diff --git a/src/map/surface.ts b/src/map/surface.ts
index 7b6a651..bfe7314 100644
--- a/src/map/surface.ts
+++ b/src/map/surface.ts
@@ -313,7 +313,12 @@ export function classifyServerSurface(
 /** The sentence that goes with each state, so a consumer states the same limits the analysis does. */
 export function surfaceNote(surface: ServerSurface): string {
   if (surface.state === 'server-runtime-detected') {
-    return 'serverSurface: a server runtime was recognized in the analysed source (see its evidence). Request-path protection applies to this app.';
+    // "Applicable", not "applies". Recognizing code that serves requests establishes which KIND of
+    // protection is relevant to these paths; it establishes nothing about whether a guard is installed,
+    // fetching rules or enforcing them — none of which a build-time map can see. The previous wording
+    // ("Request-path protection applies to this app") read as a protection status, and since this note is
+    // rendered verbatim by consumers, it put that claim on a dashboard.
+    return 'serverSurface: a server runtime was recognized in the analysed source (see its evidence). Request-path shielding is APPLICABLE to these paths — this is not a statement that a guard is installed, fetching rules, or enforcing them.';
   }
 
   if (surface.state === 'static-build-detected') {
diff --git a/tests/map/examples-emit.test.ts b/tests/map/examples-emit.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbadb01
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/map/examples-emit.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,249 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { mkdtempSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync, rmSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
+import { buildInputMap } from '../../src/map/index.js';
+
+// Regeneration entry point for the DEMO maps a platform loads to show what each server-surface state looks
+// like on a dashboard.
+//
+// Same reasoning as `ladder-emit`, for a different consumer. These documents became product examples the
+// moment someone looked at a dashboard through them, and a hand-written example is worse than no example: it
+// shows a shape the extractor does not actually emit, and it goes stale silently — a map older than this
+// extractor still parses and still renders, it just answers for an app the extractor now reads differently.
+// Generating them from real little apps keeps the demo honest and the provenance reproducible.
+//
+// The states the extractor never emits — a build with no `serverSurface` (older than the check) and one
+// reporting a state the reader does not know (newer than it) — are deliberately NOT emitted here. They are
+// derived by the loader from `server-runtime.json`, because they are properties of the consumer's timeline
+// rather than of any app: there is no source tree that produces them.
+//
+// Run:
+//   PS_EXAMPLE_EMIT_DIR=/path/to/examples npx vitest run tests/map/examples-emit
+//
+// Then inspect the diff before loading anything, exactly as with the ladder fixtures.
+//
+// Skipped otherwise, so a normal suite run neither writes files nor needs a directory.
+
+const OUT = process.env.PS_EXAMPLE_EMIT_DIR;
+
+/** Per-machine measurements. They carry no contract, and leaving them in makes every regeneration a diff on noise. */
+const VOLATILE = ['analysisMs', 'rssBytes', 'peakRssBytes'] as const;
+
+interface ExampleApp {
+  /** Output filename, and the state the app is here to produce. */
+  id: string;
+  expect: 'server-runtime-detected' | 'static-build-detected' | 'unknown';
+  /** Why this app produces that state — the thing a reader of the demo needs to know. */
+  why: string;
+  packageJson: Record<string, unknown>;
+  files: Record<string, string>;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Four apps, one per state worth showing, and the two `unknown` variants are separate on purpose: their
+ * evidence differs, so a consumer that derives a next step from the evidence has something to derive from.
+ *
+ * Dependencies are pinned to versions that well-known public advisories affect, so a platform loading these
+ * gets a populated reachability view rather than a map with nothing to join against.
