diff --git a/docs/reference/glossary.md b/docs/reference/glossary.md
index d290f3298..03a1fd41e 100644
--- a/docs/reference/glossary.md
+++ b/docs/reference/glossary.md
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ Typed failure class of a settlement step.
 - Tier / 层级: `cross_runtime`; status / 状态: `canonical`.
 - python: [`SettlementFailureKind`](../../loopx/control_plane/effect_program.py).
 - typescript: [`SETTLEMENT_FAILURE_KINDS`](../../loopx/control_plane/effect_program.ts).
-- Values / 值: `invalid_identity`, `receipt_missing`, `identity_mismatch`, `writeback_missing`, `writeback_rejected`, `quota_spend_rejected`, `terminal_closeout_rejected`, `cancelled`, `permission_denied`, `budget_rejected`, `effect_outcome_unknown`.
+- Values / 值: `invalid_identity`, `receipt_missing`, `receipt_unbound`, `identity_mismatch`, `writeback_missing`, `writeback_rejected`, `quota_spend_rejected`, `terminal_closeout_rejected`, `cancelled`, `permission_denied`, `budget_rejected`, `effect_outcome_unknown`.
 
 ## settlement_step_kind
 
diff --git a/loopx/control_plane/effect_program.py b/loopx/control_plane/effect_program.py
index d00e8c73b..d919dc9b9 100644
--- a/loopx/control_plane/effect_program.py
+++ b/loopx/control_plane/effect_program.py
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ class SettlementBindingKind(StrEnum):
 class SettlementFailureKind(StrEnum):
     INVALID_IDENTITY = "invalid_identity"
     RECEIPT_MISSING = "receipt_missing"
+    RECEIPT_UNBOUND = "receipt_unbound"
     IDENTITY_MISMATCH = "identity_mismatch"
     WRITEBACK_MISSING = "writeback_missing"
     WRITEBACK_REJECTED = "writeback_rejected"
diff --git a/loopx/control_plane/effect_program.ts b/loopx/control_plane/effect_program.ts
index d27d934d1..868727ef3 100644
--- a/loopx/control_plane/effect_program.ts
+++ b/loopx/control_plane/effect_program.ts
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ export type SettlementBindingKind = (typeof SETTLEMENT_BINDING_KINDS)[number];
 export const SETTLEMENT_FAILURE_KINDS = [
   "invalid_identity",
   "receipt_missing",
+  "receipt_unbound",
   "identity_mismatch",
   "writeback_missing",
   "writeback_rejected",
diff --git a/loopx/control_plane/quota/settlement_readback.ts b/loopx/control_plane/quota/settlement_readback.ts
index c59be74f2..373b76ba1 100644
--- a/loopx/control_plane/quota/settlement_readback.ts
+++ b/loopx/control_plane/quota/settlement_readback.ts
@@ -529,7 +529,11 @@ function inferPersistedIdentity(
 
 function failedIdentity(
   reason: string,
-  kind: "invalid_identity" | "identity_mismatch" | "receipt_missing",
+  kind:
+    | "invalid_identity"
+    | "identity_mismatch"
+    | "receipt_missing"
+    | "receipt_unbound",
   details?: JsonObject,
 ) {
   return settlementFailed<JsonObject>({
@@ -615,13 +619,15 @@ function resolveIdentity(
     // the guard's own same-turn reconciliation owns that, so there is one
     // binder rather than two -- which means the caller has to be told the state
     // and the exact repair instead of being handed a binding mismatch it cannot
-    // act on.
+    // act on. The state also gets its own failure kind, so a consumer can branch
+    // on the missing binding without reading details.binding_kind: the receipt
+    // exists and is well-formed here, which is not what identity_mismatch means.
     return failedIdentity(
       "the quota should-run receipt for this turn carries no settlement binding " +
         `yet (turn_instance_id ${turnInstanceId}); rebind it through the guard's ` +
         "same-turn reconciliation, then settle: quota should-run --turn-instance-id " +
         `${turnInstanceId} --todo-id ${identity.todo_id ?? "<todo_id>"}`,
-      "identity_mismatch",
+      "receipt_unbound",
       {
         binding_kind: "unbound",
         requested_binding_kind: identity.binding_kind,
diff --git a/loopx/semantics/vocabulary_v0.json b/loopx/semantics/vocabulary_v0.json
index 1805be97f..df27a6d43 100644
--- a/loopx/semantics/vocabulary_v0.json
+++ b/loopx/semantics/vocabulary_v0.json
@@ -581,6 +581,7 @@
       "values": [
         "invalid_identity",
         "receipt_missing",
+        "receipt_unbound",
         "identity_mismatch",
         "writeback_missing",
         "writeback_rejected",
@@ -593,6 +594,7 @@
       ],
       "value_notes": {
         "invalid_identity": "A validation-step rejection of the identity's own shape, judged in isolation before any comparison with a durable record: no identity object, a blank goal, agent or turn instance id, both or neither work-item binding, a turn instance id failing the public-safe pattern, a missing effect id, or an effect id that disagrees with the one recomputed from that same identity. Self-inconsistency inside one plan, as opposed to identity_mismatch which compares two records.",
+        "receipt_unbound": "A settlement identity was compared with this Turn's persisted guard receipt, and that receipt declares no binding of its own: the guard committed before any work item was chosen, or it declined the explicit choice it was handed, so there is nothing to compare against yet. identity_mismatch needs two records that disagree; receipt_unbound names the single-record case where the receipt exists but carries neither a Todo nor an autonomous replan binding.",
         "receipt_missing": "A receipt or phase record needed to proceed is absent or not durably committed and no more specific kind applies: completed phases are not an ordered prefix of the transaction phases, validation is required but not completed, a phase marked completed carries a payload that is not committed, or readback finds no heartbeat receipt, quota spend or terminal closeout event.",
         "identity_mismatch": "A well-formed identity compared against a second durable record names a different effect or binding: the journal's committed effect id differs from the plan's, a heartbeat receipt's binding or settlement effect id differs from the request, or a prepared attempt's effect reference does not match the effect id and step kind. The contrast with invalid_identity is that this failure needs two records to detect.",
         "writeback_missing": "Raised at exactly one site, in the writeback readback, when the accountable refresh-state run or its matching event is null for this identity: the durable writeback receipt was never found. It is absence, never refusal, which is what separates it from writeback_rejected.",
diff --git a/tests/control_plane_ts/quota_settlement_readback.test.ts b/tests/control_plane_ts/quota_settlement_readback.test.ts
index 17ad1ec43..f639b155f 100644
--- a/tests/control_plane_ts/quota_settlement_readback.test.ts
+++ b/tests/control_plane_ts/quota_settlement_readback.test.ts
@@ -371,7 +371,9 @@ test("names the unbound same-turn receipt and the repair instead of a mismatch",
   const result = await readQuotaSettlement(request(runtimeRoot));
 
   const failure = (result.settlement as any).result.failure;
-  assert.equal(failure.kind, "identity_mismatch");
+  // The receipt exists and is well-formed, so the missing binding has its own
+  // kind instead of reading as a mismatch against a second record.
+  assert.equal(failure.kind, "receipt_unbound");
   assert.match(failure.reason, /carries no settlement binding yet/);
   assert.match(
     failure.reason,