diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 3e1d5ad1..ef0bc59d 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4590,6 +4590,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "futures-util",
  "hive-jobq",
  "hive-jobq-wire",
+ "hive-types",
  "reqwest 0.13.1",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
diff --git a/swarm-controller/Cargo.toml b/swarm-controller/Cargo.toml
index 69e94710..aad95ae4 100644
--- a/swarm-controller/Cargo.toml
+++ b/swarm-controller/Cargo.toml
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@ futures-util.workspace = true
 # same shape `hive-c0re/src/job_queue/scheduler.rs` uses over its own graph.
 hive-jobq.workspace = true
 hive-jobq-wire.workspace = true
+# Validates `POST /api/agents`' `name` before it becomes `agent`/`repo`
+# everywhere downstream — see `create_agent`'s doc comment for why this is
+# defense-in-depth, not the only gate (per an argus review finding).
+hive-types.workspace = true
 # `auth`'s bridge client — same crate the bridge itself uses to define the
 # request/response shape, so the two ends cannot drift. `forge.rs` also
 # uses this directly for `StatusCode` in its error-classification helpers.
diff --git a/swarm-controller/src/main.rs b/swarm-controller/src/main.rs
index 5903da83..26aa08fd 100644
--- a/swarm-controller/src/main.rs
+++ b/swarm-controller/src/main.rs
@@ -508,12 +508,21 @@ struct CreateAgentResponse {
 /// `SwarmNodeKind` variants have: each node kind's `dead_code` bound is
 /// the whole reason the executor arm and this endpoint had to land in the
 /// same change as the variant, not as a follow-up.
+///
+/// `name` is validated with [`hive_types::Ident::parse`] before it becomes
+/// `agent`/`repo` anywhere downstream — not the *only* gate (`CreateIdentity`
+/// runs first and validates server-side too), but the upstream check is a
+/// few hops removed from where an unvalidated name would do damage
+/// (`forge::seed_agent_config` interpolates `agent` into a nix comment
+/// line). Flagged in review as safe today but fragile if a second caller
+/// of these nodes ever appears; validating here closes it locally.
 #[utoipa::path(
     post,
     path = "/api/agents",
     request_body = CreateAgentRequest,
     responses(
         (status = 200, description = "job chain queued", body = CreateAgentResponse),
+        (status = 400, description = "`name` is not a valid identifier", body = String),
         (status = 500, description = "the job chain could not be queued", body = String),
     ),
     tag = "agents"
@@ -522,12 +531,15 @@ async fn create_agent(
     State(state): State<AppState>,
     Json(req): Json<CreateAgentRequest>,
 ) -> Result<Json<CreateAgentResponse>, (axum::http::StatusCode, String)> {
+    let agent = hive_types::Ident::parse(&req.name)
+        .map_err(|reason| (axum::http::StatusCode::BAD_REQUEST, reason.to_owned()))?
+        .into_string();
+    let repo = agent.clone();
+
     let mut sched = state
         .jobq
         .lock()
         .unwrap_or_else(std::sync::PoisonError::into_inner);
-    let agent = req.name;
-    let repo = agent.clone();
     let ids = sched
         .insert_job(None, |b| {
             let create_identity = b.node(SwarmNodeKind::CreateIdentity {