diff --git a/lib/host/blog.sx b/lib/host/blog.sx
index b6397409..775bb97e 100644
--- a/lib/host/blog.sx
+++ b/lib/host/blog.sx
@@ -1,30 +1,47 @@
 ;; lib/host/blog.sx — Blog domain on the host. Posts are content-on-sx documents
-;; whose source of truth is the durable SX store (persist op-log on disk). Serving
-;; GET /<slug>/ is FULLY DYNAMIC: the handler reads the post from the store and
-;; renders it to HTML, per request — no in-memory view, no cached output. This is
-;; possible because http-listen handlers now resolve per-request IO (the
-;; cek_run_with_io kernel fix). The original strangler target (Quart blog
-;; post_detail); published posts are world-visible, so this endpoint is ANONYMOUS.
+;; whose source of truth is the durable SX store (persist op-log on disk). Full
+;; post CRUD, all dispatching to the content store per request (per-request IO):
+;;   GET    /posts        list posts (public)        -> JSON [{slug,title}]
+;;   GET    /<slug>/      read a post (public)       -> rendered HTML / 404
+;;   POST   /posts        create (guarded)           -> 201 / 400 / 409
+;;   PUT    /posts/<slug> update title+body (guarded)-> 200 / 400 / 404
+;;   DELETE /posts/<slug> delete (guarded)           -> 200 / 404
+;; Reads are anonymous (published posts are world-visible); writes run behind the
+;; auth + ACL pipeline ("edit" on "blog"), like the editor would require.
 ;;
-;; NOTE ON SPEED: content/html runs the interpreted Smalltalk-on-SX dispatch
-;; (~2s for a tiny doc) because the JIT is not installed in this serving mode AND
-;; currently miscompiles the Smalltalk evaluator's nested ASTs. Making the render
-;; fast is a JIT-compiler fix (or a Smalltalk-interpreter optimisation), tracked
-;; separately — it is NOT solved by caching the output.
+;; A post is two blocks under stream "content:<slug>": a heading (id "<slug>-h")
+;; and a body paragraph (id "<slug>-body"). create appends insert ops, update
+;; appends op-updates to those ids, delete truncates the stream. Materialising +
+;; rendering happens per request (interpreted Smalltalk render is ~2s — a JIT
+;; concern, tracked separately, NOT solved by caching).
 ;; Depends on lib/content/* (+ Smalltalk + persist preloads) + lib/dream/* +
-;; lib/host/handler.sx.
+;; lib/host/{handler,middleware}.sx.
 
 ;; Register content classes + render methods (idempotent); called at load below.
 (define host/blog-bootstrap!
   (fn () (begin (st-bootstrap-classes!) (content/bootstrap!))))
 
-;; ── store (durable source of truth, injectable) ─────────────────────
+;; ── store (durable source of truth, injectable) + logical clock ─────
 (define host/blog-store (persist/open))
 (define host/blog-use-store! (fn (b) (set! host/blog-store b)))
+(define host/blog-clock 0)
+(define host/blog-tick! (fn () (begin (set! host/blog-clock (+ host/blog-clock 1)) host/blog-clock)))
 
-;; ── publish + lookup (per-request, against the store) ───────────────
-;; Publish a simple post (title heading + body paragraph): append its insert ops
-;; to the durable store. `at` is a caller-supplied logical timestamp.
+;; content streams are keyed "content:<slug>"; recover the slug ("content:" = 8).
+(define host/blog--stream-slug
+  (fn (stream) (if (starts-with? stream "content:") (substr stream 8) nil)))
+
+;; ── post helpers (per-request, against the store) ───────────────────
+(define host/blog-exists?
+  (fn (slug) (> (content/count (content/head host/blog-store slug)) 0)))
+
+;; First heading's text, else a placeholder.
+(define host/blog-title
+  (fn (doc)
+    (let ((hs (filter (fn (b) (= (blk-type b) "heading")) (content/blocks doc))))
+      (if (> (len hs) 0) (str (blk-get (first hs) "text")) "(untitled)"))))
+
+;; Create: append the post's insert ops to its stream.
 (define host/blog-publish!
   (fn (slug title body at)
     (let ((hid (str slug "-h")) (tid (str slug "-body")))
@@ -34,21 +51,49 @@
           (op-insert (mk-text tid body) hid))
         at))))
 
