diff --git a/examples/audiobook-curator/tests/route-unit/cli-dispatch.test.ts b/examples/audiobook-curator/tests/route-unit/cli-dispatch.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b1dd03b51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/audiobook-curator/tests/route-unit/cli-dispatch.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,270 @@
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, readFile, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from '@rstest/core';
+import { cliJson, cliNdjson, invokeCli } from 'agent-bundle/test';
+
+import inspectRoute, {
+  inputSchema as inspectInputSchema,
+  resultSchema as inspectResultSchema,
+} from '../../src/cli/inspect.ts';
+import { resultSchema as inventoryResultSchema } from '../../src/cli/inventory.ts';
+import { resultSchema as libraryAuditResultSchema } from '../../src/cli/library-audit.tsx';
+
+const directories: string[] = [];
+
+const temporaryLibrary = async (): Promise<{
+  readonly directory: string;
+  readonly library: string;
+  readonly report: string;
+}> => {
+  const directory = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'curator-cli-dispatch-'));
+  const library = join(directory, 'library');
+  await mkdir(library);
+  directories.push(directory);
+  return { directory, library, report: join(directory, 'report.json') };
+};
+
+const invokeLibraryAudit = async (
+  outputArgs: readonly string[] = [],
+  tty = false,
+) => {
+  const fixture = await temporaryLibrary();
+  const run = await invokeCli([
+    'library-audit',
+    fixture.library,
+    '--report',
+    fixture.report,
+    '--concurrency',
+    '1',
+    ...outputArgs,
+  ], { tty });
+  return { ...fixture, run };
+};
+
+const libraryAuditMarkdown = [
+  '## Library audit',
+  '',
+  'Audited **0** files (0 bytes) across **1** sources.',
+  '',
+  '- metadata issues: **0**',
+  '- duplicate candidates: **0**',
+  '- multipart candidates: **0**',
+  '',
+  'Duplicate and multipart groups are review candidates, never deletion instructions.',
+  '',
+].join('\n');
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  await Promise.all(directories.splice(0).map((directory) => rm(directory, { force: true, recursive: true })));
+});
+
+describe('audiobook-curator at the CLI dispatch proof level', () => {
+  describe('plain commands', () => {
+    it('emits the inspect receipt as one canonical JSON line with direct-operation byte parity', async () => {
+      const { library } = await temporaryLibrary();
+      const run = await invokeCli(['inspect', library, '--max-files', '1']);
+      const directInput = inspectInputSchema.parse({ maxFiles: 1, root: library });
+      const direct = inspectResultSchema.parse(await inspectRoute({
+        input: directInput,
+        signal: new AbortController().signal,
+      }));
+      const receipt = inspectResultSchema.parse(cliJson(run));
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(run.stderr).toBe('');
+      expect(run.provenance.proofLevel).toBe('cli-dispatch');
+      expect(receipt).toEqual(direct);
+      expect(run.value).toEqual(direct);
+      expect(run.stdout).toBe(`${JSON.stringify(direct)}\n`);
+    });
+
+    it('uses a successful inventory receipt exit code as the process exit code', async () => {
+      const { library, report } = await temporaryLibrary();
+      const run = await invokeCli(['inventory', library, '--report', report, '--strict']);
+      const receipt = inventoryResultSchema.parse(cliJson(run));
+
+      expect(receipt).toMatchObject({
+        exitCode: 0,
+        operation: 'inventory',
+        summary: { errors: 0, files: 0 },
+      });
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(receipt.exitCode);
+      expect(run.value).toEqual(receipt);
+      expect(inventoryResultSchema.parse(JSON.parse(await readFile(report, 'utf8')))).toEqual(receipt);
+    });
+
+    it('uses a failing inventory receipt exit code as the process exit code without ffprobe', async () => {
+      const { directory, library, report } = await temporaryLibrary();
+      await writeFile(join(library, 'broken.mp3'), 'not audio');
+      const previousPath = process.env['PATH'];
+      const run = await (async () => {
+        // Fail the media probe before an external executable can run.
