diff --git a/frontend/src/components/SystemsSection.vue b/frontend/src/components/SystemsSection.vue
index b7b963d..4a4274d 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/SystemsSection.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/SystemsSection.vue
@@ -387,6 +387,41 @@ async function confirmDelete() {
 .system-textarea { resize: vertical; }
 
 .system-form-actions { display: flex; gap: 0.4rem; }
+
+/* RESTORED (#2444). Both lost their base rule to a CSS sweep; only the
+   `--archived` modifier and the `:hover .system-actions` reveal survived.
+   The card WAS a flex row and every child still says so — `.system-swatch`
+   and `.system-actions` are `flex-shrink: 0`, `.system-body` is `flex: 1`,
+   and `.system-form--inline` is `flex: 1`. `align-items: flex-start` is why
+   the swatch carries `margin-top: 0.3rem`: it is nudged onto the first line
+   of text rather than centred against the whole card.
+
+   The list had no rule at all, so it rendered with browser bullets and
+   indent — invisible to the dangling-style check, which can only see a class
+   that is PARTLY styled. A class with no rules anywhere looks exactly like a
+   semantic-only hook.
+
+   Surface values match `.system-form` above, which is the same card shape in
+   this file and the reason they can be recovered rather than guessed. */
+.systems-list {
+  list-style: none;
+  margin: 0;
+  padding: 0;
+  display: flex;
+  flex-direction: column;
+  gap: 0.4rem;
+}
+
+.system-card {
+  display: flex;
+  align-items: flex-start;
+  gap: 0.6rem;
+  padding: 0.6rem 0.75rem;
+  background: var(--color-bg-card);
+  border: 1px solid var(--color-border);
+  border-radius: var(--radius-md);
+}
+
 .system-card--archived { opacity: 0.6; }
 
 .system-swatch {
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/rules/PlanRulesPanel.vue b/frontend/src/components/rules/PlanRulesPanel.vue
index 1796b87..0610745 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/rules/PlanRulesPanel.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/rules/PlanRulesPanel.vue
@@ -53,6 +53,12 @@ watch(() => props.projectId, load);
   font-size: 0.9em; opacity: 0.7;
   text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.05em;
 }
+/* `.rb` is deliberately bare — it exists to namespace the two heading rules
+   below, and its children carry their own spacing (the h4 keeps the UA
+   margin-top that separates one rulebook group from the next). Nothing here
+   assumes a flex or grid parent, which is the tell that distinguishes this
+   from a base rule someone deleted (#2444). Stated so the next reader doesn't
+   re-open the question. */
 .rb h4 { font-family: Fraunces, serif; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0.25rem; }
 .rb h5 {
   font-size: 0.8em; opacity: 0.7;
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/rules/ProjectRulesTab.vue b/frontend/src/components/rules/ProjectRulesTab.vue
index ad7040e..039c3c5 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/rules/ProjectRulesTab.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/rules/ProjectRulesTab.vue
@@ -349,6 +349,10 @@ select {
 .applicable { margin-top: 2rem; }
 .rb-group { margin-bottom: 1.5rem; }
 .rb-group h4 { font-family: Fraunces, serif; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; }
+/* `.topic-group` is deliberately bare — a namespace for the two h5 rules (this
+   one and the flex row further down), with the h5's own margin-top doing the
+   separating. Its children assume nothing about it, which is what tells it
+   apart from a base rule someone deleted (#2444). */
 .topic-group h5 {
   font-size: 0.85em; opacity: 0.7; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.05em;
   margin-top: 0.75rem;
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/rules/RulebookDetailPane.vue b/frontend/src/components/rules/RulebookDetailPane.vue
index fecf4e4..a89b560 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/rules/RulebookDetailPane.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/components/rules/RulebookDetailPane.vue
@@ -135,6 +135,11 @@ ul { list-style: none; padding: 0; margin: 1rem 0; }
 li { padding: 0.5rem; cursor: pointer; border-radius: 6px; }
 li.active { background: var(--color-primary-bg); }
 li:hover { background: var(--color-hover); }
+/* `.new-topic` and `.sub-list` are deliberately bare (#2444). The first wraps a
+   button-or-form whose children style themselves; the second is a `<ul>`, and
+   the bare `ul` rule above already gives it list-style, padding and margin —
+   a base a class-name check cannot see, since it comes from an element
+   selector. Both namespace descendant rules and assume nothing about layout. */
 .new-topic input {
   width: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.5rem;
   background: var(--color-bg); color: inherit;
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/DashboardView.vue b/frontend/src/views/DashboardView.vue
index 35664e9..f52a3df 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/DashboardView.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/DashboardView.vue
@@ -176,6 +176,9 @@ onMounted(async () => {
 
