diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2eddfe1c..d9808c16 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ All notable changes to sem are documented in this file.
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- Simple transaction read batches preserve valid results when another selector is malformed or a requested path is rejected as a symlink. Partial captures report their errors explicitly; strict capture and edit checks remain unchanged.
+
 - **Copilot CLI can connect to the MCP server again.** Unsupported discovery probes return `Method not found` without closing the connection, allowing clients to fall back to `initialize` in both standalone and shared modes. Fixes #497.
 - **Indexed name lookup sees renames and added definitions in edited files.** `sem find` checks indexed file freshness and reparses changed files on demand, without requiring a whole dependency-graph refresh. Includes TypeScript, Python and Rust regression coverage.
 - **Dart dependency graphs now resolve ordinary calls, constructor-bound receivers and typed parameters.** Callers and refs no longer select a same-named Dart method for a TypeScript receiver (or vice versa); imported class owners take precedence. Persisted graph/query caches are invalidated so upgrades rebuild the affected edges. Fixes #491.
diff --git a/pi/src/transaction/simple/exact-code.mjs b/pi/src/transaction/simple/exact-code.mjs
index 7fc295b6..272b022b 100644
--- a/pi/src/transaction/simple/exact-code.mjs
+++ b/pi/src/transaction/simple/exact-code.mjs
@@ -38,11 +38,12 @@ export class ExactCode {
     if(!Number.isSafeInteger(maxSnapshots)||maxSnapshots<1) fail('INVALID_SNAPSHOT_CAPACITY');
     Object.assign(this,{semBin,maxBytes,maxSnapshots}); this.snapshots=new Map();
   }
-  async capture(cwd, files, {allowMissing=false}={}) {
+  async capture(cwd, files, {allowMissing=false,partialReads=false}={}) {
     if(!Array.isArray(files)||!files.length||files.length>64) fail('INVALID_FILE_SCOPE');
     const root=await fs.realpath(cwd), sources=new Map();
     let total=0;
     const missing=[];
+    const fileErrors=[];
     for(const file of [...new Set(files)].sort(order)) {
       if(typeof file!=='string'||!file||path.isAbsolute(file)||file.split('/').some(x=>!x||x==='.'||x==='..')) fail('INVALID_PATH');
       const absolute=path.join(root,file);
@@ -52,6 +53,9 @@ export class ExactCode {
         stat=await fs.stat(absolute);
       } catch(error) {
         if(allowMissing&&error.code==='ENOENT') {missing.push(file);continue;}
+        if(partialReads&&error.message==='SYMLINK_NOT_SUPPORTED') {
+          fileErrors.push({file,code:'SYMLINK_NOT_SUPPORTED'});continue;
+        }
         throw error;
       }
       if(!stat.isFile()||stat.size>this.maxBytes-total) fail('SCOPE_TOO_LARGE');
@@ -61,7 +65,7 @@ export class ExactCode {
       sources.set(file,bytes);
     }
     const manifest=[...sources].map(([file,b])=>({file,sha256:hash(b)}));
-    const revision=hash(JSON.stringify([manifest,missing]));
+    const revision=hash(JSON.stringify(fileErrors.length?[manifest,missing,fileErrors]:[manifest,missing]));
     if(!this.snapshots.has(revision)) {
       const tmp=await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(),'sem-exact-'));
       const entities=[];
@@ -83,13 +87,13 @@ export class ExactCode {
       entities.sort((a,b)=>order(a.file,b.file)||a.start-b.start||a.end-b.end||order(a.id,b.id));
       // Lexical containment only, not receiver/type or runtime resolution.
       qualifyEntities(entities);
-      this.snapshots.set(revision,{sources,entities,manifest,...indexEntities(entities)});
+      this.snapshots.set(revision,{sources,entities,manifest,fileErrors,...indexEntities(entities)});
       // Evict only after a successful capture. Failed parsing must not destroy
       // usable snapshots. IDs remain revision-bound, never redirected.
       while(this.snapshots.size>this.maxSnapshots) this.snapshots.delete(this.snapshots.keys().next().value);
     }
     this.get(revision);
-    return {revision,files:manifest,missing_files:missing,scope:'explicit_files',coverage:'parser_reported_only',consistency:'captured_file_bytes_not_atomic_repository_snapshot'};
+    return {revision,files:manifest,missing_files:missing,...(fileErrors.length?{file_errors:fileErrors,complete:false}:{}),scope:'explicit_files',coverage:'parser_reported_only',consistency:'captured_file_bytes_not_atomic_repository_snapshot'};
   }
   get(revision) {
     const snapshot=this.snapshots.get(revision);
@@ -116,6 +120,8 @@ export class ExactCode {
     const s=this.get(revision), sources=new Map(), files=new Map();
     let fileBudget=48000;
     const results=selectors.map(selector=>{
+      const unavailable=s.fileErrors?.find(error=>error.file===selector?.file);
+      if(unavailable) return {selector,status:'error',error:unavailable,complete:false};
       if(selector && typeof selector==='object' && Object.keys(selector).length===1 && typeof selector.file==='string' && selector.file) {
         const bytes=s.sources.get(selector.file);
         if(!bytes) return {selector,status:'not_found'};
@@ -129,7 +135,7 @@ export class ExactCode {
       if(!selector||typeof selector!=='object'||Array.isArray(selector)||
          Object.keys(selector).some(k=>!['id','name','file','type'].includes(k))||
          (typeof selector.id==='string')===(typeof selector.name==='string')||
-         Object.values(selector).some(v=>typeof v!=='string'||!v)) fail('INVALID_SELECTOR');
+         Object.values(selector).some(v=>typeof v!=='string'||!v)) return {selector,status:'error',error:{code:'INVALID_SELECTOR'},complete:false};
       const matches=lookupEntities(s,selector);
       const status=matches.length===0?'not_found':matches.length===1?'unique':'ambiguous';
       if(status==='unique') {
@@ -144,7 +150,7 @@ export class ExactCode {
     });
     // Reuse containing source only within this response. No assumption that a
     // previous tool response is still in the model's context.
-    return {revision,results,sources:compactSources([...sources.values()]),...(files.size?{files:[...files.values()]}:{}),coverage:'parser_reported_only'};
+    return {revision,results,...(s.fileErrors?.length?{file_errors:s.fileErrors,complete:false}:{}),sources:compactSources([...sources.values()]),...(files.size?{files:[...files.values()]}:{}),coverage:'parser_reported_only'};
   }
   prepare(revision,edits) {
     if(!Array.isArray(edits)||!edits.length||edits.length>64) fail('INVALID_EDITS');
diff --git a/pi/src/transaction/simple/exact-code.test.mjs b/pi/src/transaction/simple/exact-code.test.mjs
index 8a2be526..4d506def 100644
--- a/pi/src/transaction/simple/exact-code.test.mjs
+++ b/pi/src/transaction/simple/exact-code.test.mjs
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ test('exact snapshot contract against real SEM parser',async()=>{
     assert.equal(api.query(s.revision,[{file:'absent.ts'}]).results[0].status,'not_found');
     assert.deepEqual({revision:s.revision,...batch.sources[0]},read);
     assert.throws(()=>api.query(s.revision,[]),/INVALID_SELECTORS/);
-    assert.throws(()=>api.query(s.revision,[{name:'same',id:e.id}]),/INVALID_SELECTOR/);
-    assert.throws(()=>api.query(s.revision,[{name:'same',file:42}]),/INVALID_SELECTOR/);
+    assert.equal(api.query(s.revision,[{name:'same',id:e.id}]).results[0].error.code,'INVALID_SELECTOR');
+    assert.equal(api.query(s.revision,[{name:'same',file:42}]).results[0].error.code,'INVALID_SELECTOR');
     assert.equal(read.content,Buffer.from(source).subarray(e.start,e.end).toString());
     const replacement='export function same() { return 42; }';
     const prepared=api.prepare(s.revision,[{id:e.id,content:replacement}]);
diff --git a/pi/src/transaction/simple/partial-read.test.mjs b/pi/src/transaction/simple/partial-read.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5984f501
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pi/src/transaction/simple/partial-read.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import {test} from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import fs from 'node:fs/promises';
+import os from 'node:os';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import {ExactCode} from './exact-code.mjs';
+
+test('read batches preserve valid siblings without following symlinks or weakening capture',async()=>{
+  const root=await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(),'sem-partial-read-'));
+  try {
+    const content='def value():\n    return 1\n';
+    await fs.writeFile(path.join(root,'good.py'),content);
+    await fs.symlink('good.py',path.join(root,'alias.py'));
+    const exact=new ExactCode({semBin:process.env.SEM_TEST_BIN||'sem'});
+    const captured=await exact.capture(root,['good.py','alias.py'],{partialReads:true});
+    assert.equal(captured.complete,false);
+    const selectors=[{file:'alias.py'},{file:'good.py'},null,{name:'value'}];
+    const result=exact.query(captured.revision,selectors);
+    assert.deepEqual(result.results.map(r=>r.status),['error','unique','error','unique']);
+    assert.equal(result.results[0].error.code,'SYMLINK_NOT_SUPPORTED');
+    assert.equal(result.results[2].error.code,'INVALID_SELECTOR');
+    assert.equal(result.files[0].content,content);
+    assert.equal(result.sources[0].entity.name,'value');
+    assert.equal(result.complete,false);
+    assert.equal(result.file_errors.length,1);
+    assert.deepEqual(exact.query(captured.revision,selectors),result);
+    await assert.rejects(exact.capture(root,['good.py','alias.py']),/SYMLINK_NOT_SUPPORTED/);
+    await assert.rejects(exact.capture(root,['../outside'],{partialReads:true}),/INVALID_PATH/);
+    const complete=await exact.capture(root,['good.py']);
+    assert.notEqual(complete.revision,captured.revision);
+    assert.throws(()=>exact.query(complete.revision,[]),/INVALID_SELECTORS/);
+  } finally {await fs.rm(root,{recursive:true,force:true});}
+});
diff --git a/pi/src/transaction/simple/sem-session-simple-mcp.mjs b/pi/src/transaction/simple/sem-session-simple-mcp.mjs
index f745222e..0cb04647 100644
--- a/pi/src/transaction/simple/sem-session-simple-mcp.mjs
+++ b/pi/src/transaction/simple/sem-session-simple-mcp.mjs
@@ -882,7 +882,7 @@ if(process.env.SEM_EXACT_TOOLS === '1') {
         }
         case 'query': {
           if(Boolean(p.revision)===Boolean(p.files)) throw new Error('PROVIDE_REVISION_OR_FILES');
-          const snapshot=p.files?await exact.capture(cwd,p.files,{allowMissing:true}):null;
+          const snapshot=p.files?await exact.capture(cwd,p.files,{allowMissing:true,partialReads:true}):null;
           return {...exact.query(snapshot?.revision??p.revision,p.selectors),...(snapshot?{snapshot}: {})};
         }
         case 'capture': return exact.capture(cwd,p.files);