diff --git a/crates/ghostlight/src/lib.rs b/crates/ghostlight/src/lib.rs
index 1937276..98f458d 100644
--- a/crates/ghostlight/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/ghostlight/src/lib.rs
@@ -680,9 +680,10 @@ pub enum CommandBody {
     },
     /// Replaces the world's whole lens weight set. Owner only, in any phase,
     /// under genesis admission: a set that never draws is refused, and a zero
-    /// weight is admitted and never draws. Identical weights are still a
-    /// commit, because the owner's act is canonical. A session that already
-    /// drew keeps its recorded lens.
+    /// weight is admitted and never draws. A set equal to the current one
+    /// changes nothing canonical and is refused with `NoCanonicalChange`
+    /// after admission, so nothing commits. A session that already drew
+    /// keeps its recorded lens.
     SetLensWeights {
         weights: LensWeights,
     },
@@ -1682,6 +1683,14 @@ fn reduce(state: &WorldState, command: &CommandEnvelope) -> Result<WorldEffect,
                     Mismatch::LensWeightsNeverDraw,
                 ]));
             }
+            // Admission first, then effect: a caller who may not set weights,
+            // or a set that never draws, is refused as such even when it
+            // equals the current set. Only an admitted set can be a no-op.
+            if weights == &state.lens_weights {
+                return Err(KernelError::PatchRejected(vec![
+                    Mismatch::NoCanonicalChange,
+                ]));
+            }
             Ok(WorldEffect::LensWeightsReplaced {
                 weights: weights.clone(),
             })
@@ -14647,17 +14656,60 @@ mod clock_tests {
         .expect("the owner's effect applies");
         assert_eq!(candidate.lens_weights, proposed);
 
-        // Identical weights from the owner are still a commit.
-        let current = kernel.snapshot().unwrap();
-        submit_owner(
+        // Identical weights from the owner change nothing canonical: refused
+        // as `NoCanonicalChange`, and nothing commits.
+        let result = submit_as(
             &mut kernel,
-            &current,
+            CallerId::Principal(owner()),
             CommandBody::SetLensWeights {
                 weights: active_weights.clone(),
             },
         );
-        assert_eq!(kernel.state.revision, current.revision + 1);
-        assert_eq!(kernel.state.lens_weights, active_weights);
+        let Err(KernelError::PatchRejected(mismatches)) = result else {
+            panic!("identical lens weights were admitted: {result:?}");
+        };
+        assert_eq!(mismatches, vec![Mismatch::NoCanonicalChange]);
+        assert_eq!(kernel.state, before);
+
+        // The order is admission, then effect. Identical weights from a
+        // non-owner are `Unauthorized`; and against a state whose own set
+        // never draws (no store holds one, so the state is built by hand), an
+        // identical all-zero set is `LensWeightsNeverDraw`, not a no-op.
+        let result = submit_as(
+            &mut kernel,
+            CallerId::Principal(human_principal()),
+            CommandBody::SetLensWeights {
+                weights: active_weights.clone(),
+            },
+        );
+        assert!(
+            matches!(result, Err(KernelError::Unauthorized)),
+            "a non-owner's identical set: {result:?}"
+        );
+        assert_eq!(kernel.state, before);
+        let mut never = kernel.state.clone();
+        never.lens_weights = every_lens_at_zero();
+        let current = kernel.snapshot().unwrap();
+        let identical_zero = command(
+            &current,
+            CommandId::new(),
+            CallerId::Principal(owner()),
+            CommandBody::SetLensWeights {
+                weights: every_lens_at_zero(),
+            },
+        );
+        let result = reduce(&never, &identical_zero);
+        let Err(KernelError::PatchRejected(mismatches)) = result else {
+            panic!("an identical set that never draws: {result:?}");
+        };
+        assert_eq!(mismatches, vec![Mismatch::LensWeightsNeverDraw]);
+
+        // Replay across that history is unchanged: the refused attempts wrote
+        // nothing, and the store reopens to the same head.
+        let (path, world_id) = (directory.path().join("world.cc"), kernel.state.world_id);
+        drop(kernel);
+        let reopened = WorldKernel::open(path, world_id).expect("the history reopens");
+        assert_eq!(reopened.state, before);
     }
 
