diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 439b0ce..1dcbb74 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ In [docs/decisions.md](docs/decisions.md):
 - A change to what exists is a major; a minor only adds
 - Seeded output is promised within one version
 - An error is a contract by what it names, not its bytes
-- A format holding a reference is fenced at link, and its errors name its path
+- Every format is fenced at link, and its errors name its path
 - Raising the lowest supported Go is a major
 - The format check runs on the latest Go only
 - The changelog heading is the one spelling of a release; CI cuts the tag
diff --git a/calc.go b/calc.go
index a279978..60801fb 100644
--- a/calc.go
+++ b/calc.go
@@ -120,10 +120,14 @@ func constantValue(n calcNode, fields map[string]node) (float64, bool) {
 		return float64(n), true
 	case calcVar:
 		t, ok := fields[string(n)].(*template)
-		if !ok || !t.fixed || t.repeat > 1 {
+		if !ok || t.repeat > 1 {
 			return 0, false
 		}
-		v, err := strconv.ParseFloat(strings.TrimSpace(t.lit), 64)
+		lit, fixed := t.fixedText()
+		if !fixed {
+			return 0, false
+		}
+		v, err := strconv.ParseFloat(strings.TrimSpace(lit), 64)
 		return v, err == nil
 	case calcNeg:
 		v, ok := constantValue(n.x, fields)
@@ -161,11 +165,12 @@ func neverNumeric(n node) (text string, never bool) {
 	case *nullItem:
 		return "", true
 	case *template:
-		if !n.fixed || n.repeat > 1 {
+		lit, fixed := n.fixedText()
+		if !fixed || n.repeat > 1 {
 			return "", false
 		}
-		if _, err := strconv.ParseFloat(strings.TrimSpace(n.lit), 64); err != nil {
-			return n.lit, true
+		if _, err := strconv.ParseFloat(strings.TrimSpace(lit), 64); err != nil {
+			return lit, true
 		}
 	case *choice:
 		for _, it := range n.items {
diff --git a/docs/decisions.md b/docs/decisions.md
index 1f43aa4..bbb1731 100644
--- a/docs/decisions.md
+++ b/docs/decisions.md
@@ -121,12 +121,12 @@ this repo's own are.
 A script branches on the exit code and reads the named path or spelling, so those hold;
 wording improves in a minor.
 
-## A format holding a reference is fenced at link, and its errors name its path
+## Every format is fenced at link, and its errors name its path
 
-2026-09-24, larv-review; approved 2026-09-25 by lilleman. Goal 2: a format compiles once, and one holding a reference
-can compile only once bound, so its fences fire at link and name the category path as
-every link error does, a cell's with its line; one without a reference still names its
-file at compile. Valid while compilation needs the bound references.
+2026-09-28, larv-review; approval pending. Goal 2: every format compiles in one phase,
+at link, since one holding a reference can compile only once bound, so no check reads
+compiled ops a format lacks yet. Its fences name the category path as every link error
+does, a cell's with its line. Valid while compilation needs the bound references.
 
 ## Raising the lowest supported Go is a major
 
diff --git a/holdfence.go b/holdfence.go
index b839621..e3e749f 100644
--- a/holdfence.go
+++ b/holdfence.go
@@ -144,7 +144,11 @@ func operandDraw(n node, into map[node]bool) {
 // isFixed is a string that varies nothing: fixed text with no fields to read into.
 func isFixed(n node) bool {
 	t, ok := n.(*template)
-	return ok && t.fixed && len(t.fields) == 0
+	if !ok {
+		return false
+	}
+	_, fixed := t.fixedText()
+	return fixed && len(t.fields) == 0
 }
 
