diff --git a/CONTEXT.md b/CONTEXT.md
index e54ba09..b39118c 100644
--- a/CONTEXT.md
+++ b/CONTEXT.md
@@ -48,8 +48,10 @@ The target service and everything reachable from it through `depends_on`
 closure joins the pod, so only the closure is emitted, only its hostnames are
 resolvable, and pod-level options (`dns`, `sysctls`, `extra_hosts`) are unioned and
 conflict-checked across it and nothing else. A service outside the closure never runs,
-which is why `profiles` is inert and why validation is closure-scoped rather than
-document-wide.
+which is why `profiles` is inert. Validation is not scoped to it, though: the dependency
+graph is checked document-wide (`graph.validate_graph`), because whether Docker rejects a
+document cannot depend on which service the caller happened to target
+([#87](https://github.com/modern-python/compose2pod/issues/87)).
 
 **Rule one / rule two**:
 The two directions of the Docker-rejection parity rule
diff --git a/compose2pod/graph.py b/compose2pod/graph.py
index 2678fd4..98a8e9a 100644
--- a/compose2pod/graph.py
+++ b/compose2pod/graph.py
@@ -154,28 +154,62 @@ def hostnames(services: dict[str, Any]) -> list[str]:
     return names
 
 
-def startup_order(services: dict[str, Any], target: str) -> list[str]:
-    """Dependency closure of target in start order (dependencies first, target last)."""
-    if target not in services:
-        msg = f"target service '{target}' not found"
-        raise UnsupportedComposeError(msg)
+def _walk(services: dict[str, Any], roots: list[str]) -> list[str]:
+    """Depth-first walk from `roots`, in start order (dependencies first, root last).
+
+    One walker for both callers below: the closure a `--target` starts, and the
+    whole-document pass that validates it. Both need the same two refusals -- a
+    dependency naming no service, and a cycle -- so both come from here rather
+    than from two implementations that can drift apart in what they refuse.
+
+    `declared_by` is the service whose `depends_on` reached `name`, which is what
+    the unknown-dependency message needs: a whole-document walk refuses a typo in
+    a service the user never asked to run, so the refusal has to say where it is.
+    A root is passed as its own declarer and never uses it -- every root here is
+    already a key of `services`.
+    """
     order: list[str] = []
     state: dict[str, str] = {}
 
-    def visit(name: str) -> None:
+    def visit(name: str, declared_by: str) -> None:
         if state.get(name) == "visiting":
             msg = f"dependency cycle involving '{name}'"
             raise UnsupportedComposeError(msg)
         if state.get(name) == "done":
             return
         if name not in services:
-            msg = f"unknown dependency '{name}'"
+            msg = f"service {declared_by!r}: unknown dependency {name!r}"
             raise UnsupportedComposeError(msg)
         state[name] = "visiting"
         for dep in depends_on(services[name]):
-            visit(dep)
+            visit(dep, name)
         state[name] = "done"
         order.append(name)
 
-    visit(target)
+    for root in roots:
+        visit(root, root)
     return order
+
+
+def startup_order(services: dict[str, Any], target: str) -> list[str]:
+    """Dependency closure of target in start order (dependencies first, target last)."""
+    if target not in services:
+        msg = f"target service '{target}' not found"
+        raise UnsupportedComposeError(msg)
+    return _walk(services, [target])
+
+
+def validate_graph(services: dict[str, Any]) -> None:
+    """Refuse a dependency graph naming a service the document does not define, or a cycle.
+
+    Walks from every service, not from the `--target`, which is the difference
+    that closes issue 87. `docker compose config` validates the whole document
+    ("depends on undefined service", "dependency cycle detected") and a document
+    it refuses is one compose2pod must refuse (ADR-0006), even where the broken
+    service is one no target reaches and the generated script would never start.
+
+    The cost is the reason the issue stayed open: a typo in a service nobody
+    targets now refuses the whole file, for every target in it. That is Docker's
+    own behaviour, and the hard rule leaves no room to keep the difference.
+    """
+    _walk(services, list(services))
diff --git a/compose2pod/parsing.py b/compose2pod/parsing.py
index 1fb8a52..94f198d 100644
--- a/compose2pod/parsing.py
+++ b/compose2pod/parsing.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 from compose2pod import podman, stores, values
 from compose2pod.exceptions import UnsupportedComposeError
-from compose2pod.graph import depends_on, hostnames
+from compose2pod.graph import depends_on, hostnames, validate_graph
 from compose2pod.healthcheck import has_healthcheck, health_cmd, interval_seconds
 from compose2pod.keys import (
     SERVICE_KEYS,
@@ -1020,13 +1020,21 @@ def _sweep_document(compose: dict[str, Any]) -> None:
 
