diff --git a/HARNESS.md b/HARNESS.md
index ab32611..1eb63f5 100644
--- a/HARNESS.md
+++ b/HARNESS.md
@@ -52,6 +52,12 @@ must do — not the theme. `verify.sh` fails if the embedded reference theme cha
 changing, because in practice those two drift together — and it fails on a `<script>` tag in that theme,
 because a reference theme that grows taste stops being a reference (ADR-0026).
 
+**What is staged has to build, not just the working tree.** Every other gate looks at your files; this one
+looks at the commit you are about to make, by building a throwaway checkout of the index. It exists because
+staging a subset — a changed signature without its caller — produced a commit that did not compile while
+`verify.sh` reported green, and a broken commit is something `git bisect` trips over for as long as the repo
+lives. It only runs when something is staged.
+
 **The injection boundary is a gate now, not a memory.** goldmark drops raw HTML from authored Markdown by
 default, and that default was the only thing standing between a Markdown file and script injection. A
 feature wanting to emit HTML renders a theme template instead (ADR-0036), so nothing here needs raw HTML
diff --git a/scripts/verify.sh b/scripts/verify.sh
index 1abf04d..2e6bfbf 100755
--- a/scripts/verify.sh
+++ b/scripts/verify.sh
@@ -210,6 +210,22 @@ if [ -n "$unformatted" ]; then bad "gofmt: $(echo "$unformatted" | tr '\n' ' ')"
 if go vet $pkgs >/tmp/vet.log 2>&1; then pass "go vet"; else bad "go vet"; sed 's/^/        /' /tmp/vet.log; fi
 if go build $pkgs >/tmp/build.log 2>&1; then pass "go build"; else bad "go build"; sed 's/^/        /' /tmp/build.log; fi
 
+# The working tree building says nothing about what is being committed. Staging a subset — a changed
+# signature without its caller — lands a commit that does not compile, which `git bisect` then trips over
+# forever. So when something is staged, build the staged tree itself, from a throwaway checkout of the index
+# so nothing here can touch the real one.
+if ! git diff --cached --quiet 2>/dev/null; then
+  staged=$(mktemp -d)
+  if git archive "$(git write-tree)" 2>/dev/null | tar -x -C "$staged" 2>/dev/null &&
+     (cd "$staged" && go build ./... >/tmp/staged-build.log 2>&1); then
+    pass "the staged tree builds"
+  else
+    bad "what is staged does not build on its own — a partial stage, most likely a caller left behind"
+    sed 's/^/        /' /tmp/staged-build.log 2>/dev/null
+  fi
+  rm -rf "$staged"
+fi
+
 if echo "$gofiles" | grep -q '_test\.go$'; then
   if go test -race $pkgs >/tmp/test.log 2>&1; then
     pass "go test ($(grep -c '^ok' /tmp/test.log) packages)"