 // renders reports whether rendering n can reach anything in want, following the
diff --git a/node.go b/node.go
index b6c274a..a0cc34c 100644
--- a/node.go
+++ b/node.go
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func (*nullItem) isNode() {}
 // template renders a format string, substituting {tokens} from fields. A bare
 // JSON string is a template with no fields. repeat (default 1) renders that format
 // that many times and joins the results with separator (default ""), each render
-// an independent pick. A format holding a reference compiles in `linkTemplateRefs`.
+// an independent pick. Every format compiles in `linkTemplateRefs`.
 type template struct {
 	// Filled by `compileString`, `compileTemplate` and `table.compileRowFormat`:
 	format     string
@@ -60,10 +60,8 @@ type template struct {
 	cellRow int    // the row the cell sits in
 
 	// Filled by `template.compileFormat`, from `template.format` and `template.refs`:
-	ops   []op   // what expand walks
-	grow  int    // minimum output size, to size the render buffer
-	fixed bool   // no op varies, so every render is lit
-	lit   string // the whole output when fixed
+	ops  []op // what expand walks
+	grow int  // minimum output size, to size the render buffer
 	// bound maps each field the format addresses by dotted path to one path token
 	// reading it, which is the half of an overlap the fences name. nil when the
 	// format takes no path.
@@ -208,18 +206,18 @@ func compileString(s string) (node, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	t := &template{format: s, tokens: toks, repeat: 1, fromString: true}
-	if err := t.compileRefFree(); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return t, nil
+	return &template{format: s, tokens: toks, repeat: 1, fromString: true}, nil
 }
 
-func (t *template) compileRefFree() error {
-	if len(refTokens(t.tokens)) > 0 {
-		return nil
+// fixedText is the whole output of a format holding no token, which every render is.
+func (t *template) fixedText() (string, bool) {
+	switch {
+	case len(t.tokens) == 0:
+		return "", true
+	case len(t.tokens) == 1 && t.tokens[0].kind == 'l':
+		return t.tokens[0].lit, true
 	}
-	return t.compileFormat()
+	return "", false
 }
 
 // compileFormat compiles the format into ops, and applies the fences that need the
@@ -227,15 +225,6 @@ func (t *template) compileRefFree() error {
 func (t *template) compileFormat() error {
 	c := compileOps(t.tokens, t.refs)
 	t.ops, t.grow, t.bound, t.held, t.heldLocal = c.ops, c.grow, c.bound, c.held, c.heldLocal
-	t.fixed = true
-	for _, o := range t.ops {
-		if o.kind != 'l' {
-			t.fixed = false
-		}
-	}
-	if t.fixed && len(t.ops) == 1 {
-		t.lit = t.ops[0].lit
-	}
 	if err := checkNoOverlap(t.ops, t.bound); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -340,11 +329,7 @@ func compileTemplate(m map[string]any, pos position) (node, error) {
 	if err := checkNestedDrawGroup(fields, o.group); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	t := &template{format: o.format, tokens: toks, fields: fields, repeat: o.repeat, separator: o.separator, datatype: o.datatype, drawGroup: o.group, isRecord: fieldPos == inColumn}
-	if err := t.compileRefFree(); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-	return t, nil
+	return &template{format: o.format, tokens: toks, fields: fields, repeat: o.repeat, separator: o.separator, datatype: o.datatype, drawGroup: o.group, isRecord: fieldPos == inColumn}, nil
 }
 
 // templateOptions is what a template object's option keys say.
diff --git a/reference.go b/reference.go
index 9b4c041..c8e6882 100644
--- a/reference.go
+++ b/reference.go
@@ -67,9 +67,9 @@ func refSegments(name string, folder []string) ([]string, error) {
 	return append(append([]string{}, base...), segs...), nil
 }
 
-// linkRefs resolves every reference in the assembled tree. The head of the path —
-// up to the category it names — is bound into the referring template's refHeads
-// under its root path, and the rest reads into it the way a sibling path does, so
+// linkRefs resolves every reference in the assembled tree and compiles every format.
+// The head of the path — up to the category it names — is bound into the referring
+// template's refHeads under its root path, and the rest reads into it the way a sibling path does, so
 // a reference is held like a sibling and two spellings of one target are one
 // draw. It runs once, after all data is merged, so a reference sees the final
 // (override-resolved) tree. A path that is unknown, names a folder, or reads a
@@ -83,17 +83,26 @@ func linkRefs(root map[string]node) error {
 	})
 }
 
