diff --git a/src/artifacts/apple/AppleAssetCatalogAnalysis.test.ts b/src/artifacts/apple/AppleAssetCatalogAnalysis.test.ts
index eae3a410e..cda0cb5fc 100644
--- a/src/artifacts/apple/AppleAssetCatalogAnalysis.test.ts
+++ b/src/artifacts/apple/AppleAssetCatalogAnalysis.test.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
-import { mkdir, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { mkdir, symlink, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 
 import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 
 import { createTestTempDirectory } from "../../../tests/fixtures/temporaryDirectory.js";
+import { ArtifactReaderFailure } from "../ArtifactReader.js";
 import {
   analyzeAppleAssetCatalogs,
   collectInterfaceBuilderResourceKeys,
@@ -68,7 +69,49 @@ describe("Apple asset catalog application workflow", () => {
       truncated: false,
     });
     expect(result.limitations).toContain(
-      "No compiled Assets.car catalog was found in the app bundle; any resource keys are reported as unmatched.",
+      "No compiled Assets.car catalog was found among the app bundle's regular files (symlinks are not followed); any resource keys are reported as unmatched.",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("does not report absence when the only catalog entry is a symlink", async () => {
+    const bundle = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-asset-catalog-link-");
+    const resources = join(bundle, "Contents", "Resources");
+    await mkdir(resources, { recursive: true });
+    await writeFile(join(bundle, "outside.car"), "catalog");
+    await symlink("../../outside.car", join(resources, "Assets.car"));
+    const rejected = await analyzeAppleAssetCatalogs({
+      bundlePath: bundle,
+      targetSha256: "a".repeat(64),
+      runAssetUtil: () => Promise.resolve("[]"),
+    }).catch((cause: unknown) => cause);
+    expect(rejected).toBeInstanceOf(ArtifactReaderFailure);
+    expect(rejected).toMatchObject({
+      reason: "path",
+      message: expect.stringContaining(
+        "Contents/Resources/Assets.car (symlink)",
+      ),
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("discloses skipped catalog entries beside inspected catalogs", async () => {
+    const bundle = await createTestTempDirectory("rea-asset-catalog-mixed-");
+    const resources = join(bundle, "Contents", "Resources");
+    await mkdir(join(resources, "Nested"), { recursive: true });
+    await writeFile(join(resources, "Assets.car"), "catalog");
+    await symlink("../Assets.car", join(resources, "Nested", "Assets.car"));
+    const result = await analyzeAppleAssetCatalogs({
+      bundlePath: bundle,
+      targetSha256: "a".repeat(64),
+      runAssetUtil: () => Promise.resolve("[]"),
+    });
+    expect(result.catalogs.map(({ path }) => path)).toEqual([
+      "Contents/Resources/Assets.car",
+    ]);
+    expect(result.limitations).toContainEqual(
+      expect.stringContaining("Contents/Resources/Nested/Assets.car (symlink)"),
+    );
+    expect(result.limitations).not.toContainEqual(
+      expect.stringContaining("No compiled Assets.car catalog"),
     );
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/artifacts/apple/AppleAssetCatalogAnalysis.ts b/src/artifacts/apple/AppleAssetCatalogAnalysis.ts
index 48833764e..65de9ab25 100644
--- a/src/artifacts/apple/AppleAssetCatalogAnalysis.ts
+++ b/src/artifacts/apple/AppleAssetCatalogAnalysis.ts
@@ -48,10 +48,15 @@ export const analyzeAppleAssetCatalogs = async (input: {
     sha256: string;
     records: ReturnType<typeof parseAppleAssetCatalogRecords>;
   }[] = [];
+  const uninspected: string[] = [];
   let totalMetadataBytes = 0;
   try {
     for await (const entry of reader.entries(input.signal)) {
-      if (entry.kind !== "file" || !entry.path.endsWith("Assets.car")) continue;
+      if (!entry.path.endsWith("Assets.car")) continue;
+      if (entry.kind !== "file") {
+        uninspected.push(`${entry.path} (${entry.kind})`);
+        continue;
+      }
       const inspected = await inspectAssetCatalogEntry({
         reader,
         entry,
@@ -69,6 +74,13 @@ export const analyzeAppleAssetCatalogs = async (input: {
   } finally {
     await reader.close();
   }
+  // Without any readable catalog, unmatched resource keys would overstate an
+  // absence that a skipped catalog entry may contradict.
+  if (catalogs.length === 0 && uninspected.length > 0)
+    throw new ArtifactReaderFailure(
+      "path",
+      `Asset catalog entries are not regular files and were not inspected: ${uninspected.join(", ")}`,
+    );
   const interfaceBuilder = await analyzeInterfaceBuilderBundle({
     bundlePath: input.bundlePath,
     targetSha256: input.targetSha256,
@@ -92,9 +104,14 @@ export const analyzeAppleAssetCatalogs = async (input: {
       // a missing host tool.
       ...(catalogs.length === 0
         ? [
-            "No compiled Assets.car catalog was found in the app bundle; any resource keys are reported as unmatched.",
+            "No compiled Assets.car catalog was found among the app bundle's regular files (symlinks are not followed); any resource keys are reported as unmatched.",
           ]
         : []),
+      ...(uninspected.length === 0
+        ? []
+        : [
+            `Asset catalog entries that are not regular files were not inspected, so resource keys reported as unmatched may resolve there: ${uninspected.join(", ")}`,
+          ]),
       "Exact resource-key joins use only recognized image or asset key fields on decoded Interface Builder resource objects; other archive resource references are not inferred.",
       ...(interfaceBuilder.graph.truncated
         ? [