `emit_script(compose,
+options) -> str` both taking the raw compose dict. Do not introduce a typed
+`CheckedDocument` that `validate`/`parse` produces and `emit` consumes (the
+"parse, don't validate" restructuring — Candidate 3 of the architecture review).
+
+## Context
+
+The architecture review proposed type-enforcing the seam: `validate` would
+return a normalized, typed model that `emit` consumes, so the type system
+guarantees `emit` only ever sees checked input, rather than relying on
+`cli.py`'s call-order convention (`validate` then `emit_script`). It was flagged
+Speculative at the time.
+
+Two of the review's candidates then shipped and changed the calculus:
+
+- The **service-key registry** (`changes/2026-07-09.08`) single-sourced each
+  declarative key's validate + emit, so `emit` no longer re-derives shape
+  knowledge.
+- **validate() owning every shape emit reads** (`changes/2026-07-10.01`) made
+  the shape-reading functions robust: a direct `emit_script(dict)` call on a
+  *malformed* document now fails with `UnsupportedComposeError`, not a raw
+  crash, and `validate()` exercises every shape.
+
+## Decision & rationale
+
+After those two changes, parse-don't-validate's *unique* remaining benefit is
+narrow: preventing a library caller from calling `emit_script` on a
+**valid-but-unvalidated** dict (skipping warnings/normalization). That gap is:
+
+- **CLI-unreachable** — the only product entry point always calls `validate()`
+  before `emit_script()`.
+- **Already de-risked for malformed input** — the robust readers reject bad
+  shapes at emit time regardless of whether `validate` ran.
+
+Against that marginal gain, the cost is real: a typed `CheckedDocument` for the
+whole ~30-key subset, rewriting the just-built, 100%-covered registry so its
+specs produce/consume typed fields, and a **breaking** public-API change
+(`validate` -> `parse`, `emit_script` signature). A thin "branded" wrapper
+(`frozen CheckedDocument` holding the dict, constructible only via `parse`)
+avoids the model rewrite but still carries the breaking API for a near-zero real
+gain, since `emit` would still read the wrapped dict.
+
+Parse-don't-validate is the architecturally pure pattern, but it does not earn
+its keep at this codebase's size and stage — it is the over-engineering the
+review itself flagged, more so now that Candidates 1-2 shrank its payoff. This
+also fits the zero-dependency, minimal-footprint ethos
+(`decisions/2026-07-03-zero-dependency-core.md`).
+
+## Revisit trigger
+
+- A **second `emit` consumer** appears — a distinct output format alongside the
+  pod script, or another module that renders from the compose model — so the
+  typed model would pay back across more than one consumer; or
+- the "`emit` only sees validated input" convention actually causes a bug (a
+  real caller emits unvalidated input and ships wrong output), not a
+  hypothetical one.