+ */
+const APPS: ExampleApp[] = [
+  {
+    id: 'server-runtime',
+    expect: 'server-runtime-detected',
+    why: 'Express routes the extractor recognises, with request input reaching several dependency sinks.',
+    packageJson: {
+      name: 'orders-api',
+      dependencies: {
+        express: '4.18.2',
+        axios: '0.21.0',
+        sequelize: '4.44.0',
+        lodash: '4.17.11',
+        'node-serialize': '0.0.4',
+        systeminformation: '5.3.0',
+      },
+    },
+    files: {
+      'src/server.js': `const express = require('express');
+const axios = require('axios');
+const app = express();
+
+app.get('/api/preview', async (req, res) => {
+  const upstream = await axios.get(req.query.url);
+  res.json(upstream.data);
+});
+
+app.post('/api/orders', async (req, res) => {
+  const { sequelize } = require('./db');
+  const rows = await sequelize.query('SELECT * FROM orders WHERE ref = ' + req.body.ref);
+  res.json(rows);
+});
+
+module.exports = app;
+`,
+      'src/db.js': `const Sequelize = require('sequelize');
+const sequelize = new Sequelize(process.env.DATABASE_URL);
+module.exports = { sequelize };
+`,
+      'src/settings.js': `const express = require('express');
+const merge = require('lodash/merge');
+const serialize = require('node-serialize');
+const si = require('systeminformation');
+const router = express.Router();
+
+router.post('/api/settings', (req, res) => {
+  const settings = merge({ theme: 'light' }, req.body.settings);
+  res.json(settings);
+});
+
+router.post('/api/session', (req, res) => {
+  const restored = serialize.unserialize(req.cookies.profile);
+  res.json(restored);
+});
+
+router.get('/api/diagnostics', async (req, res) => {
+  const out = await si.inetLatency(req.query.host);
+  res.json({ out });
+});
+
+module.exports = router;
+`,
+    },
+  },
+  {
+    id: 'static-build',
+    expect: 'static-build-detected',
+    why: 'A static generator named in the manifest, nothing that serves, and no deployment artifact to veto the reading.',
+    packageJson: {
+      name: 'marketing-site',
+      devDependencies: { astro: '4.5.0' },
+      dependencies: { lodash: '4.17.11' },
+    },
+    files: {
+      'astro.config.mjs': `import { defineConfig } from 'astro/config';
+export default defineConfig({ output: 'static' });
+`,
+      'src/pages/index.astro': `---
+import groupBy from 'lodash/groupBy';
+const posts = groupBy([], 'year');
+---
+<h1>Posts</h1>
+`,
+    },
+  },
+  {
+    id: 'unknown-unparsed-stack',
+    expect: 'unknown',
+    why: 'A server framework in the manifest with routes registered from a table — no call site the extractor reads. The case that must never render as "no server side".',
+    packageJson: {
+      name: 'internal-tool',
+      dependencies: { fastify: '4.26.0', axios: '0.21.0', lodash: '4.17.11' },
+    },
+    files: {
+      'src/index.js': `const fastify = require('fastify');
+const routes = require('./routes');
+
+const app = fastify();
+for (const route of routes) app.route(route);
+
+app.listen({ port: 3000 });
+`,
+      'src/routes.js': `const axios = require('axios');
+const pick = require('lodash/pick');
+
+module.exports = [
+  { method: 'GET', url: '/health', handler: async () => ({ ok: true }) },
+  { method: 'POST', url: '/fetch', handler: async (req) => pick(await axios.get(req.body.url), ['status']) },
+];
+`,
+    },
+  },
+  {
+    id: 'unknown-deployment-declared',
+    expect: 'unknown',
+    why: 'A platform config AND a named static generator: the config rules out a confident static reading without proving anything serves, so both signals appear and the state stays open.',
+    packageJson: {
+      name: 'docs-portal',
+      devDependencies: { vite: '5.2.0' },
+      dependencies: { axios: '0.21.0' },
+    },
+    files: {
+      'netlify.toml': `[build]
+  command = "vite build"
+  publish = "dist"
+
+[[redirects]]
+  from = "/api/*"
+  to = "/.netlify/functions/:splat"
+  status = 200
+`,
+      'vite.config.js': `import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
+export default defineConfig({ build: { outDir: 'dist' } });
+`,
+      'src/main.js': `import axios from 'axios';
+export const load = (path) => axios.get(path).then((r) => r.data);
+`,
+    },
+  },
+];
+
+/** The consumer's on-disk form: two-space JSON with a trailing newline. Byte-identical or it diffs. */
+const serialize = (document: unknown): string => JSON.stringify(document, null, 2) + '\n';
+
+async function mapFor(app: ExampleApp): Promise<Record<string, any>> {
+  const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'ps-example-'));
+  try {
+    for (const [rel, body] of Object.entries(app.files)) {
+      const path = join(dir, rel);
+      mkdirSync(dirname(path), { recursive: true });
+      writeFileSync(path, body);
+    }
+    writeFileSync(join(dir, 'package.json'), JSON.stringify(app.packageJson, null, 2));
+
+    const { map, error } = await buildInputMap(dir);
+    expect(error, `${app.id} must produce a map`).toBeUndefined();
+    const document = map as Record<string, any>;
+    for (const field of VOLATILE) delete document.coverage[field];
+
+    return document;
+  } finally {
+    rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+}
+
+/** An index beside the maps, so a loader does not restate which file demonstrates what. */
+function manifest(): Record<string, unknown> {
+  return {
+    note: 'Generated from the demo example apps. Do not edit; regenerate.',
+    derivedByConsumer: [
+      'not-reported — server-runtime.json with `serverSurface` removed: a build older than the check',
+      'unreadable — server-runtime.json with an unrecognised `serverSurface.state`: a build newer than the reader',
+    ],
+    examples: APPS.map((app) => ({ id: app.id, expect: app.expect, why: app.why })),
+  };
+}
+
+describe.skipIf(!OUT)('demo example maps', () => {
+  it.each(APPS.map((app) => [app.id, app] as const))('emits %s', async (id, app) => {
+    const document = await mapFor(app);
+
+    // The app is only useful as an example if it still produces the state it was written for. An extractor
+    // change that moves it turns the demo into a map of something else, which is the drift this catches.
