diff --git a/.github/workflows/gate.yml b/.github/workflows/gate.yml
index a840d3d2..86a58387 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gate.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,12 @@ on:
 jobs:
   gate:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    env:
+      # One version drives both golangci-lint steps below. The nolint check asks
+      # golangci-lint which linters are enabled, so its answer only describes the
+      # lint step above it if the two are the same build. Naming the version also
+      # means a golangci-lint release cannot redden main without a commit.
+      GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION: v2.12.2
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
@@ -17,6 +23,15 @@ jobs:
         run: go vet ./...
       - name: lint
         uses: golangci/golangci-lint-action@v8.0.0
+        with:
+          version: ${{ env.GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION }}
+      # The action runs golangci-lint from a path of its own and does not put it
+      # on PATH, so the check installs the same version for itself.
+      - name: nolint directives
+        run: |
+          curl -sSfL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/golangci/golangci-lint/${GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION}/install.sh" |
+            sh -s -- -b "${RUNNER_TEMP}/bin" "${GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION}"
+          PATH="${RUNNER_TEMP}/bin:${PATH}" ./scripts/check-nolint-linters.sh
       - name: build
         run: go build ./...
       - name: coverage
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 7dc8d414..c2314003 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -210,11 +210,12 @@ Before claiming any Go work done, run and pass the same checks CI's `gate` job r
 (`.github/workflows/gate.yml`), in that order:
 
 ```bash
-gofmt -l $(git ls-files '*.go')   # must print nothing
+gofmt -l $(git ls-files '*.go')     # must print nothing
 go vet ./...
-golangci-lint run                 # must pass clean
+golangci-lint run                   # must pass clean
+./scripts/check-nolint-linters.sh   # every //nolint names a linter that is enabled
 go build ./...
-./scripts/check-coverage.sh       # go test ./... + exactly 100% statement coverage
+./scripts/check-coverage.sh         # go test ./... + exactly 100% statement coverage
 ```
 
 **Coverage is a gate at exactly 100%, not a target.** `scripts/check-coverage.sh` counts
diff --git a/pass/validate_propids_test.go b/pass/validate_propids_test.go
index 65fd5b4a..cb8cf169 100644
--- a/pass/validate_propids_test.go
+++ b/pass/validate_propids_test.go
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ func TestValidate_PropIDMapKeyIsLeftToTheEncodingCheck(t *testing.T) {
 // tagging prop.
 func discriminatedDoc(prop ir.PropID) *ir.Document {
 	doc := validDoc()
-	base := doc.Types["t/m"].(*ir.Model) //nolint:forcetypeassert // validDoc builds it
+	base := doc.Types["t/m"].(*ir.Model) // validDoc builds it
 	base.Discriminator = &ir.Discriminator{Property: prop}
 	return doc
 }
diff --git a/scripts/check-nolint-linters.sh b/scripts/check-nolint-linters.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5226345a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-nolint-linters.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,178 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# check-nolint-linters.sh fails when a //nolint directive names a linter that
+# golangci-lint is not running.
+#
+# nolintlint reports a directive that suppresses nothing, but only for a linter
+# that is enabled: golangci-lint's nolint filter drops nolintlint's "unused
+# directive" issue outright when the named linter is off, in shouldPassIssue
+# (pkg/result/processors/nolint_filter.go), under the comment "don't expect
+# disabled linters to cover their nolint statements". So a directive naming a
+# disabled linter, or one that does not exist at all, suppresses nothing and
+# fails nothing, while still reading as a live constraint on the code beneath it.
+#
+# A run can log "Found unknown linters in //nolint directives: ..." for a name it
+# cannot resolve at all, but that reaches even less: the filter parses a file only
+# when it has an issue in that file to filter, so a directive in a clean file is
+# never read, and the warning is in any case printed by a run that exits 0. It
+# also says nothing about a real linter that is merely disabled here.
+#
+# The enabled set is asked of golangci-lint rather than copied from
+# .golangci.yml, so enabling or dropping a linter never needs an edit here.
+set -euo pipefail
+
+repo_root="$(git -C "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+
+# Bound the failure output: bad directives arrive in blocks — dropping a linter
+# from the config invalidates every directive naming it at once — and the first
+# screenful is what gets read.
+max_reported=25
+
+for tool in git jq golangci-lint; do
+	if ! command -v "$tool" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+		echo "NOLINT FAIL: $tool is not on PATH; the enabled set cannot be derived" >&2
+		exit 1
+	fi
+done
+
+work="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "$work"' EXIT
+
+# Formatters are a separate list in golangci-lint v2, but `run` reports their
+# findings under their own name ("File is not properly formatted (gci)"), so
+# //nolint:gci is a real directive and both lists belong in the enabled set.
