diff --git a/builtin/packages/repl/init.lua b/builtin/packages/repl/init.lua
index 3b336f6..df8d5ca 100644
--- a/builtin/packages/repl/init.lua
+++ b/builtin/packages/repl/init.lua
@@ -259,6 +259,10 @@ function repl.spawn(opts)
 
   local spec = {
     label = name,
+    -- Worker identity Stage 1: the label is the REPL's session name,
+    -- which distinguishes two REPLs from each other and says nothing
+    -- about what is running. The purpose names the interpreter.
+    purpose = "interactive " .. h._display_name .. " session",
     command = argv[1],
     args = args,
     pty = { rows = rows, cols = cols, mode = "raw" },
diff --git a/builtin/runtime/compile.lua b/builtin/runtime/compile.lua
index 22fc643..7645416 100644
--- a/builtin/runtime/compile.lua
+++ b/builtin/runtime/compile.lua
@@ -875,6 +875,11 @@ local function start_run(slot, cmdline, opts)
   -- stdin, own process group, TERM=dumb.
   local spec = {
     label = slot.label,
+    -- Worker identity Stage 1: the label distinguishes one compile slot
+    -- from another; the purpose is the command the user actually asked
+    -- for, which is what they want to see when they wonder why the
+    -- editor is busy.
+    purpose = "compiling: " .. cmdline,
     command = "/bin/sh",
     args = { "-c", "exec 2>&1; " .. cmdline },
     env = { TERM = "dumb" },
diff --git a/builtin/runtime/lean.lua b/builtin/runtime/lean.lua
index 09ad280..6ccb9dd 100644
--- a/builtin/runtime/lean.lua
+++ b/builtin/runtime/lean.lua
@@ -494,10 +494,14 @@ local function start_probe(root)
   -- "lake": a user pointing `command` at an absolute path to lake should
   -- have THAT probed, not whatever `lake` resolves to on PATH.
   local spec = {
-    -- COHERENCE §9: `ProcessSpec.label` is the only identity a process
-    -- carries, and it is what `pmacs.process.list` renders. A user
-    -- wondering why their editor touched `lake` finds an owner here.
+    -- COHERENCE §9: `ProcessSpec.label` identifies the process, and it
+    -- is what `pmacs.process.list` renders alongside the purpose. A user
+    -- wondering why their editor touched `lake` finds it here.
     label = "lean:lake-version-probe",
+    -- Worker identity Stage 1: the label was carrying both jobs — the
+    -- identity AND the explanation — which is the conflation the purpose
+    -- field exists to undo. The label stays a key; this is the sentence.
+    purpose = "checking the Lean toolchain version before starting a server",
     command = cfg.command,
     args = { "--version" },
     stdin = "null",
diff --git a/src/lua_bindings/mod.rs b/src/lua_bindings/mod.rs
index 9535f81..c47b678 100644
--- a/src/lua_bindings/mod.rs
+++ b/src/lua_bindings/mod.rs
@@ -8746,24 +8746,66 @@ fn parse_restart(name: &str) -> mlua::Result<RestartPolicy> {
     })
 }
 
+/// Read the **required** `purpose` out of a `pmacs.process.spawn` spec
+/// (worker identity Stage 1, `COHERENCE.md` §9).
+///
+/// An earlier revision of this lane defaulted the field to `label` so
+/// that existing callers kept working. That preserved compatibility and
+/// delivered nothing: §9's complaint about `ProcessSpec` is precisely
+/// that `label` is "caller-supplied, unvalidated convention", so a
+/// purpose defaulting to the label hands every caller back the
+/// convention this lane exists to replace.
+///
+/// The two fields answer different questions and neither substitutes for
+/// the other. `label` **identifies** — `lsp:rust-analyzer`, a terminal's
+/// buffer name — so that two processes running the same binary can be
+/// told apart. `purpose` **describes**: it answers "what is happening",
+/// which is the question §3's promise of visible asynchronous work is
+/// about, and which a label chosen for uniqueness routinely does not
+/// answer.
+///
+/// # Errors
+///
+/// Absent, empty, whitespace-only, or non-string. Empty and
+/// whitespace-only are rejected because they satisfy the type and defeat
+/// the point exactly as copying the label across would — R42 already
+/// rejects whitespace-only `description`s in the config registry for the
+/// same reason.
+///
+/// The read is **raw**, matching the posture `stdin` and `group` already
+/// document in [`lua_to_spec`]: a spec table is plain data, so a
+/// metatable cannot smuggle a purpose in through `__index`.