 
 def _validate_depends_on(services: dict[str, Any]) -> None:
-    """Cross-service depends_on checks: known conditions, service_healthy needs a healthcheck."""
+    """Cross-service depends_on checks: the graph resolves, conditions are known, service_healthy is met.
+
+    `validate_graph` runs first for a reason beyond ordering: it refuses every
+    dependency naming a service the document does not define, so `services[dep]`
+    below needs no membership guard. That guard used to be there and used to
+    matter -- a `service_healthy` dependency on a missing service was simply
+    skipped, which is the closure-scoped hole issue 87 closed.
+    """
+    validate_graph(services)
     for name, svc in services.items():
         for dep, condition in depends_on(svc).items():
             if condition not in DEPENDS_ON_CONDITIONS:
                 msg = f"service {name!r}: depends_on {dep!r} has unsupported condition {condition!r}"
                 raise UnsupportedComposeError(msg)
-            if condition == "service_healthy" and dep in services and not has_healthcheck(services[dep]):
+            if condition == "service_healthy" and not has_healthcheck(services[dep]):
                 msg = f"service {name!r}: depends on {dep!r} (service_healthy) but {dep!r} has no healthcheck"
                 raise UnsupportedComposeError(msg)
 
diff --git a/docs/adr/0006-docker-rejection-parity.md b/docs/adr/0006-docker-rejection-parity.md
index d7d59ba..962a3d4 100644
--- a/docs/adr/0006-docker-rejection-parity.md
+++ b/docs/adr/0006-docker-rejection-parity.md
@@ -57,15 +57,19 @@ named volume) ([#114](https://github.com/modern-python/compose2pod/issues/114)),
 `mode` is refused at the other end of the range, where podman 6.0.1's `crun` will not mount it.
 The `integration` job pins `ubuntu-24.04` for the same reason: it is the runner that ships the
 floor, and on a newer one the job would measure a podman no user of the floor has.
-Two residuals are open by design. `depends_on` errors among services outside the target's closure
-are accepted here and rejected by Docker
-([#87](https://github.com/modern-python/compose2pod/issues/87)): the one place the hard rule is
-knowingly broken, so it is executed rather than described. `tests/conformance/corpus_residual/`
-holds both documents, the summary prints them, and the test fails when a residual *closes*, since a
-catalogue nobody re-runs goes stale in the direction that looks green. `assert_rule` still raises
-for every document outside that directory, so the rule stays hard everywhere it is not deliberately
-suspended. The other residual is the drive-qualified *bind* (`C:\data:/var`), a limitation rather
-than rule two, since podman mounts that source through `--mount` and only the short `-v` spec
+The hard rule has no exceptions left. It had two, and both were the same one: a `depends_on`
+naming an undefined service, and a dependency cycle, among services outside the target's closure
+were rejected by Docker and accepted here
+([#87](https://github.com/modern-python/compose2pod/issues/87)), because both checks lived in the
+closure walk `--target` drives and a service nothing targets is never walked. `graph.validate_graph`
+walks from every service instead, so the verdict on the *document* no longer depends on which
+service the caller asked to run -- which is Docker's own behaviour, and the only reading the hard
+rule allows. The price is the reason the issue stayed open rather than something the fix hides: one
+service's typo now refuses the file for every target in it. Both documents moved out of a residual
+catalogue and into `tests/conformance/corpus/`, where `assert_rule` -- which raises on exactly that
+combination -- is what holds them closed, so the rule is hard everywhere with nothing suspended.
+What remains open is a limitation rather than a residual: the drive-qualified *bind*
+(`C:\data:/var`), since podman mounts that source through `--mount` and only the short `-v` spec
 cannot spell it -- the long form already emits `--mount`, so the capability is reachable today and
 only the short spelling is missing
 ([#111](https://github.com/modern-python/compose2pod/issues/111)).
diff --git a/tests/conformance/conftest.py b/tests/conformance/conftest.py
index 5efee4e..dc9b7e2 100644
--- a/tests/conformance/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conformance/conftest.py
@@ -34,12 +34,6 @@
 # global so it is unambiguously one collector per pytest run, not one per import.
 _OVER_REJECTIONS: pytest.StashKey[list[str]] = pytest.StashKey()
 
