diff --git a/scripts/check-changelog.ts b/scripts/check-changelog.ts
index b0c9cab..c8150be 100644
--- a/scripts/check-changelog.ts
+++ b/scripts/check-changelog.ts
@@ -4,8 +4,11 @@
  *
  *   bun run scripts/check-changelog.ts
  *
- * Not a test, because CI checks out shallowly and the history is not there.
+ * Not a test, because CI checks out shallowly and the history is not there,
+ * and the image build runs the suite without docs/ — so spec paths are checked
+ * here too.
  */
+import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
 import { ENTRIES, NOTES } from "../src/shared/changelog.ts";
 
 const exists = (ref: string) =>
@@ -17,6 +20,9 @@ const problems: string[] = [];
 for (const e of ENTRIES) if (!exists(e.ref)) problems.push(`entry ${e.id}: no commit ${e.ref}`);
 for (const n of NOTES) {
   for (const ref of [n.from, n.to]) if (!exists(ref)) problems.push(`note ${n.id}: no commit ${ref}`);
+  for (const path of n.specs ?? []) {
+    if (!existsSync(path)) problems.push(`note ${n.id}: no spec at ${path}`);
+  }
   if (exists(n.from) && exists(n.to) && !before(n.from, n.to)) {
     problems.push(`note ${n.id}: ${n.from} does not come before ${n.to}`);
   }
diff --git a/test/changelog.test.ts b/test/changelog.test.ts
index 85911a2..8b5bc84 100644
--- a/test/changelog.test.ts
+++ b/test/changelog.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
-import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
 import {
   compareUrl,
   ENTRIES,
@@ -31,10 +30,13 @@ describe("the changelog's content", () => {
     expect(sorted(NOTES)).toBe(true);
   });
 
-  test("every entry's note exists, and every note's specs exist on disk", () => {
+  test("every entry's note exists, and every spec path is shaped like one", () => {
     const ids = new Set(NOTES.map((n) => n.id));
     for (const e of ENTRIES) if (e.note !== undefined) expect(ids).toContain(e.note);
-    for (const n of NOTES) for (const p of n.specs ?? []) expect(existsSync(p)).toBe(true);
+    // Shape only: the image build runs this suite without docs/ (.dockerignore),
+    // so whether the file exists is scripts/check-changelog.ts's question, the
+    // same split the refs get for CI's shallow checkout.
+    for (const n of NOTES) for (const p of n.specs ?? []) expect(p).toMatch(/^docs\/[\w./-]+\.md$/);
   });
 });