-// linkTemplateRefs binds one template's references against root, refusing one that names the
-// category it sits in.
-// docs/decisions.md#a-category-never-references-itself-and-a-records-fences-run-at-load
+// linkTemplateRefs binds one template's references against root, then compiles its format.
 func linkTemplateRefs(folder []string, path, category string, t *template, root map[string]node) error {
-	names := refTokens(t.tokens)
-	if len(names) == 0 {
-		return nil
-	}
 	if t.cellOf != nil {
 		path = fmt.Sprintf("%s, line %d", path, t.cellRow+2)
 	}
+	if names := refTokens(t.tokens); len(names) > 0 {
+		if err := t.bindRefs(folder, path, category, names, root); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	if err := t.compileFormat(); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", path, err)
+	}
+	t.readsColumn = columnReadOf(t)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// bindRefs refuses a reference naming the category t sits in.
+// docs/decisions.md#a-category-never-references-itself-and-a-records-fences-run-at-load
+func (t *template) bindRefs(folder []string, path, category string, names []string, root map[string]node) error {
 	t.refs = make(map[string]refBinding, len(names))
 	t.refHeads = make(map[string]node, len(names))
 	for _, name := range names {
@@ -115,10 +124,6 @@ func linkTemplateRefs(folder []string, path, category string, t *template, root
 		t.refHeads[key] = target
 		t.refs[name] = refBinding{key, tail}
 	}
-	if err := t.compileFormat(); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("%s: %w", path, err)
-	}
-	t.readsColumn = columnReadOf(t)
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/render.go b/render.go
index c7b100b..1275386 100644
--- a/render.go
+++ b/render.go
@@ -71,8 +71,8 @@ func render(s *session, n node, sc renderScope) string {
 	case *template:
 		sc = sc.in(n)
 		if n.repeat == 1 {
-			if n.fixed {
-				return n.lit
+			if lit, fixed := n.fixedText(); fixed {
+				return lit
 			}
 			return expand(s, n, sc)
 		}
diff --git a/table.go b/table.go
index f11c4d9..9c407d9 100644
--- a/table.go
+++ b/table.go
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ func (t *table) compileRowFormat(format string) error {
 	}
 	t.formatTemplate = &template{format: format, tokens: toks, fields: t.fields, repeat: 1, isRecord: true, table: t}
 	t.pinnedRow = &tableRow{t}
-	return t.formatTemplate.compileRefFree()
+	return nil
 }
 
 // setTablePaths gives every table the path a selector on it is written at, before a
diff --git a/todo.md b/todo.md
index 3b58261..8232804 100644
--- a/todo.md
+++ b/todo.md
@@ -21,8 +21,6 @@ Self-sufficiency 5.6), every seat capped by Locality, and all nine naming
 
 This round, in order:
 
-- Compile every format in one phase: a template holding a reference has nil `ops`
-  until `linkTemplateRefs`, so a check reading `ops` before link skips it silently.
 - Run `New`, `NewTemplate` and `FakeStruct` through one bind pipeline that names
   where they differ: each picks its own fences today.
 - Make `disagreement` and `bothTyped` a table of cases: each swaps its operands and
diff --git a/value.go b/value.go
index 1dd8b23..32718e4 100644
--- a/value.go
+++ b/value.go
@@ -143,11 +143,12 @@ func (v proven) or(w proven) proven {
 // proveTemplate proves a template that renders one value: fixed text, or a format that is
 // one token alone.
 func (p *valueProof) proveTemplate(t *template) proven {
+	lit, fixed := t.fixedText()
 	switch {
 	case t.repeat != 1:
 		return unproven(fmt.Sprintf("%q carries a repeat, which composes text rather than one value", t.format))
-	case t.fixed:
-		return literalValue(t.lit)
+	case fixed:
+		return literalValue(lit)
 	case len(t.ops) != 1:
 		v := unproven(notOneValue(t.format, typedCalls))
 		v.notOperand = notOneValue(t.format, operandCalls)