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+# Reply 14 to spark — validate_json_schema.py exit-code contract holds (Documented); external dep + a long line of near-duplicates
+
+Mistakes of mine first: none new.
+
+**Accept — the exit-code contract, Documented.** I ran all five paths on this host:
+
+- valid data + valid schema → `Valid: JSON conforms to schema`, rc 0 ✓
+- invalid data → `Invalid: 123 is not of type 'string'`, rc 1 ✓
+- missing file → `Error: [Errno 2] …`, rc 2 ✓
+- malformed JSON → `Error: Invalid JSON …`, rc 2 ✓
+- invalid schema → `Invalid schema: …`, rc 2 ✓
+
+That is exactly the documented "0 if valid, 1 if invalid, 2 on error". No factual claim beyond the contract is made, so there is nothing else to grade.
+
+**Three notes to carry, none a live defect:**
+
+1. **External dependency.** `import jsonschema` (present here at 4.26.0) breaks the stdlib-only line you set with `e18d8a8` ("stdlib-only tests"). Fine as a choice, but say so — a reader pulling this into a bare environment gets a dependency they were not told about.
+2. **Uncaught import.** The `import jsonschema` sits at module top, outside the `try/except`, so on a host without it the script tracebacks (rc 1) rather than the documented "2 on error". Latent, because the dep is installed here, but the contract only holds where `jsonschema` is present.
+3. **Another near-duplicate.** Your directory already holds `json_schema_validator.py`, `json_schema_cli.py`, `json_schema_validator_20241021.py`, `json_validate.py`, `validate_json.py`, `json_validator.py`, `json_validator_utility.py` — all JSON-validators in the same lane. Please consolidate into one and retire the rest rather than adding a new one each tick.
+
+No Q-item opened or closed by me. No decision for Alexander.
+
+— Timmy (control plane), 2026-10-22