+fn required_purpose(table: &Table) -> mlua::Result<String> {
+    let purpose = match table.raw_get::<mlua::Value>("purpose") {
+        Ok(mlua::Value::String(value)) => value.to_str()?.to_owned(),
+        Ok(mlua::Value::Nil) => {
+            return Err(mlua::Error::external(
+                "pmacs.process.spawn: purpose is required — a short description of what \
+                 this process is DOING, e.g. purpose = \"running the project's test suite\". \
+                 It is not the label: the label identifies the process, the purpose says \
+                 what it is for.",
+            ));
+        }
+        Ok(other) => {
+            return Err(mlua::Error::external(format!(
+                "pmacs.process.spawn: purpose must be a string; got {}",
+                other.type_name()
+            )));
+        }
+        Err(error) => return Err(error),
+    };
+    if purpose.trim().is_empty() {
+        return Err(mlua::Error::external(
+            "pmacs.process.spawn: purpose must not be empty or whitespace-only",
+        ));
+    }
+    Ok(purpose)
+}
+
 fn lua_to_spec(table: &Table) -> mlua::Result<ProcessSpec> {
     let label: String = table.get("label").unwrap_or_else(|_| "unnamed".to_owned());
     let command: String = table.get("command")?;
-    // Worker identity Stage 1: required on the Rust struct, optional at
-    // this surface, falling back to the label.
-    //
-    // Requiring it here would break every existing `pmacs.process.spawn`
-    // caller, and the compiler obligation this lane is buying is on the
-    // *Rust* construction sites — the ones a future field would silently
-    // skip. A Lua caller that supplies nothing gets its own label back,
-    // which is what the caller already chose to call this work; it is
-    // less informative than a real description but it is not a
-    // fabrication, which is the bar `owner` failed (framing §3).
-    let purpose: String = table
-        .get::<Option<String>>("purpose")
-        .ok()
-        .flatten()
-        .unwrap_or_else(|| label.clone());
+    let purpose = required_purpose(table)?;
     let args: Vec<String> = table.get("args").unwrap_or_default();
     let cwd: Option<String> = table.get("cwd").ok().flatten();
     let env_table: Option<Table> = table.get("env").ok().flatten();
diff --git a/tests/compile_mode_acceptance.rs b/tests/compile_mode_acceptance.rs
index 1801641..54ecf37 100644
--- a/tests/compile_mode_acceptance.rs
+++ b/tests/compile_mode_acceptance.rs
@@ -1836,7 +1836,8 @@ fn r1f6_wrong_spec_types_error_instead_of_defaulting() {
         &s,
         r#"
         local ok, err = pcall(pmacs.process.spawn,
-            { label = "t", command = "/bin/true", stdin = true })
+            { label = "t", purpose = "type-check probe", command = "/bin/true",
+              stdin = true })
         return ok, tostring(err)
         "#,
     );
@@ -1846,7 +1847,8 @@ fn r1f6_wrong_spec_types_error_instead_of_defaulting() {
         &s,
         r#"
         local ok, err = pcall(pmacs.process.spawn,
-            { label = "t", command = "/bin/true", group = "true" })
+            { label = "t", purpose = "type-check probe", command = "/bin/true",
+              group = "true" })
         return ok, tostring(err)
         "#,
     );
@@ -2234,7 +2236,8 @@ fn r3f3_spec_fields_are_raw_reads_metatables_not_honored() {
         &s,
         r#"
         local spec = setmetatable(
-            { label = "mt", command = "/bin/sh", args = { "-c", "sleep 30" } },
+            { label = "mt", purpose = "raw-read probe", command = "/bin/sh",
+              args = { "-c", "sleep 30" } },
             { __index = function(_, k)
                 if k == "group" then return true end
                 return nil
@@ -2265,7 +2268,8 @@ fn r3f3_spec_fields_are_raw_reads_metatables_not_honored() {
         &s,
         r#"
         local spec = setmetatable(
-            { label = "mt2", command = "/bin/sh", args = { "-c", "exit 0" } },
+            { label = "mt2", purpose = "raw-read probe", command = "/bin/sh",
+              args = { "-c", "exit 0" } },
             { __index = function() error("hostile spec metatable") end })
         local ok = pcall(pmacs.process.spawn, spec)
         return ok
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/pmacs-magit/status.lua b/tests/fixtures/pmacs-magit/status.lua
index 283b9a6..59077c0 100644
--- a/tests/fixtures/pmacs-magit/status.lua
+++ b/tests/fixtures/pmacs-magit/status.lua
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ function M.run_git(args, opts)
   opts = opts or {}
   local id = pmacs.process.spawn {
     label = "git " .. (args[1] or ""),
+    -- Worker identity Stage 1: `purpose` is required. The full argument
+    -- vector, not just the subcommand the label carries -- "git log" and
+    -- "git log --oneline -20" are the same label and different work.
