diff --git a/packages/ui/src/__tests__/markdown-rhythm-contract.test.tsx b/packages/ui/src/__tests__/markdown-rhythm-contract.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d288562b07
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/ui/src/__tests__/markdown-rhythm-contract.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,207 @@
+/**
+ * Transcript markdown rhythm contract.
+ *
+ * The defect #2348 fixed was not a wrong number — it was a wrong ORDER. Under
+ * `density="compact"` list items sat ~10px apart (Astryx's List control row
+ * padding, which `density` cannot reach from outside) while paragraphs sat 4px
+ * apart, so items at the same level read as further apart than separate
+ * paragraphs. Visual distance stopped tracking semantic distance.
+ *
+ * So the invariant is the ladder's ORDER, not its values: retuning a rung is a
+ * design decision and stays green here, while list gaps meeting block gaps must
+ * fail. And the table keys entirely on DOM Astryx generates at runtime —
+ * `data-density`, `astryx-markdown-heading` + `data-level`, `astryx-list-item`.
+ * None of those names exist in Maka source outside these selectors, so an
+ * Astryx bump that renames one makes every rule stop matching with nothing
+ * failing anywhere.
+ *
+ * Both halves live here on purpose. Split across two files they each stayed
+ * green against the half they could not see, and the stylesheet half was the
+ * one that got deleted (#2425), leaving styles.css citing a guard that no
+ * longer existed.
+ *
+ * Deliberately NOT pinned, because they are how the table works rather than
+ * what it promises: the adjacent-sibling gap form, the `hr` rung, the
+ * ListItem padding reset, and the two heading size tiers.
+ */
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { describe, it } from 'node:test';
+import { readdir, readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { join, relative, resolve } from 'node:path';
+import { renderToStaticMarkup } from 'react-dom/server';
+import { MarkdownBody } from '../markdown-body.js';
+
+const UI_SRC = resolve(import.meta.dirname, '..', '..', 'src');
+
+/** The compact ladder, ordered from tightest (same level) to widest (chapter). */
+const LADDER = ['--md-gap-list', '--md-gap-block', '--md-gap-section', '--md-gap-chapter'] as const;
+
+/** `var(--space-N)` → N, the 4px-grid step count. Non-scale values return null. */
+function spaceSteps(value: string): number | null {
+  const match = /^var\(\s*--space-(\d+)\s*\)$/.exec(value.trim());
+  return match ? Number(match[1]) : null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Comments carry the rung names in prose — the table's own header lists the
+ * ladder and tells the next reader to "retune `--md-gap-block`" — so the usage
+ * check below would pass on documentation alone without this.
+ */
+function stripCssComments(css: string): string {
+  return css.replace(/\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\//g, '');
+}
+
+async function readUiStylesheet(): Promise<string> {
+  return stripCssComments(await readFile(join(UI_SRC, 'styles.css'), 'utf8'));
+}
+
+async function tsxFiles(dir: string): Promise<string[]> {
+  const out: string[] = [];
+  for (const entry of await readdir(dir, { withFileTypes: true })) {
+    const path = join(dir, entry.name);
+    if (entry.isDirectory()) out.push(...(await tsxFiles(path)));
+    else if (entry.name.endsWith('.tsx') && !entry.name.includes('.test.')) out.push(path);
+  }
+  return out;
+}
+
+const SAMPLE = ['## Heading two', '', 'A paragraph.', '', '1. First item', '2. Second item'].join('\n');
+
+function compactMarkup(): string {
+  return renderToStaticMarkup(<MarkdownBody text={SAMPLE} density="compact" />);
+}
+
+describe('transcript markdown rhythm', () => {
+  it('declares the compact ladder in strictly increasing order', async () => {
+    const css = await readUiStylesheet();
+    const block = /\.astryx-markdown\[data-density="compact"\]\s*\{([^}]*)\}/.exec(css);
+    assert.ok(block, 'no `.astryx-markdown[data-density="compact"]` custom-property block found');
+
+    const declared = new Map<string, string>();
+    for (const m of block[1].matchAll(/(--md-gap-[\w-]+)\s*:\s*([^;]+);/g)) {
+      declared.set(m[1], m[2].trim());
+    }
+
+    const steps = LADDER.map((name) => {
+      const value = declared.get(name);
+      assert.ok(value, `${name} is not declared on the compact surface`);
+      const n = spaceSteps(value);
+      assert.ok(
+        n !== null,
+        `${name} is \`${value}\`; the ladder must stay on the --space-* scale so the ` +
+          'order is comparable and a bare px value cannot drift off the 4px grid',
+      );
+      return { name, steps: n };
+    });
+
+    for (let i = 1; i < steps.length; i += 1) {
+      const prev = steps[i - 1];
+      const cur = steps[i];
+      assert.ok(
+        cur.steps > prev.steps,
+        `${cur.name} (--space-${cur.steps}) must be strictly wider than ${prev.name} ` +
+          `(--space-${prev.steps}). Visual distance has to rise with semantic distance: ` +
+          'same-level list items closer than blocks, blocks closer than section breaks.',
+      );
+    }
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * Declaration and usage are separate failures. Hardcode a gap and the ladder
+   * above stays declared but unspent — the first test then asserts nothing
+   * about the spacing anyone sees, and an inversion can be reintroduced
+   * without failing anything.
+   */
+  it('spends every rung it declares', async () => {
+    const css = await readUiStylesheet();
+    for (const name of LADDER) {
+      assert.match(
+        css,
+        new RegExp(String.raw`var\(\s*${name}\s*\)`),
+        `${name} is declared but never read. A rule spending a literal instead leaves the ` +
+          'ladder test green while the rendered spacing ignores it, which turns the whole ' +
+          'table into decoration.',
+      );
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('emits the DOM hooks the rhythm table selects on', () => {
+    const markup = compactMarkup();
+    // Every rule in the table is prefixed with this, so it is the one hook
+    // whose two halves — selector prefix and runtime attribute — nothing else
+    // joins. Rename it and all compact spacing dies silently.
