diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 9d97f5a..721f3b2 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -82,8 +82,9 @@ closed list a consumer may switch exhaustively, the message free text, the path
 from the document root. Adding, removing or renaming a code is breaking, so a milestone meeting a
 new failure cause reuses a code where one fits; the list is complete at `0.1.0`. A code names the
 cause; where one cause recurs across node types, one code covers them all and `path` and `message`
-say which. A cause the carry answers gets no code: a mark no spelling writes rides the carry with
-its node.
+say which. A claim code names the spelling claimed, never the node that spelling would have built:
+a malformed `:::table` is a `malformed-directive`. A cause the carry answers gets no code: a mark no
+spelling writes rides the carry with its node.
 
 ## 9. Release automation
 
@@ -139,7 +140,8 @@ live Atlassian APIs; property-generated ADF trees; the CommonMark spec suite aga
   unrepresentable.
 - `src/adf/` holds ADF's own knowledge and imports no format. Each format directory (`markdown/`,
   `html/`) parts into `emit/` (ADF→format) and `parse/` (format→ADF), its root holding what both
-  directions read.
+  directions read. A construct's reader lives in that root beside the regex the emitter escapes
+  against, so the two cannot drift; a reader with no emit counterpart goes in `parse/`.
 - The attribute vocabulary is ADF's: `adf/` walks it and narrows each value to its kind, and a
   format spells the narrowed value. A spelling that re-checks the type is the check's second copy.
 - Explicit over implicit; descriptive names; no catch-all files (`utils`, `helpers`, `misc`); a
diff --git a/src/markdown/parse/blocks.test.ts b/src/markdown/parse/blocks.test.ts
index b2c570a..e542a2a 100644
--- a/src/markdown/parse/blocks.test.ts
+++ b/src/markdown/parse/blocks.test.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ test('keeps the link reference definitions a paragraph gives up, the first of a
 
 test('leaves the paragraph a line no definition spells', () => {
   assert.deepEqual(definitions('[]: /url\n'), [])
+  assert.deepEqual(definitions('[ ]: /url\n'), [])
   assert.deepEqual(definitions('[a]: <un>closed>\n'), [])
   assert.deepEqual(definitions('[a]: <unclosed\n'), [])
   assert.deepEqual(definitions('[a]: /url)x\n'), [])
diff --git a/src/markdown/parse/link-reference-definitions.ts b/src/markdown/parse/link-reference-definitions.ts
index 511a1d5..b235adf 100644
--- a/src/markdown/parse/link-reference-definitions.ts
+++ b/src/markdown/parse/link-reference-definitions.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ function readDefinition(text: string): ReadDefinition | undefined {
   return { definition: { destination: destination.value }, label: name, length: plain }
 }
 
-// CommonMark's label matching: the whitespace a label holds collapses, and its case folds.
 function normalizeLabel(raw: string): string {
   return raw
     .replace(/^[ \t\n]+|[ \t\n]+$/g, '')