 <style scoped>
 .dash-root { max-width: 1100px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 1.5rem; }
+/* `.dash-head` is deliberately bare: a block header whose two children carry
+   all the spacing between them (h1 zeroed, .dash-sub margined). Nothing in it
+   assumes a flex parent, which is the tell for a deleted rule (#2444). */
 .dash-head h1 { margin: 0; font-family: 'Fraunces', Georgia, serif; }
 .dash-sub { margin: 0.2rem 0 1.25rem; color: var(--color-muted); font-size: 0.9rem; }
 .dash-label { display: block; font-size: 0.72rem; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.08em; text-transform: uppercase; color: var(--color-muted); margin-bottom: 0.6rem; }
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/KnowledgeView.vue b/frontend/src/views/KnowledgeView.vue
index d9b6553..0d8fb3c 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/KnowledgeView.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/KnowledgeView.vue
@@ -936,6 +936,17 @@ onUnmounted(() => {
   border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-border);
   flex-shrink: 0;
 }
+/* RESTORED (#2444). The panel is a flex COLUMN and its header is
+   `flex-shrink: 0`, so this is the item that takes the remaining height — and
+   without it the `height: 100%` below resolves against `auto` and does
+   nothing, which made the comment underneath a spec for a rule that could not
+   work. `min-height: 0` is the companion that lets a flex item shrink under
+   its content instead of overflowing the panel. */
+.graph-embed {
+  flex: 1;
+  min-height: 0;
+}
+
 /* Override GraphView's 100vh height so it fills the panel instead */
 .graph-embed :deep(.graph-page) {
   height: 100%;
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/LogsView.vue b/frontend/src/views/LogsView.vue
index c42738b..20007cd 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/LogsView.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/LogsView.vue
@@ -454,6 +454,8 @@ function clearFilters() {
 }
 
 /* Detail row */
+/* `.detail-row` is deliberately bare: a `<tr>` has nothing to style that its
+   cells don't carry, and the row exists to scope the rule below (#2444). */
 .detail-row td {
   padding: 0 0.75rem 0.75rem;
   border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-border);
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue b/frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue
index fd8615f..96a7b9f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/views/SettingsView.vue
@@ -2937,6 +2937,8 @@ function formatUserDate(iso: string): string {
 .cell-status { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.85rem; }
 .cell-duration { color: var(--color-text-muted); font-size: 0.8rem; white-space: nowrap; }
 .text-error { color: var(--color-danger); }
+/* Bare by design, like LogsView's twin of this: a `<tr>` has nothing to style
+   that its cells don't carry (#2444). */
 .detail-row td { padding: 0 0.75rem 0.75rem; border-bottom: 1px solid var(--color-border); }
 .detail-ip { font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.8rem; color: var(--color-text-muted); margin-bottom: 0.4rem; }
 .detail-json {
diff --git a/scripts/check_dangling_styles.py b/scripts/check_dangling_styles.py
index a684656..8170c0d 100644
--- a/scripts/check_dangling_styles.py
+++ b/scripts/check_dangling_styles.py
@@ -33,11 +33,22 @@ class with only modifier rules is a deletion that went half-way.
 
 Descendant selectors count as a base — `.panel .row {}` styles `.row` — because
 from the element's side there is no difference. Only the LAST compound of a
-selector is what it styles.
+selector is what it styles, and a compound's whole class SET is what it
+requires: `.pane.empty` and `td.num` are base rules for the element carrying
+those classes, not modifiers. Reading them as modifiers cost this check four
+false reports on its first run, and a check with false reports is one that gets
+skimmed.
 