+    assert.match(
+      markup,
+      /data-maka-contract="markdown"/,
+      'the `data-maka-contract="markdown"` wrapper is gone. Every rule in the rhythm table ' +
+        'is scoped on it, so all compact prose spacing and the heading scale are now dead.',
+    );
+    assert.match(
+      markup,
+      /<div[^>]*role="document"[^>]*data-density="compact"|<div[^>]*data-density="compact"[^>]*role="document"/,
+      'the document root no longer carries `data-density="compact"`. Every rule in the ' +
+        'rhythm table is scoped on it, so all compact prose spacing is now dead.',
+    );
+    assert.match(
+      markup,
+      /class="[^"]*\bastryx-markdown\b/,
+      'the document root no longer carries the `astryx-markdown` class the table selects on',
+    );
+    assert.match(
+      markup,
+      /<h2[^>]*class="[^"]*\bastryx-markdown-heading\b/,
+      'headings no longer carry `astryx-markdown-heading`; the transcript heading scale is dead',
+    );
+    assert.match(
+      markup,
+      /<h2[^>]*data-level="2"/,
+      'headings no longer carry `data-level`. The table splits h1/h2 from h3-h6 on it, so ' +
+        'without it every heading collapses to one tier — the exact defect #2348 replaced.',
+    );
+    assert.match(
+      markup,
+      /class="[^"]*\bastryx-list-item\b/,
+      'list rows no longer carry `astryx-list-item`; the rule that spends their control-row ' +
+        'padding no longer applies and list items revert to sitting wider apart than paragraphs',
+    );
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * The rhythm table carries the transcript's heading TYPOGRAPHY, not just its
+   * spacing, and keys both on `density`. That is a deliberate bet, and it is a
+   * bet: Astryx's density RFC (facebook/astryx#839) draws the line at "density
+   * shifts heights and spacing, not typography", so the key is honest only
+   * while `compact` and "transcript" name the same set. They do today — the
+   * transcript is the only caller asking for compact, and the Daily Review
+   * renders a document at the default.
+   *
+   * A separate surface attribute would decouple them, but nothing needs it yet
+   * and it would add a prop to a public component for a caller that does not
+   * exist. Guard the assumption instead: the moment a second surface asks for
+   * compact markdown it silently inherits transcript heading sizes and dimmed
+   * deep headings, and this is what tells whoever adds it that they have to
+   * choose — inherit deliberately, or split the key then.
+   */
+  it('keeps compact markdown a transcript-only surface', async () => {
+    const callers: string[] = [];
+    for (const file of await tsxFiles(UI_SRC)) {
+      const source = await readFile(file, 'utf8');
+      // `<Markdown …>` opening tags only — not MarkdownBody's internal plumbing
+      // and not the density Maka hands its own code-block renderers.
+      for (const tag of source.matchAll(/<Markdown\s[^>]*?\/?>/gs)) {
+        if (/density=(["'])compact\1/.test(tag[0])) callers.push(relative(UI_SRC, file));
+      }
+    }
+
+    assert.deepEqual(
+      [...new Set(callers)].sort(),
+      ['chat-turn.tsx'],
+      'a new caller renders markdown at compact density. The rhythm table treats ' +
+        '`density="compact"` as "this is a transcript" and gives it flattened heading sizes ' +
+        'plus secondary-colour h4-h6 — typography, which Astryx\'s density is explicitly not ' +
+        'supposed to carry (facebook/astryx#839). Either that is what the new surface wants, ' +
+        'and this list grows, or the typography rules need their own key. ' +
+        `Found: ${JSON.stringify([...new Set(callers)].sort())}`,
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/ui/src/styles.css b/packages/ui/src/styles.css
index 63bb5dcca7..74acfd7b92 100644
--- a/packages/ui/src/styles.css
+++ b/packages/ui/src/styles.css
@@ -197,6 +197,14 @@
      16px section      (h3-h6, and either side of an `hr`)
      24px chapter      (h1, h2)
 
+   What holds this: __tests__/markdown-rhythm-contract.test.tsx pins the
+   ladder's ORDER (retuning a rung is a design call and stays green), that
+   every rung declared is actually spent by a rule, and that the runtime hooks
+   these selectors need are really emitted. The adjacent-sibling gap form, the
+   `hr` rung, the ListItem padding reset and the two heading size tiers are
+   reasoned about below but NOT pinned — they are how the table works rather
+   than what it promises, and each is one rule away from being re-read here.
+
    Three deliberate choices:
 
    - Only `[data-density="compact"]`. The document mode is not broken (its
@@ -295,9 +303,9 @@
    second compact surface would silently inherit transcript heading sizes and
    dimmed deep headings. Giving typography its own surface attribute would
    decouple them, but nothing needs it yet; the assumption is held by a test
-   instead (packages/ui/src/__tests__/markdown-rhythm-dom-contract.test.tsx,
-   "keeps compact markdown a transcript-only surface"), which fails the moment
-   the sets diverge and says what the choice is. */
+   instead (__tests__/markdown-rhythm-contract.test.tsx, "keeps compact
+   markdown a transcript-only surface"), which fails the moment the sets
+   diverge and says what the choice is. */
 [data-maka-contract="markdown"] .astryx-markdown[data-density="compact"] .astryx-markdown-heading:is([data-level="1"], [data-level="2"]) {
   font: var(--maka-text-heading-3);
 }