diff --git a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/src/include-strategy.ts b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/src/include-strategy.ts
index 1c2a424011..acd7fc2e23 100644
--- a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/src/include-strategy.ts
+++ b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/src/include-strategy.ts
@@ -3,10 +3,29 @@ import type { SqlStorage } from '@prisma-next/sql-contract/types';
 
 export type IncludeStrategy = 'lateral' | 'correlated' | 'multiQuery';
 
+/**
+ * Choose the SQL emission strategy for nested includes based on the
+ * contract's declared capabilities.
+ *
+ * - `'lateral'`: outer SELECT with one LATERAL JOIN per relation,
+ *   aggregating to JSON. Requires both `lateral` and `jsonAgg`.
+ *   Postgres has both.
+ * - `'correlated'`: outer SELECT with one correlated subquery per
+ *   relation, aggregating to JSON. Requires `jsonAgg` only.
+ *   SQLite has `jsonAgg` (via `json_group_array`) but no LATERAL.
+ * - `'multiQuery'`: fallback. One SELECT per relation, stitched
+ *   together in JS via `WHERE pk IN (parent-pk-values)`. Always
+ *   correct; just N+1 round-trips.
+ *
+ * The capability flags are looked up under the contract's
+ * `targetFamily` and `target` namespaces — the two layers the contract
+ * emitter actually populates. Cross-namespace ("`postgres.lateral`
+ * found while running SQLite") false positives are impossible because
+ * we only inspect the running target's namespaces.
+ */
 export function selectIncludeStrategy(contract: Contract<SqlStorage>): IncludeStrategy {
-  const capabilities = contract.capabilities as Record<string, unknown> | undefined;
-  const hasLateral = hasCapability(capabilities?.['lateral']);
-  const hasJsonAgg = hasCapability(capabilities?.['jsonAgg']);
+  const hasLateral = capabilityFlag(contract, 'lateral');
+  const hasJsonAgg = capabilityFlag(contract, 'jsonAgg');
 
   if (hasLateral && hasJsonAgg) {
     return 'lateral';
@@ -19,15 +38,18 @@ export function selectIncludeStrategy(contract: Contract<SqlStorage>): IncludeSt
   return 'multiQuery';
 }
 
-function hasCapability(value: unknown): boolean {
-  if (value === true) {
-    return true;
-  }
-
-  if (typeof value !== 'object' || value === null) {
-    return false;
-  }
-
-  const flags = value as Record<string, unknown>;
-  return Object.values(flags).some((flag) => flag === true);
+/**
+ * Read a capability flag from the contract's target/family namespaces.
+ *
+ * The contract emitter populates `capabilities[targetFamily]` (universal
+ * SQL flags like `jsonAgg`, `returning`) and `capabilities[target]`
+ * (target-specific flags like `lateral` on Postgres). Either may
+ * declare a given flag; the family namespace declares the floor and the
+ * target namespace can extend on top.
+ */
+function capabilityFlag(contract: Contract<SqlStorage>, flag: string): boolean {
+  return (
+    contract.capabilities[contract.targetFamily]?.[flag] === true ||
+    contract.capabilities[contract.target]?.[flag] === true
+  );
 }
diff --git a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/collection-dispatch.test.ts b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/collection-dispatch.test.ts
index bdb06a1bed..fa2c796842 100644
--- a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/collection-dispatch.test.ts
+++ b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/collection-dispatch.test.ts
@@ -6,17 +6,35 @@ import type { IncludeExpr } from '../src/types';
 import { emptyState } from '../src/types';
 import { createCollectionFor } from './collection-fixtures';
 import type { MockRuntime, TestContract } from './helpers';
-import { createMockRuntime, getTestContract } from './helpers';
-
-function withSingleQueryCapabilities(contract: TestContract): TestContract {
-  return {
-    ...contract,
-    capabilities: {
-      ...contract.capabilities,
-      lateral: { enabled: true },
-      jsonAgg: { enabled: true },
+import { createMockRuntime, getTestContract, withCapabilities } from './helpers';
+
+function withSingleQueryCapabilities(contract: TestContract) {
+  return withCapabilities(contract, {
+    ...contract.capabilities,
+    [contract.targetFamily]: {
+      ...(contract.capabilities[contract.targetFamily] ?? {}),
+      jsonAgg: true,
     },
-  } as unknown as TestContract;
+    [contract.target]: {
+      ...(contract.capabilities[contract.target] ?? {}),
+      jsonAgg: true,
+      lateral: true,
+    },
+  });
+}
+
+/**
+ * Mirrors the shape produced by the contract emitter: capability flags
+ * nested under the family + target namespaces, with no top-level entries.
+ * Used to assert "single-query path is selected for an emitted-shape
+ * contract" — the regression scenario the principled namespaced lookup
+ * was introduced to handle.
+ */
+function withEmittedSqlCapabilities(contract: TestContract) {
+  return withCapabilities(contract, {
+    sql: { jsonAgg: true, returning: true },
+    postgres: { jsonAgg: true, lateral: true, returning: true },
+  });
 }
 
