diff --git a/packages/cli/test/migrate-install.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/migrate-install.test.ts
index 11f424fd..45bf72de 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/migrate-install.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/test/migrate-install.test.ts
@@ -207,6 +207,20 @@ describe("migration version matrix", () => {
   // forgets to handle an older starting point.
   // Every prior version, derived. The list used to be written out, so each new
   // migration silently stopped testing the version it had just made "prior".
+  //
+  // NOTE on migration 0006 specifically (0006-refresh-readme.ts): every start
+  // version here is seeded with a bare `taskless.json` and no pre-existing
+  // `README.md`, so by the time 0006 runs there is no stale README for its
+  // rewrite to act on, and this test only reads the final `manifest.version`
+  // counter afterward. A regression that made 0006 a no-op (e.g. it stopped
+  // writing the file, or wrote the wrong template) would NOT be caught here --
+  // this loop would still pass, because a missing README and a freshly
+  // written one look identical to a test that never reads README.md. Do not
+  // mistake this matrix for coverage of 0006's actual rewrite; that coverage
+  // lives in `installed-documentation.test.ts` ("migration 0006, on a project
+  // that is already current" / "rewrites a stale README that no other
+  // migration would touch"), which seeds a real stale README and asserts on
+  // its rewritten content.
   const priorVersions = Array.from(
     { length: LATEST_SCHEMA_VERSION },
     (_, index) => index
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/reference.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/reference.test.ts
index 6ccb30c5..e175524f 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/reference.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/test/reference.test.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,63 @@ function ruleFor(reference: Reference, engine: string) {
   return rule;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Record every (path, kind) pair reachable in `value` into `into`.
+ *
+ * `path` uses `[]` for "inside some array", never an index, and an object's
+ * keys are visited in sorted order rather than insertion order. Both choices
+ * exist so that reordering an array, or reordering an object literal's keys,
+ * changes nothing this records — those are the cosmetic edits the fingerprint
+ * below is required NOT to fail on. What it does record is which keys exist at
+ * each position and what kind of value sits there (object / array / string /
+ * number / boolean / null) -- never the value itself, so renaming a rule's
+ * `id` from "no-eval-call" to something else does not move the fingerprint,
+ * but adding, removing, or retyping a field does.
+ */
+function shapeOf(value: unknown, path: string, into: Set<string>): void {
+  if (Array.isArray(value)) {
+    into.add(`${path}:array`);
+    for (const item of value) shapeOf(item, `${path}[]`, into);
+    return;
+  }
+  if (value !== null && typeof value === "object") {
+    into.add(`${path}:object`);
+    for (const key of Object.keys(
+      value as Record<string, unknown>
+    ).toSorted()) {
+      shapeOf((value as Record<string, unknown>)[key], `${path}.${key}`, into);
+    }
+    return;
+  }
+  into.add(`${path}:${value === null ? "null" : typeof value}`);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Every (path, kind) pair the reference payload reaches, sorted.
+ *
+ * Derived from the live object rather than hand-copied, so it moves when
+ * `Reference` / `ReferenceRule` / `ReferenceTests` / `ReferenceLayout` change
+ * shape and cannot silently rot the way a hand-maintained field list would.
+ *
+ * This is the check the `v1 -> v2` episode (see `REFERENCE_VERSION`'s own
+ * comment, and CLAUDE.md's account of it) needed and did not have: `tests`
+ * went from an array to `{ grouping, files, cases? }` and nothing forced
+ * `REFERENCE_VERSION` to move with it. A change of that kind now fails here,
+ * and the fix is to bump `REFERENCE_VERSION`, update the list below, and say
+ * why in the commit that touches both.
+ *
+ * ASSERTED AS A LIST, NOT A HASH, ON PURPOSE. A digest comparison reports
+ * "expected 0add… to be ab12…", which says the shape moved but not what moved,
+ * leaving whoever hit it to rebuild the shape set by hand to find the one added
+ * field. A guard that fires this rarely has to be legible the one time it does,
+ * and 56 lines is a small price for a diff that names the field.
