diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/changeplan.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/changeplan.go
index 5d3bfb08..b895614d 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/changeplan.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/changeplan.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"path"
 	"slices"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
@@ -114,12 +115,21 @@ const classNone = "none"
 
 // changeClassOf is a change plan's class (novox/hq ADR 0313 §2): that of the slowest-budgeted module it moves,
 // itself or as a dependent — core when one is on the controller's own path or holds the mesh's resolver, leaf
-// otherwise, a module it adds a directory for included — and none when it moves nothing.
+// otherwise — and none when it moves nothing. A module it adds a directory for counts by its own class: the
+// catalogue names a module's directory by the module, so the directory's last element is its name. The graph holds
+// no manifest of it yet, so a new module is core by its name alone (on the controller's own path), never by a
+// resolver claim its manifest makes.
 func changeClassOf(p link.ChangePlan, entries []inventory.Entry) string {
 	if len(p.Moved) == 0 && len(p.Dependents) == 0 && len(p.New) == 0 {
 		return classNone
 	}
-	return classOfModules(append(append([]string{}, p.Moved...), p.Dependents...), entries)
+	modules := append(append([]string{}, p.Moved...), p.Dependents...)
+	for _, dir := range p.New {
+		if name := path.Base(strings.Trim(dir, "/")); name != "." && name != "/" && name != "" {
+			modules = append(modules, name)
+		}
+	}
+	return classOfModules(modules, entries)
 }
 
 // grantsStepWord names the grants step (novox/hq issue 490): the bus's user list sent alone to the machine
diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/fixclass_test.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/fixclass_test.go
index a6e828c2..86e61c44 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/fixclass_test.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/fixclass_test.go
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ func TestAChangePlanSaysTheClassOfWhatItMoves(t *testing.T) {
 		{"the mesh's resolver", []string{"modules/dnsmasq/module.json"}, inventory.ClassCore},
 		{"a leaf and a core module together: the slowest-budgeted", []string{"modules/gitea/index.ts", "modules/dnsmasq/module.json"}, inventory.ClassCore},
 		{"nothing any module's build reads", []string{"README.md"}, "none"},
+		{"a new leaf module alone", []string{"modules/weather/module.json"}, inventory.ClassLeaf},
+		{"a new module on the controller's own path, by its own class", []string{"next/mesh-delivery/module.json"}, inventory.ClassCore},
+		{"a new leaf module beside a core one moved", []string{"modules/weather/module.json", "modules/dnsmasq/module.json"}, inventory.ClassCore},
 	} {
 		if got := plan(c.paths...).Class; got != c.want {
 			t.Errorf("%s: class %q, want %q", c.why, got, c.want)