diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index cbfb2f301b..079592b3b9 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
     "test:e2e:accessibility": "node scripts/run-playwright.mjs tests/ui-accessibility.spec.ts --project=chromium",
     "test:e2e:chromium": "node scripts/run-playwright.mjs --project=chromium",
     "test:e2e:visual": "node scripts/run-playwright.mjs --config=playwright.visual.config.ts",
-    "verify:cheap": "npm run check:runtime && npm run lint && npm run typecheck && npm run test",
+    "verify:cheap": "npm run check:runtime && npm run lint && npm run typecheck && npm run test && npm run check:type-scale",
     "verify:ui": "npm run check:runtime && npm run test:e2e:chromium",
     "verify:release": "npm run check:runtime && npm run lint && npm run typecheck && npm run test && npm run build && npm run test:e2e && npm run check:production-readiness && npm run governance:release && npm run eval:quality:release",
     "ci:env-check": "node scripts/check-ci-env.mjs",
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
     "backfill:text-normalization": "tsx scripts/backfill-text-normalization.ts",
     "check:supabase-project": "tsx scripts/check-supabase-project.ts",
     "check:indexing": "tsx scripts/check-indexing.ts",
+    "check:type-scale": "node scripts/check-type-scale.mjs",
     "recover:ingestion": "tsx scripts/recover-ingestion-queue.ts",
     "registry:seed": "tsx scripts/seed-registry-records.ts",
     "reindex": "tsx scripts/reindex.ts",
diff --git a/scripts/check-type-scale.mjs b/scripts/check-type-scale.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9276d487fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-type-scale.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+// Guardrail/diagnostic: flags arbitrary Tailwind font-size utilities
+// (e.g. text-[12px], text-[1.45rem]) that bypass the design type scale.
+//
+// The scale lives in the @theme block of src/app/globals.css: named steps
+// text-4xs … text-2xl-minus, on top of Tailwind's default xs/sm/base/lg/xl/2xl.
+// Arbitrary text-[<n><unit>] values re-introduce off-scale sizes; this check
+// tracks that drift. Colour utilities (text-[color:var(--…)]) are the sanctioned
+// token-access form and are intentionally NOT flagged.
+//
+// Usage:
+//   node scripts/check-type-scale.mjs           report only, exit 0 (default)
+//   node scripts/check-type-scale.mjs --strict  exit 1 if any found (promote to a
+//                                               CI gate once the backlog is cleared)
+
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { execSync } from "node:child_process";
+
+const strict = process.argv.includes("--strict");
+const ARBITRARY = /\btext-\[(\d*\.?\d+)(px|rem|em)\]/g;
+
+// Tracked source files under src (fast; respects .gitignore).
+const files = execSync("git ls-files src", { encoding: "utf8" })
+  .split("\n")
+  .filter((f) => /\.(tsx?|jsx?|css)$/.test(f));
+
+const hits = [];
+for (const file of files) {
+  let text;
+  try {
+    text = readFileSync(file, "utf8");
+  } catch {
+    continue;
+  }
+  text.split("\n").forEach((line, i) => {
+    for (const m of line.matchAll(ARBITRARY)) {
+      hits.push({ file, line: i + 1, match: m[0] });
+    }
+  });
+}
+
+if (hits.length === 0) {
+  console.log("✓ type-scale: no arbitrary text-[<n>px|rem|em] font sizes in src.");
+  process.exit(0);
+}
+
+const bySize = new Map();
+for (const h of hits) bySize.set(h.match, (bySize.get(h.match) ?? 0) + 1);
+const fileCount = new Set(hits.map((h) => h.file)).size;
+
+console.log(`type-scale: ${hits.length} arbitrary font-size utilities bypass the scale (across ${fileCount} files):\n`);
+for (const [size, n] of [...bySize.entries()].sort((a, b) => b[1] - a[1])) {
+  console.log(`  ${String(n).padStart(4)}  ${size}`);
+}
+console.log("\nPrefer a named @theme step from src/app/globals.css (text-3xs, text-sm-minus, text-2xl-minus, …).");
+console.log("Colour utilities like text-[color:var(--…)] are fine and not counted.");
+
+if (strict) {
+  console.error("\n✗ --strict: arbitrary font sizes present.");
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+process.exit(0);
diff --git a/src/app/globals.css b/src/app/globals.css
index 7fc0f91903..c2e1c148ae 100644
--- a/src/app/globals.css
+++ b/src/app/globals.css
@@ -38,12 +38,17 @@
        2xs         11px  small chips / secondary labels (most common small size)
        (xs 12 · sm 14 · base 16 come from Tailwind's default scale)
        sm-minus    13px  one notch under sm — dense body/labels bigger than xs
-       base-minus  15px  one notch under base — comfortable body just under 16 */
+       base-minus  15px  one notch under base — comfortable body just under 16
+       (lg 18 · xl 20 · 2xl 24 come from Tailwind's default scale)
+       lg-minus    17px  one notch under lg — display titles a shade under 18
+       2xl-minus   22px  one notch under 2xl — wide-screen nowrap headings */
   --text-4xs: 0.5rem;
   --text-3xs: 0.625rem;
   --text-2xs: 0.6875rem;
   --text-sm-minus: 0.8125rem;
   --text-base-minus: 0.9375rem;
+  --text-lg-minus: 1.0625rem;
+  --text-2xl-minus: 1.375rem;
 
   /* Font families: bind Tailwind's font-sans / font-mono to the loaded Geist
      faces (variables set on <html> by next/font). font-mono is used for