-# Every catalogued rule-one residual confirmed this run, as `<corpus-stem>` labels.
-# Kept apart from the over-rejections: an over-rejection is allowed by the rule, while
-# a residual is the rule being broken on purpose (issue 87), and reading them in one
-# list would blur the two directions the whole harness exists to keep apart.
-_RESIDUALS: pytest.StashKey[list[str]] = pytest.StashKey()
-
 
 @pytest.hookimpl(tryfirst=True)
 def pytest_collection_modifyitems(items: "list[pytest.Item]") -> None:
@@ -52,11 +46,10 @@ def pytest_collection_modifyitems(items: "list[pytest.Item]") -> None:
 def pytest_configure(config: pytest.Config) -> None:
     """Create this run's over-rejection collector before any conformance test executes."""
     config.stash[_OVER_REJECTIONS] = []
-    config.stash[_RESIDUALS] = []
 
 
 def pytest_terminal_summary(terminalreporter: pytest.TerminalReporter) -> None:
-    """Print every over-reject verdict and every confirmed residual collected this run.
+    """Print every over-reject verdict collected this run.
 
     Over-rejections never fail the build (see `assert_rule`); this is the harness's
     only way of keeping them visible, which is what the tracked-limitation issues
@@ -64,15 +57,6 @@ def pytest_terminal_summary(terminalreporter: pytest.TerminalReporter) -> None:
     case for `just test-ci` (the conformance suite is deselected there and this hook
     never runs a probe, so the list stays empty).
     """
-    residuals = terminalreporter.config.stash.get(_RESIDUALS, [])
-    if residuals:
-        terminalreporter.section("conformance: rule-one residuals (docker rejects, compose2pod accepts)")
-        for label in residuals:
-            terminalreporter.write_line(label)
-        terminalreporter.write_line(
-            f"{len(residuals)} residual(s) -- the hard rule, knowingly broken; "
-            "https://github.com/modern-python/compose2pod/issues/87"
-        )
     over_rejections = terminalreporter.config.stash.get(_OVER_REJECTIONS, [])
     if not over_rejections:
         return
@@ -143,7 +127,9 @@ def assert_rule(tmp_path: Path, request: pytest.FixtureRequest) -> Callable[[dic
     tracked issue; every 'over-reject' verdict is also recorded under the
     calling test's id for `pytest_terminal_summary` to print at the end of the run).
     Raises AssertionError on the one forbidden combination: Docker refuses and we
-    accept.
+    accept. That combination has no catalogued exceptions: issue 87's two residuals
+    were the last, and closing it moved both documents into `corpus/`, where this
+    fixture is what holds them closed.
     """
 
     def _assert(compose: dict[str, Any]) -> str:
@@ -161,24 +147,3 @@ def _assert(compose: dict[str, Any]) -> str:
         return "over-reject"
 
