diff --git a/src/domain/analysisView/artifactInventoryView.ts b/src/domain/analysisView/artifactInventoryView.ts
index 0748894d14..82018733b7 100644
--- a/src/domain/analysisView/artifactInventoryView.ts
+++ b/src/domain/analysisView/artifactInventoryView.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import {
   completeWithinViewCoverage,
   pageViewCoverage,
 } from "./analysisViewCoverage.js";
+import { analysisViewResultInputError } from "./analysisViewParent.js";
 
 const page = {
   kind: z.literal("inventory"),
@@ -172,7 +173,7 @@ const parseSource = (
         cached.source.inventory.manifest,
       );
     } catch (cause: unknown) {
-      return sourceFailure(cause);
+      return sourceFailure(parent.normalizedResult, cause);
     }
     return ok(cached.source);
   }
@@ -208,13 +209,17 @@ const parseSourceUncached = (
       inspection: parsed.inspection,
     });
   } catch (cause: unknown) {
-    return sourceFailure(cause);
+    return sourceFailure(parent.normalizedResult, cause);
   }
 };
 
-const sourceFailure = (cause: unknown): Result<never, AnalysisError> => {
-  if (!(cause instanceof TypeError) && !(cause instanceof z.ZodError))
-    throw cause;
+const sourceFailure = (
+  input: unknown,
+  cause: unknown,
+): Result<never, AnalysisError> => {
+  if (cause instanceof z.ZodError)
+    return err(analysisViewResultInputError(input, cause));
+  if (!(cause instanceof TypeError)) throw cause;
   return err(inputError(cause.message));
 };
 
diff --git a/src/domain/artifactInventoryEvidence.test.ts b/src/domain/artifactInventoryEvidence.test.ts
index 4af33964c4..227c6dca81 100644
--- a/src/domain/artifactInventoryEvidence.test.ts
+++ b/src/domain/artifactInventoryEvidence.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { freezeJsonSnapshot } from "./immutableJson.js";
 import { expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { z } from "zod";
 
 import { ARTIFACT_COMPARISON_EXAMPLE } from "../contracts/artifactComparisonExample.js";
 import { createArtifactInspection } from "./artifactInspection.js";
@@ -86,3 +87,28 @@ it("retains the authenticated parent's nested facts without a second inventory c
     owned.substeps[0]!.evidence.normalized_result.nodes[0],
   );
 });
+
+it.each([0, 1])(
+  "locates a stale nested Evidence ID at substep %i and retains its cause",
+  (index) => {
+    const input = structuredClone(inspection);
+    input.substeps.push(structuredClone(input.substeps[0]!));
+    input.coverage.substeps_completed = input.substeps.length;
+    expect(
+      parseArtifactInspectionInventoryResult(input, target).inventory.complete,
+    ).toBe(true);
+    input.substeps[index]!.evidence.evidence_id = `ev_${"f".repeat(64)}`;
+    expect(() =>
+      parseArtifactInspectionInventoryResult(input, target),
+    ).toThrowError(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        issues: [
+          expect.objectContaining({
+            path: ["substeps", index, "evidence", "evidence_id"],
+          }),
+        ],
+        cause: expect.any(z.ZodError),
+      }),
+    );
+  },
+);
diff --git a/src/domain/artifactInventoryEvidence.ts b/src/domain/artifactInventoryEvidence.ts
index c7fcc3ec13..b2e7899eee 100644
--- a/src/domain/artifactInventoryEvidence.ts
+++ b/src/domain/artifactInventoryEvidence.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import {
   occurrenceIdForLocation,
 } from "./artifactIdentity.js";
 import { parseEvidence, type Evidence } from "./evidence.js";
+import { z } from "zod";
 import {
   artifactInspectionResultSchema,
   type ArtifactInspectionResult,
@@ -124,7 +125,21 @@ const parseInspectionInventoryPayload = (
     );
     const sourceEvidence =
       immutableJsonSnapshotMember(sealedStep, "evidence") ?? step.evidence;
-    const parsedEvidence = parseEvidence(sourceEvidence);
+    let parsedEvidence: Evidence;
+    try {
+      parsedEvidence = parseEvidence(sourceEvidence);
+    } catch (cause: unknown) {
+      if (!(cause instanceof z.ZodError)) throw cause;
+      throw Object.assign(
+        new z.ZodError(
+          cause.issues.map((issue) => ({
+            ...issue,
+            path: ["substeps", index, "evidence", ...issue.path],
+          })),
+        ),
+        { cause },
+      );
+    }
     const evidence = canBorrowParsedJsonSnapshot(sourceEvidence, parsedEvidence)
       ? sourceEvidence
       : parsedEvidence;
diff --git a/tests/boundary/cli/analysisViewCli.test.ts b/tests/boundary/cli/analysisViewCli.test.ts
index a8863754fc..9cd12c8f78 100644
--- a/tests/boundary/cli/analysisViewCli.test.ts
+++ b/tests/boundary/cli/analysisViewCli.test.ts
@@ -29,7 +29,14 @@ import {
   environmentManifestCaptureFixture,
   environmentStateCaptureFixture,
 } from "../../fixtures/analysisView.js";
-import { createEvidence, parseEvidence } from "../../../src/domain/evidence.js";
+import {
+  createEvidence,
+  parseEvidence,
+  type Evidence,
+} from "../../../src/domain/evidence.js";
+import { artifactInspectionResultSchema } from "../../../src/domain/artifactInspection.js";
+import type { JsonValue } from "../../../src/domain/jsonValue.js";
+import { z } from "zod";
 import { ghidraFunctionDossier } from "../../../src/domain/ghidraValues.fixture.js";
 import { createEvidenceBundle } from "../../../src/domain/evidenceBundle.js";
 import { inspectEvidenceBundle } from "../../../src/application/investigation/InspectEvidenceBundle.js";
@@ -294,6 +301,141 @@ cliTest(
   },
 );
 
