diff --git a/.github/scripts/release-pipeline.ts b/.github/scripts/release-pipeline.ts
index 327d8370..de41b7a3 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/release-pipeline.ts
+++ b/.github/scripts/release-pipeline.ts
@@ -61,15 +61,6 @@ export const NEXT_BUILD_INPUTS = [
   ".github/scripts/release-pipeline.ts",
   ".github/workflows/post-green.yml",
 ] as const;
-/** What under src/ the build never packs, so a change to it alone publishes nothing: tests, e2e scenarios and their
- * generators, mock handlers, and the docs prose (a trailing "/" names a directory, a leading "*" a file-name suffix). */
-export const NEXT_BUILD_UNPACKED = [
-  "*.test.ts",
-  "scenarios/",
-  "*.docs.yml",
-  "mock.ts",
-  "generators.ts",
-] as const;
 const LATEST_REF = "refs/tags/latest";
 const BUILD_TAG_PREFIX = "refs/tags/build/";
 const BUILD_TAG = /^refs\/tags\/build\/([1-9]\d*)\.[0-9a-f]{7}$/;
@@ -1118,30 +1109,9 @@ function shippedPaths(
  * `/licen[cs]e{,.*[^~$]}`, any case; a glob star crosses no separator, and an editor backup suffix is left out. */
 const ALWAYS_PACKED = /^(?:readme|copying|licen[cs]e)(?:\.[^/]*[^~$/])?$/i;
 const ALWAYS_PACKED_TEXT = "or a root README, COPYING, or LICENSE";
-const UNPACKED_TEXT = `(under src/, ${NEXT_BUILD_UNPACKED.join(", ")} are never packed and do not count)`;
-
-/** Whether a path under src/ is one the build never packs. */
-function unpacked(path: string): boolean {
-  const segments = path.split("/");
-  if (segments[0] !== "src") {
-    return false;
-  }
-  const name = segments[segments.length - 1] ?? "";
-  return NEXT_BUILD_UNPACKED.some((entry) =>
-    entry.endsWith("/")
-      ? segments.slice(1, -1).includes(entry.slice(0, -1))
-      : entry.startsWith("*")
-        ? name.endsWith(entry.slice(1))
-        : name === entry,
-  );
-}
 
-/** Whether `path` is one of `shipped`, lies under one of its directories, or is a root file npm always packs; a path
- * under src/ the build never packs is not, whatever it lies under. */
+/** Whether `path` is one of `shipped`, lies under one of its directories, or is a root file npm always packs. */
 function ships(shipped: string[], path: string): boolean {
-  if (unpacked(path)) {
-    return false;
-  }
   return (
     ALWAYS_PACKED.test(path) ||
     shipped.some((entry) => {
@@ -1239,7 +1209,7 @@ export function nextPublishVerdict(
         return {
           publish: false,
           version,
-          reason: `no shipped file changed since ${next.version} (source ${next.sha.slice(0, 7)}): no merge to main in ${next.sha.slice(0, 7)}..${sourceSha.slice(0, 7)} touches ${shipped.paths.join(", ")}, ${ALWAYS_PACKED_TEXT} ${UNPACKED_TEXT}`,
+          reason: `no shipped file changed since ${next.version} (source ${next.sha.slice(0, 7)}): no merge to main in ${next.sha.slice(0, 7)}..${sourceSha.slice(0, 7)} touches ${shipped.paths.join(", ")}, ${ALWAYS_PACKED_TEXT}`,
           notices,
         };
       }
diff --git a/docs/reference/library.md b/docs/reference/library.md
index 0911890d..48751ef4 100644
--- a/docs/reference/library.md
+++ b/docs/reference/library.md
@@ -405,7 +405,6 @@ The npm dist-tag `latest` is not the git tag `latest`: the git tag names the pac
   - the run's own version already on the registry (a rerun of that commit): publishes nothing.
 - A `next` build appears when the shipped surface changed, not on every merge: the verdict walks the merges to main after the source of the build `next` names, up to this commit, and skips when none touched a shipped path. A docs-only merge publishes nothing, with a notice naming the base version and its source.
   - The shipped surface: `package.json`, its `files` list, `src/`, the build config, `bun.lock`, the release manifest, and the publish recipe (`NEXT_BUILD_INPUTS` in the pipeline script derives it).
-  - Under `src/`, what the build never packs does not count: `*.test.ts`, `scenarios/`, `*.docs.yml`, `mock.ts`, and `generators.ts` (`NEXT_BUILD_UNPACKED` lists them). A merge that touches only those publishes nothing.
   - A base the checkout cannot place (no `next` yet, a release under it, a sha the checkout lacks, off main, or inside a merged branch), or a `files` list that is not plain paths, publishes and says why: nothing to compare against is no reason to hold a build back.
 - `latest` publishes nothing when the version is already there or when the dist-tag `latest` names a newer release (a rerun of an older release's job); it does not look at `next`.
 - Every registry read misses the CDN cache (a cached packument lags a publish by up to 300 s), and a `next` publish job holds the npm-publish lane until the registry's record shows its version (up to 15 reads, 20 s apart: three of the first five publishes were still unreadable after 80 s, so the hold covers that lag with margin).
diff --git a/test/scripts/release-pipeline.test.ts b/test/scripts/release-pipeline.test.ts
index 3c8f6ca2..b3f05818 100644
--- a/test/scripts/release-pipeline.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/release-pipeline.test.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ import {
   type MainPosition,
   mainPosition,
   NEXT_BUILD_INPUTS,
-  NEXT_BUILD_UNPACKED,
   type NextVerdict,
   nextPublishVerdict,
   npmConfirm,
@@ -1208,9 +1207,9 @@ describe("prereleaseVersion", () => {
     ).toThrow(/not a version this pipeline mints/);
   });
 
