diff --git a/README.adoc b/README.adoc
index 9ac90c9..fc2347b 100644
--- a/README.adoc
+++ b/README.adoc
@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ jobs:
         with:
           path: '.'        # Directory to scan (default: repo root)
           strict: 'false'  # Promote warnings to errors (default: false)
+          # paths-ignore: defaults to vendored / fixture patterns; override
+          # via newline-separated string. Use '' to disable.
 ----
 
 === Inputs
@@ -57,8 +59,27 @@ jobs:
 | `strict`
 | `false`
 | When `true`, warnings become errors and the action fails on any issue
+
+| `paths-ignore`
+| _vendored & fixture defaults_
+| Newline-separated path fragments to skip. Substring match against each
+  file path. Default set: `vendor/`, `vendored/`, `verified-container-spec/`,
+  `.audittraining/`, `integration/fixtures/`, `test/fixtures/`,
+  `tests/fixtures/`. Pass an empty string (`paths-ignore: ''`) to disable
+  and scan everything. See https://github.com/hyperpolymath/hypatia/pull/243
+  for the architectural rationale (content-pattern validators must
+  distinguish targets from fixtures / vendored / training-corpus files
+  that legitimately contain the very pattern being checked).
 |===
 
+==== Why default-on path exemptions?
+
+K9 files inside vendored projects (e.g. `verified-container-spec/`) carry
+their own pedigree declarations in their upstream context — flagging every
+such file as "Pedigree block missing 'name' field" is provenance noise.
+The defaults match the canonical RSR vendored-content paths; override for
+project-specific carve-outs.
+
 === Outputs
 
 [cols="1,3"]
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 177c09a..1f2d3e4 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -30,6 +30,25 @@ inputs:
       will fail on any validation issue. Defaults to false.
     required: false
     default: 'false'
+  paths-ignore:
+    description: >-
+      Newline-separated path fragments to skip. Each line is matched as a
+      substring against the file's path. Defaults to common vendored /
+      training-corpus / fixture patterns so consumers don't have to repeat
+      this carve-out in every repo. Pass an empty string to disable.
+      Pattern follows hyperpolymath/hypatia#243 — validators that scan
+      content patterns must distinguish a target file from a fixture /
+      vendored / training-corpus file that legitimately contains the
+      pattern being checked.
+    required: false
+    default: |
+      vendor/
+      vendored/
+      verified-container-spec/
+      .audittraining/
+      integration/fixtures/
+      test/fixtures/
+      tests/fixtures/
 
 outputs:
   files-scanned:
@@ -51,5 +70,6 @@ runs:
       env:
         INPUT_PATH: ${{ inputs.path }}
         INPUT_STRICT: ${{ inputs.strict }}
+        INPUT_PATHS_IGNORE: ${{ inputs.paths-ignore }}
       run: |
         "${GITHUB_ACTION_PATH}/validate-k9.sh"
diff --git a/validate-k9.sh b/validate-k9.sh
index c81dab2..d9693cf 100755
--- a/validate-k9.sh
+++ b/validate-k9.sh
@@ -27,6 +27,30 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 SCAN_PATH="${INPUT_PATH:-.}"
 STRICT="${INPUT_STRICT:-false}"
+PATHS_IGNORE_RAW="${INPUT_PATHS_IGNORE:-}"
+
+# Parse paths-ignore: newline-separated fragments, blank lines and # comments
+# stripped. Each fragment is a substring match against the file path. Pattern
+# adopted from hyperpolymath/hypatia#243 — content-pattern validators must
+# distinguish a target from a vendored / fixture file that legitimately
+# contains the very pattern being checked.
+PATHS_IGNORE=()
+while IFS= read -r _frag; do
+    # Strip leading and trailing whitespace (canonical bash idiom).
+    _frag="${_frag#"${_frag%%[![:space:]]*}"}"
+    _frag="${_frag%"${_frag##*[![:space:]]}"}"
+    [[ -z "$_frag" || "$_frag" == \#* ]] && continue
+    PATHS_IGNORE+=("$_frag")
+done <<< "$PATHS_IGNORE_RAW"
+
+# Returns 0 if path should be skipped (matches any ignore fragment)
+path_ignored() {
+    local p="$1" frag
+    for frag in "${PATHS_IGNORE[@]}"; do
+        [[ "$p" == *"$frag"* ]] && return 0
+    done
+    return 1
+}
 
 # Counters
 FILES_SCANNED=0
@@ -144,12 +168,21 @@ validate_k9() {
     while IFS= read -r line; do
         line_num=$((line_num + 1))
 
-        # Detect pedigree block start
+        # Detect pedigree block start. Note: do NOT `continue` here — the
+        # `pedigree = {` line itself contains the opening brace that
+        # establishes the block. Falling through to the brace counter
+        # below makes depth start at 1, so a subsequent `security = {…},`
+        # closing brace correctly takes depth to 1 (not 0), keeping us
+        # inside the pedigree block when later fields (name/version/leash)
+        # are checked. Previously the `continue` skipped this opening
+        # brace, depth started at 0, and the first nested block's close
+        # prematurely terminated the validator's view of the pedigree —
+        # making `pedigree.metadata.name` invisible.
         if [[ "$line" =~ ^[[:space:]]*pedigree[[:space:]]*= ]]; then
             has_pedigree=true
             in_pedigree=true
             pedigree_depth=0
-            continue
+            # fall through
         fi
 
         if [[ "$in_pedigree" == "true" ]]; then
@@ -250,7 +283,22 @@ echo "Scanning ${SCAN_PATH} for K9 files (.k9, .k9.ncl)..."
 echo ""
 
 # Find all K9 files, excluding .git directory
-mapfile -t k9_files < <(find "$SCAN_PATH" \( -name '*.k9' -o -name '*.k9.ncl' \) -not -path '*/.git/*' -type f | sort)
+mapfile -t k9_candidates < <(find "$SCAN_PATH" \( -name '*.k9' -o -name '*.k9.ncl' \) -not -path '*/.git/*' -type f | sort)
+
+# Apply paths-ignore filter
+k9_files=()
+SKIPPED=0
+for _f in "${k9_candidates[@]}"; do
+    if path_ignored "$_f"; then
+        SKIPPED=$((SKIPPED + 1))
+        continue
+    fi
+    k9_files+=("$_f")
+done
+
+if [[ $SKIPPED -gt 0 ]]; then
+    echo "::notice::Skipped ${SKIPPED} file(s) matching paths-ignore"
+fi
 
 if [[ ${#k9_files[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
     echo "::notice::No K9 files found in ${SCAN_PATH}"