+cliTest(
+  "preserves artifact parent schema diagnostics through the application and CLI",
+  async ({ cli }) => {
+    const root = await createTestTempDirectory(
+      "rea-inventory-diagnostics-cli-",
+    );
+    const archive = join(root, "fixture.zip");
+    const writer = new ZipWriter(new Uint8ArrayWriter());
+    await writer.add("main.js", new TextReader("console.log(1);\n"));
+    await writeFile(archive, await writer.close());
+    const inspected = await cli.run({
+      arguments: ["inspect-artifact", archive, "--json"],
+    });
+    expect(inspected.exitCode).toBe(0);
+    const inspection = parseEvidence(inspected.json);
+    const inventory = artifactInspectionResultSchema.parse(
+      inspection.normalized_result,
+    ).substeps[0]!.evidence;
+    const path = join(root, "view.json");
+    const reseal = (carrier: Evidence, result: JsonValue) => {
+      const subject = carrier.subject!;
+      return createEvidence(
+        {
+          path: subject.local_path,
+          sha256: subject.digest.sha256,
+          format: subject.format,
+        },
+        carrier.provider,
+        { operation: carrier.operation, parameters: {}, result },
+      );
+    };
+    for (const [carrier, group, field] of [
+      [inventory, "manifest", "node_count"],
+      [inspection, "coverage", "substeps_completed"],
+    ] as const) {
+      for (const variant of ["valid", "type", "missing"] as const) {
+        const payload = structuredClone(carrier.normalized_result) as Record<
+          string,
+          Record<string, JsonValue>
+        >;
+        if (variant === "type") payload[group]![field] = "bad";
+        if (variant === "missing") delete payload[group]![field];
+        const evidence = reseal(carrier, payload);
+        const request = {
+          source: { kind: "inline" as const, evidence },
+          view: { kind: "summary" as const },
+        };
+        const application = inspectAnalysisView(request);
+        await writeFile(path, JSON.stringify(request));
+        const reply = await cli.run({
+          arguments: ["inspect-analysis-view", path, "--json"],
+        });
+        expect(reply.stderr).toBe("");
+        if (variant === "valid") {
+          expect(application.ok).toBe(true);
+          expect(reply.exitCode).toBe(0);
+          expect(parseEvidence(reply.json).normalized_result).toMatchObject({
+            kind: "summary",
+          });
+          continue;
+        }
+        expect(application.ok).toBe(false);
+        if (application.ok) throw new Error("Expected an invalid parent");
+        expect(application.error.cause).toBeInstanceOf(z.ZodError);
+        expect(reply.exitCode).toBe(1);
+        expect(reply.json).toMatchObject({
+          code: "invalid_request",
+          category: "invalid_input",
+          retryable: false,
+          recovery: {
+            kind: "inspect_input_contract",
+            operation: "inspect_analysis_view",
+          },
+          details: {
+            issues: [
+              {
+                path: ["source", "normalized_result", group, field],
+                reason:
+                  variant === "type" ? "invalid_type" : "missing_argument",
+                expected: "number",
+              },
+            ],
+          },
+        });
+      }
+    }
+    const nested = artifactInspectionResultSchema.parse(
+      inspection.normalized_result,
+    );
+    nested.substeps.push(structuredClone(nested.substeps[0]!));
+    nested.coverage.substeps_completed = nested.substeps.length;
+    nested.substeps[1]!.evidence.evidence_id = `ev_${"f".repeat(64)}`;
+    const request = {
+      source: { kind: "inline" as const, evidence: reseal(inspection, nested) },
+      view: { kind: "summary" as const },
+    };
+    const application = inspectAnalysisView(request);
+    expect(application.ok).toBe(false);
+    if (application.ok) throw new Error("Expected invalid nested Evidence");
+    expect(application.error.cause).toMatchObject({
+      cause: expect.any(z.ZodError),
+      issues: [
+        expect.objectContaining({
+          path: ["substeps", 1, "evidence", "evidence_id"],
+        }),
+      ],
+    });
+    await writeFile(path, JSON.stringify(request));
+    const refused = await cli.run({
+      arguments: ["inspect-analysis-view", path, "--json"],
+    });
+    expect(refused.exitCode).toBe(1);
+    expect(refused.stderr).toBe("");
+    expect(refused.json).toMatchObject({
+      code: "invalid_request",
+      details: {
+        issues: [
+          {
+            path: [
+              "source",
+              "normalized_result",
+              "substeps",
+              1,
+              "evidence",
+              "evidence_id",
+            ],
+            reason: "invalid_value",
+            message: "Evidence semantic identifier does not match its record",
+          },
+        ],
+      },
+    });
+  },
+);
+
 cliTest(
   "admits portable captures before parsing and preserves capture caveats",
   async ({ cli }) => {