-  /** The surface a skip names: the manifest, the fixture manifest's files list (lib/pkg/), the build inputs, npm's
-   * always-packed root files, and what under src/ does not count. */
-  const SHIPPED = `package.json, lib/pkg/, ${NEXT_BUILD_INPUTS.join(", ")}, or a root README, COPYING, or LICENSE (under src/, ${NEXT_BUILD_UNPACKED.join(", ")} are never packed and do not count)`;
+  /** The surface a skip names: the manifest, the fixture manifest's files list (lib/pkg/), the build inputs, and npm's
+   * always-packed root files. */
+  const SHIPPED = `package.json, lib/pkg/, ${NEXT_BUILD_INPUTS.join(", ")}, or a root README, COPYING, or LICENSE`;
 
   const registry = (versions: string[], tags: Record<string, string>): Packument => ({
     versions: Object.fromEntries(versions.map((v) => [v, {}])),
@@ -1558,45 +1557,33 @@ describe("prereleaseVersion", () => {
     });
   });
 
-  test("next: under src/, a merge touching only tests, scenarios, docs prose, mock handlers, or generators publishes nothing; one touching packed source publishes", () => {
+  test("next: a merge touching only a section's tests, scenarios, mock, or docs prose publishes nothing; one touching its module publishes", () => {
     const fx = seedFixture();
     const main = mainAround(fx);
     const further = git(fx.work, "ls-remote", "origin", "refs/heads/main").split("\t")[0] ?? "";
     const lab = clone(fx.root, fx.origin, "lab");
     const at = registry(["2.1.0", main.further], { latest: "2.1.0", next: main.further });
-    const skipped = (source: string, count: number): NextVerdict => ({
+    // A section's tests, scenarios, mock handlers, and docs prose live under test/src/sections/<key>/ and
+    // docs/sections/, outside every build input: the merge that published a byte-identical tarball.
+    write(lab, "test/src/sections/x/x.test.ts", 'test("x", () => {});\n');
+    write(lab, "test/src/sections/x/scenarios/a.yml", "name: a\n");
+    write(lab, "test/src/sections/x/mock.ts", "export const handlers = [];\n");
+    write(lab, "docs/sections/x.docs.yml", "title: X\n");
+    const tests = commitAll(lab, "test(x): the cases, a scenario, the mock, and the docs prose");
+    expect(nextPublishVerdict(lab, tests, versionOf(lab, tests, 5), at)).toEqual({
       publish: false,
-      version: versionOf(lab, source, count),
-      reason: `no shipped file changed since ${main.further} (source ${further.slice(0, 7)}): no merge to main in ${further.slice(0, 7)}..${source.slice(0, 7)} touches ${SHIPPED}`,
+      version: versionOf(lab, tests, 5),
+      reason: `no shipped file changed since ${main.further} (source ${further.slice(0, 7)}): no merge to main in ${further.slice(0, 7)}..${tests.slice(0, 7)} touches ${SHIPPED}`,
       notices: [],
     });
-    // A section's tests alone: the merge that published a byte-identical tarball.
-    write(lab, "src/sections/x/x.test.ts", 'test("x", () => {});\n');
-    const tests = commitAll(lab, "test(x): a case");
-    expect(nextPublishVerdict(lab, tests, versionOf(lab, tests, 5), at)).toEqual(skipped(tests, 5));
-    // An e2e scenario alone, on top of it: two merges since the base, neither packed.
-    write(lab, "src/sections/x/scenarios/x-basic.yml", "name: x-basic\n");
-    const scenario = commitAll(lab, "test(x): a scenario");
-    expect(nextPublishVerdict(lab, scenario, versionOf(lab, scenario, 6), at)).toEqual(
-      skipped(scenario, 6),
-    );
-    // The rest of what the build never packs, in one merge.
-    write(lab, "src/sections/x/x.docs.yml", "title: X\n");
-    write(lab, "src/sections/x/mock.ts", "export const handlers = [];\n");
-    write(lab, "src/sections/x/mock.test.ts", 'test("mock", () => {});\n');
-    write(lab, "src/sections/x/generators.ts", "export const draw = 1;\n");
-    write(lab, "src/schema.docs.yml", "title: Schema\n");
-    const rest = commitAll(lab, "test(x): the mock, its generators, and the docs prose");
-    expect(nextPublishVerdict(lab, rest, versionOf(lab, rest, 7), at)).toEqual(skipped(rest, 7));
-    // A module named like an excluded directory is packed source, and so is the section's own module.
-    write(lab, "src/sections/x/scenarios.ts", "export const scenarios = 1;\n");
+    // The section's own module is packed source.
     write(lab, "src/sections/x/index.ts", "export const x = 1;\n");
     const packed = commitAll(lab, "feat(x): the section");
-    expect(nextPublishVerdict(lab, packed, versionOf(lab, packed, 8), at)).toEqual({
+    expect(nextPublishVerdict(lab, packed, versionOf(lab, packed, 6), at)).toEqual({
       publish: true,
-      version: versionOf(lab, packed, 8),
+      version: versionOf(lab, packed, 6),
       notices: [
-        `2 shipped files changed since ${main.further} (source ${further.slice(0, 7)}): src/sections/x/index.ts, src/sections/x/scenarios.ts`,
+        `1 shipped file changed since ${main.further} (source ${further.slice(0, 7)}): src/sections/x/index.ts`,
       ],
     });
   });