     return _assert
-
-
-@pytest.fixture
-def assert_residual(tmp_path: Path, request: pytest.FixtureRequest) -> Callable[[dict[str, Any]], None]:
-    """Assert one document still breaks rule one, and record it for the run's summary.
-
-    The inverse of `assert_rule`, which raises on this combination: here it is the
-    expected result, and either half changing is what fails. A residual that closed
-    leaves a file claiming a breach that no longer exists, which is worse than no
-    catalogue at all.
-    """
-
-    def _assert(compose: dict[str, Any]) -> None:
-        text = yaml.safe_dump(compose, sort_keys=False)
-        assert not _docker_accepts(text, tmp_path), "docker now accepts this document, so it documents no residual"
-        assert _compose2pod_accepts(text, tmp_path), (
-            "compose2pod now rejects this document -- the residual is closed, delete the file"
-        )
-        request.config.stash[_RESIDUALS].append(request.node.nodeid)
-
-    return _assert
diff --git a/tests/conformance/corpus/depends_on_cycle_outside_closure.yaml b/tests/conformance/corpus/depends_on_cycle_outside_closure.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d192fc8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/conformance/corpus/depends_on_cycle_outside_closure.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# Docker rejects the document ("dependency cycle detected") and so does compose2pod,
+# though `app` is the target and its closure never reaches `a` or `b`: the graph is
+# validated document-wide, independently of --target (issue 87).
+services:
+  app:
+    image: nginx
+  a:
+    image: nginx
+    depends_on:
+      - b
+  b:
+    image: nginx
+    depends_on:
+      - a
diff --git a/tests/conformance/corpus/depends_on_ghost_outside_closure.yaml b/tests/conformance/corpus/depends_on_ghost_outside_closure.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7ca51d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/conformance/corpus/depends_on_ghost_outside_closure.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Docker rejects the document ("depends on undefined service") and so does compose2pod,
+# though `app` is the target and its closure never reaches `other`: the graph is
+# validated document-wide, independently of --target (issue 87).
+services:
+  app:
+    image: nginx
+  other:
+    image: nginx
+    depends_on:
+      - ghost
diff --git a/tests/conformance/corpus_residual/depends_on_cycle_outside_closure.yaml b/tests/conformance/corpus_residual/depends_on_cycle_outside_closure.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 7879cdb..0000000
--- a/tests/conformance/corpus_residual/depends_on_cycle_outside_closure.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-# Docker rejects the document ("dependency cycle detected"); compose2pod accepts it,
-# because `app` is the target and its closure never reaches `a` or `b`. Residual, issue 87.
-services:
-  app:
-    image: nginx
-  a:
-    image: nginx
-    depends_on:
-      - b
-  b:
-    image: nginx
-    depends_on:
-      - a
diff --git a/tests/conformance/corpus_residual/depends_on_ghost_outside_closure.yaml b/tests/conformance/corpus_residual/depends_on_ghost_outside_closure.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index c3fec01..0000000
--- a/tests/conformance/corpus_residual/depends_on_ghost_outside_closure.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-# Docker rejects the document ("depends on undefined service"); compose2pod accepts it,
-# because `app` is the target and its closure never reaches `other`. Residual, issue 87.
-services:
-  app:
-    image: nginx
-  other:
-    image: nginx
-    depends_on:
-      - ghost
diff --git a/tests/conformance/test_residuals.py b/tests/conformance/test_residuals.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 367df74..0000000
--- a/tests/conformance/test_residuals.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,33 +0,0 @@
-"""The documents where rule one is knowingly broken, probed instead of described.
-
-ADR-0006 calls `accepted(compose2pod) ⊆ accepted(docker)` hard, and issue 87 records two
-exceptions as a deliberate ruling: a `depends_on` naming an undefined service, and a
-dependency cycle, both on services outside the `--target`'s closure, which `startup_order`
-never walks. `assert_rule` raises on exactly that combination, so neither could live in
-`corpus/` -- and so neither was measured anywhere, which left the one hard rule's known
-breach resting on prose. These files are that breach, executed.
-"""
-
-from collections.abc import Callable
-from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Any
-
-import pytest
-import yaml
-
-
-_RESIDUAL_CORPUS = sorted((Path(__file__).parent / "corpus_residual").glob("*.yaml"))
-
-
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("path", _RESIDUAL_CORPUS, ids=lambda p: p.stem)
-def test_a_catalogued_residual_still_breaks_rule_one(
-    path: Path, assert_residual: Callable[[dict[str, Any]], None]
-) -> None:
-    """A file here fails when the residual *closes*, which is when it should be deleted.
-
-    Tolerating a catalogued exception is not the point -- an entry nobody re-runs goes
-    stale in the direction that looks green, which is how issue 86's unmeasured claim
-    survived long enough to ship. Cataloguing it is only worth anything if the catalogue
-    is wrong when the world changes.
-    """
-    assert_residual(yaml.safe_load(path.read_text()))
diff --git a/tests/test_graph.py b/tests/test_graph.py
index a676b73..b3d13e9 100644
--- a/tests/test_graph.py
+++ b/tests/test_graph.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import pytest
 