-;; Idempotent seed: publish only if the slug has no content yet (so a restart
-;; replaying serve.sh doesn't append duplicate blocks to a persisted post).
+;; Update: append op-updates to the post's heading + body blocks.
+(define host/blog-update!
+  (fn (slug title body at)
+    (let ((hid (str slug "-h")) (tid (str slug "-body")))
+      (content/commit-all! host/blog-store slug
+        (list (op-update hid "text" title) (op-update tid "text" body))
+        at))))
+
+;; Delete: truncate the post's stream (clears all content -> lookup nil -> 404).
+(define host/blog-delete!
+  (fn (slug)
+    (let ((stream (content/-stream slug)))
+      (persist/truncate host/blog-store stream (persist/last-seq host/blog-store stream)))))
+
+;; Idempotent seed: publish only if the slug has no content yet.
 (define host/blog-seed!
   (fn (slug title body at)
     (when (= (content/count (content/head host/blog-store slug)) 0)
       (host/blog-publish! slug title body at))))
 
 ;; Materialise the post from the store by replaying its op-log; nil if no content.
-;; Reads the durable store via per-request IO (works inside the handler thread).
 (define host/blog-lookup
   (fn (slug)
     (let ((doc (content/head host/blog-store slug)))
       (if (> (content/count doc) 0) doc nil))))
 
-;; ── handler: GET /<slug>/ -> rendered HTML (200) or 404 ─────────────
+;; All posts with content, as [{:slug :title}].
+(define host/blog-list
+  (fn ()
+    (reduce
+      (fn (acc stream)
+        (let ((slug (host/blog--stream-slug stream)))
+          (if slug
+            (let ((doc (content/head host/blog-store slug)))
+              (if (> (content/count doc) 0)
+                (append acc (list {:slug slug :title (host/blog-title doc)}))
+                acc))
+            acc)))
+      (list)
+      (persist/backend-streams host/blog-store))))
+
+;; ── handlers ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+;; GET /<slug>/ -> rendered HTML (200) or 404.
 (define host/blog-post
   (fn (req)
     (let ((slug (dream-param req "slug")))
@@ -59,10 +104,74 @@
             (str "<!doctype html><title>Not found</title>"
               "<h1>404</h1><p>No published post: " slug "</p>")))))))
 
-;; Anonymous read route. MUST be mounted LAST: the :slug pattern matches any
-;; single-segment path, so domain routes (/feed, /health) take precedence.
+;; GET /posts -> JSON list of posts.
+(define host/blog-index (fn (req) (host/ok (host/blog-list))))
+
+;; POST /posts -> create from JSON {slug,title,body}. 409 if it exists.
+(define host/blog-create
+  (fn (req)
+    (let ((p (dream-json-body req)))
+      (if (= (type-of p) "dict")
+        (let ((slug (get p :slug)) (title (get p :title)) (body (get p :body)))
+          (if (and slug title body)
+            (if (host/blog-exists? slug)
+              (host/error 409 "post already exists")
+              (begin
+                (host/blog-publish! slug title body (host/blog-tick!))
+                (host/ok-status 201 {:slug slug :title title})))
+            (host/error 400 "slug, title, body required")))
+        (host/error 400 "invalid payload")))))
+
+;; PUT /posts/<slug> -> update title+body from JSON {title,body}. 404 if absent.
+(define host/blog-update-handler
+  (fn (req)
+    (let ((slug (dream-param req "slug")) (p (dream-json-body req)))
+      (if (= (type-of p) "dict")
+        (if (host/blog-exists? slug)
+          (let ((title (get p :title)) (body (get p :body)))
+            (if (and title body)
+              (begin
+                (host/blog-update! slug title body (host/blog-tick!))
+                (host/ok {:slug slug :title title :updated true}))
+              (host/error 400 "title, body required")))
+          (host/error 404 "no such post"))
+        (host/error 400 "invalid payload")))))
+
+;; DELETE /posts/<slug> -> delete. 404 if absent.
+(define host/blog-delete-handler
+  (fn (req)
+    (let ((slug (dream-param req "slug")))
+      (if (host/blog-exists? slug)
+        (begin (host/blog-delete! slug) (host/ok {:slug slug :deleted true}))
+        (host/error 404 "no such post")))))
+
+;; ── routes ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+;; Public reads: /posts (list) BEFORE /:slug (the catch-all), so a literal
+;; /posts isn't captured as a slug. MUST be mounted LAST in the app (the :slug
+;; pattern matches any single-segment path, so domain routes take precedence).
 (define host/blog-routes
-  (list (dream-get "/:slug" host/blog-post)))
+  (list
+    (dream-get "/posts" host/blog-index)
+    (dream-get "/:slug" host/blog-post)))
+
+;; Guarded writes: create/update/delete behind auth + ACL ("edit","blog").
+;; resolve : token -> principal | nil (injected auth policy, like the feed writes).
+;; NB: the wrapper is named host/blog--protect, NOT `guard` — `guard` is a reserved
+;; CEK special form and a local binding of that name is shadowed by it.
+(define host/blog--protect
+  (fn (resolve h)
+    (host/pipeline
+      (list
+        host/wrap-errors
+        (host/require-auth resolve)
+        (host/require-permission "edit" (fn (req) "blog")))
+      h)))
+(define host/blog-write-routes
+  (fn (resolve)
+    (list
+      (dream-post "/posts" (host/blog--protect resolve host/blog-create))
+      (dream-put "/posts/:slug" (host/blog--protect resolve host/blog-update-handler))
+      (dream-delete "/posts/:slug" (host/blog--protect resolve host/blog-delete-handler)))))
 