+golangci-lint linters --json >"$work/linters.json"
+golangci-lint formatters --json >"$work/formatters.json"
+jq -r '.Enabled[].name' "$work/linters.json" "$work/formatters.json" | sort -u >"$work/enabled.txt"
+
+if [ ! -s "$work/enabled.txt" ]; then
+	echo "NOLINT FAIL: golangci-lint reports no enabled linters, so nothing can be checked" >&2
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+# git grep, not a filesystem walk: tracked Go files are the same set the gate's
+# gofmt step reads. The pattern only has to find candidate lines — the awk below
+# applies golangci-lint's own grammar to them. Status 1 means no candidates at
+# all, which is not an error; anything above it is.
+set +e
+git -C "$repo_root" grep -nE '//[/ ]*nolint' -- '*.go' >"$work/hits.txt"
+grep_status=$?
+set -e
+if [ "$grep_status" -gt 1 ]; then
+	echo "NOLINT FAIL: git grep exited $grep_status" >&2
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+# The awk program mirrors extractInlineRangeFromComment in
+# pkg/result/processors/nolint_filter.go: strip leading '/' and spaces, require
+# what is left to start with "nolint" followed by a space, a colon or the end of
+# the comment, cut a trailing "// reason", split the rest on commas, and trim and
+# lower-case each name.
+if ! awk -v enabled_file="$work/enabled.txt" -v max="$max_reported" '
+BEGIN {
+	while ((getline name < enabled_file) > 0) {
+		enabled[name] = 1
+		known++
+	}
+	close(enabled_file)
+	if (known == 0) {
+		print "NOLINT FAIL: the enabled set came through empty" > "/dev/stderr"
+		fatal = 1
+		exit 1
+	}
+}
+
+function trim(s) {
+	sub("^[ \t\r\n]+", "", s)
+	sub("[ \t\r\n]+$", "", s)
+	return s
+}
+
+function emit(file, lineno, why) {
+	findings++
+	if (findings <= max) printf "NOLINT FAIL: %s:%s: %s\n", file, lineno, why
+}
+
+# check reads one directive and reports every name in it that golangci-lint is
+# not running.
+function check(file, lineno, cand,   body, cut, n, parts, i, name) {
+	directives++
+	if (substr(cand, 1, 7) != "nolint:") {
+		# A bare //nolint, or //nolint followed by prose, suppresses every enabled
+		# linter. It names nothing to cross-check, which also makes it the one way
+		# to write a suppression this check cannot see through, so it fails here
+		# rather than passing silently.
+		emit(file, lineno, "//nolint names no linter, so it suppresses every enabled one")
+		return
+	}
+	body = substr(cand, 8)
+	cut = index(body, "//")
+	if (cut > 0) body = substr(body, 1, cut - 1)
+
+	n = split(body, parts, ",")
+	if (n == 0) {
+		# split of the empty string yields no fields at all, so a bare "//nolint:"
+		# would otherwise leave the loop below with nothing to look at.
+		emit(file, lineno, "//nolint names no linter, so it suppresses every enabled one")
+		return
+	}
+
+	for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
+		name = tolower(trim(parts[i]))
+		checked++
+		# An empty name (a stray comma) resolves to no linter, and "all" is
+		# golangci-lint spelling out the blanket form above.
+		if (name == "" || name == "all") {
+			emit(file, lineno, "//nolint names no linter, so it suppresses every enabled one")
+		} else if (!(name in enabled)) {
+			emit(file, lineno, sprintf("//nolint names \"%s\", which golangci-lint is not running", name))
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+# scan tries every "//" on the line rather than only the one opening the comment.
+# Telling those apart needs a Go parser: "//" also occurs inside string literals
+# and inside prose quoting a directive. Trying all of them over-reports (a
+# directive spelled inside a string literal is reported although golangci-lint
+# would never see it) and never under-reports, which is the direction a check
+# written because another check missed something has to fail in.
+function scan(file, lineno, text,   pos, cand) {
+	# text loses at least pos + 1 characters per turn, so the loop is bounded by
+	# the length of the line.
+	while ((pos = index(text, "//")) > 0) {
+		cand = substr(text, pos)
+		text = substr(text, pos + 2)
+		sub("^[/ ]+", "", cand)
+		if (cand == "nolint" || cand ~ "^nolint[ :]") check(file, lineno, cand)
+	}
+}
+
+$0 == "" { next }
+
+# git grep -n emits "path:line:text". No tracked path here holds a colon, so the
+# first two colons split it; a line without them is a broken invariant, not a
+# finding.
+{
+	p = index($0, ":")
+	rest = substr($0, p + 1)
+	q = index(rest, ":")
+	if (p == 0 || q == 0) {
+		printf "NOLINT FAIL: unparsable git grep line: %s\n", $0 > "/dev/stderr"
+		fatal = 1
+		exit 1
+	}
+	scan(substr($0, 1, p - 1), substr(rest, 1, q - 1), substr(rest, q + 1))
+}
+
+END {
+	if (fatal) exit 1
+	if (findings > max) printf "  ... and %d more\n", findings - max
+	if (findings > 0) {
+		printf "nolint gate failed: %d problem(s) across %d directive(s).\n", findings, directives
+		exit 1
+	}
+	printf "nolint gate passed: %d directive(s), %d linter name(s), all enabled.\n", directives, checked
+}
+' "$work/hits.txt"; then
+	exit 1
+fi