diff --git a/scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs b/scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs
index bbc765554..0d736d14e 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs
+++ b/scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ import { defaultRedisPipeline } from './_upstash-pipeline.mjs';
  *   topicGroupingEnabled: boolean,
  *   topicThreshold: number,
  *   invalidModeRaw: string | null,
+ *   invalidClusteringRaw: string | null,
  * }}
  */
 export function readOrchestratorConfig(env = process.env) {
@@ -82,16 +83,30 @@ export function readOrchestratorConfig(env = process.env) {
     invalidModeRaw = modeRaw;
   }
 
-  // DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING = 'single' (default) | 'complete'.
-  // Single-link chains wire variants that share a strong
-  // intermediate headline (calibrated F1 0.73 vs complete-link 0.53
-  // on real brief output). Flip to 'complete' for instant kill
-  // switch if single-link ever over-merges in production.
+  // DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING = 'single' (default when unset) | 'complete'.
+  // Single-link chains wire variants that share a strong intermediate
+  // headline (calibrated F1 0.73 vs complete-link 0.53 on real brief
+  // output). 'complete' is the documented kill switch for when single-
+  // link over-merges in production.
+  //
+  // Typo handling mirrors the MODE branch above: an unrecognised value
+  // falls to 'complete' (the SAFE / conservative algorithm), not back
+  // to 'single'. Rationale: if an operator is typing
+  // `DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING=complet` during an over-merge incident,
+  // silently sticking with the aggressive merger defeats the kill
+  // switch. The invalidClusteringRaw warn surfaces the typo so it's
+  // fixed, but the fail-closed default protects the cron meanwhile.
   const clusteringRaw = (env.DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING ?? '').toLowerCase();
-  const clustering =
-    clusteringRaw === 'complete' ? 'complete'
-    : clusteringRaw === 'single' || clusteringRaw === '' ? 'single'
-    : 'single';
+  let clustering;
+  let invalidClusteringRaw = null;
+  if (clusteringRaw === '' || clusteringRaw === 'single') {
+    clustering = 'single';
+  } else if (clusteringRaw === 'complete') {
+    clustering = 'complete';
+  } else {
+    clustering = 'complete';
+    invalidClusteringRaw = clusteringRaw;
+  }
 
   const cosineRaw = Number.parseFloat(env.DIGEST_DEDUP_COSINE_THRESHOLD ?? '');
   const cosineThreshold =
@@ -123,6 +138,7 @@ export function readOrchestratorConfig(env = process.env) {
     topicGroupingEnabled,
     topicThreshold,
     invalidModeRaw,
+    invalidClusteringRaw,
   };
 }
 
@@ -160,6 +176,12 @@ export async function deduplicateStories(stories, deps = {}) {
         'falling back to jaccard (safe rollback path). Valid values: embed | jaccard.',
     );
   }
+  if (cfg.invalidClusteringRaw !== null) {
+    warn(
+      `[digest] dedup unrecognised DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING=${cfg.invalidClusteringRaw} — ` +
+        'falling back to complete-link (safe / conservative). Valid values: single | complete.',
+    );
+  }
 
   if (!Array.isArray(stories) || stories.length === 0) {
     return { reps: [], embeddingByHash: new Map(), logSummary: '' };
diff --git a/tests/brief-dedup-embedding.test.mjs b/tests/brief-dedup-embedding.test.mjs
index fc65bb6f3..fb8a6d7be 100644
--- a/tests/brief-dedup-embedding.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/brief-dedup-embedding.test.mjs
@@ -685,10 +685,52 @@ describe('readOrchestratorConfig — DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING', () => {
     const cfg = readOrchestratorConfig({ DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: 'complete' });
     assert.equal(cfg.clustering, 'complete');
   });
-  it('unrecognised values fall back to single (default, safe)', async () => {
+  it('unrecognised values fall back to COMPLETE (fail-closed kill switch), surfaces invalidClusteringRaw', async () => {
+    // Mirrors the MODE typo contract: a typo like CLUSTERING=complet
+    // during an over-merge incident must NOT silently stick with the
+    // aggressive 'single' merger — that defeats the kill switch. Fall
+    // to the SAFE conservative algorithm ('complete') and surface the
+    // raw value so the typo is visible in logs.
     const { readOrchestratorConfig } = await import('../scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs');
-    const cfg = readOrchestratorConfig({ DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: 'average' });
-    assert.equal(cfg.clustering, 'single');
+    for (const raw of ['average', 'complet', 'SINGLE ', 'xyz']) {
+      const cfg = readOrchestratorConfig({ DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: raw });
+      assert.equal(cfg.clustering, 'complete', `raw=${JSON.stringify(raw)} should fall to complete`);
+      assert.equal(cfg.invalidClusteringRaw, raw.toLowerCase(), `raw=${JSON.stringify(raw)} should surface as invalidClusteringRaw`);
+    }
+  });
+  it('case-insensitive on valid values (single/SINGLE/Complete all work)', async () => {
+    const { readOrchestratorConfig } = await import('../scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs');
+    assert.equal(readOrchestratorConfig({ DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: 'SINGLE' }).clustering, 'single');
+    assert.equal(readOrchestratorConfig({ DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: 'Complete' }).clustering, 'complete');
+    assert.equal(readOrchestratorConfig({ DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: 'complete' }).invalidClusteringRaw, null);
+  });
+  it('explicit "single" and unset produce invalidClusteringRaw=null', async () => {
+    const { readOrchestratorConfig } = await import('../scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs');
+    for (const env of [{}, { DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: 'single' }, { DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: '' }]) {
+      const cfg = readOrchestratorConfig(env);
+      assert.equal(cfg.clustering, 'single');
+      assert.equal(cfg.invalidClusteringRaw, null);
+    }
+  });
+  it('explicit "complete" produces invalidClusteringRaw=null', async () => {
+    const { readOrchestratorConfig } = await import('../scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs');
+    const cfg = readOrchestratorConfig({ DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: 'complete' });
+    assert.equal(cfg.clustering, 'complete');
+    assert.equal(cfg.invalidClusteringRaw, null);
+  });
+  it('deduplicateStories emits warn line on CLUSTERING typo', async () => {
+    const { deduplicateStories } = await import('../scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs');
+    const warns = [];
+    await deduplicateStories([], {
+      env: { DIGEST_DEDUP_MODE: 'jaccard', DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING: 'complet' },
+      warn: (line) => warns.push(line),
+    });
+    // Even the jaccard-kill-switch path must surface the CLUSTERING typo
+    // since the operator intent (conservative path) is valid in both modes.
+    assert.ok(
+      warns.some((w) => /DIGEST_DEDUP_CLUSTERING=complet/.test(w) && /complete-link/.test(w)),
+      `expected typo warn; got: ${JSON.stringify(warns)}`,
+    );
   });
   it('structured logSummary includes clustering=<algo>', async () => {
     const { deduplicateStories } = await import('../scripts/lib/brief-dedup.mjs');