diff --git a/go/membership/grants.go b/go/membership/grants.go
index 0486ee5..b6d4a30 100644
--- a/go/membership/grants.go
+++ b/go/membership/grants.go
@@ -31,11 +31,14 @@ func DecodeGrantsMembership(raw []byte) (Membership, error) {
 
 // BareGrantsMembership is the bare membership a value of the grants part's memberships holds, for a reader that
 // decodes it into a type of its own. It accepts the bare membership and, for the transition, the wrapper the grants
-// part wrote before (a top-level object whose "membership" is an object), answering the membership inside it. A value
-// that is not a JSON object, or whose membership names no node or no module, is an error, never an empty membership.
+// part wrote before (a top-level object whose "membership" is an object), answering the membership inside it only when
+// its "published" says "published" or "unchanged". A value that is not a JSON object, a wrapper of a membership held
+// back or saying nothing of its publishing, or a membership naming no node or no module, is an error, never an empty
+// or unpublished membership.
 func BareGrantsMembership(raw []byte) (json.RawMessage, error) {
 	var probe struct {
 		Membership json.RawMessage `json:"membership"`
+		Published  *string         `json:"published"`
 	}
 	if err := json.Unmarshal(raw, &probe); err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("not a membership: %w", err)
@@ -45,6 +48,14 @@ func BareGrantsMembership(raw []byte) (json.RawMessage, error) {
 		if inner[0] != '{' {
 			return nil, errors.New("not a membership: its membership is no object")
 		}
+		// The old wrapper was written for a membership held back too, its composed and unpublished membership inside:
+		// only one published (or unchanged) is the stream's, so any other is refused and the reader keeps the stream's.
+		switch {
+		case probe.Published == nil:
+			return nil, errors.New("not a published membership: the wrapper says nothing of its publishing")
+		case *probe.Published != "published" && *probe.Published != "unchanged":
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("not a published membership: the wrapper says %q", *probe.Published)
+		}
 		body = inner
 	}
 	var m Membership
diff --git a/go/membership/membership_test.go b/go/membership/membership_test.go
index 7bbe8e8..cfce963 100644
--- a/go/membership/membership_test.go
+++ b/go/membership/membership_test.go
@@ -73,28 +73,31 @@ func TestAMembershipRoundTripsAsIssued(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Errorf("field %q is not on the wire under that name", k)
 		}
 	}
-}
 
-// The grants part's memberships hold the bare membership; the wrapper written before 2026-10-30 still reads, and a
-// value that is neither is an error, never an empty membership (issue 774).
-func TestAGrantsMembershipIsReadBareOrWrappedAndNothingElse(t *testing.T) {
+	// The grants part's memberships hold the bare membership through this package's codec; the wrapper written before
+	// 2026-10-30 still reads when it says the membership was published or unchanged, and anything else is an error,
+	// never an empty membership or one the part held back (issue 774).
 	m := Membership{Node: "ace", Module: "forge", Tools: "mesh.mod.forge.tool", Serves: []Served{{Subject: "mesh.mod.forge.tool.{tool}"}},
 		State: []StateIssued{{Name: "repos", Bucket: "forge_repos"}}}
-	bare := EncodeGrantsMembership(m)
 	inner, _ := json.Marshal(m)
-	wrapped := []byte(`{"node":"ace","module":"forge","digest":"sha256:x","membership":` + string(inner) + `,"published":"published","retired":["a b"]}`)
+	wrapped := func(published string) []byte {
+		return []byte(`{"node":"ace","module":"forge","digest":"sha256:x","membership":` + string(inner) + published + `,"retired":["a b"]}`)
+	}
 	for _, c := range []struct {
 		name string
 		raw  []byte
 		ok   bool
 	}{
-		{"bare, as written", bare, true},
-		{"wrapped, as the grants part wrote it before", wrapped, true},
+		{"bare, as written", EncodeGrantsMembership(m), true},
+		{"wrapped and published, as the grants part wrote it before", wrapped(`,"published":"published"`), true},
+		{"wrapped and unchanged", wrapped(`,"published":"unchanged"`), true},
+		{"wrapped and held back", wrapped(`,"published":"not published, a shadow difference: publishing would lose x"`), false},
+		{"wrapped, saying nothing of its publishing", wrapped(""), false},
 		{"not json", []byte("garbage"), false},
 		{"an array", []byte(`[1,2]`), false},
 		{"an object naming no node or module", []byte(`{"serves":[{"subject":"s"}]}`), false},
-		{"a wrapper whose membership is no object", []byte(`{"node":"ace","module":"forge","membership":"x"}`), false},
-		{"a wrapper whose membership names nothing", []byte(`{"node":"ace","module":"forge","membership":{}}`), false},
+		{"a wrapper whose membership is no object", []byte(`{"node":"ace","module":"forge","membership":"x","published":"published"}`), false},
+		{"a wrapper whose membership names nothing", []byte(`{"node":"ace","module":"forge","membership":{},"published":"published"}`), false},
 	} {
 		got, err := DecodeGrantsMembership(c.raw)
 		if (err == nil) != c.ok {