 function addConnection(
@@ -71,6 +89,36 @@ describe('collection-dispatch', () => {
     expect(rows).toEqual([{ id: 1, name: 'Alice', email: 'alice@example.com' }]);
   });
 
+  it('dispatchCollectionRows() depth-1 include with emitted-shape capabilities fires a single SQL execution (regression guard for namespaced capability lookup)', async () => {
+    // Guards against regressing the fix that taught `selectIncludeStrategy`
+    // to read capability flags from the contract's `targetFamily` and
+    // `target` namespaces. Prior to that fix, every emitted contract fell
+    // back to multi-query for nested includes — silently, because
+    // functional correctness was unaffected. This test fails fast if the
+    // regression returns: an emitted-shape contract should resolve a
+    // depth-1 include in one SQL execution, not two.
+    const contract = withEmittedSqlCapabilities(getTestContract());
+    const { collection, runtime } = createCollectionFor('User', contract);
+    const scoped = collection.select('name').include('posts');
+    runtime.setNextResults([
+      [{ id: 1, name: 'Alice', posts: '[{"id":10,"title":"Post A","user_id":1,"views":3}]' }],
+    ]);
+
+    const rows = await dispatchCollectionRows<Record<string, unknown>>({
+      contract,
+      runtime,
+      state: scoped.state,
+      tableName: scoped.tableName,
+      modelName: scoped.modelName,
+    }).toArray();
+
+    expect(rows).toEqual([
+      { name: 'Alice', posts: [{ id: 10, title: 'Post A', userId: 1, views: 3 }] },
+    ]);
+    // The point of the test: 1 execution, not N+1.
+    expect(runtime.executions).toHaveLength(1);
+  });
+
   it('dispatchCollectionRows() single-query path returns empty rows and releases scope', async () => {
     const contract = withSingleQueryCapabilities(getTestContract());
     const { collection, runtime } = createCollectionFor('User', contract);
@@ -195,7 +243,10 @@ describe('collection-dispatch', () => {
   });
 
   it('dispatchCollectionRows() multi-query path stitches includes, strips hidden fields, and releases scope', async () => {
-    const contract = getTestContract();
+    // Force multi-query strategy by clearing capabilities. Otherwise
+    // the base test contract's postgres.lateral / postgres.jsonAgg
+    // would route to single-query lateral.
+    const contract = withCapabilities(getTestContract(), {});
     const { collection, runtime } = createCollectionFor('User', contract);
     const scoped = collection.select('name').include('posts', (posts) => posts.select('title'));
 
@@ -237,13 +288,18 @@ describe('collection-dispatch', () => {
   });
 
   it('dispatchCollectionRows() multi-query path handles empty parent result sets', async () => {
-    const { collection, runtime } = createCollectionFor('User');
+    // Force multi-query strategy so the empty-parent early return inside
+    // `dispatchWithMultiQueryIncludes` is actually exercised. The base
+    // contract's postgres.lateral / postgres.jsonAgg would otherwise
+    // route to single-query lateral.
+    const contract = withCapabilities(getTestContract(), {});
+    const { collection, runtime } = createCollectionFor('User', contract);
     const scoped = collection.include('posts');
 