 ;; Self-bootstrap at load (content modules are loaded before this one).
 (host/blog-bootstrap!)
diff --git a/lib/host/conformance.sh b/lib/host/conformance.sh
index 7326cd52..9a13159c 100755
--- a/lib/host/conformance.sh
+++ b/lib/host/conformance.sh
@@ -117,6 +117,17 @@ emit_eval () { echo "(epoch $EPOCH)"; echo "(eval \"$1\")"; EPOCH=$((EPOCH+1));
 
 OUTPUT=$(timeout 300 "$SX_SERVER" < "$TMPFILE" 2>&1 || true)
 
+# Fail LOUD on any load/eval error. A test file that errors mid-load silently
+# truncates its suite — the runner returns only the tests that ran before the
+# error, so the suite reports a false green (e.g. "blog 13 passed, 0 failed"
+# when 16 CRUD tests never ran). Catch the error markers and abort before the
+# pass/fail tally can hide them.
+if echo "$OUTPUT" | grep -qE 'Undefined symbol|Unhandled exception|\[load\][^|]*[Ee]rror|expected list, got|: error '; then
+  echo "FAIL: load/eval error detected — a suite may be silently truncated:" >&2
+  echo "$OUTPUT" | grep -nE 'Undefined symbol|Unhandled exception|\[load\]|expected list, got|: error ' | head -20 >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 TOTAL_PASS=0
 TOTAL_FAIL=0
 FAILED_SUITES=()
diff --git a/lib/host/tests/blog.sx b/lib/host/tests/blog.sx
index 7c934d77..91531ef8 100644
--- a/lib/host/tests/blog.sx
+++ b/lib/host/tests/blog.sx
@@ -82,6 +82,85 @@
   (contains? (dream-resp-body (host-bl-app (host-bl-req "/feed"))) "\"ok\":true")
   true)
 
