diff --git a/internal/builder/check.go b/internal/builder/check.go
index f49cc160..cc4502f4 100644
--- a/internal/builder/check.go
+++ b/internal/builder/check.go
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ import (
 //     (New). The touched manifests through `module check`; every machine of the facts snapshot composed
 //     with the change and validated by the node-engine's own validator; then mesh-lab's replays. The
 //     judge is the controller the mesh runs — or, for a change to the controller, the change's own
-//     controller, and for a change to the node-engine, the running controller with the change's validator
-//     in place of the one it vendors. The graph decides whether this runs, never the repository.
+//     controller. A change to the node-engine is judged as any module is: the validator is mesh-sdk's, at
+//     the controller's pin. The graph decides whether this runs, never the repository.
 //   - **the repository's own check** (`mesh/repo-check`): its merge-check.sh, its unit tests and code
 //     quality, run when present in the toolchain it declares (`# mesh-check-toolchain: go|typescript`
 //     among its first lines; go when it declares none). A repository that reaches the build seat with
@@ -88,8 +88,8 @@ type CheckSpec struct {
 	// Base is the branch the pull request merges into: what the gate compares the change against, and the trunk
 	// whose head the change is merged into before it is judged (novox/hq ADR 0323). Empty judges the head alone.
 	Base string
-	// Judge is who judges the gate: "" the controller the mesh runs, "self" the change's own, "validator"
-	// the running one with the change's validator.
+	// Judge is who judges the gate: "" the controller the mesh runs, "self" the change's own. Anything else,
+	// "validator" of an older request too, is the controller the mesh runs.
 	Judge string
 	// JudgeCache is the judge cache (novox/hq ADR 0358 §6): a directory of the build agent's own, outside the
 	// workspace, that only judge builds mount — never a check's containers, so no pull request's script can write it.
@@ -226,8 +226,8 @@ type CheckVerdict struct {
 	Members []JudgedHead
 	// Built are the builds it made for its merge (novox/hq ADR 0350 §1), each with its key, or why not.
 	Built []CheckBuilt
-	// Validator says which node-engine validator the group's judge was built with (ADR 0382 §3), empty for any other
-	// judge.
+	// Validator says which validator the group's judge was built with (ADR 0382 §3): mesh-sdk's, at the pin of the
+	// controller that judges (issue 1391); empty for any other judge.
 	Validator string
 	// Siblings are the pull requests of the delivery group the check read beside it, each merged onto its base commit
 	// (novox/hq ADR 0382 §4); SiblingsUnknown is why it could not learn them; JudgeFrom says where the judge came from
@@ -1175,11 +1175,11 @@ func gateLayer(ctx context.Context, spec CheckSpec, tree, root, gate, verdictFil
 	return "error", "the merge gate said " + said.Verdict
 }
 
-// judgeFor builds the judge of a check: the change's own controller (a change to the controller), the
-// running controller built with the change's validator (a change to the node-engine), or the controller
-// the mesh runs. It answers the judge's path; or, when the change makes its own judge unbuildable, why —
-// the change's fault, a failing gate; or an error when the check cannot build a judge at all. A check
-// whose gate does not run builds a judge only to hand its scripts one, and goes on without when it cannot.
+// judgeFor builds the judge of a check: the change's own controller (a change to the controller), or the controller
+// the mesh runs (any other change, the node-engine's too: its validator is mesh-sdk's, at the controller's pin). It
+// answers the judge's path; or, when the change makes its own judge unbuildable, why — the change's fault, a failing
+// gate; or an error when the check cannot build a judge at all. A check whose gate does not run builds a judge only to
+// hand its scripts one, and goes on without when it cannot.
 func judgeFor(ctx context.Context, labelled, run Runner, spec CheckSpec, root, tree string,
 	judged CheckVerdict, siblings *siblingJudgement,
 	inToolchain func(string, []string, ...string) []string, say func(step, format string, args ...any)) (string, string, error) {
@@ -1197,7 +1197,7 @@ func judgeFor(ctx context.Context, labelled, run Runner, spec CheckSpec, root, t
 		say("check", "judged by the change's own controller")
 		return bin, "", nil
 	}
-	bin, judgeTree, err := judge(ctx, labelled, run, root, inToolchain, say)
+	bin, _, err := judge(ctx, labelled, run, root, inToolchain, say)
 	if err != nil {
 		if !gated {
 			say("check", "no judge for its script: %v", err)
@@ -1205,23 +1205,7 @@ func judgeFor(ctx context.Context, labelled, run Runner, spec CheckSpec, root, t
 		}
 		return "", "", err
 	}
-	if spec.Judge != "validator" {
-		return bin, "", nil
-	}
-	// The node-engine's change: its validator in place of the one the judge vendors.
-	vendored := filepath.Join(root, judgeTree, "vendor", "github.com", "novox", "mesh-host")
-	for _, pkg := range []string{"validate", filepath.Join("internal", "declaration")} {
-		if err := replaceGoFiles(filepath.Join(tree, pkg), filepath.Join(vendored, pkg)); err != nil {
-			return "", "", fmt.Errorf("the change's validator could not be put in the judge: %w", err)
-		}
-	}
-	withValidator := filepath.Join(root, "bin", "judge-with-this-validator")
-	if _, err := labelled(ctx, root, "docker", inToolchain(filepath.Join(root, judgeTree), nil,
-		"go", "build", "-o", withValidator, "./cmd/mesh-controller")...); err != nil {
-		return "", "the controller the mesh runs does not build with this change's validator: " + firstLine(err.Error()), nil
-	}
-	say("check", "judged by the controller the mesh runs, with this change's validator")
-	return withValidator, "", nil
+	return bin, "", nil
 }
 
 // judgeBuildEnv is JudgeBuildEnv, a seam only a test replaces: to show what the plain environment would let a planted