diff --git a/tests/engine_vocabulary_audit.rs b/tests/engine_vocabulary_audit.rs
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/tests/engine_vocabulary_audit.rs
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+//! ADR-0002 user-facing posture: regression audit.
+//!
+//! ADR-0002's "User-facing posture" section commits to never
+//! exposing the underlying engine's name in user-visible
+//! strings. The chosen product (and its idioms — STRICT,
+//! PRAGMA, the rusqlite crate) is an implementation detail;
+//! students should leave with knowledge of relational concepts,
+//! not of one specific RDBMS.
+//!
+//! This test file exists so that a future change can't silently
+//! regress that posture. The strings asserted here are a
+//! representative cross-section of user-reachable surfaces:
+//!
+//! - CLI usage banner (`HELP_TEXT`).
+//! - In-app `help` output (`note_help`).
+//! - DSL parse-error wording.
+//! - Realistic `DbError` payloads carried via
+//!   `friendly_message()` (the surface the runtime forwards to
+//!   `AppEvent::DslFailed`).
+//!
+//! See ADR-0002 §"User-facing posture" for the contract.
+//! Code comments and ADR prose are explicitly allowed to name
+//! the engine — only user-facing strings are policed.
+
+use crossterm::event::{KeyCode, KeyEvent, KeyEventKind, KeyModifiers};
+
+use rdbms_playground::app::App;
+use rdbms_playground::cli::HELP_TEXT;
+use rdbms_playground::db::{DbError, SqliteErrorKind};
+use rdbms_playground::dsl::parse_command;
+use rdbms_playground::event::AppEvent;
+
+const FORBIDDEN: &[&str] = &[
+    // Product names.
+    "SQLite", "sqlite",
+    // Crate name.
+    "rusqlite",
+    // Engine-specific keywords / idioms.
+    "STRICT", "PRAGMA",
+];
+
+/// Report the first forbidden token found in `s`, with byte
+/// offset, so failure output points at exactly what leaked.
+fn engine_vocab_leak(s: &str) -> Option<(&'static str, usize)> {
+    for needle in FORBIDDEN {
+        if let Some(pos) = s.find(needle) {
+            return Some((needle, pos));
+        }
+    }
+    None
+}
+
+fn assert_clean(label: &str, s: &str) {
+    if let Some((needle, pos)) = engine_vocab_leak(s) {
+        panic!(
+            "ADR-0002 leak in {label}: found `{needle}` at byte {pos} in:\n{s}"
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+const fn key(code: KeyCode) -> AppEvent {
+    AppEvent::Key(KeyEvent {
+        code,
+        modifiers: KeyModifiers::NONE,
+        kind: KeyEventKind::Press,
+        state: crossterm::event::KeyEventState::NONE,
+    })
+}
+
+fn type_str(app: &mut App, s: &str) {
+    for c in s.chars() {
+        app.update(key(KeyCode::Char(c)));
+    }
+}
+
+fn submit(app: &mut App) {
+    app.update(key(KeyCode::Enter));
+}
+
+fn collect_output(app: &App) -> String {
+    app.output
+        .iter()
+        .map(|l| l.text.as_str())
+        .collect::<Vec<_>>()
+        .join("\n")
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn cli_help_text_uses_no_engine_vocabulary() {
+    assert_clean("CLI HELP_TEXT", HELP_TEXT);
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn in_app_help_uses_no_engine_vocabulary() {
+    let mut app = App::new();
+    type_str(&mut app, "help");
+    submit(&mut app);
+    assert_clean("in-app help", &collect_output(&app));
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn parse_errors_use_no_engine_vocabulary() {
+    // A representative set of failing inputs: structural
+    // (missing colon, wrong keyword), unknown type, and the
+    // change-column flag conflict. All must produce
+    // engine-free messages.
+    let inputs: &[&str] = &[
+        // structural: column-name-first typo (the parser
+        // tiny-win recipe from handoff-5).
+        "change column Tag in Customers: Tag (text)",
+        // unknown type token.
+        "create table T with pk id:varchar",
+        // mutually exclusive flags on change column.
+        "change column T: c (int) --force-conversion --dont-convert",
+        // missing required clause.
+        "create table T",
+        // garbage.
+        "this is not a command",
+    ];
+    for input in inputs {
+        let err = parse_command(input)
+            .expect_err(&format!("expected parse failure for `{input}`"));
+        let rendered = format!("{err:?}");
+        assert_clean(&format!("parse error for `{input}`"), &rendered);
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn db_error_friendly_message_uses_no_engine_vocabulary() {
+    // A representative set of `DbError` payloads, mirroring the
+    // shapes the runtime actually surfaces via
+    // `AppEvent::DslFailed { error: DbError::friendly_message }`.
+    // These cover the three code-constructed variants: Sqlite
+    // (engine-classified, message comes from rusqlite or our own
+    // hand-rolled "no such ..."), Unsupported (refusals), and
+    // InvalidValue (input validation).
+    let cases: Vec<(&str, DbError)> = vec![
+        (
+            "no-such-table",
+            DbError::Sqlite {
+                message: "no such table: Customers".to_string(),
+                kind: SqliteErrorKind::NoSuchTable,
+            },
+        ),
+        (
+            "no-such-column",
+            DbError::Sqlite {
+                message: "no such column: Customers.zip".to_string(),
+                kind: SqliteErrorKind::NoSuchColumn,
+            },
+        ),
+        (
+            "unique-violation",
+            DbError::Sqlite {
+                message: "UNIQUE constraint failed: T.id".to_string(),
+                kind: SqliteErrorKind::UniqueViolation,
+            },
+        ),
+        (
+            "fk-violation",
+            DbError::Sqlite {
+                message: "FOREIGN KEY constraint failed".to_string(),
+                kind: SqliteErrorKind::Other,
+            },
+        ),
+        (
+            "unsupported-refusal",
+            DbError::Unsupported(
+                "cannot drop primary-key column `T.id`. \
+                 Drop the table or change the primary key first."
+                    .to_string(),
+            ),
+        ),
+        (
+            "invalid-value",
+            DbError::InvalidValue("expected 3 value(s), got 2".to_string()),
+        ),
+    ];
+    for (label, err) in cases {
+        assert_clean(label, &err.friendly_message());
+    }
+}