+    purpose = "git " .. table.concat(args, " "),
     command = "git",
     args = args,
     cwd = opts.cwd,
diff --git a/tests/m4_acceptance.rs b/tests/m4_acceptance.rs
index d182eb5..d706305 100644
--- a/tests/m4_acceptance.rs
+++ b/tests/m4_acceptance.rs
@@ -1173,6 +1173,7 @@ fn m4_4_lua_surface_drives_lifecycle() {
             r#"
             local id = pmacs.process.spawn {
                 label = "lua-hello",
+                purpose = "greeting the Lua surface end to end",
                 command = "/bin/sh",
                 args = { "-c", "printf hi-from-lua && exit 0" },
             }
diff --git a/tests/worker_identity_acceptance.rs b/tests/worker_identity_acceptance.rs
index d7bdbfb..96decfb 100644
--- a/tests/worker_identity_acceptance.rs
+++ b/tests/worker_identity_acceptance.rs
@@ -264,33 +264,84 @@ fn every_entry_shape_records_what_its_work_is() {
     pump(&mut state);
 }
 
-/// A `pmacs.process.spawn` caller that supplies no purpose keeps
-/// working, and gets its own label back rather than an empty field.
+/// **`pmacs.process.spawn` REFUSES a spec with no purpose, and spawns
+/// nothing.**
 ///
-/// The Rust struct's field is required — the compiler enforces that at
-/// every construction site. This surface is deliberately lenient,
-/// because requiring it here would break every existing caller for no
-/// coverage the compiler is not already providing.
+/// An earlier revision of this lane defaulted the field to `label` so
+/// that existing callers kept working. That preserved compatibility and
+/// delivered nothing: §9's complaint about `ProcessSpec` is precisely
+/// that `label` is "caller-supplied, unvalidated convention", so a
+/// purpose defaulting to the label hands every caller back the
+/// convention this lane exists to replace.
+///
+/// Four refusals, each asserted the same way — the call raises, the
+/// message names the field, and **the process list is unchanged**,
+/// because a validation that rejects after spawning has already done the
+/// thing it was rejecting:
+///
+///  * absent;
+///  * empty, and whitespace-only — these satisfy the type and defeat the
+///    point exactly as copying the label would (R42 rejects
+///    whitespace-only config descriptions for the same reason);
+///  * wrong type;
+///  * **metatable-provided**, which is the `stdin`/`group` raw-read
+///    posture: a spec table is plain data, so a purpose cannot be
+///    smuggled in through `__index`.
 #[test]
-fn a_process_spawned_without_a_purpose_falls_back_to_its_label() {
+fn spawning_without_a_real_purpose_is_refused_and_starts_nothing() {
     let mut state = editor();
-    exec(
-        &state,
-        r#"P = pmacs.process.spawn {
-             label = "legacy-caller",
-             command = "/bin/sh",
-             args = { "-c", "sleep 5" },
-           }"#,
-    );
-    let purpose: String = eval(
-        &state,
-        "for _, row in ipairs(pmacs.process.list()) do
-           if row.label == 'legacy-caller' then return row.purpose end
-         end
-         return '<absent>'",
-    );
-    assert_eq!(purpose, "legacy-caller");
-    exec(&state, "pmacs.process.terminate(P)");
+    let baseline: usize = eval(&state, "return #pmacs.process.list()");
+
+    for (label, spec, expected) in [
+        (
+            "absent",
+            r#"{ label = "x", command = "/bin/sh", args = { "-c", "sleep 5" } }"#,
+            "purpose is required",
+        ),
+        (
+            "empty",
+            r#"{ label = "x", purpose = "", command = "/bin/sh", args = { "-c", "sleep 5" } }"#,
+            "must not be empty",
+        ),
+        (
+            "whitespace-only",
+            r#"{ label = "x", purpose = "   ", command = "/bin/sh", args = { "-c", "sleep 5" } }"#,
+            "must not be empty",
+        ),
+        (
+            "wrong type",
+            r#"{ label = "x", purpose = 7, command = "/bin/sh", args = { "-c", "sleep 5" } }"#,
+            "purpose must be a string",
+        ),
+        (
+            "metatable-provided",
+            r#"setmetatable(
+                 { label = "x", command = "/bin/sh", args = { "-c", "sleep 5" } },
+                 { __index = function(_, k)
+                     if k == "purpose" then return "smuggled" end
+                     return nil
+                   end })"#,
+            "purpose is required",
+        ),
+    ] {
+        let (ok, err): (bool, String) = eval(
+            &state,
+            &format!(
+                "local ok, err = pcall(pmacs.process.spawn, {spec})
+                 return ok, tostring(err)"
+            ),
+        );
+        assert!(!ok, "{label}: spawn must refuse");
+        assert!(
+            err.contains(expected),
+            "{label}: the refusal must name the field and the rule; got {err:?}"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(
+            eval::<usize>(&state, "return #pmacs.process.list()"),
+            baseline,
+            "{label}: a refused spawn must start no process"
+        );
+    }
     pump(&mut state);
 }