diff --git a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/build.go b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/build.go
index 323cf3a5..07b8ae2b 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/build.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/build.go
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ func (m *Module) build(ctx context.Context, args map[string]any) (any, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no module in %q of workspace %s: %w", module, workspace, err)
 	}
-	manifest, err := catalogue.ParseManifestForInputs(raw)
+	manifest, err := catalogue.Decode(raw)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("the manifest in %q: %w", module, err)
 	}
diff --git a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/build_test.go b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/build_test.go
index a8c866ac..fddcc86d 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/build_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/build_test.go
@@ -276,8 +276,8 @@ func TestBuildFailsForWhatIsNotAnImageOrNotThere(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 // Issue 1751 (ADR 0514 §2, the review's K2): a manifest whose config value falls back to a predefined key builds. The
-// builder holds no published list of the keys, so it reads the manifest for its inputs (ParseManifestForInputs), not
-// as a judge of config values. The manifest is claude-code's real one (capturedClaudeCodeManifest) with the image fixture's
+// builder holds no published list of the keys, so it decodes the manifest for its inputs (catalogue.Decode), and judges
+// no config value (ADR 0578 §3). The manifest is claude-code's real one (capturedClaudeCodeManifest) with the image fixture's
 // base and artifact added to its build, since no image module of the catalogue falls back to a predefined key today.
 func TestAManifestFallingBackToAPredefinedKeyBuilds(t *testing.T) {
 	raw := []byte(capturedClaudeCodeManifest)
diff --git a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/compose_test.go b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/compose_test.go
index 6ae5a655..984a7231 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/compose_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/compose_test.go
@@ -34,11 +34,7 @@ func TestTheModuleComposesWhereItsFilesAreHandedToTheProvisionersClient(t *testi
 		}
 	}
 	read := func(name string) catalogue.Manifest {
-		m, err := catalogue.ReadTreeManifestWritten(catalogueRoot, filepath.Join(catalogueRoot, "modules", name))
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("modules/%s: %v", name, err)
-		}
-		return m
+		return decodeTree(t, filepath.Join(catalogueRoot, "modules", name))
 	}
 	image := read("mesh-build-image")
 	resolved, err := image.Resolve(built(image))
diff --git a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/manifest_test.go b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/manifest_test.go
index b6da5a0a..fa6ce173 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/manifest_test.go
+++ b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/manifest_test.go
@@ -20,9 +20,20 @@ const (
 
 func readManifest(t *testing.T) catalogue.Manifest {
 	t.Helper()
-	m, err := catalogue.ReadTreeManifest(catalogueRoot, moduleDir)
+	return decodeTree(t, moduleDir)
+}
+
+// decodeTree is the manifest in a module's directory, decoded and judged by nothing: the checker judges every change's
+// manifests (novox/hq ADR 0578 §2), and a module's own tests read what it declares.
+func decodeTree(t *testing.T, dir string) catalogue.Manifest {
+	t.Helper()
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(dir, "module.json"))
 	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("mesh-sdk's validator refuses module.json: %v", err)
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	m, err := catalogue.Decode(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("module.json does not decode: %v", err)
 	}
 	return m
 }
@@ -38,13 +49,10 @@ func resource(t *testing.T, m catalogue.Manifest, id string) map[string]any {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// 1703a: the validator accepts the module (alone on a shelf too), it runs as mesh-build-image with its home at mode
-// 0700, lists user-namespaces, and declares git and openssh; buildah is not its package (the buildah module's alone).
-func TestManifestIsValidAndDeclaresTheAccountTheCapabilityAndThePackages(t *testing.T) {
+// 1703a: the module runs as mesh-build-image with its home at mode 0700, lists user-namespaces, and declares git and
+// openssh; buildah is not its package (the buildah module's alone).
+func TestManifestDeclaresTheAccountTheCapabilityAndThePackages(t *testing.T) {
 	m := readManifest(t)
-	if problems := catalogue.CatalogueProblems(catalogue.Shelf{m.Module: m}); len(problems) > 0 {
-		t.Errorf("the catalogue's rules refuse it: %v", problems)
-	}
 	if m.Module != "mesh-build-image" || m.RunsAs != "mesh-build-image" {
 		t.Errorf("module %q runs as %q, want mesh-build-image as itself", m.Module, m.RunsAs)
 	}
@@ -164,21 +172,10 @@ func TestTheToolsServedAreTheToolsTheManifestNames(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-// 1703f: gitea's manifest reads the keys state of mesh-build-image beside the other build modules', and the catalogue's
-// validator accepts it with the owners present.
