diff --git a/go/merge-check.sh b/go/merge-check.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 0058732..0000000
--- a/go/merge-check.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,136 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-# mesh-check-toolchain: go
-#
-# The Go part of the SDK's own check (novox/hq ADR 0237 as amended, ADR 0272): the Go binding, run by the build
-# seat in the mesh's Go toolchain, its own container, because the SDK's merge-check.sh declares it
-# (`# mesh-check-also: go go/merge-check.sh`) — and by hand, from anywhere: `sh go/merge-check.sh`.
-#
-# Formatted, vetted (with and without the build tag `integration`), and run at two levels (novox/hq ADR 0391):
-#
-#   1. the unit level: `go test ./...` untagged, no bus or other process, timed and held to a bound
-#      (unit_bound below); over it the check fails and names the slowest tests (issue 895);
-#   2. the integration level: the whole suite with `-tags integration`, each test against a bus of its
-#      own (testbus, which issue 1171 brings with the first test that needs a bus) so nothing is
-#      serialised. With no tagged test yet, the level runs the unit tests again and says their count.
-#
-# **A test that starts a bus or another process carries `//go:build integration`** as the first line of
-# its file; a file that held both kinds is two files (`<name>_integration_test.go` beside `<name>_test.go`).
-# Each level says its test count and its time.
-#
-# **A test that needs bubblewrap carries `//go:build integration && isolation`** (issue 1309's proof that a run step
-# is shut off): this script vets it but does not run it, since the toolchain it runs in has no bubblewrap; the checker
-# runs the `isolation` tag on the build nodes, which have it (R4e).
-#
-# No dependency is committed (no vendor directory: .gitignore; the operator, 2026-10-19; issue 1304). Every dependency
-# is resolved by the version and checksum go.sum names (novox/hq ADR 0405 §5), from its public source: this binding
-# requires nothing of the mesh's own forge. `go mod verify` fails by module name when a downloaded dependency does not
-# match go.sum, and -mod=readonly fails a build whose go.sum lacks an entry instead of writing it. gofmt reads only
-# the binding's own files.
-#
-# Exit 0 is a pass; anything else fails `mesh/repo-check` with the last line printed.
-set -eu
-cd "$(dirname "$0")"
-# The toolchain the check runs in sets -mod=vendor; there is no vendor directory, so it is replaced.
-GOFLAGS="$(printf '%s' "${GOFLAGS:-}" | sed 's/-mod=[a-z]*//g') -mod=readonly"
-export GOFLAGS
-export GOPRIVATE=git.novox.be
-
-# **The unit level's bound, in seconds** (issue 895): the slowest package's own test time of the untagged run,
-# the compile not counted. A run over it fails the check and names the slowest tests. The SDK's unit suite is
-# small (its slowest package measured well under a second on a quiet machine), so 2 s leaves room for a busier
-# build node without hiding a test that should carry `integration` instead.
-unit_bound=2
-
-# judge_unit_run says the unit level as `go test -v` reported it and fails when it was over the bound: $1 the
-# file holding the output of the untagged `go test -v` of every package (packages one after another, each
-# ending in its `ok <package> <time>` line), $2 the bound in seconds. Packages run side by side, so the
-# level's time is that of its slowest package; the five slowest tests of the run are named when it is over,
-# so that the bound is kept by making them cheap or by tagging them `integration`, and never by raising it
-# (issue 895).
-judge_unit_run() {
-	out=$1 bound=$2
-	awk '
-		/^--- (PASS|FAIL|SKIP): / {
-			name = $3; took = $4; gsub(/[()s]/, "", took)
-			pending[++n] = took "\t" name
-			if ($2 == "SKIP:") skipped++
-			next
-		}
-		/^(ok|FAIL)[ \t]/ && NF >= 3 && $3 ~ /^[0-9.]+s$/ {
-			t = $3; sub(/s$/, "", t)
-			for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) print "T\t" pending[i] "\t" $2
-			n = 0
-			print "P\t" t "\t" $2
-		}
-		END { print "S\t" skipped + 0 }
-	' "$out" >"$out.judged"
-	tests=$(grep -c '^T' "$out.judged" || true)
-	skipped=$(awk -F'\t' '$1 == "S" {print $2}' "$out.judged")
-	level=$(awk -F'\t' '$1 == "P" && $2 + 0 > m {m = $2 + 0} END {printf "%.2f", m}' "$out.judged")
-	echo "unit level: $tests tests ($skipped skipped), $level s (bound $bound s)"
-	if awk -v t="$level" -v b="$bound" 'BEGIN {exit !(t + 0 > b + 0)}'; then
-		echo "the unit level took $level s, over its bound of $bound s; the slowest tests:"
-		awk -F'\t' '$1 == "T" {print $2 "\t" $4 "\t" $3}' "$out.judged" | sort -t"$(printf '\t')" -k1,1 -nr | head -n 5 |
-			awk -F'\t' '{printf "  %s s  %s  %s\n", $1, $3, $2}'
-		echo "make them cheap (no wait, no process), or give their files //go:build integration if they start a bus or another process"
-		return 1
-	fi
-}
-# `sh go/merge-check.sh judge-unit-run <output> <bound>` runs only the judging of the unit level, on a
-# recorded output.
