diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-ownership-snapshot.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-ownership-snapshot.yml
index 3204670..179c76e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-ownership-snapshot.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-ownership-snapshot.yml
@@ -26,10 +26,10 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@11d5960a326750d5838078e36cf38b85af677262 # v4
 
       - name: Install Nix
-        uses: cachix/install-nix-action@v30
+        uses: cachix/install-nix-action@08dcb3a5e62fa31e2da3d490afc4176ef55ecd72 # v30
 
       - name: Build ownership publisher
         run: nix build .#ownership-publisher
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Upload workflow artifact copy
         # A legitimate up-to-date run produces no new local artifacts.
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@ea165f8d65b6e75b540449e92b4886f43607fa02 # v4
         with:
           name: ownership-snapshot-${{ github.run_id }}
           path: dist/ownership-snapshot/*
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 135a50f..7dc0bdd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -20,8 +20,9 @@ on:
       - "scripts/install.js"
       - "install.sh"
 
+# Read-only by default; only the publish job writes the release.
 permissions:
-  contents: write
+  contents: read
 
 env:
   RELEASE_TAG: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && inputs.tag || github.ref_name }}
@@ -49,12 +50,12 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
       - name: Check out source
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@11d5960a326750d5838078e36cf38b85af677262 # v4
         with:
           ref: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && inputs.tag || github.ref }}
 
       - name: Install Rust toolchain and target
-        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
+        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@b725eda525362e7cf34af9a7243cac1e3f01a7ec # stable
         with:
           targets: ${{ matrix.target }}
 
@@ -83,7 +84,7 @@ jobs:
           ./idx-mcp-${{ matrix.asset }} --help >/dev/null
 
       - name: Upload target artifacts
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@ea165f8d65b6e75b540449e92b4886f43607fa02 # v4
         with:
           name: idx-${{ matrix.asset }}
           path: |
@@ -96,9 +97,11 @@ jobs:
     needs: build
     if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
     steps:
       - name: Check out install script
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@11d5960a326750d5838078e36cf38b85af677262 # v4
         with:
           ref: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && inputs.tag || github.ref }}
           sparse-checkout: install.sh
@@ -106,7 +109,7 @@ jobs:
           path: src
 
       - name: Download target artifacts
-        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@d3f86a106a0bac45b974a628896c90dbdf5c8093 # v4
         with:
           pattern: idx-*
           merge-multiple: true
@@ -119,7 +122,7 @@ jobs:
             > SHA256SUMS
 
       - name: Attach binaries to the version tag
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@3bb12739c298aeb8a4eeaf626c5b8d85266b0e65 # v2
         with:
           tag_name: ${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}
           files: |
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index af4f8b6..91b90de 100755
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -97,8 +97,11 @@ resolve_latest_version() {
     fetch "$api_url/repos/$REPO/releases?per_page=30" "$releases" ||
         err "could not list releases; pass --version <tag> to skip the lookup"
 
+    # One field per line first: on a single-line (compact) response the greedy
+    # match would otherwise pick the last tag, not the newest.
     tag="$(
-        sed -n 's/.*"tag_name"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"\(v[0-9][0-9]*\.[0-9][0-9]*\.[0-9][0-9]*\)".*/\1/p' "$releases" |
+        tr ',' '\n' < "$releases" |
+            sed -n 's/.*"tag_name"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"\(v[0-9][0-9]*\.[0-9][0-9]*\.[0-9][0-9]*\)".*/\1/p' |
             head -n 1
     )"
     [ -n "$tag" ] || err "no vX.Y.Z release found for $REPO"
diff --git a/scripts/audit-msn-fundamentals.sh b/scripts/audit-msn-fundamentals.sh
index 593c8f1..b36825e 100755
--- a/scripts/audit-msn-fundamentals.sh
+++ b/scripts/audit-msn-fundamentals.sh
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@ resolve_tickers() {
         done
         IFS="$old_ifs"
     else
-        mapfile -t TICKER_LIST < <(cut -f1 "$ROOT_DIR/src/api/msn/symbol_ids.tsv")
+        symbol_map="$ROOT_DIR/crates/idx-core/src/api/msn/symbol_ids.tsv"
+        [[ -f "$symbol_map" ]] || { echo "symbol map not found: $symbol_map" >&2; exit 1; }
+        mapfile -t TICKER_LIST < <(cut -f1 "$symbol_map")
     fi
 
     if [[ ${#TICKER_LIST[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
diff --git a/scripts/build-latest-ownership-snapshot.sh b/scripts/build-latest-ownership-snapshot.sh
index 0c5b434..0641f25 100755
--- a/scripts/build-latest-ownership-snapshot.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-latest-ownership-snapshot.sh
@@ -163,8 +163,11 @@ DB_PATH="$XDG_DATA_HOME/idx/ownership.db"
 printf 'Discovering latest supported IDX/KSEI above-1%% report...\n'
 "$IDX_BIN" -o json ownership discover --family above1 --limit 50 > "$DISCOVERY_JSON"
 
