diff --git a/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.test.ts b/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1454a504c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import { compareDirectoryChildNames } from "./ArtifactGraphConstruction.js";
+
+const tiedNames = ["a.txt", "a\u200b.txt", "a\u200c.txt", "a\u200d.txt"];
+
+describe("directory child-name ordering", () => {
+  it("orders the tied subset lexically with reflexivity and antisymmetry", () => {
+    for (const left of tiedNames) {
+      expect(compareDirectoryChildNames(left, left)).toBe(0);
+      for (const right of tiedNames) {
+        expect(left.localeCompare(right)).toBe(0);
+        const compared = compareDirectoryChildNames(left, right);
+        const lexical = left < right ? -1 : left > right ? 1 : 0;
+        expect(compared).toBe(lexical);
+        expect(compared + compareDirectoryChildNames(right, left)).toBe(0);
+      }
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("is transitive across the tied subset", () => {
+    for (const first of tiedNames)
+      for (const second of tiedNames)
+        for (const third of tiedNames)
+          if (
+            compareDirectoryChildNames(first, second) <= 0 &&
+            compareDirectoryChildNames(second, third) <= 0
+          )
+            expect(
+              compareDirectoryChildNames(first, third),
+            ).toBeLessThanOrEqual(0);
+  });
+
+  it.each([
+    ["a.txt", "b.txt"],
+    ["z.txt", "ä.txt"],
+    ["Z", "a"],
+    ["a/data.txt", "b/data.txt"],
+  ])("preserves the current non-tied collation for %s / %s", (left, right) => {
+    const collated = left.localeCompare(right);
+    expect(collated).not.toBe(0);
+    expect(compareDirectoryChildNames(left, right)).toBe(collated);
+    expect(compareDirectoryChildNames(right, left)).toBe(
+      right.localeCompare(left),
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.ts b/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.ts
index f3633089f..e37055c6c 100644
--- a/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.ts
+++ b/src/application/ArtifactGraphConstruction.ts
@@ -61,6 +61,17 @@ export const createOccurrence = (
   limitations: [...entry.limitations],
 });
 
+/** Preserve collation order and break distinct-name ties by UTF-16 code units. */
+export const compareDirectoryChildNames = (
+  left: string,
+  right: string,
+): number => {
+  const collated = left.localeCompare(right);
+  if (collated !== 0) return collated;
+  if (left < right) return -1;
+  return left > right ? 1 : 0;
+};
+
 export const materializeDirectoryNodes = (
   occurrences: MutableOccurrence[],
   nodes: Map<string, ArtifactNode>,
@@ -86,9 +97,7 @@ export const materializeDirectoryNodes = (
         artifact_id,
         entry_kind,
       }))
-      .sort((left, right) =>
-        String(left.name).localeCompare(String(right.name)),
-      );
+      .sort((left, right) => compareDirectoryChildNames(left.name, right.name));
     const node = createArtifactNode({
       sha256: digestCanonical({ kind: "directory", children }),
       size: 0,
diff --git a/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactDirectoryIdentity.test.ts b/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactDirectoryIdentity.test.ts
index b36cf2d3d..e85eb4ed8 100644
--- a/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactDirectoryIdentity.test.ts
+++ b/tests/boundary/filesystem/artifactDirectoryIdentity.test.ts
@@ -176,3 +176,102 @@ describe("virtual directory relative-path identity", () => {
     );
   });
 });
+
+const tiedPermutations = [
+  ["a", "a\u200b", "a\u200c"],
+  ["a", "a\u200c", "a\u200b"],
+  ["a\u200b", "a", "a\u200c"],
+  ["a\u200b", "a\u200c", "a"],
+  ["a\u200c", "a", "a\u200b"],
+  ["a\u200c", "a\u200b", "a"],
+];
+
+describe("virtual directory collation ties", () => {
+  it.each([
+    { suffix: ".txt", equalBytes: false },
+    { suffix: ".txt", equalBytes: true },
+    { suffix: "/data.txt", equalBytes: false },
+    { suffix: "/data.txt", equalBytes: true },
+  ])(
+    "keeps tied $suffix names stable with equalBytes=$equalBytes",
+    async ({ suffix, equalBytes }) => {
+      const observe = (directory: string, names: readonly string[]) =>
+        observeZip([
+          [`${directory}/`, ""],
+          ...names.map((name): readonly [string, string] => [
+            `${directory}/${name}${suffix}`,
+            equalBytes ? "identical bytes" : `bytes for ${name}`,
+          ]),
+        ]);
+      const names = ["a", "a\u200b", "a\u200c"];
+      const reference = await observe("pkg", names);
+      for (const permutation of tiedPermutations) {
+        const observed = await observe("pkg", permutation);
+        expect(occurrenceAt(observed.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id).toBe(
+          occurrenceAt(reference.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id,
+        );
+        for (const name of names) {
+          const path = `pkg/${name}${suffix}`;
+          expect(occurrenceAt(observed.inventory, path).artifact_id).toBe(
+            occurrenceAt(reference.inventory, path).artifact_id,
+          );
+        }
+        const comparison = compareArtifacts(
+          reference.evidence,
+          observed.evidence,
+        );
+        expect(
+          comparison.changes.map(({ logical_path }) => logical_path),
+        ).toEqual(
+          reference.inventory.manifest.root_sha256 ===
+            observed.inventory.manifest.root_sha256
+            ? []
+            : ["."],
+        );
+      }
+      const moved = await observe("moved", names);
+      expect(occurrenceAt(moved.inventory, "moved").artifact_id).toBe(
+        occurrenceAt(reference.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id,
+      );
+    },
+  );
+
+  it("retains the legacy non-tied Unicode ordering and exact identity", async () => {
+    const { inventory } = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/z.txt", "Z"],
+      ["pkg/ä.txt", "A"],
+      ["empty/", ""],
+    ]);
+    expect("z.txt".localeCompare("ä.txt")).not.toBe(0);
+    expect(occurrenceAt(inventory, "pkg").artifact_id).toBe(
+      legacyDirectoryId(inventory, ["pkg/z.txt", "pkg/ä.txt"]),
+    );
+    expect(occurrenceAt(inventory, "empty").artifact_id).toBe(
+      legacyDirectoryId(inventory, []),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("keeps distinct collating-equal names significant during a rename", async () => {
+    const left = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/a.txt", "same bytes"],
+    ]);
+    const right = await observeZip([
+      ["pkg/", ""],
+      ["pkg/a\u200b.txt", "same bytes"],
+    ]);
+    expect("a.txt".localeCompare("a\u200b.txt")).toBe(0);
+    expect(occurrenceAt(left.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id).not.toBe(
+      occurrenceAt(right.inventory, "pkg").artifact_id,
+    );
+    expect(
+      compareArtifacts(left.evidence, right.evidence).changes,
+    ).toContainEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        logical_path: "pkg",
+        classification: "changed",
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+});