diff --git a/internal/declaration/emitted_check_test.go b/internal/declaration/emitted_check_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..948dca5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/declaration/emitted_check_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package declaration
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// The control plane's actual output, put through the host's actual parser.
+//
+// Skipped unless MESH_EMITTED names a file, so this is a check somebody runs deliberately rather
+// than a dependency between two repositories. It exists because "the host needs no new
+// vocabulary" is the load-bearing claim of every computed and contributed resource, and the only
+// honest way to know it is to hand the host one and see.
+func TestWhatTheControlPlaneEmittedIsSomethingThisHostAccepts(t *testing.T) {
+	path := os.Getenv("MESH_EMITTED")
+	if path == "" {
+		t.Skip("set MESH_EMITTED to a declaration the control plane produced")
+	}
+	raw, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	d, err := Parse(raw)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("the host refuses what the control plane sends:\n%v", err)
+	}
+	if len(d.Resources) == 0 {
+		t.Fatal("parsed, and empty")
+	}
+	for _, r := range d.Resources {
+		t.Logf("accepted %s %s → %s", r.Kind(), r.Identity(), r.Target())
+	}
+}