+        process.env['PATH'] = directory;
+        try {
+          return await invokeCli(['inventory', library, '--report', report, '--strict']);
+        } finally {
+          if (previousPath === undefined) delete process.env['PATH'];
+          else process.env['PATH'] = previousPath;
+        }
+      })();
+      const receipt = inventoryResultSchema.parse(cliJson(run));
+
+      expect(receipt).toMatchObject({
+        exitCode: 1,
+        operation: 'inventory',
+        summary: { errors: 1, files: 0 },
+      });
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(receipt.exitCode);
+      expect(run.value).toEqual(receipt);
+    });
+
+    it('reports an unknown command as a usage failure with the root help hint', async () => {
+      const run = await invokeCli(['not-a-command']);
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(2);
+      expect(run.stdout).toBe('');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain('Unknown command: not-a-command.');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain("Run 'audiobook-curator --help' for usage.");
+    });
+
+    it('reports an unknown option as a usage failure with the command help hint', async () => {
+      const { library } = await temporaryLibrary();
+      const run = await invokeCli(['inspect', library, '--wat']);
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(2);
+      expect(run.stdout).toBe('');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain('Unknown option: --wat.');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain("Run 'audiobook-curator inspect --help' for usage.");
+    });
+
+    it('reports a missing required option as a usage failure with the command help hint', async () => {
+      const { library } = await temporaryLibrary();
+      const run = await invokeCli(['inventory', library]);
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(2);
+      expect(run.stdout).toBe('');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain('Missing required option: --report.');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain("Run 'audiobook-curator inventory --help' for usage.");
+    });
+
+    it('projects real option spellings into command help and all routes into root help', async () => {
+      const [commandHelp, rootHelp] = await Promise.all([
+        invokeCli(['inspect', '--help']),
+        invokeCli(['--help']),
+      ]);
+
+      expect(commandHelp.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(commandHelp.stderr).toBe('');
+      expect(commandHelp.stdout).toContain('Usage: audiobook-curator inspect [options] <root>');
+      expect(commandHelp.stdout).toContain('--max-files <number>');
+      expect(rootHelp.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(rootHelp.stderr).toBe('');
+      for (const command of [
+        'acoustic-identify',
+        'acoustic-verify',
+        'apply-chapters',
+        'apply-metadata',
+        'audible-cache',
+        'audible-search',
+        'audible-select',
+        'audit',
+        'convert',
+        'inspect',
+        'inventory',
+        'library-audit',
+        'prepare',
+        'select',
+        'whisper-verify',
+      ]) {
+        expect(rootHelp.stdout).toMatch(new RegExp(`^  ${command}(?: |$)`, 'mu'));
+      }
+    });
+
+    it('maps the inspect zod bounds failure to exit 2', async () => {
+      const { library } = await temporaryLibrary();
+      const run = await invokeCli(['inspect', library, '--max-files', '0']);
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(2);
+      expect(run.stdout).toBe('');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain('maxFiles');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain('expected number to be >=1');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain("Run 'audiobook-curator inspect --help' for usage.");
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('the rendered library-audit command', () => {
+    it('emits exactly one final Markdown document when stdout is piped', async () => {
+      const { report, run } = await invokeLibraryAudit();
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(run.stderr).toBe('');
+      expect(run.stdout).toBe(libraryAuditMarkdown);
+      expect(run.stdout).not.toContain('Auditing sources');
+      expect(run.stdout).not.toContain('Audit complete');
+      expect(libraryAuditResultSchema.parse(run.value)).toMatchObject({
+        exitCode: 0,
+        operation: 'library-audit',
+        summary: { files: 0 },
+      });
+      expect(libraryAuditResultSchema.parse(JSON.parse(await readFile(report, 'utf8')))).toEqual(run.value);
+    });
+
+    it('writes progress-in-place frames before the final Markdown for an explicit TTY', async () => {
+      const { run } = await invokeLibraryAudit([], true);
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(run.stderr).toBe('');
+      expect(run.stdout).toContain('\r\u001B[2KAuditing sources (0/1)');
+      expect(run.stdout).toContain('\r\u001B[2KAudit complete (1/1)');
+      expect(run.stdout.indexOf('\r\u001B[2K')).toBeLessThan(run.stdout.indexOf(libraryAuditMarkdown));
+      expect(run.stdout.endsWith(libraryAuditMarkdown)).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('emits a canonical schema-validated JSON receipt', async () => {
+      const { run } = await invokeLibraryAudit(['--json']);
+      const receipt = libraryAuditResultSchema.parse(cliJson(run));
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(run.stderr).toBe('');
+      expect(receipt).toMatchObject({
+        exitCode: 0,
+        operation: 'library-audit',
+        summary: { files: 0 },
+      });
+      expect(run.value).toEqual(receipt);
+      expect(run.stdout).toBe(`${JSON.stringify(receipt)}\n`);
+    });
+
+    it('emits a monotonic CLI-dialect NDJSON stream ending in complete', async () => {
+      const { run } = await invokeLibraryAudit(['--ndjson']);
+      const events = cliNdjson(run);
+      const sequences = events.map((event) => event.sequence);
+      const terminal = events.at(-1);
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(0);
+      expect(run.stderr).toBe('');
+      expect(events.some((event) => event.type === 'progress')).toBe(true);
+      expect(sequences.every((sequence, index) => index === 0 || sequence > sequences[index - 1]!)).toBe(true);
+      expect(terminal).toMatchObject({
+        document: { status: 'success' },
+        type: 'complete',
+      });
+      if (terminal?.type !== 'complete') throw new Error('expected a terminal complete event');
+      expect(libraryAuditResultSchema.parse(terminal.document.value)).toEqual(run.value);
+      expect(events.filter((event) => event.type === 'complete')).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(JSON.stringify(events)).not.toContain('"jsonrpc"');
+      expect(run.stdout.trim().split('\n')).toHaveLength(events.length);
+    });
+
+    it('rejects conflicting JSON and NDJSON output modes at the shell boundary', async () => {
+      const { run } = await invokeLibraryAudit(['--json', '--ndjson']);
+
+      expect(run.exitCode).toBe(2);
+      expect(run.stdout).toBe('');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain('Use either --json or --ndjson, not both.');
+      expect(run.stderr).toContain("Run 'audiobook-curator library-audit --help' for usage.");
+    });
+  });
+});