diff --git a/skills/agentic-end-to-end-testing/scripts/check-cards-against-spec b/skills/agentic-end-to-end-testing/scripts/check-cards-against-spec
index dc6281da..149cdc4b 100755
--- a/skills/agentic-end-to-end-testing/scripts/check-cards-against-spec
+++ b/skills/agentic-end-to-end-testing/scripts/check-cards-against-spec
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ expected_section() {
       if (insec) exit
     }
     insec { print }
-  ' "$1"
+  '
 }
 
 # --- extract the first table under the (case-insensitive) heading ----------
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ TABLE="$(awk '
 if [ -z "$TABLE" ]; then
   echo "no scenario table: $SPEC has no \"E2E scenario cards\" heading with a table under it" >&2
   echo "(heading must be exactly \"E2E scenario cards\" — no numbering or extra words)" >&2
+  echo "(scenario table rows must use leading and trailing outer pipes)" >&2
   exit 2
 fi
 
@@ -121,7 +122,6 @@ while IFS= read -r line; do
     c="$(printf '%s' "$c" | normalize)"
     trimmed+=("$c")
   done
-  # cells[0] is empty (before first |); last may be empty too
   if [ "$lineno" -eq 1 ]; then
     for i in "${!trimmed[@]}"; do
       low="$(printf '%s' "${trimmed[$i]}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
@@ -153,11 +153,20 @@ while IFS= read -r line; do
   fi
   card="${trimmed[$CARD_COL]:-}"
   falsif="${trimmed[$FALS_COL]:-}"
-  card="${card//\`/}"          # tolerate `card-name` backticks in the cell
   if [ -z "$card" ] || [ -z "$falsif" ]; then
     fail "row $lineno: empty Card or Falsification cell"
     continue
   fi
+  case "$card" in
+    \`*\`)
+      card="${card#\`}"
+      card="${card%\`}"
+      ;;
+  esac
+  if ! [[ "$card" =~ ^[a-z0-9]+(-[a-z0-9]+)*$ ]]; then
+    fail "row $lineno: invalid Card value: $card"
+    continue
+  fi
   ROW_CARD[$ROWS]="$card"; ROW_FALS[$ROWS]="$falsif"; ROWS=$((ROWS + 1))
 done <<< "$TABLE"
 
@@ -174,15 +183,16 @@ while [ "$i" -lt "$ROWS" ]; do
     fail "missing card file: $f"
     i=$((i + 1)); continue
   fi
-  hay="$(expected_section "$f" | normalize)"
+  card_text="$(without_fenced_code "$f")"
+  hay="$(printf '%s\n' "$card_text" | expected_section | normalize)"
   case "$hay" in
     *"$falsif"*) : ;;
     *) fail "$f: falsification line not present verbatim in the ## Expected section.
        expected (normalized): $falsif" ;;
   esac
-  grep -q '\*\*What this covers\*\*' "$f" || fail "$f: missing **What this covers**"
+  grep -q '\*\*What this covers\*\*' <<< "$card_text" || fail "$f: missing **What this covers**"
   for sec in Pre-state Steps Expected Cleanup; do
-    grep -Eiq "^#{2,}[[:space:]]*${sec}[[:space:]]*$" "$f" || fail "$f: missing ## ${sec} section"
+    grep -Eiq "^#{2,}[[:space:]]*${sec}[[:space:]]*$" <<< "$card_text" || fail "$f: missing ## ${sec} section"
   done
   i=$((i + 1))
 done
diff --git a/tests/agentic-e2e-checker/test-check-cards-against-spec.sh b/tests/agentic-e2e-checker/test-check-cards-against-spec.sh
index 4dbe103a..d672005c 100755
--- a/tests/agentic-e2e-checker/test-check-cards-against-spec.sh
+++ b/tests/agentic-e2e-checker/test-check-cards-against-spec.sh
@@ -254,6 +254,79 @@ EOF
 assert_exit 0 "real table after fenced example -> exit 0" \
   "$CHECKER" "$TEST_ROOT/t13/spec.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t13/cards"
 
