diff --git a/src/modules/punk/mix/commandset/project-999999.0a1.0.tm b/src/modules/punk/mix/commandset/project-999999.0a1.0.tm
index d95780b8..81a97f11 100644
--- a/src/modules/punk/mix/commandset/project-999999.0a1.0.tm
+++ b/src/modules/punk/mix/commandset/project-999999.0a1.0.tm
@@ -168,6 +168,9 @@ namespace eval punk::mix::commandset::project {
         }
         set opts [dict merge $defaults $args]
         # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
+        #validate -layout against documented choices with prefix matching (punk::args -choiceprefix defaults to true)
+        dict set opts -layout [tcl::prefix::match -message "project.new -layout" $::punk::mix::commandset::project::argdoc::LAYOUTNAMES [dict get $opts -layout]]
+        # -- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
         set opt_type                                [dict get $opts -type]
         if {$opt_type ni [punk::mix::cli::lib::module_types]} {
             error "deck new error - unknown type '$opt_type' known types: [punk::mix::cli::lib::module_types]"
diff --git a/src/modules/punk/mix/commandset/project-buildversion.txt b/src/modules/punk/mix/commandset/project-buildversion.txt
index 60d278d3..33a8ca4d 100644
--- a/src/modules/punk/mix/commandset/project-buildversion.txt
+++ b/src/modules/punk/mix/commandset/project-buildversion.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-0.2.0
+0.2.1
 #First line must be a semantic version number
 #all other lines are ignored.
+#0.2.1 - fix: -layout now validated and normalized via tcl::prefix::match against documented layout choices, matching the PUNKARGS -choiceprefix default (true); previously the manual parser accepted arbitrary values with no validation
 #0.2.0 - updated punkcheck::install call sites to use -exclude-paths / -exclude-paths-core (replaced -antiglob-paths + -exclude-dirsegments) — call-site API change warrants minor bump
 #0.2.0 - updated call sites to use hyphenated flag names (-punkcheck-folder, -exclude-paths-core)