     runtime.setNextResults([[]]);
 
     const rows = await dispatchCollectionRows<Record<string, unknown>>({
-      contract: collection.ctx.context.contract,
+      contract,
       runtime,
       state: scoped.state,
       tableName: scoped.tableName,
diff --git a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/collection-fixtures.ts b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/collection-fixtures.ts
index dbce9fb938..827006a923 100644
--- a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/collection-fixtures.ts
+++ b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/collection-fixtures.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import type { Contract } from '@prisma-next/contract/types';
+import type { SqlStorage } from '@prisma-next/sql-contract/types';
 import type { ExecutionContext } from '@prisma-next/sql-relational-core/query-lane-context';
 import { Collection } from '../src/collection';
 import type { MockRuntime, TestContract } from './helpers';
@@ -7,7 +9,7 @@ export type TestModelName = Extract<keyof TestContract['models'], string>;
 
 export const baseContract = getTestContract();
 
-function contextForContract(contract: TestContract): ExecutionContext<TestContract> {
+function contextForContract(contract: Contract<SqlStorage>): ExecutionContext<TestContract> {
   const base = getTestContext();
   if (contract === baseContract) return base;
   return { ...base, contract } as ExecutionContext<TestContract>;
@@ -15,7 +17,7 @@ function contextForContract(contract: TestContract): ExecutionContext<TestContra
 
 export function createCollectionFor<ModelName extends TestModelName>(
   modelName: ModelName,
-  contract: TestContract = baseContract,
+  contract: Contract<SqlStorage> = baseContract,
 ): {
   collection: Collection<TestContract, ModelName>;
   runtime: MockRuntime;
diff --git a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/helpers.ts b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/helpers.ts
index aa1337ec9d..2e63fe280e 100644
--- a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/helpers.ts
+++ b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/helpers.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,26 @@ export function getTestContract(): TestContract {
   return structuredClone(baseTestContract);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Override the capabilities of a {@link TestContract} for a test scenario.
+ *
+ * The narrow `TestContract` type fixes `capabilities` to the literal shape
+ * generated for `fixtures/generated/contract.json`. Tests need contracts
+ * with arbitrary capability shapes — empty, only-jsonAgg, cross-namespace,
+ * etc. — and want the override's literal types preserved so capability-
+ * dependent type checks remain meaningful.
+ *
+ * The result widens `TestContract`'s `capabilities` slot to the caller's
+ * `TCaps`, which the framework `Contract` interface already permits
+ * (`capabilities: Record<string, Record<string, boolean>>`).
+ */
+export function withCapabilities<TCaps extends Record<string, Record<string, boolean>>>(
+  contract: TestContract,
+  capabilities: TCaps,
+): Omit<TestContract, 'capabilities'> & { readonly capabilities: TCaps } {
+  return { ...contract, capabilities };
+}
+
 const testContext: ExecutionContext<TestContract> = createExecutionContext({
   contract: baseTestContract,
   stack: createSqlExecutionStack({
diff --git a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/include-strategy.test.ts b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/include-strategy.test.ts
index fe43ebf275..15c74eabfd 100644
--- a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/include-strategy.test.ts
+++ b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/include-strategy.test.ts
@@ -1,82 +1,76 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 import { selectIncludeStrategy } from '../src/include-strategy';
-import { getTestContract } from './helpers';
+import { getTestContract, withCapabilities } from './helpers';
+
+// The default test contract has `target: 'postgres'`, `targetFamily: 'sql'`,
+// and capabilities populated under those two namespaces. The strategy
+// selector reads only those namespaces, so each test uses
+// `withCapabilities(...)` to swap in the override the scenario needs.
 
 describe('selectIncludeStrategy', () => {
   it('returns multiQuery when include capabilities are absent', () => {
-    const contract = getTestContract();
-    const strategy = selectIncludeStrategy(contract);
+    const contract = withCapabilities(getTestContract(), {});
+
+    expect(selectIncludeStrategy(contract)).toBe('multiQuery');
+  });
+
+  it('returns correlated when jsonAgg is enabled in the family namespace without lateral', () => {
+    const contract = withCapabilities(getTestContract(), {
+      sql: { jsonAgg: true },
+    });
 