+    expect(document.serverSurface?.state, `${id} must still produce ${app.expect}`).toBe(app.expect);
+
+    writeFileSync(join(OUT!, `${id}.json`), serialize(document));
+  });
+
+  it('emits the index', () => {
+    writeFileSync(join(OUT!, 'examples.json'), serialize(manifest()));
+  });
+});
+
+// Runs in the ordinary suite: the apps must keep producing the states they are here to demonstrate, whether
+// or not anyone is regenerating. Without this the emitter is only checked on the days someone runs it.
+describe('the demo example apps still demonstrate their states', () => {
+  it.each(APPS.map((app) => [app.id, app] as const))('%s', async (id, app) => {
+    const document = await mapFor(app);
+    expect(document.serverSurface?.state, `${id}: ${app.why}`).toBe(app.expect);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/tests/map/server-surface.test.ts b/tests/map/server-surface.test.ts
index f83afa4..3a52d2a 100644
--- a/tests/map/server-surface.test.ts
+++ b/tests/map/server-surface.test.ts
@@ -328,3 +328,44 @@ describe('the field stays safe to consume', () => {
     }
   });
 });
+
+// ── the sentence a consumer renders verbatim ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+// `surfaceNote` is copied into `coverage.notes`, and every consumer of this map shows those notes as written.
+// So the note is not internal prose: it is product copy, and until this suite pinned it, nothing did.
+describe('the note each state carries', () => {
+  /** Words that turn an analysis result into a claim about the app's security posture. */
+  const POSTURE_CLAIMS = ['protection applies', 'is protected', 'unprotected', 'is safe', 'is secure', 'not vulnerable'];
+
+  const noteFor = async (files: Record<string, string>): Promise<string> => {
+    const map = await mapOf(files);
+    const note = (map.coverage.notes ?? []).find((n) => n.startsWith('serverSurface'));
+    expect(note, 'every map must carry a serverSurface note').toBeDefined();
+    return note!.toLowerCase();
+  };
+
+  it('says request-path shielding is APPLICABLE, never that it is in place', async () => {
+    // The distinction: this analysis sees source, so it can say which kind of protection is relevant to these
+    // paths. Whether a guard is installed, fetching rules or enforcing them is invisible to it, and the
+    // earlier wording asserted exactly that — on a dashboard, verbatim.
+    const note = await noteFor({
+      'package.json': JSON.stringify({ dependencies: { express: '4.18.2' } }),
+      'server.js': "const express = require('express');\nconst app = express();\napp.get('/api/items', (req, res) => res.json([]));\n",
+    });
+
+    expect(note).toContain('applicable');
+    expect(note).toContain('not a statement that a guard is installed');
+    for (const claim of POSTURE_CLAIMS) expect(note, `note must not claim ${claim}`).not.toContain(claim);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the static note a description of the source, not of the deployment', async () => {
+    const note = await noteFor(VITE_APP);
+    expect(note).toContain('not deployment attestation');
+    for (const claim of POSTURE_CLAIMS) expect(note, `note must not claim ${claim}`).not.toContain(claim);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the unknown note from reading as "no server side"', async () => {
+    const note = await noteFor({ 'package.json': JSON.stringify({ dependencies: { express: '4' } }) });
+    expect(note).toContain('must not be read as "no server side"');
+    for (const claim of POSTURE_CLAIMS) expect(note, `note must not claim ${claim}`).not.toContain(claim);
+  });
+});