 from compose2pod.exceptions import UnsupportedComposeError
-from compose2pod.graph import depends_on, hostnames, startup_order
+from compose2pod.graph import depends_on, hostnames, startup_order, validate_graph
 from compose2pod.parsing import validate
 
 
@@ -228,3 +228,33 @@ def test_diamond_dependency_visits_shared_service_once(self) -> None:
         assert order.index("c") < order.index("a")
         assert order.index("c") < order.index("b")
         assert order[-1] == "target"
+
+
+class TestValidateGraph:
+    def test_well_formed_document_passes(self, chats_compose: dict) -> None:
+        assert validate_graph(chats_compose["services"]) is None
+
+    def test_unknown_dependency_outside_any_closure_raises(self) -> None:
+        services = {
+            "app": {"image": "x"},
+            "other": {"image": "x", "depends_on": ["ghost"]},
+        }
+        with pytest.raises(UnsupportedComposeError, match=r"service 'other': unknown dependency 'ghost'"):
+            validate_graph(services)
+
+    def test_cycle_outside_any_closure_raises(self) -> None:
+        services = {
+            "app": {"image": "x"},
+            "a": {"image": "x", "depends_on": ["b"]},
+            "b": {"image": "x", "depends_on": ["a"]},
+        }
+        with pytest.raises(UnsupportedComposeError, match=r"dependency cycle involving 'a'"):
+            validate_graph(services)
+
+    def test_a_service_reached_from_two_roots_is_walked_once(self) -> None:
+        services = {
+            "shared": {"image": "x"},
+            "a": {"image": "x", "depends_on": ["shared"]},
+            "b": {"image": "x", "depends_on": ["shared"]},
+        }
+        assert validate_graph(services) is None
diff --git a/tests/test_parsing.py b/tests/test_parsing.py
index 6fe0381..4f1ae88 100644
--- a/tests/test_parsing.py
+++ b/tests/test_parsing.py
@@ -433,11 +433,30 @@ def test_service_healthy_dependency_with_healthcheck_is_accepted(self) -> None:
         }
         assert validate(compose) == []
 
-    def test_service_healthy_dependency_on_unknown_service_is_out_of_scope(self) -> None:
-        assert (
+    def test_service_healthy_dependency_on_unknown_service_raises(self) -> None:
+        with pytest.raises(UnsupportedComposeError, match=r"service 'app': unknown dependency 'ghost'"):
             validate({"services": {"app": {"image": "x", "depends_on": {"ghost": {"condition": "service_healthy"}}}}})
-            == []
-        )
+
+    def test_unknown_dependency_outside_the_target_closure_raises_at_gate(self) -> None:
+        compose = {
+            "services": {
+                "app": {"image": "x"},
+                "other": {"image": "x", "depends_on": ["ghost"]},
+            }
+        }
+        with pytest.raises(UnsupportedComposeError, match=r"service 'other': unknown dependency 'ghost'"):
+            validate(compose)
+
+    def test_dependency_cycle_outside_the_target_closure_raises_at_gate(self) -> None:
+        compose = {
+            "services": {
+                "app": {"image": "x"},
+                "a": {"image": "x", "depends_on": ["b"]},
+                "b": {"image": "x", "depends_on": ["a"]},
+            }
+        }
+        with pytest.raises(UnsupportedComposeError, match=r"dependency cycle involving 'a'"):
+            validate(compose)
 
     def test_unknown_depends_on_condition_raises(self) -> None:
         compose = {