+;; ── CRUD: list / create / update / delete (writes auth+ACL guarded) ─
+(acl/load! (list (acl-grant "editor" "edit" "blog")))
+(define host-bl-resolve
+  (fn (tok) (cond ((= tok "good") "editor") ((= tok "weak") "reader") (true nil))))
+(define host-bl-wapp
+  (host/make-app (list (host/blog-write-routes host-bl-resolve) host/blog-routes)))
+(define host-bl-send
+  (fn (method target auth body)
+    (dream-request method target (if auth {:authorization auth} {}) body)))
+
+;; start from a clean store
+(host/blog-use-store! (persist/open))
+
+;; list empty
+(host-bl-test "list empty -> data:[]"
+  (contains? (dream-resp-body (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "GET" "/posts" nil ""))) "\"data\":[]")
+  true)
+
+;; create requires auth
+(host-bl-test "create no auth -> 401"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "POST" "/posts" nil "{}")))
+  401)
+(host-bl-test "create authed-unpermitted -> 403"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "POST" "/posts" "Bearer weak"
+    "{\"slug\":\"hello\",\"title\":\"Hi\",\"body\":\"B\"}")))
+  403)
+;; create permitted -> 201
+(host-bl-test "create -> 201"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "POST" "/posts" "Bearer good"
+    "{\"slug\":\"hello\",\"title\":\"Hello World\",\"body\":\"First post.\"}")))
+  201)
+;; created post renders at GET /<slug>/
+(host-bl-test "created post reads back as HTML"
+  (contains? (dream-resp-body (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "GET" "/hello/" nil ""))) "<h1>Hello World</h1>")
+  true)
+;; appears in the list
+(host-bl-test "list shows created post"
+  (contains? (dream-resp-body (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "GET" "/posts" nil ""))) "Hello World")
+  true)
+;; create duplicate -> 409
+(host-bl-test "create duplicate -> 409"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "POST" "/posts" "Bearer good"
+    "{\"slug\":\"hello\",\"title\":\"X\",\"body\":\"Y\"}")))
+  409)
+;; missing fields -> 400
+(host-bl-test "create missing fields -> 400"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "POST" "/posts" "Bearer good" "{\"slug\":\"x\"}")))
+  400)
+
+;; update -> 200 and content changes
+(host-bl-test "update -> 200"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "PUT" "/posts/hello" "Bearer good"
+    "{\"title\":\"Edited Title\",\"body\":\"Edited body.\"}")))
+  200)
+(host-bl-test "update changed the rendered post"
+  (contains? (dream-resp-body (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "GET" "/hello/" nil ""))) "<h1>Edited Title</h1>")
+  true)
+(host-bl-test "update missing post -> 404"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "PUT" "/posts/ghost" "Bearer good"
+    "{\"title\":\"T\",\"body\":\"B\"}")))
+  404)
+(host-bl-test "update no auth -> 401"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "PUT" "/posts/hello" nil "{}")))
+  401)
+
+;; delete -> 200, then gone (404) and absent from list
+(host-bl-test "delete -> 200"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "DELETE" "/posts/hello" "Bearer good" "")))
+  200)
+(host-bl-test "deleted post -> 404"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "GET" "/hello/" nil "")))
+  404)
+(host-bl-test "deleted post gone from list"
+  (contains? (dream-resp-body (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "GET" "/posts" nil ""))) "hello")
+  false)
+(host-bl-test "delete missing -> 404"
+  (dream-status (host-bl-wapp (host-bl-send "DELETE" "/posts/ghost" "Bearer good" "")))
+  404)
+
 (define
   host-bl-tests-run!
   (fn
diff --git a/plans/host-on-sx.md b/plans/host-on-sx.md
index 25ccbc5d..17f1734b 100644
--- a/plans/host-on-sx.md
+++ b/plans/host-on-sx.md
@@ -288,6 +288,32 @@ lib/host/sxtp.sx                        subsystem APIs (feed/search/commerce/…
   (docker stack + Caddy) remains. NEXT: golden harness, internal-HMAC, then promote
   into the stack behind a fresh subdomain.
 
+## SX gotchas + how this loop guards against them
+
+The SX dev experience has real footguns. Most are statically detectable; the
+tools exist (`sx_validate`, `deps-check`, `sx_format_check`) but must be *gated*.
+Hit/relevant here:
+- **Reserved-name shadowing** — `guard`/`bind`/`conj`/`disj` are special forms or
+  host primitives; a local binding of that name is silently shadowed by the form.
+  (`(let ((guard ...)))` made `(guard handler)` invoke the R7RS `guard` special
+  form → `first: expected list`.) Fix: namespace-prefix every helper
+  (`host/blog--protect`, never `guard`).
+- **Silent test truncation** — a test file that errors mid-load returns only the
+  tests that ran before the error, reporting a FALSE GREEN ("blog 13 passed, 0
+  failed" while 16 CRUD tests never ran). **GUARDED**: `conformance.sh` now greps
+  the run output for `Undefined symbol` / `Unhandled exception` / `expected list,
+  got` / `[load] … error` and aborts loudly before the tally can hide it.
+- **`let` is parallel** (bindings can't see each other), **bodies need `(do …)`**
+  (only the last expr evaluates), **`append!` no-ops on map/rest-derived lists**,
+  **parsed keyword tokens ≠ string literals**. These produce wrong *results*, so
+  test coverage catches them as red (not silent) — provided the runner is honest,
+  which the truncation guard now ensures.
+
+Prevention ladder: parse (`sx_validate` after every edit) → unresolved/shadowed
+symbols (`deps-check`, candidate pre-commit gate) → fail-loud runner (done) →
+behavioural tests. A `deps-check`-style "binding shadows a special form" lint
+would catch the reserved-name class before runtime — a worthwhile follow-up.
+
 ## Blockers
 
 - **Live wiring to the native OCaml HTTP server** (Phase 3/4): the prod server in