diff --git a/crates/aura-cli/src/graph_construct.rs b/crates/aura-cli/src/graph_construct.rs
index 186c2e1..8487361 100644
--- a/crates/aura-cli/src/graph_construct.rs
+++ b/crates/aura-cli/src/graph_construct.rs
@@ -314,8 +314,11 @@ pub fn introspect_cmd(cmd: crate::GraphIntrospectCmd, env: &crate::project::Env)
 
 /// Phrase a blueprint-document `LoadError` as prose (Debug-leak-free; the
 /// engine error types are `Display`-free by convention — this is the CLI's
-/// presentation layer, like `format_op_error`).
-fn blueprint_load_prose(e: &LoadError) -> String {
+/// presentation layer, like `format_op_error`). `pub(crate)`: shared by the
+/// `graph build` path (below) and `aura run`'s loaded-blueprint branch
+/// (main.rs) — env-agnostic on purpose, so both callers get identical wording
+/// (#184).
+pub(crate) fn blueprint_load_prose(e: &LoadError) -> String {
     match e {
         LoadError::Json(err) => format!("blueprint document is not valid JSON: {err}"),
         LoadError::UnsupportedVersion { found, supported } => {
@@ -325,6 +328,22 @@ fn blueprint_load_prose(e: &LoadError) -> String {
     }
 }
 
+/// (#185) When an unresolved type id LOOKS project-namespaced (`::`) but no
+/// project was loaded for this invocation (`env.provenance()` is `None`),
+/// append a hint pointing at the missing `Aura.toml` — the likeliest cause is
+/// "ran outside the project directory", not "genuinely unknown std id". Bare
+/// std-vocabulary ids (no `::`) and invocations that DO have a project loaded
+/// get no hint.
+pub(crate) fn unresolved_namespace_hint(e: &LoadError, env: &crate::project::Env) -> Option<String> {
+    match e {
+        LoadError::UnknownNodeType(t) if t.contains("::") && env.provenance().is_none() => Some(
+            "type id looks project-namespaced but no Aura.toml was found — run inside a project directory"
+                .to_string(),
+        ),
+        _ => None,
+    }
+}
+
 /// #196: build a `Composite` from a document that is EITHER a #155 blueprint
 /// envelope (a JSON object: `format_version` + `blueprint`) OR a construction
 /// op-list (a JSON array) — shape-discriminated on the top-level JSON type,
@@ -334,9 +353,14 @@ fn composite_from_any(text: &str, env: &crate::project::Env) -> Result<Composite
         serde_json::from_str(text).map_err(|e| format!("invalid document: {e}"))?;
     match value {
         serde_json::Value::Array(_) => composite_from_str(text, env),
-        serde_json::Value::Object(_) => {
-            blueprint_from_json(text, &|t| env.resolve(t)).map_err(|e| blueprint_load_prose(&e))
-        }
+        serde_json::Value::Object(_) => blueprint_from_json(text, &|t| env.resolve(t)).map_err(|e| {
+            let mut msg = blueprint_load_prose(&e);
+            if let Some(hint) = unresolved_namespace_hint(&e, env) {
+                msg.push_str(" — ");
+                msg.push_str(&hint);
+            }
+            msg
+        }),
         _ => Err("document is neither a blueprint envelope (object) nor an op-list (array)".into()),
     }
 }
diff --git a/crates/aura-cli/src/main.rs b/crates/aura-cli/src/main.rs
index 68113eb..70021b1 100644
--- a/crates/aura-cli/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/aura-cli/src/main.rs
@@ -4292,7 +4292,12 @@ fn dispatch_run(a: RunCmd, env: &project::Env) {
                 std::process::exit(2);
             });
             let signal = blueprint_from_json(&doc, &|t| env.resolve(t)).unwrap_or_else(|e| {
-                eprintln!("aura: {path}: {e:?}");
+                let mut msg = graph_construct::blueprint_load_prose(&e);
+                if let Some(hint) = graph_construct::unresolved_namespace_hint(&e, env) {
+                    msg.push_str(" — ");
+                    msg.push_str(&hint);
+                }
+                eprintln!("aura: {path}: {msg}");
                 std::process::exit(2);
             });
             // Refuse an open (free-knob) blueprint at the dispatch boundary, mirroring
diff --git a/crates/aura-cli/tests/cli_run.rs b/crates/aura-cli/tests/cli_run.rs
index ef86ae0..e0ee704 100644
--- a/crates/aura-cli/tests/cli_run.rs
+++ b/crates/aura-cli/tests/cli_run.rs
@@ -337,7 +337,9 @@ fn aura_run_loads_and_runs_a_blueprint_file() {
 }
 
