diff --git a/go/catalogue/engine_compose_candidate_test.go b/go/catalogue/engine_compose_candidate_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb34000
--- /dev/null
+++ b/go/catalogue/engine_compose_candidate_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package catalogue
+
+import "testing"
+
+// The node-engine's compose-candidate verb (ADR 0593 §7) is optional, asks the candidate, and takes input as a switch.
+func TestTheEngineServesComposeCandidate(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, v := range EngineVerbs() {
+		if v.Name != "compose-candidate" {
+			continue
+		}
+		props, _ := v.Input["properties"].(map[string]any)
+		input, _ := props["input"].(map[string]any)
+		if !v.Optional || props["candidate"] == nil || input == nil || input["enum"] == nil {
+			t.Fatalf("compose-candidate reads as %+v", v)
+		}
+		return
+	}
+	t.Fatal("the seat node-engine serves no compose-candidate")
+}
diff --git a/go/catalogue/engine_seat.go b/go/catalogue/engine_seat.go
index 518e8e7..e5b6e3c 100644
--- a/go/catalogue/engine_seat.go
+++ b/go/catalogue/engine_seat.go
@@ -76,7 +76,9 @@ func EngineVerbs() []Verb {
 			"composes (with its digest and whether the candidate changes it), is refused by the candidate or is held " +
 			"without it, each with why, and the verdict of the machine's own composition (novox/hq ADR 0593 §7). Read-only: " +
 			"applies nothing and writes nothing. Answered by this machine's engine alone, within the asker's bound.",
-			Input: schema(map[string]string{"candidate": "the key of the indexer's candidate, <group>.<heads hash>"}, []string{"candidate"})},
+			Input: schema(map[string]string{"candidate": "the key of the indexer's candidate, <group>.<heads hash>",
+				"input": "\"true\": also answer the composition input the candidate was composed from, for the sandbox path"},
+				[]string{"candidate"}, "input")},
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/go/delivery/compose_candidate.go b/go/delivery/compose_candidate.go
index ad382a8..25d2a17 100644
--- a/go/delivery/compose_candidate.go
+++ b/go/delivery/compose_candidate.go
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ const (
 	// refused by the candidate, or at least one is (or the node could not compose with it at all, Refused).
 	ComposeCandidateComposed = "composed"
 	ComposeCandidateRefused  = "refused"
+	// ComposeCandidateUnready is the verdict of a node that cannot compose yet (its shadow not ready, its agent
+	// starting): no module is named, Refused says why in words, and the checker takes it as a node that did not answer
+	// (ComposeNoAnswer, ADR 0593 §9), deciding by this verdict and never by the words.
+	ComposeCandidateUnready = "unready"
 
 	// The states of one module's composition with the candidate: composed (Digest set), refused by the candidate
 	// (Words set), or held, refused without the candidate too (Words set), which counts toward no verdict.
@@ -47,7 +51,7 @@ type ComposeCandidateAsk struct {
 
 // ComposeCandidateAnswer is the verb's answer: the node, the candidate, the verdict, every module placed on the node
 // sorted by name, the node's own composition (Own, Module "node"), why the node could not compose with the candidate at
-// all (Refused: Modules is then empty and Verdict refused), how long the engine took in milliseconds, and, when asked
+// all (Refused: Modules is then empty and Verdict refused, or unready when it cannot compose yet), how long the engine took in milliseconds, and, when asked
 // (ComposeCandidateAsk.Input), the composition input it composed from.
 type ComposeCandidateAnswer struct {
 	V         int              `json:"v"`
@@ -111,9 +115,13 @@ func (a ComposeCandidateAnswer) check() error {
 	if a.Took < 0 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("delivery: the answer of %s took %d ms", a.Node, a.Took)
 	}
+	if a.Verdict == ComposeCandidateUnready && a.Refused == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("delivery: %s is not ready to compose and its answer says no why", a.Node)
+	}
 	if a.Refused != "" {
-		if len(a.Modules) > 0 || a.Verdict != ComposeCandidateRefused {
-			return fmt.Errorf("delivery: %s could not compose the candidate (%s), and its answer names modules or no refusal", a.Node, a.Refused)
+		if len(a.Modules) > 0 || a.Verdict != ComposeCandidateRefused && a.Verdict != ComposeCandidateUnready {
+			return fmt.Errorf("delivery: %s could not compose the candidate (%s), and its answer names modules or is neither %s nor %s",
+				a.Node, a.Refused, ComposeCandidateRefused, ComposeCandidateUnready)
 		}
 		return nil
 	}
diff --git a/go/delivery/compose_candidate_test.go b/go/delivery/compose_candidate_test.go
index b7d069d..196ac89 100644
--- a/go/delivery/compose_candidate_test.go
+++ b/go/delivery/compose_candidate_test.go
@@ -64,6 +64,20 @@ func TestComposeCandidateAndComposedPlanRoundTripAndRefuse(t *testing.T) {
 	if _, err := EncodeComposeCandidateAnswer(whole); err != nil {
 		t.Errorf("a whole refusal was not encoded: %v", err)
 	}
+	unready := ComposeCandidateAnswer{Node: "ace", Candidate: key, Verdict: ComposeCandidateUnready, Refused: "the agent is starting"}
+	if raw, err := EncodeComposeCandidateAnswer(unready); err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("an unready answer was not encoded: %v", err)
+	} else if back, err := DecodeComposeCandidateAnswer(raw); err != nil || back.Verdict != ComposeCandidateUnready {
+		t.Errorf("an unready answer read back as %+v, %v", back, err)
+	}
+	unready.Refused = ""
+	if _, err := EncodeComposeCandidateAnswer(unready); err == nil {
+		t.Error("an unready answer saying no why was encoded")
+	}
+	unready.Refused, unready.Modules = "starting", good.Modules
+	if _, err := EncodeComposeCandidateAnswer(unready); err == nil {
+		t.Error("an unready answer naming modules was encoded")
+	}
 	if _, err := DecodeComposeCandidateAnswer([]byte(strings.Replace(string(raw), `"took"`, `"other":1,"took"`, 1))); err == nil {
 		t.Error("an answer with an unknown key was read")
 	}