diff --git a/cli/lib/cross-store.ts b/cli/lib/cross-store.ts
index af8e504..c35043f 100644
--- a/cli/lib/cross-store.ts
+++ b/cli/lib/cross-store.ts
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ export function textMentions(text: string, o: { store: CrossStore; locale: strin
     const add = (term: string): void => { out.push({ store: o.store, locale: o.locale, field: o.field, line: i + 1, term, text: line.slice(0, 200), fix: fixFor(o.store, o.field) }); };
     const tag = OTHER_TAG[o.store].exec(line);
     if (tag) add(`[${tag[1]}]`);
-    for (const { term, re } of COMPILED[o.store]) {
+    for (const { re } of COMPILED[o.store]) {
       re.lastIndex = 0;
       for (let m = re.exec(line); m; m = re.exec(line)) {
         const s = m.index, e = s + m[0].length;
diff --git a/tools/release.ts b/tools/release.ts
index 41b7dc3..8a3d884 100644
--- a/tools/release.ts
+++ b/tools/release.ts
@@ -291,6 +291,10 @@ async function main(): Promise<void> {
     const t = await mainTests();
     if (t.state === 'red') say(`WARNING: background tests are red on ${t.sha.slice(0, 10)} (${t.failed.join(', ')}): ${t.run}; releasing anyway, fix it in the next patch`);
   } catch (e) { say(`background tests: not read (${(e as Error).message.slice(0, 120)})`); }
+  // the desktop's own typecheck (stricter: unused locals) runs in tauri's beforeBuildCommand: catch it before the tag
+  // (0.8.14's Mac build stopped on an unused variable after the tag was pushed)
+  { const t = spawnSync('bunx', ['tsc', '--noEmit', '-p', 'apps/desktop'], { cwd: ROOT, encoding: 'utf8', timeout: 180_000 });
+    if (t.status !== 0) fail(`the desktop typecheck fails (the Mac build would stop on it):\n${(t.stdout + t.stderr).trim().split('\n').slice(0, 8).join('\n')}`); }
   // the dry run catches what the bump would refuse
   if (!rehearsal && !resume) { try { cutChangelog(readFileSync(join(ROOT, 'CHANGELOG.md'), 'utf8'), version, '2000-01-01'); } catch (e) { fail((e as Error).message); } }
   if (!yes) { console.log('\ndry run: nothing changed (--yes to release)'); return; }
@@ -431,6 +435,9 @@ async function npmRelease(version: string, token: string): Promise<void> {
   const who = npmRun(['whoami'], token);
   if (who.code !== 0) fail(`npm token refused (npm whoami): ${who.out.trim().split('\n').slice(-2).join(' ')}; make a new one: bun tools/release.ts npm-token`);
   const pub = npmRun(['publish'], token);
+  // npm stages a token publish for the maintainer's approval on npmjs.com (409 "previously staged version" on a retry):
+  // nothing to wait for here, the owner approves it once
+  if (/staged/i.test(pub.out)) { say(`npm: ${version} is staged and waits for the maintainer's approval: https://www.npmjs.com/package/storebound (approve it there; then deprecate runs with: bun tools/release.ts npm-publish)`); return; }
   if (pub.code !== 0 && !/previously published|cannot publish over/i.test(pub.out)) fail(`npm publish failed: ${pub.out.trim().split('\n').slice(-4).join(' ')}`);
   // the registry lags a little after a publish; wait (timeout, heartbeat) until it serves the version as latest
   const end = Date.now() + 5 * 60_000;