diff --git a/scripts/verify-format-coverage.main.test.mjs b/scripts/verify-format-coverage.main.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/verify-format-coverage.main.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+// Regression tests for `verify-format-coverage`'s sibling-guard vouch (Copilot,
+// #1962). The three root guards form a cycle so that dropping any one from
+// `validate` is caught by another — but the vouch branch itself had no test, so
+// a typo in a sibling's name would leave `test:scripts` green while that guard
+// silently stopped being enforced. That is the same "a gate that stops gating"
+// failure the cycle exists to prevent, one level up.
+//
+// The vouch runs before any file enumeration, so the fixture needs only a
+// `package.json` and the script. Run via `npm run test:scripts`.
+
+import { test } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { execFileSync, spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+import {
+  cpSync,
+  mkdirSync,
+  mkdtempSync,
+  realpathSync,
+  rmSync,
+  writeFileSync,
+} from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const scriptsDir = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+
+/** A `validate` chain running each named guard, plus the always-present self. */
+function scriptsRunning(guards) {
+  const scripts = {
+    validate: ["verify:format-coverage", ...guards]
+      .map((g) => `npm run ${g}`)
+      .join(" && "),
+    "verify:format-coverage": "node scripts/verify-format-coverage.mjs",
+  };
+  for (const g of guards) scripts[g] = `node scripts/${g.slice(7)}.mjs`;
+  return scripts;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Run `verify-format-coverage` in a throwaway repo whose root `validate` runs
+ * exactly `guards`. realpath'd because the script only executes when
+ * `import.meta.url` matches `process.argv[1]`, and macOS `tmpdir()` is a
+ * symlink — see the note in `verify-dep-lockstep.main.test.mjs`.
+ */
+function runWithGuards(guards) {
+  const dir = realpathSync(mkdtempSync(path.join(tmpdir(), "format-cov-")));
+  try {
+    writeFileSync(
+      path.join(dir, "package.json"),
+      JSON.stringify(
+        { name: "fixture", scripts: scriptsRunning(guards) },
+        null,
+        2,
+      ),
+    );
+    mkdirSync(path.join(dir, "scripts", "lib"), { recursive: true });
+    for (const rel of [
+      "verify-format-coverage.mjs",
+      path.join("lib", "npm-scripts.mjs"),
+    ])
+      cpSync(path.join(scriptsDir, rel), path.join(dir, "scripts", rel));
+    execFileSync("git", ["init", "-q"], { cwd: dir });
+    execFileSync("git", ["add", "-A"], { cwd: dir });
+
+    const r = spawnSync(
+      process.execPath,
+      [path.join(dir, "scripts", "verify-format-coverage.mjs")],
+      { cwd: dir, encoding: "utf8" },
+    );
+    return { status: r.status, out: `${r.stdout}${r.stderr}` };
+  } finally {
+    rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+}
+
+const BOTH_SIBLINGS = ["verify:typecheck-coverage", "verify:dep-lockstep"];
+
+test("vouch: fails when `verify:dep-lockstep` is dropped from validate", () => {
+  const { status, out } = runWithGuards(["verify:typecheck-coverage"]);
+  assert.equal(status, 1, out);
+  assert.match(out, /no longer runs `verify:dep-lockstep`/);
+});
+
+test("vouch: fails when `verify:typecheck-coverage` is dropped from validate", () => {
+  const { status, out } = runWithGuards(["verify:dep-lockstep"]);
+  assert.equal(status, 1, out);
+  assert.match(out, /no longer runs `verify:typecheck-coverage`/);
+});
+
+test("vouch: passes when both siblings are still wired", () => {
+  // The run still fails afterwards — the fixture has no client manifests to
+  // harvest globs from — so assert on the *reason*, not the exit status: no
+  // sibling may be reported missing.
+  const { out } = runWithGuards(BOTH_SIBLINGS);
+  assert.doesNotMatch(out, /no longer runs/);
+});