 /// A blueprint referencing a node type outside the closed vocabulary fails clean
-/// at load (the #160 closed-set guard at the data-plane face; invariant 9).
+/// at load (the #160 closed-set guard at the data-plane face; invariant 9), and
+/// (#184) the failure is phrased as house-style prose — matching the `graph
+/// build` presenter's wording — never the raw `UnknownNodeType` Debug leak.
 #[test]
 fn aura_run_rejects_an_unknown_node_blueprint() {
     let out = std::process::Command::new(env!("CARGO_BIN_EXE_aura"))
@@ -346,7 +348,14 @@ fn aura_run_rejects_an_unknown_node_blueprint() {
         .expect("spawn aura run unknown");
     assert_ne!(out.status.code(), Some(0), "an unknown node type must fail the run");
     let stderr = String::from_utf8(out.stderr).expect("utf-8");
-    assert!(stderr.contains("UnknownNodeType"), "names the cause: {stderr}");
+    assert!(
+        stderr.contains(r#"unknown node type "Nope""#),
+        "house-style prose names the type: {stderr}"
+    );
+    assert!(
+        !stderr.contains("UnknownNodeType"),
+        "does not leak the Debug variant name: {stderr}"
+    );
 }
 
 /// Property (#175, refuse-don't-guess): built-in-only flags on `aura run
diff --git a/crates/aura-cli/tests/project_load.rs b/crates/aura-cli/tests/project_load.rs
index 308c95f..645365c 100644
--- a/crates/aura-cli/tests/project_load.rs
+++ b/crates/aura-cli/tests/project_load.rs
@@ -79,6 +79,12 @@ fn introspect_vocabulary_lists_project_types() {
     assert!(text.contains("SMA"), "std ids still listed");
 }
 
+/// (#184/#185) Outside any project, `demo::Identity` resolves nowhere: the base
+/// failure is house-style prose (never the raw `UnknownNodeType` Debug leak),
+/// and — because the unresolved id LOOKS project-namespaced (`::`) while no
+/// `Aura.toml` was found up from cwd — the message carries a hint pointing at
+/// the missing project, distinguishing "no project" from "genuinely unknown
+/// std id" (the bare-id case in `cli_run.rs` gets no such hint).
 #[test]
 fn outside_a_project_the_demo_blueprint_is_unknown() {
     // cwd = the aura-cli crate dir: no Aura.toml anywhere up the tree.
@@ -87,7 +93,15 @@ fn outside_a_project_the_demo_blueprint_is_unknown() {
     let out = aura(&["run", bp.to_str().unwrap()], cwd);
     assert!(!out.status.success());
     let err = String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr);
-    assert!(err.contains("UnknownNodeType"), "stderr: {err}");
+    assert!(
+        err.contains(r#"unknown node type "demo::Identity""#),
+        "house-style prose names the type: {err}"
+    );
+    assert!(!err.contains("UnknownNodeType"), "does not leak the Debug variant name: {err}");
+    assert!(
+        err.contains("Aura.toml"),
+        "hints that no project was found for the namespaced id: {err}"
+    );
 }
 
 /// `Env::runs_root()` resolves `Aura.toml`'s `[paths] runs = "runs"` against