     /// An owner commit that adds a commitment to the first person: a real
diff --git a/crates/ghostlight/tests/external_admission.rs b/crates/ghostlight/tests/external_admission.rs
index 3673a65..dabcfbf 100644
--- a/crates/ghostlight/tests/external_admission.rs
+++ b/crates/ghostlight/tests/external_admission.rs
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 use chrono::{Duration, Utc};
 use ghostlight::{
     CommandBody, CommandId, ControllerMode, ControllerPort, CreateWorldIntent, DecisionInvocation,
-    DecisionOpportunity, KernelError, Lens, LensWeights, MailboxError, PrincipalCommandIntent,
+    DecisionOpportunity, KernelError, Lens, LensWeights, MailboxError, Mismatch, PrincipalCommandIntent,
     Statement, SubjectId, SubmitReceipt, VerifiedPrincipalEvidence, WorldMailbox, WorldPhase,
     WorldSnapshot,
 };
@@ -554,6 +554,63 @@ async fn set_lens_weights_from_a_non_owner_is_refused_and_commits_nothing() {
     assert_eq!(after.lens_weights, real_weights());
 }
 
+/// The owner resubmitting the world's current weights changes nothing
+/// canonical, so the kernel refuses it as `NoCanonicalChange` and nothing
+/// commits. Admission runs first: the same identical set from a non-owner is
+/// `Unauthorized`. A different set from the owner then commits, so neither
+/// refusal is an inert harness.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn identical_lens_weights_from_the_owner_commit_nothing() {
+    let world = World::active().await;
+    let current = world.snapshot().await.lens_weights;
+    let before = world.committed().await;
+    let intent = |snapshot: &WorldSnapshot, weights: LensWeights| PrincipalCommandIntent {
+        id: CommandId::new(),
+        world_id: snapshot.world_id,
+        expected_revision: snapshot.revision,
+        body: CommandBody::SetLensWeights { weights },
+    };
+    let snapshot = world.snapshot().await;
+
+    let result = world
+        .mailbox
+        .submit_principal(intent(&snapshot, current.clone()), &world.principal)
+        .await;
+    let Err(MailboxError::Kernel(KernelError::PatchRejected(mismatches))) = &result else {
+        panic!("the owner's identical lens weights were not refused as no change: {result:?}");
+    };
+    assert_eq!(mismatches, &vec![Mismatch::NoCanonicalChange]);
+    assert_eq!(world.committed().await, before);
+
+    let stranger =
+        VerifiedPrincipalEvidence::new("external-admission-stranger", Utc::now() + Duration::hours(1));
+    let result = world
+        .mailbox
+        .submit_principal(intent(&snapshot, current.clone()), &stranger)
+        .await;
+    assert!(
+        matches!(
+            result,
+            Err(MailboxError::Kernel(KernelError::Unauthorized))
+        ),
+        "a non-owner's identical lens weights were not refused as unauthorized: {result:?}"
+    );
+    assert_eq!(world.committed().await, before);
+
+    assert_ne!(current, real_weights());
+    let receipt = world
+        .mailbox
+        .submit_principal(intent(&snapshot, real_weights()), &world.principal)
+        .await
+        .expect("the owner replaces the lens weights with a different set");
+    assert!(matches!(receipt, SubmitReceipt::Applied(_)));
+    let after = world.committed().await;
+    assert_eq!(after.0, before.0 + 1);
+    assert_ne!(after.1, before.1);
+    assert_ne!(after.2, before.2);
+    assert_eq!(world.snapshot().await.lens_weights, real_weights());
+}
+
 /// A lens name the library does not know cannot be decoded into a command
 /// body, beside names it does. This is a serde limit, stated as one: the body
 /// never exists, so no kernel admission is being proven here.