+ */
+function shapePaths(value: unknown): string[] {
+  const paths = new Set<string>();
+  shapeOf(value, "$", paths);
+  return [...paths].toSorted();
+}
+
 describe("the demo reference payload", () => {
   it("is current — regenerate with `pnpm --filter @taskless/cli reference`", async () => {
     expect(await readReference()).toEqual(buildReference(DEMO_RULES));
@@ -248,6 +305,83 @@ describe("the demo reference payload", () => {
     expect(reference.version).toBe(2);
   });
 
+  it("carries a structural fingerprint that moves with the corpus shape", async () => {
+    const reference = await readReference();
+
+    // Nothing else in this file ties a shape change to `REFERENCE_VERSION`.
+    // Every other test here asserts the shape it expects (a `layout` block, a
+    // `tests.grouping`, a `signature` on `runtime` only, ...), so any one of
+    // them would fail if a field vanished -- but NONE of them fail if a field
+    // is ADDED, and #263 was exactly an addition of shape (`tests` gained a
+    // structure `layout` had no way to describe) that changed what a
+    // consumer had to parse without changing what any existing assertion
+    // here checked.
+    //
+    // If this assertion is the one that broke: you changed what `Reference`
+    // (or `ReferenceRule` / `ReferenceTests` / `ReferenceLayout`) publishes.
+    // Bump `REFERENCE_VERSION`, update its doc comment to say what changed and
+    // why, regenerate `assets/reference.json` (`pnpm --filter @taskless/cli
+    // reference`), and update the hash below to match.
+    expect(shapePaths(reference)).toEqual([
+      "$.constraints:array",
+      "$.constraints[].enforcedBy:string",
+      "$.constraints[].engine:string",
+      "$.constraints[].id:string",
+      "$.constraints[].rationale:string",
+      "$.constraints[].summary:string",
+      "$.constraints[]:object",
+      "$.layout.engines.runtime.capturesDirectory:string",
+      "$.layout.engines.runtime.fixtureLayout:string",
+      "$.layout.engines.runtime.ruleConfigFile:null",
+      "$.layout.engines.runtime.ruleFile:string",
+      "$.layout.engines.runtime:object",
+      "$.layout.engines.sg.capturesDirectory:null",
+      "$.layout.engines.sg.fixtureLayout:string",
+      "$.layout.engines.sg.ruleConfigFile:null",
+      "$.layout.engines.sg.ruleFile:string",
+      "$.layout.engines.sg:object",
+      "$.layout.engines.vale.capturesDirectory:null",
+      "$.layout.engines.vale.fixtureLayout:string",
+      "$.layout.engines.vale.ruleConfigFile:string",
+      "$.layout.engines.vale.ruleFile:string",
+      "$.layout.engines.vale:object",
+      "$.layout.engines:object",
+      "$.layout.ruleDirectory:string",
+      "$.layout.rulesRoot:string",
+      "$.layout.testsDirectory:string",
+      "$.layout:object",
+      "$.protocol:array",
+      "$.protocol[]:string",
+      "$.rules:array",
+      "$.rules[].directory:string",
+      "$.rules[].engine:string",
+      "$.rules[].id:string",
+      "$.rules[].prompt:string",
+      "$.rules[].rule:array",
+      "$.rules[].ruleFile:string",
+      "$.rules[].rule[].content:string",
+      "$.rules[].rule[].path:string",
+      "$.rules[].rule[]:object",
+      "$.rules[].signature:string",
+      "$.rules[].tests.cases:array",
+      "$.rules[].tests.cases[].bucket:string",
+      "$.rules[].tests.cases[].files:array",
+      "$.rules[].tests.cases[].files[]:string",
+      "$.rules[].tests.cases[].name:string",
+      "$.rules[].tests.cases[].path:string",
+      "$.rules[].tests.cases[]:object",
+      "$.rules[].tests.files:array",
+      "$.rules[].tests.files[].content:string",
+      "$.rules[].tests.files[].path:string",
+      "$.rules[].tests.files[]:object",
+      "$.rules[].tests.grouping:string",
+      "$.rules[].tests:object",
+      "$.rules[]:object",
+      "$.version:number",
+      "$:object",
+    ]);
+  });
+
   it("carries the prompt each rule answers", async () => {