+// 1703f: gitea's manifest reads the keys state of mesh-build-image beside the other build modules' (whether a read names
+// a state its owner keeps is the judge's, ADR 0578 §2).
 func TestGiteaReadsTheImageBuildModulesKeys(t *testing.T) {
-	var all []catalogue.Manifest
-	var gitea catalogue.Manifest
-	for _, name := range []string{"gitea", "mesh-build-go", "mesh-build-node", "mesh-build-image"} {
-		m, err := catalogue.ReadTreeManifest(catalogueRoot, filepath.Join(catalogueRoot, "modules", name))
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("mesh-sdk's validator refuses modules/%s/module.json: %v", name, err)
-		}
-		all = append(all, m)
-		if name == "gitea" {
-			gitea = m
-		}
-	}
+	gitea := decodeTree(t, filepath.Join(catalogueRoot, "modules", "gitea"))
 	for _, want := range []string{"mesh-build-go.keys", "mesh-build-node.keys", "mesh-build-image.keys"} {
 		if !slices.Contains(gitea.Reads, want) {
 			t.Errorf("gitea reads %v, lacks %s", gitea.Reads, want)
@@ -197,10 +194,7 @@ func TestACompositionWithoutBuildahIsRefusedNamingItAndWithBuildahComposes(t *te
 		"runner": {Module: "runner", Version: "1", Provides: []catalogue.Offer{{Name: "node-tools"}}},
 	}
 	for _, name := range []string{"mesh-build-image", "buildah", "docker"} {
-		m, err := catalogue.ReadTreeManifest(catalogueRoot, filepath.Join(catalogueRoot, "modules", name))
-		if err != nil {
-			t.Fatalf("modules/%s: %v", name, err)
-		}
+		m := decodeTree(t, filepath.Join(catalogueRoot, "modules", name))
 		shelf[m.Module] = m
 	}
 	node := catalogue.Node{Name: "builder", Site: "house",
diff --git a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/reads-outside b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/reads-outside
index b79eb772..029271ba 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/reads-outside
+++ b/modules/mesh-build-image/cmd/mesh-build-image/reads-outside
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
 # What these tests read outside their package, as paths from the repository's root (a glob, or a directory read whole;
 # ? before a path whose absence is read). mesh-build-go hashes them into the package's digest, so its verdict is kept
 # until one of them changes (issue 1936). An empty list, or a line matching nothing, keeps nothing.
-# the manifests through mesh-sdk's validator (the predefined keys), with the modules they compose with.
-predefined.json
+# the manifests of the modules they compose with, decoded.
 modules/gitea
 modules/mesh-build-go
 modules/mesh-build-node
diff --git a/modules/mesh-build-image/go.mod b/modules/mesh-build-image/go.mod
index ff2f5221..34917b24 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-build-image/go.mod
+++ b/modules/mesh-build-image/go.mod
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ module meshbuildimage
 go 1.26.0
 
 require (
-	git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261030174137-a37181261c24
+	git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261101012031-7cab079e2ec3
 	github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.11.17
 	github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.54.0
 )
diff --git a/modules/mesh-build-image/go.sum b/modules/mesh-build-image/go.sum
index 61230834..6b298c43 100644
--- a/modules/mesh-build-image/go.sum
+++ b/modules/mesh-build-image/go.sum
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261030174137-a37181261c24 h1:s0XXZtR7CFPBbnaDygWnE4/Q827iEFt0YfEzujk4Q9g=
 git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261030174137-a37181261c24/go.mod h1:ouERNpZizzwZ0HLEtAypsY9FR20FyUgUYRni6J7kVCY=
+git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261101012031-7cab079e2ec3 h1:an2f0MLx9OhaDLu5i51OMPBbuGwX+aoTzqOkFLMpVfE=
+git.novox.be/novox/mesh-sdk/go v0.1.14-0.20261101012031-7cab079e2ec3/go.mod h1:ouERNpZizzwZ0HLEtAypsY9FR20FyUgUYRni6J7kVCY=
 github.com/antithesishq/antithesis-sdk-go v0.7.0-default-no-op h1:Z/MZK75wC/NSrkgqeNIa7jexam9uWzhLmFTSCPI/kn0=
 github.com/antithesishq/antithesis-sdk-go v0.7.0-default-no-op/go.mod h1:FQyySiasQQM8735Ddel3MRojmy4dA1IqCeyJ5jmPMbI=
 github.com/google/go-tpm v0.9.8 h1:slArAR9Ft+1ybZu0lBwpSmpwhRXaa85hWtMinMyRAWo=