diff --git a/0017/SESSION-0017.0-TRANSCRIPT-2026-05-28T08-50--2026-05-28T09-22.md b/0017/SESSION-0017.0-TRANSCRIPT-2026-05-28T08-50--2026-05-28T09-22.md
index df9026c..ddf9cca 100644
--- a/0017/SESSION-0017.0-TRANSCRIPT-2026-05-28T08-50--2026-05-28T09-22.md
+++ b/0017/SESSION-0017.0-TRANSCRIPT-2026-05-28T08-50--2026-05-28T09-22.md
@@ -197,6 +197,8 @@ h. **SSE-keepalive SSH-watchdog timeout — 4th occurrence** (driver). Hit at ph
 
 i. **Driver-inline commit identity drift** (driver). Three commits this session (one driver-inline CHANGELOG fix + two subagent merges + the pin bump) carried `Ben Stull <benstull@mac.lan>` as the committer rather than the operator's preferred identity. Per the hard rule, no `git config` edit; operator can rewrite if desired. Worth surfacing as an operator-tooling §19.2: a one-line "ensure git identity is set on this machine" gesture would prevent it.
 
+j. **`publish-transcript.sh` `sessions.json` formatting churn** (driver, noticed at publish-time after 0017.2's restructure had already shipped). The script's inline-Python upsert uses `json.dump`'s default `indent=2` (expands every entry to multi-line) AND default `ensure_ascii=True` (escapes em-dashes / `§` / en-dashes as `—` / `§` / `–`). 0017.2's subagent had hand-written `sessions.json` with compact one-line entries per session + raw UTF-8. The first publish-time upsert (0017.0's transcript publish, which added the `0017` placeholder) rewrote the file in the expanded ASCII-escaped form, so the operator's next edit starts from that shape rather than the subagent's. Fix is one-line in `publish-transcript.sh`: `json.dump(out, f, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False)` plus a small custom emitter to keep each session's `{ "title": "…" }` on one line. Cosmetic; no functional impact.
+
 ---
 
 ## What lands on the operator's plate
@@ -414,6 +416,17 @@ h. The §19.2 SSE-keepalive SIGTERM holding past the 60s SSH watchdog
 i. Driver-inline commit identity drift (`benstull@mac.lan` rather
    than `ben@wiggleverse.org`). Per hard rule no `git config` edit
    this session; surfaced for operator tooling.
+j. `publish-transcript.sh` `sessions.json` formatting churn. The
+   script's inline-Python upsert uses `json.dump`'s default
+   `indent=2` (every entry expands to multi-line) and default
+   `ensure_ascii=True` (em-dashes / `§` / en-dashes escape to
+   `\uXXXX`). 0017.2's subagent had hand-written compact one-line
+   entries with raw UTF-8; the first publish-time upsert (0017.0's
+   publish, adding the `0017` placeholder) rewrote the file in the
+   expanded ASCII-escaped form. Operator's next edit starts from
+   that shape. One-line fix: `json.dump(out, f, indent=2,
+   ensure_ascii=False)` + a small custom emitter to keep each
+   session on one line. Cosmetic only; no functional impact.
 
 # Hard rules carried forward (binding)