diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d4c7b49..6cdc5a4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -128,6 +128,10 @@ cache policy, content type, and bytes. That content address makes concurrent
 writes identical even though Garage v2.2.0 has no conditional destination
 write. An identical retry converges; a changed object, missing digest metadata,
 wrong address, or nested policy under that immutable prefix fails publication.
+Every immutable target is validated and published before mutable objects change.
+Mutable default and override partitions receive their final cache policy before
+the matching prefix-scoped stale deletion, so publication never exposes a
+provisional cache policy or a pointer to a missing immutable target.
 
 Artifact input directories must be pairwise disjoint after filesystem
 resolution. Publication stops before build or upload if one contains another or
diff --git a/tests/test_contract.py b/tests/test_contract.py
index ee45428..e9be6e9 100644
--- a/tests/test_contract.py
+++ b/tests/test_contract.py
@@ -417,6 +417,29 @@ class PublishingTests(unittest.TestCase):
                 immutable_publish.call_args.args[2]["cache_control"],
             )
 
+    def test_immutable_failure_stops_before_mutable_publication(self):
+        cfg = normalize_site_config(fixture("split-site.yaml"), "baseline.fritzlab.net")
+        artifact = next(item for item in cfg["artifacts"] if item["name"] == "distributions")
+        route = next(item for item in cfg["routes"] if item["artifact"] == "distributions")
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp:
+            root = Path(tmp)
+            html = root / artifact["build_dir"]
+            (html / "releases").mkdir(parents=True)
+            (html / "channels").mkdir()
+            (html / "releases" / "1.0.js").write_text("release")
+            (html / "channels" / "stable.json").write_text("channel")
+
+            with patch.dict(os.environ, {
+                "DIST_S3_ACCESS_KEY": "dist-key", "DIST_S3_SECRET_KEY": "dist-secret"
+            }, clear=False), patch.object(
+                deploy, "publish_immutable_rule", side_effect=RuntimeError("immutable failed")
+            ), patch.object(deploy, "run") as mutable_run, self.assertRaisesRegex(
+                RuntimeError, "immutable failed"
+            ):
+                deploy.s3_sync(artifact, route, root)
+
+            mutable_run.assert_not_called()
+
 
     def test_absent_artifact_is_detected_before_publish(self):
         cfg = normalize_site_config(fixture("split-site.yaml"), "baseline.fritzlab.net")