-if [ "${1:-}" = judge-unit-run ]; then
-	shift
-	judge_unit_run "$@"
-	exit
-fi
-
-if ! fetched=$(go mod download 2>&1); then
-	echo "FAILED: the dependencies cannot be fetched: $(printf '%s\n' "$fetched" | tail -n 1)"
-	exit 1
-fi
-if ! verified=$(go mod verify 2>&1); then
-	echo "FAILED: a dependency does not match go.sum: $verified"
-	exit 1
-fi
-
-unformatted=$(find . -name '*.go' -not -path './vendor/*' | xargs gofmt -l)
-if [ -n "$unformatted" ]; then
-	echo "not gofmt'd:"
-	echo "$unformatted"
-	exit 1
-fi
-go vet ./...
-# The files tagged `integration` are vetted too, or nothing would read them.
-go vet -tags integration ./...
-go vet -tags integration,isolation ./...
-
-# NOT RACE-CHECKED here: the SDK's suite is small and carries no store or other shared state between
-# packages, so the race detector is not required of this check (novox/hq issue 1175); a module that needs
-# it asks for it in its own merge-check.sh.
-echo "NOT RACE-CHECKED: the Go binding's check runs without the race detector"
-
-work=$(mktemp -d)
-trap 'rm -rf "$work"' EXIT
-
-# The unit level first and alone: every package untagged, no bus or other process (judged above).
-status=0
-go test -count=1 -v ./... >"$work/unit.out" 2>&1 || status=$?
-if [ "$status" -ne 0 ]; then
-	grep -vE '^(=== |[[:space:]]*--- PASS)' "$work/unit.out"
-	echo "the unit level failed (go test exited $status)"
-	exit 1
-fi
-judge_unit_run "$work/unit.out" "$unit_bound"
-
-# The integration level: the whole suite with the tag, each test against its own bus (testbus).
-integration_start=$(date +%s)
-status=0
-go test -tags integration -count=1 -v ./... >"$work/integration.out" 2>&1 || status=$?
-grep -vE '^(=== |[[:space:]]*--- PASS)' "$work/integration.out" || true
-tests=$(grep -cE '^--- (PASS|FAIL|SKIP): ' "$work/integration.out" || true)
-skipped=$(grep -cE '^--- SKIP: ' "$work/integration.out" || true)
-echo "integration level: $tests tests ($skipped skipped), $(($(date +%s) - integration_start)) s"
-if [ "$status" -ne 0 ]; then
-	echo "the integration level failed (go test exited $status)"
-	exit 1
-fi
diff --git a/go/no_check_script_test.go b/go/no_check_script_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..718cfe0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/no_check_script_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+package stdio
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// The checker runs gofmt, go vet at both levels' tags and both test levels by Go's convention, and fetches the
+// dependencies beside the change (novox/hq ADR 0529, ADR 0484 clause 4): no script of the repository's own runs
+// beside them.
+func TestTheRepositoryHoldsNoCheckScript(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, rel := range []string{"../merge-check.sh", "merge-check.sh"} {
+		if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.FromSlash(rel)); err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("%s is back: the checker's levels run the tests", rel)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/merge-check.sh b/merge-check.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 444af39..0000000
--- a/merge-check.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/sh
-# mesh-check-toolchain: typescript
-# mesh-check-also: go go/merge-check.sh
-#
-# The SDK's own check (novox/hq ADR 0237 as amended): the second layer of a pull request's merge check,
-# `mesh/repo-check`, run by the build seat in the mesh's TypeScript toolchain — and by hand.
-#
-# The gate is the build seat's first layer (`mesh/merge-gate`), run because the mesh's module graph builds
-# mesh-sdk from here — and every module whose build packages it. This is the SDK's own: the TypeScript
-# spine every module imports, type-checked and its suite run, its dependencies installed from the lock
-# file alone (public packages: the SDK depends on nothing of the mesh's).
-#
-# **Said, never passed silently**: the Python, Rust and C bindings are not tested in any toolchain. The Go
-# binding runs in the Go toolchain, from go/merge-check.sh, declared on the second line (novox/hq ADR 0272); here
-# it runs only when a Go compiler is present (a person's run).
-set -eu
-
-npm ci --no-audit --no-fund --loglevel=error
-node node_modules/typescript/bin/tsc --noEmit
-npm test
-
-if command -v go >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-	sh go/merge-check.sh
-else
-	echo "NOT TESTED HERE: go/ (the Go binding) — the Go toolchain runs it from go/merge-check.sh"
-fi
-echo "NOT TESTED HERE: python/, rust/, c/ — no toolchain of theirs runs a merge check"
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index ac094db..e88f736 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
   ],
   "scripts": {
     "build": "tsc",
+    "pretest": "tsc --noEmit",
     "test": "node --test --experimental-strip-types 'test/*.test.ts'",
     "prepare": "tsc"
   },