-    expect(strategy).toBe('multiQuery');
+    expect(selectIncludeStrategy(contract)).toBe('correlated');
   });
 
-  it('returns correlated when jsonAgg is enabled without lateral', () => {
-    const contract = {
-      ...getTestContract(),
-      capabilities: {
-        jsonAgg: {
-          enabled: true,
-        },
-      },
-    };
+  it('returns lateral when both flags are enabled in the same namespace', () => {
+    const contract = withCapabilities(getTestContract(), {
+      postgres: { jsonAgg: true, lateral: true },
+    });
 
-    const strategy = selectIncludeStrategy(contract);
-    expect(strategy).toBe('correlated');
+    expect(selectIncludeStrategy(contract)).toBe('lateral');
   });
 
-  it('returns lateral when both lateral and jsonAgg are enabled', () => {
-    const contract = {
-      ...getTestContract(),
-      capabilities: {
-        lateral: {
-          enabled: true,
-        },
-        jsonAgg: {
-          enabled: true,
-        },
-      },
-    };
+  it('returns lateral when flags are split across family and target namespaces', () => {
+    // Real-world shape: SQL family declares `jsonAgg`; the postgres
+    // target adds `lateral` on top.
+    const contract = withCapabilities(getTestContract(), {
+      sql: { jsonAgg: true },
+      postgres: { lateral: true },
+    });
 
-    const strategy = selectIncludeStrategy(contract);
-    expect(strategy).toBe('lateral');
+    expect(selectIncludeStrategy(contract)).toBe('lateral');
   });
 
-  it('reads object capabilities via enabled flag', () => {
-    const contract = {
-      ...getTestContract(),
-      capabilities: {
-        lateral: { enabled: true },
-        jsonAgg: { enabled: false, fallback: true },
-      },
-    };
+  it('ignores capability flags in unrelated namespaces', () => {
+    // The default test contract's target/family are 'postgres' / 'sql'.
+    // A `mongo: { lateral: true }` namespace must not enable lateral
+    // on a postgres runtime — namespaces are scoped to the running
+    // target/family.
+    const contract = withCapabilities(getTestContract(), {
+      mongo: { jsonAgg: true, lateral: true },
+      nonsense: { lateral: true },
+    });
 
-    const strategy = selectIncludeStrategy(contract);
-    expect(strategy).toBe('lateral');
+    expect(selectIncludeStrategy(contract)).toBe('multiQuery');
   });
 
-  it('accepts top-level boolean capability flags', () => {
-    const contract = {
-      ...getTestContract(),
-      capabilities: {
-        lateral: true,
-        jsonAgg: true,
-      },
-    } as unknown as ReturnType<typeof getTestContract>;
+  it('treats non-boolean capability values as missing', () => {
+    // The Contract type declares capability values as `boolean`. Anything
+    // else (string, object, undefined) is treated as not present.
+    // The cast on `'yes'` is deliberate — we're feeding an invalid value
+    // through a valid-typed contract to exercise the runtime check.
+    const contract = withCapabilities(getTestContract(), {
+      sql: { jsonAgg: 'yes' as unknown as boolean, lateral: true },
+    });
 
-    const strategy = selectIncludeStrategy(contract);
-    expect(strategy).toBe('lateral');
+    expect(selectIncludeStrategy(contract)).toBe('multiQuery');
   });
 
-  it('ignores non-boolean, non-object capability values', () => {
-    const contract = {
-      ...getTestContract(),
-      capabilities: {
-        lateral: 'yes',
-        jsonAgg: true,
-      },
-    } as unknown as ReturnType<typeof getTestContract>;
+  it('treats explicit `false` as not enabled', () => {
+    const contract = withCapabilities(getTestContract(), {
+      sql: { jsonAgg: true, lateral: false },
+    });
 
