diff --git a/packages/drivers/driver-memory/objectstack.config.ts b/packages/drivers/driver-memory/objectstack.config.ts
index 1028c00472..53a8474493 100644
--- a/packages/drivers/driver-memory/objectstack.config.ts
+++ b/packages/drivers/driver-memory/objectstack.config.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2025 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
 
-import { ObjectStackManifest } from '@objectstack/spec/system';
+import type { ObjectStackManifest } from '@objectstack/spec/kernel';
 
 /**
  * In-Memory Driver Plugin Manifest
diff --git a/packages/drivers/driver-memory/package.json b/packages/drivers/driver-memory/package.json
index 88d91bbaf0..bb8a002824 100644
--- a/packages/drivers/driver-memory/package.json
+++ b/packages/drivers/driver-memory/package.json
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
     "build": "tsup --config ../../../tsup.config.ts && node ../../../scripts/check-dts-emitted.mjs",
     "dev": "tsc -w",
     "test": "vitest run",
-    "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit"
+    "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit && tsc --noEmit -p tsconfig.typecheck.json"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@objectstack/core": "workspace:*",
diff --git a/packages/drivers/driver-memory/tsconfig.typecheck.json b/packages/drivers/driver-memory/tsconfig.typecheck.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..526156f5fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/drivers/driver-memory/tsconfig.typecheck.json
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+// The MANIFEST-layer type-check program for @objectstack/driver-memory (#13284).
+//
+// `objectstack.config.ts` sits at the PACKAGE ROOT and declares this driver's
+// plugin manifest, annotated `ObjectStackManifest`. Until this file existed no
+// tsc program read a line of it: `tsconfig.json` selects `src/**/*`, and that
+// glob cannot match a root-level file. The annotation was therefore decorative
+// -- the file imported the type from `@objectstack/spec/system`, an entry that
+// does not export it, and `pnpm --filter @objectstack/driver-memory typecheck`
+// still exited 0. A wrong key or a wrong import here cost nothing at author
+// time, which is the whole defect: the ADR-0049 manifest retirements
+// (#11332 / #10724 / #4914) lean on the `retiredKey()` DOUBLE channel -- tsc
+// (input typed `never`) plus parse -- and the tsc half was blind at the only
+// two places in this repo where a plugin manifest is authored in TypeScript.
+//
+// A SIBLING rather than a wider `include` on `tsconfig.json`, the distinction
+// #5475 drew for `packages/spec` and #10756 for `packages/objectql/scripts`:
+// that config EMITS (`rootDir: "./src"`, `outDir: "./dist"`, and `dev` runs
+// `tsc -w` through it), so widening it to reach the package root would put the
+// manifest in front of the emit -- measured, that is exactly TS6059 ("File
+// ... is not under 'rootDir' ... 'rootDir' is expected to contain all source
+// files"), and it fires under `--noEmit` too. This program emits nothing, so
+// it can neutralise `rootDir` without touching what ships. `tsup` builds
+// `src/index.ts` and `files` publishes `dist` only, so nothing about the
+// published package moves.
+//
+// STRICTNESS IS INHERITED and deliberately not relaxed: `strict`,
+// `esModuleInterop`, `forceConsistentCasingInFileNames` and the rest come from
+// the root config through `tsconfig.json`. The manifest type-checks clean
+// under them -- it enters with ZERO recorded debt, and there is no ledger here
+// to record any in.
+{
+  "extends": "./tsconfig.json",
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "noEmit": true,
+    // `.` rather than the inherited `src`, because the file this program checks
+    // is the one outside `src`. Safe precisely because nothing is emitted from
+    // here -- see the header.
+    "rootDir": "."
+  },
+  "include": ["objectstack.config.ts"]
+}
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/objectstack.config.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/objectstack.config.ts
index 5b902ebbdf..7af2af28d2 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/objectstack.config.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/objectstack.config.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2025 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
 
-import { ObjectStackManifest } from '@objectstack/spec/system';
+import type { ObjectStackManifest } from '@objectstack/spec/kernel';
 
 /**
  * Hono Server Plugin Manifest
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/package.json b/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/package.json
index 42f82145f8..ccb8740bf1 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/package.json
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/package.json
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "build": "tsup --config ../../../tsup.config.ts && node ../../../scripts/check-dts-emitted.mjs",
     "test": "vitest run",
-    "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit"
+    "typecheck": "tsc --noEmit && tsc --noEmit -p tsconfig.typecheck.json"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@hono/node-server": "^2.1.1",
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/tsconfig.typecheck.json b/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/tsconfig.typecheck.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cc3a22c3ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-hono-server/tsconfig.typecheck.json
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+// The MANIFEST-layer type-check program for @objectstack/plugin-hono-server
+// (#13284).
+//
+// `objectstack.config.ts` sits at the PACKAGE ROOT and declares this adapter's
+// plugin manifest, annotated `ObjectStackManifest`. Until this file existed no
+// tsc program read a line of it: `tsconfig.json` selects `src/**/*`, and that
+// glob cannot match a root-level file. The annotation was therefore decorative
+// -- the file imported the type from `@objectstack/spec/system`, an entry that
+// does not export it, and `pnpm --filter @objectstack/plugin-hono-server
+// typecheck` still exited 0. A wrong key or a wrong import here cost nothing at
+// author time, which is the whole defect: the ADR-0049 manifest retirements
+// (#11332 / #10724 / #4914) lean on the `retiredKey()` DOUBLE channel -- tsc
+// (input typed `never`) plus parse -- and the tsc half was blind at the only
+// two places in this repo where a plugin manifest is authored in TypeScript.
+//
+// A SIBLING rather than a wider `include` on `tsconfig.json`, the distinction
+// #5475 drew for `packages/spec` and #10756 for `packages/objectql/scripts`:
+// that config EMITS (`rootDir: "./src"`, `outDir: "./dist"`, `declaration:
+// true`), so widening it to reach the package root would put the manifest in
+// front of the emit -- measured, that is exactly TS6059 ("File ... is not under
+// 'rootDir' ... 'rootDir' is expected to contain all source files"), and it
+// fires under `--noEmit` too. This program emits nothing, so it can neutralise
+// `rootDir` without touching what ships. `tsup` builds `src/index.ts` and
+// `files` publishes `dist` only, so nothing about the published package moves.
+//
+// STRICTNESS IS INHERITED and deliberately not relaxed: `strict`,
+// `esModuleInterop` and the NodeNext module semantics all come from
+// `tsconfig.json`, which -- unlike its `driver-memory` twin -- extends nothing
+// and is self-contained. The manifest type-checks clean under them: it enters
+// with ZERO recorded debt, and there is no ledger here to record any in.
+{
+  "extends": "./tsconfig.json",
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "noEmit": true,
+    // `.` rather than the inherited `src`, because the file this program checks
+    // is the one outside `src`. Safe precisely because nothing is emitted from
+    // here -- see the header.
+    "rootDir": "."
+  },
+  "include": ["objectstack.config.ts"]
+}