+echo "card structure inside a fenced example does not count"
+make_spec "$TEST_ROOT/t14"; make_cards "$TEST_ROOT/t14/cards"
+cat > "$TEST_ROOT/t14/cards/widget-show-table.md" <<'EOF'
+# widget-show-table: illustrative card only
+
+~~~markdown
+**What this covers**: the rendered table.
+
+## Pre-state
+A built widget binary.
+
+## Steps
+1. Run `widget show`.
+
+## Expected
+If stdout's last line is not `TOTAL` followed by the two-decimal sum (20.85 for the seed fixture), or the TOTAL row is absent entirely, the scenario FAILS.
+
+## Cleanup
+Nothing to clean.
+~~~
+EOF
+assert_exit 1 "required card content found only inside a fence -> exit 1" \
+  "$CHECKER" "$TEST_ROOT/t14/spec.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t14/cards"
+
+echo "unrelated fenced examples remain valid card content"
+make_spec "$TEST_ROOT/t15"; make_cards "$TEST_ROOT/t15/cards"
+cat >> "$TEST_ROOT/t15/cards/widget-show-table.md" <<'EOF'
+
+```console
+$ widget show
+TOTAL  20.85
+```
+EOF
+assert_exit 0 "valid card with unrelated fenced example -> exit 0" \
+  "$CHECKER" "$TEST_ROOT/t15/spec.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t15/cards"
+
+echo "card names cannot traverse outside the cards directory"
+make_spec "$TEST_ROOT/t16"; make_cards "$TEST_ROOT/t16/cards"
+sed -i.bak 's/| widget-show-table |/| ..\/outside |/' "$TEST_ROOT/t16/spec.md"
+mv "$TEST_ROOT/t16/cards/widget-show-table.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t16/outside.md"
+assert_exit 1 "parent-traversing Card value -> exit 1" \
+  "$CHECKER" "$TEST_ROOT/t16/spec.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t16/cards"
+assert_out_contains "invalid Card value" "traversal failure names the invalid value"
+
+echo "card names use lowercase kebab case"
+make_spec "$TEST_ROOT/t17"; make_cards "$TEST_ROOT/t17/cards"
+sed -i.bak 's/| widget-show-table |/| Upper-Case |/' "$TEST_ROOT/t17/spec.md"
+mv "$TEST_ROOT/t17/cards/widget-show-table.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t17/cards/Upper-Case.md"
+assert_exit 1 "uppercase Card value -> exit 1" \
+  "$CHECKER" "$TEST_ROOT/t17/spec.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t17/cards"
+assert_out_contains "invalid Card value" "uppercase failure names the invalid value"
+
+make_spec "$TEST_ROOT/t18"; make_cards "$TEST_ROOT/t18/cards"
+sed -i.bak 's/| widget-show-table |/| two--segments |/' "$TEST_ROOT/t18/spec.md"
+mv "$TEST_ROOT/t18/cards/widget-show-table.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t18/cards/two--segments.md"
+assert_exit 1 "empty kebab segment -> exit 1" \
+  "$CHECKER" "$TEST_ROOT/t18/spec.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t18/cards"
+assert_out_contains "invalid Card value" "empty-segment failure names the invalid value"
+
+echo "one enclosing backtick pair remains supported"
+make_spec "$TEST_ROOT/t19"; make_cards "$TEST_ROOT/t19/cards"
+sed -i.bak 's/| widget-show-table |/| `widget-show-table` |/' "$TEST_ROOT/t19/spec.md"
+assert_exit 0 "backticked kebab-case Card value -> exit 0" \
+  "$CHECKER" "$TEST_ROOT/t19/spec.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t19/cards"
+
+echo "pipe-less tables report the canonical outer-pipe contract"
+make_spec "$TEST_ROOT/t20"; make_cards "$TEST_ROOT/t20/cards"
+sed -E -i.bak 's/^\| (.*) \|$/\1/' "$TEST_ROOT/t20/spec.md"
+assert_exit 2 "pipe-less table remains unsupported -> exit 2" \
+  "$CHECKER" "$TEST_ROOT/t20/spec.md" "$TEST_ROOT/t20/cards"
+assert_out_contains "scenario table rows must use leading and trailing outer pipes" \
+  "diagnostic names the canonical outer-pipe contract"
+
 echo "no scenario table"
 mkdir -p "$TEST_ROOT/t7/cards"
 printf '# Widget Design\n\nNo table here.\n' > "$TEST_ROOT/t7/spec.md"