-    const strategy = selectIncludeStrategy(contract);
-    expect(strategy).toBe('correlated');
+    expect(selectIncludeStrategy(contract)).toBe('correlated');
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/integration/include.test.ts b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/integration/include.test.ts
index 9c09504542..ff44583db2 100644
--- a/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/integration/include.test.ts
+++ b/packages/3-extensions/sql-orm-client/test/integration/include.test.ts
@@ -47,12 +47,14 @@ function createUsersCollectionWithCapabilities(
   capabilities: Record<string, unknown>,
 ) {
   const base = getTestContract();
+  // Replace capabilities entirely (rather than merging with base) so the
+  // test's intent is unambiguous. Merging with the base contract's
+  // postgres namespace would leak `postgres.lateral` and `postgres.jsonAgg`
+  // into the strategy detection — making it impossible to test the
+  // correlated-only path by passing only `jsonAgg`.
   const contract = {
     ...base,
-    capabilities: {
-      ...base.capabilities,
-      ...capabilities,
-    },
+    capabilities,
   } as typeof base;
 
   const context = { ...getTestContext(), contract };
@@ -65,6 +67,41 @@ type NumericPostField = import('../../src/types').NumericFieldNames<
 >;
 
 describe('integration/include', () => {
+  it(
+    'depth-1 include against an emitted contract fires a single SQL execution (regression guard for namespaced capability lookup)',
+    async () => {
+      // Guards against regressing the fix that taught `selectIncludeStrategy`
+      // to read capability flags from the contract's `targetFamily` and
+      // `target` namespaces. The default `getTestContract()` carries
+      // `postgres: { lateral: true, jsonAgg: true, ... }` — the emitter's
+      // actual output shape. Prior to the fix, this exact test would fire
+      // 2 SQL queries instead of 1, against a real driver.
+      await withCollectionRuntime(async (runtime) => {
+        const users = createUsersCollection(runtime);
+
+        await seedUsers(runtime, [{ id: 1, name: 'Alice', email: 'alice@example.com' }]);
+        await seedPosts(runtime, [{ id: 10, title: 'Post A', userId: 1, views: 100 }]);
+
+        runtime.resetExecutions();
+        const rows = await users.include('posts').all();
+
+        expect(rows).toEqual([
+          {
+            id: 1,
+            name: 'Alice',
+            email: 'alice@example.com',
+            invitedById: null,
+            address: null,
+            posts: [{ id: 10, title: 'Post A', userId: 1, views: 100, embedding: null }],
+          },
+        ]);
+        // The point of the test: 1 execution, not N+1.
+        expect(runtime.executions).toHaveLength(1);
+      });
+    },
+    timeouts.spinUpPpgDev,
+  );
+
   it(
     'include() stitches one-to-many and one-to-one relations from real rows',
     async () => {
@@ -333,8 +370,7 @@ describe('integration/include', () => {
     async () => {
       await withCollectionRuntime(async (runtime) => {
         const users = createUsersCollectionWithCapabilities(runtime, {
-          lateral: { enabled: true },
-          jsonAgg: { enabled: true },
+          postgres: { jsonAgg: true, lateral: true },
         });
 
         await seedUsers(runtime, [
@@ -412,8 +448,7 @@ describe('integration/include', () => {
     async () => {
       await withCollectionRuntime(async (runtime) => {
         const users = createUsersCollectionWithCapabilities(runtime, {
-          lateral: { enabled: true },
-          jsonAgg: { enabled: true },
+          postgres: { jsonAgg: true, lateral: true },
         });
 
         await seedUsers(runtime, [
@@ -506,7 +541,8 @@ describe('integration/include', () => {
     async () => {
       await withCollectionRuntime(async (runtime) => {
         const users = createUsersCollectionWithCapabilities(runtime, {
-          jsonAgg: { enabled: true },
+          // jsonAgg without lateral → correlated subquery strategy.
+          sql: { jsonAgg: true },
         });
 
         await seedUsers(runtime, [{ id: 1, name: 'Alice', email: 'alice@example.com' }]);
@@ -547,7 +583,8 @@ describe('integration/include', () => {
     async () => {
       await withCollectionRuntime(async (runtime) => {
         const users = createUsersCollectionWithCapabilities(runtime, {
-          jsonAgg: { enabled: true },
+          // jsonAgg without lateral → correlated subquery strategy.
+          sql: { jsonAgg: true },
         });
 
         await seedUsers(runtime, [