     const reference = await readReference();
     for (const rule of reference.rules) {
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/wizard-integration.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/wizard-integration.test.ts
index 2e787e9c..8de38ef4 100644
--- a/packages/cli/test/wizard-integration.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/test/wizard-integration.test.ts
@@ -271,3 +271,88 @@ describe("runWizard with an unreadable manifest", () => {
     expect(captureSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalledWith("cli_installed");
   });
 });
+
+/**
+ * `init-no-interactive.test.ts` covers this same wiring for `init`, and its
+ * own comment names the risk directly: a dropped `console.log` or a swapped
+ * field leaves every unit test green while the user is told nothing and their
+ * agent keeps serving the previous skills. `runWizard` (src/wizard/index.ts)
+ * grew the identical `getReloadNotice` call, but only the `init` path got a
+ * test for it -- this mirrors that test's shape for the wizard.
+ */
+describe("the wizard's restart-your-agents banner", () => {
+  it("prints on a second run whose recorded version moved", async () => {
+    clackResponses.locations = [".claude"];
+    clackResponses.summary = true;
+
+    const { runWizard } = await import("../src/wizard");
+    await runWizard({ cwd });
+
+    // Plant an older recorded version, the same way
+    // `init-no-interactive.test.ts` stages an upgrade: the build under test
+    // cannot report two versions in one process, so the move has to be staged
+    // in the manifest between two runs.
+    const manifestPath = join(cwd, ".taskless", "taskless.json");
+    const manifest = JSON.parse(await readFile(manifestPath, "utf8")) as {
+      install?: { cliVersion?: string };
+    };
+    if (manifest.install) manifest.install.cliVersion = "0.0.1-planted";
+    await writeFile(manifestPath, JSON.stringify(manifest, null, 2));
+
+    const logSpy = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    try {
+      const result = await runWizard({ cwd });
+      expect(result.status).toBe("completed");
+
+      const printed = logSpy.mock.calls.map((call) => String(call[0]));
+      expect(printed.some((line) => line.includes("RESTART YOUR AGENTS"))).toBe(
+        true
+      );
+      // The version it moved FROM, which is the half a reader needs to tell
+      // an upgrade from a downgrade.
+      expect(printed.some((line) => line.includes("0.0.1-planted"))).toBe(true);
+    } finally {
+      logSpy.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("stays quiet on a first run", async () => {
+    clackResponses.locations = [".claude"];
+    clackResponses.summary = true;
+
+    const logSpy = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    try {
+      const { runWizard } = await import("../src/wizard");
+      const result = await runWizard({ cwd });
+      expect(result.status).toBe("completed");
+
+      const printed = logSpy.mock.calls.map((call) => String(call[0]));
+      expect(printed.some((line) => line.includes("RESTART YOUR AGENTS"))).toBe(
+        false
+      );
+    } finally {
+      logSpy.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("stays quiet when the recorded version did not move", async () => {
+    clackResponses.locations = [".claude"];
+    clackResponses.summary = true;
+
+    const { runWizard } = await import("../src/wizard");
+    await runWizard({ cwd });
+
+    const logSpy = vi.spyOn(console, "log").mockImplementation(() => {});
+    try {
+      const result = await runWizard({ cwd });
+      expect(result.status).toBe("completed");
+
+      const printed = logSpy.mock.calls.map((call) => String(call[0]));
+      expect(printed.some((line) => line.includes("RESTART YOUR AGENTS"))).toBe(
+        false
+      );
+    } finally {
+      logSpy.mockRestore();
+    }
+  });
+});