 REPORT, NOT FAIL. Bare wrappers with no styling of their own are legitimate,
 so this cannot be a gate without a suppression mechanism nobody would maintain.
-A count that grows is the signal to look.
+A count that grows is the signal to look. Where a wrapper is bare on purpose,
+say so in a comment beside its descendant rules — the remaining reports here
+all carry one, so a new entry means something changed.
+
+KNOWN BLIND SPOT: a class with NO rule anywhere is invisible to this, because
+it cannot be told from a semantic-only hook. `.systems-list` had lost its
+entire rule and was rendering with browser bullets; it was found by reading the
+file next to a class that WAS half-styled, not by this check.
 
 INSTANCE-AGNOSTIC (rule #115). Nothing here knows a class name, a component, or
 a convention; point it at any Vue tree.
@@ -57,7 +68,6 @@ CSS_COMMENT = re.compile(r"/\*.*?\*/", re.S)
 STATIC_CLASS = re.compile(r'(?<![:\w-])class="([^"{}\[\]]*)"')
 SELECTOR = re.compile(r"([^{}]+)\{")
 CLASS_TOKEN = re.compile(r"\.([A-Za-z][\w-]*)")
-BARE_CLASS = re.compile(r"\.([\w-]+)\Z")
 
 
 def shared_classes(sheets: list[pathlib.Path]) -> set[str]:
@@ -69,24 +79,40 @@ def shared_classes(sheets: list[pathlib.Path]) -> set[str]:
     return names
 
 
-def based_classes(css: str) -> set[str]:
-    """Classes this stylesheet gives a base rule to.
+def base_class_sets(css: str) -> list[frozenset[str]]:
+    """Class combinations this stylesheet gives a base rule to.
 
     The last compound of a selector is what the rule styles: in
-    `.panel .row:hover` that is `.row:hover`, a modifier — but in `.panel .row`
-    it is `.row`, a base. So a selector qualifies only when its final compound
-    is a lone class with nothing appended.
+    `.panel .row:hover` that is `.row:hover`, a state — but in `.panel .row` it
+    is `.row`, a base.
+
+    A compound may carry more than one class, and a type selector alongside
+    them. `.pane.empty` and `td.num` are both base rules for the element that
+    matches, so each is recorded as the SET of classes it requires; an element
+    is styled when it carries all of them. Recording the classes individually
+    instead would clear `.pane` everywhere on the strength of a rule that only
+    ever applies with `.empty` — precision matters more here than reach, since
+    a missed base is a false report and a wrong one is a defect gone quiet.
+
+    A compound with no class at all (`ul`, `li`) is skipped: it styles by tag,
+    which this cannot verify without parsing the template's elements, and an
+    empty set would clear every element in the file.
     """
-    out: set[str] = set()
+    out: list[frozenset[str]] = []
     for selector in SELECTOR.findall(css):
         for part in selector.split(","):
             part = part.strip()
             if not part or part.startswith("@"):
                 continue
             last = re.split(r"[\s>+~]+", part)[-1]
-            match = BARE_CLASS.fullmatch(last)
-            if match:
-                out.add(match.group(1))
+            # A pseudo-class, pseudo-element or attribute selector makes it a
+            # state or a variant, not the element's base appearance.
+            if ":" in last or "[" in last:
+                continue
+            names = CLASS_TOKEN.findall(last)
+            # Everything outside the class tokens must be a bare type selector.
+            if names and re.fullmatch(r"[A-Za-z][\w-]*|\*|", CLASS_TOKEN.sub("", last)):
+                out.append(frozenset(names))
     return out
 
 
@@ -97,7 +123,7 @@ def scan(path: pathlib.Path, shared: set[str]) -> list[tuple[str, list[str]]]:
     if not css.strip():
         return []
 
-    based = based_classes(css)
+    base_sets = base_class_sets(css)
     mentioned = set(CLASS_TOKEN.findall(css))
 
     findings: list[tuple[str, list[str]]] = []
@@ -105,7 +131,10 @@ def scan(path: pathlib.Path, shared: set[str]) -> list[tuple[str, list[str]]]:
         names = [n for n in attr.split() if re.fullmatch(r"[A-Za-z][\w-]*", n)]
         if not names:
             continue
-        if any(n in based or n in shared for n in names):
+        carried = set(names)
+        if any(carried >= required for required in base_sets):
+            continue
+        if any(n in shared for n in names):
             continue
         dangling = [n for n in names if n in mentioned]
         if dangling: