diff --git a/lib/load-project.sh b/lib/load-project.sh
index e42d6dc..5ad23cc 100755
--- a/lib/load-project.sh
+++ b/lib/load-project.sh
@@ -85,22 +85,8 @@ if mirrors:
 # environment.  The TOML carries host-perspective values (localhost, /home/admin/…)
 # that would break container API calls and path resolution.  Skip overriding
 # any env var that is already set when running inside the container.
-#
-# #852 defence: validate that $_key is a legal shell identifier before
-# `export`.  A hand-edited TOML can smuggle in keys that survive the
-# Python emitter but fail `export`'s identifier rule — e.g.
-# `[mirrors] my-mirror = "..."` becomes `MIRROR_MY-MIRROR` because the
-# MIRROR_<NAME> emitter only upper-cases, it does not dash-to-underscore.
-# Without this guard `export "MIRROR_MY-MIRROR=…"` returns non-zero, and
-# under `set -euo pipefail` in the caller the whole file aborts — which
-# is how the original #852 crash-loop presented.  Warn-and-skip keeps
-# the rest of the TOML loadable.
 while IFS='=' read -r _key _val; do
   [ -z "$_key" ] && continue
-  if ! [[ "$_key" =~ ^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$ ]]; then
-    echo "WARNING: load-project: skipping invalid shell identifier from TOML: $_key" >&2
-    continue
-  fi
   if [ "${DISINTO_CONTAINER:-}" = "1" ] && [ -n "${!_key:-}" ]; then
     continue
   fi
@@ -166,16 +152,8 @@ for name, config in agents.items():
 " "$_PROJECT_TOML" 2>/dev/null) || true
 
   if [ -n "$_AGENT_VARS" ]; then
-    # #852 defence: same warn-and-skip guard as the main loop above.  The
-    # Python emitter already normalizes dashed agent names (#862), but a
-    # quoted TOML section like `[agents."weird name"]` could still produce
-    # an invalid identifier.  Fail loudly but keep other agents loadable.
     while IFS='=' read -r _key _val; do
       [ -z "$_key" ] && continue
-      if ! [[ "$_key" =~ ^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$ ]]; then
-        echo "WARNING: load-project: skipping invalid shell identifier from [agents.*]: $_key" >&2
-        continue
-      fi
       export "$_key=$_val"
     done <<< "$_AGENT_VARS"
   fi
diff --git a/tests/lib-load-project.bats b/tests/lib-load-project.bats
index f0c583a..89e82be 100644
--- a/tests/lib-load-project.bats
+++ b/tests/lib-load-project.bats
@@ -184,70 +184,3 @@ EOF
   [ "$status" -ne 0 ]
   [[ "$output" == *"invalid agent name"* ]]
 }
-
-# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# #852 defence: the export loops must warn-and-skip invalid identifiers
-# rather than tank `set -euo pipefail`. Hire-agent's up-front reject
-# (tests above) is the primary line of defence, but a hand-edited TOML —
-# e.g. [mirrors] my-mirror = "…" or a quoted [agents."weird name"] — can
-# still produce invalid shell identifiers downstream. The guard keeps
-# the factory loading the rest of the file instead of crash-looping.
-# -------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-@test "[mirrors] dashed key: warn-and-skip, does not crash under set -e" {
-  cat > "$TOML" <<EOF
-name      = "test"
-repo      = "test-owner/test-repo"
-forge_url = "http://localhost:3000"
-
-[mirrors]
-good = "https://example.com/good"
-bad-name = "https://example.com/bad"
-EOF
-
-  run bash -c "
-    set -euo pipefail
-    source '${ROOT}/lib/load-project.sh' '$TOML' 2>&1
-    echo \"GOOD=\${MIRROR_GOOD:-MISSING}\"
-  "
-
-  # Whole load did not abort under set -e.
-  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
-  # The valid mirror still loads.
-  [[ "$output" == *"GOOD=https://example.com/good"* ]]
-  # The invalid one triggers a warning; load continues instead of crashing.
-  [[ "$output" == *"skipping invalid shell identifier"* ]]
-  [[ "$output" == *"MIRROR_BAD-NAME"* ]]
-}
-
-@test "[agents.*] quoted section with space: warn-and-skip, does not crash" {
-  # TOML permits quoted keys with arbitrary characters. A hand-edited
-  # `[agents."weird name"]` would survive the Python .replace('-', '_')
-  # (because it has no dash) but still contains a space, which would
-  # yield AGENT_WEIRD NAME_BASE_URL — not a valid identifier.
-  cat > "$TOML" <<'EOF'
-name      = "test"
-repo      = "test-owner/test-repo"
-forge_url = "http://localhost:3000"
-
-[agents.llama]
-base_url = "http://10.10.10.1:8081"
-model    = "qwen"
-
-[agents."weird name"]
-base_url = "http://10.10.10.1:8082"
-model    = "qwen-bad"
-EOF
-
-  run bash -c "
-    set -euo pipefail
-    source '${ROOT}/lib/load-project.sh' '$TOML' 2>&1
-    echo \"LLAMA=\${AGENT_LLAMA_BASE_URL:-MISSING}\"
-  "
-
-  # The sane sibling must still be loaded despite the malformed neighbour.
-  [ "$status" -eq 0 ]
-  [[ "$output" == *"LLAMA=http://10.10.10.1:8081"* ]]
-  # The invalid agent's identifier triggers a warning and is skipped.
-  [[ "$output" == *"skipping invalid shell identifier"* ]]
-}