-discovery_payload="$(
-    jq -r '
+# NUL-separated, so a field containing newlines (a report title) cannot
+# shift the fields after it. Written to a file: command substitution drops
+# NULs, and a jq failure must still stop the script under set -e.
+DISCOVERY_FIELDS="$WORKDIR/discovery-fields"
+jq --raw-output0 '
         if type != "array" or length == 0 then
             error("ownership discover returned no reports")
         else
@@ -184,9 +187,8 @@ discovery_payload="$(
               ]
             | .[]
         end
-    ' "$DISCOVERY_JSON"
-)"
-mapfile -t discovery_fields <<< "$discovery_payload"
+    ' "$DISCOVERY_JSON" > "$DISCOVERY_FIELDS"
+mapfile -d '' -t discovery_fields < "$DISCOVERY_FIELDS"
 
 DISCOVERED_FAMILY="${discovery_fields[0]:-}"
 DISCOVERED_LISTING_PAGE_URL="${discovery_fields[1]:-}"
@@ -308,6 +310,14 @@ jq \
             original_filename: ($original_filename | if . == "" then null else . end)
         }
     ' "$MANIFEST_PATH" > "$TMP_MANIFEST_PATH"
+# Clients reject a manifest missing any of these, so a bad one would block
+# every `idx ownership sync`; refuse to produce it.
+if ! jq -e '[.source.pdf_url, .source.title, .source.publish_date, .snapshot.version]
+        | all(type == "string" and (gsub("^\\s+|\\s+$"; "") | length > 0))' \
+        "$TMP_MANIFEST_PATH" > /dev/null; then
+    echo "built manifest is missing source.pdf_url, source.title, source.publish_date, or snapshot.version" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
 mv "$TMP_MANIFEST_PATH" "$MANIFEST_PATH"
 
 printf 'Prepared release-ready snapshot from %s (%s)\n' \
diff --git a/scripts/build-ownership-snapshot.sh b/scripts/build-ownership-snapshot.sh
index b485c62..d626209 100755
--- a/scripts/build-ownership-snapshot.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-ownership-snapshot.sh
@@ -94,6 +94,15 @@ MANIFEST_PATH="$OUTPUT_DIR/ownership-snapshot-manifest.json"
 TMP_ARTIFACT_PATH="$OUTPUT_DIR/.ownership-snapshot-${LATEST_AS_OF}.sqlite.tmp.$$"
 # Remove a partial copy if the script fails before the atomic rename below.
 trap 'rm -f "$TMP_ARTIFACT_PATH"' EXIT
+# Committed data can still sit in the -wal file while another connection has
+# the database open; checkpoint it into the main file first (a no-op for a
+# closed database, so its bytes and hash are unchanged), and refuse to copy
+# when that cannot complete.
+checkpoint="$(sqlite3 "$DB_PATH" "PRAGMA wal_checkpoint(TRUNCATE);")"
+if [[ "${checkpoint%%|*}" != "0" ]]; then
+    echo "ownership database is busy; could not checkpoint its WAL before copying: $DB_PATH" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
 cp "$DB_PATH" "$TMP_ARTIFACT_PATH"
 
 # Immutable, content-addressed name. The publisher relies on this to upload and
diff --git a/scripts/install-sh-test.sh b/scripts/install-sh-test.sh
index 4bcff0e..769e91c 100755
--- a/scripts/install-sh-test.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-sh-test.sh
@@ -191,6 +191,17 @@ else
   fail "expands quoted ~ and tolerates trailing slashes"; cat "${work}/out9" >&2
 fi
 
+# 10. a compact single-line releases response still resolves the newest tag.
+printf '%s' '[{"tag_name":"ownership-snapshot-current"},{"tag_name":"v0.2.4","name":"v0.2.4"},{"tag_name":"v0.2.3"}]' \
+  >"${api_dir}/releases"
+dir="${work}/compact"
+if run_installer "$test_shell" "$installer" --dir "$dir" >"${work}/out10" 2>&1 &&
+  [[ "$("${dir}/idx")" == "idx fake v0.2.4" ]]; then
+  pass "resolves the newest tag from a compact releases response"
+else
+  fail "resolves the newest tag from a compact releases response"; cat "${work}/out10" >&2
+fi
+
 if ((failures > 0)); then
   echo "install.sh tests: ${failures} failure(s) with ${test_shell}" >&2
   exit 1