diff --git a/test/browser/browser_test.go b/test/browser/browser_test.go
index b2b0b56..efc62d9 100644
--- a/test/browser/browser_test.go
+++ b/test/browser/browser_test.go
@@ -192,3 +192,21 @@ func testdataDir(t *testing.T) string {
 func specSrcDir(t *testing.T) string {
 	return filepath.Join(repoRoot(t), "pkg", "spec", "src")
 }
+
+// TestBrowserUndefinedExtractorStaysUndefined drives the four layers of the
+// undefined reading through one run: the page wraps each reading in a {value}
+// envelope, the driver unwraps an absent value to an empty payload, the runner
+// checks the page reported one reading per extractor, and the verifier decodes
+// the empty payload as undefined. Each layer has its own unit test; only a run
+// proves they compose. Written straight into the map instead, an undefined
+// reading lost its whole index to JSON.stringify and that extractor silently
+// kept goja's dump-derived value while its neighbours held the page's.
+func TestBrowserUndefinedExtractorStaysUndefined(t *testing.T) {
+	violations := runFixture(t, "undefined-extractor")
+	if slices.Contains(violations, "undefinedStaysUndefined") {
+		t.Error("a reading the page could not take did not reach the spec as undefined")
+	}
+	if !slices.Contains(violations, "counterNeverMoves") {
+		t.Fatalf("nothing was ever tapped, so the property above held vacuously; violations=%v", violations)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/test/browser/testdata/undefined-extractor/index.html b/test/browser/testdata/undefined-extractor/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4df2a39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/browser/testdata/undefined-extractor/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+<!doctype html>
+<html>
+  <body>
+    <!-- One control and one counter. The spec's other two extractors look for
+         ids that are not here, which is the shape a route-scoped extractor has
+         on every step it is off its own screen. -->
+    <div id="app">
+      <button id="go" style="width:200px;height:80px">go</button>
+      <div id="count">0</div>
+    </div>
+    <script>
+      let taps = 0;
+      document.getElementById("go").addEventListener("click", function () {
+        document.getElementById("count").textContent = String(++taps);
+      });
+    </script>
+  </body>
+</html>
diff --git a/test/browser/testdata/undefined-extractor/spec.ts b/test/browser/testdata/undefined-extractor/spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf7fb6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/browser/testdata/undefined-extractor/spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+import { always, extract, taps } from "@sanderling/spec";
+
+// Two extractors that resolve nothing, the shape every route-scoped extractor
+// has on the steps it is off its own screen (folio has nine of them). JSON has
+// no undefined, so these are what the {value} envelope exists for.
+const absent = extract((s) => s.ax.find({ id: "nothing-is-ever-here" })).named("absent");
+const absentText = extract((s) => s.ax.find({ id: "missing" })?.text).named("absentText");
+
+const bumps = extract((s) => {
+  const el = s.ax.find({ id: "count" });
+  return el ? parseInt(el.text, 10) || 0 : 0;
+}).named("bumps");
+
+// A reading the page could not take must arrive as undefined, not as null and
+// not as goja's reading of the dump. This property is what a spec sees.
+const undefinedStaysUndefined = always(
+  () => absent.current === undefined && absentText.current === undefined,
+);
+
+// The run has to actually be doing something, or the property above holds for
+// the wrong reason.
+const counterNeverMoves = always(() => bumps.current === 0);
+
+export const properties = { undefinedStaysUndefined, counterNeverMoves };
+
+export const actionsRoot = taps;