diff --git a/python/sglang/benchmark/one_batch.py b/python/sglang/benchmark/one_batch.py
index 38addce4b..ea1863500 100644
--- a/python/sglang/benchmark/one_batch.py
+++ b/python/sglang/benchmark/one_batch.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ from sglang.srt.mem_cache.base_prefix_cache import EvictParams
 from sglang.srt.model_executor.cuda_graph_config import Phase, cuda_graph_fully_disabled
 from sglang.srt.model_executor.forward_batch_info import ForwardBatch
 from sglang.srt.model_executor.model_runner import ModelRunner
-from sglang.srt.runtime_context import get_parallel, get_schedule
+from sglang.srt.runtime_context import get_parallel, get_schedule, publish
 from sglang.srt.sampling.sampling_params import SamplingParams
 from sglang.srt.server_args import PortArgs, ServerArgs
 from sglang.srt.speculative.spec_info import SpeculativeAlgorithm
@@ -681,6 +681,8 @@ def correctness_test(
     gpu_id,
     tp_rank,
 ):
+    publish(server_args, role="scheduler")
+
     # Configure the logger
     configure_logger(server_args, prefix=f" TP{tp_rank}")
     rank_print = print if tp_rank == 0 else lambda *args, **kwargs: None
@@ -881,6 +883,9 @@ def latency_test(
     gpu_id,
     tp_rank,
 ):
+    # `main` runs this inline for tp_size == 1 and spawns it per rank otherwise;
+    # a spawned child arrives with nothing published.
+    publish(server_args, role="scheduler")
     initialize_moe_config(server_args)
     initialize_fp8_gemm_config(server_args)
     initialize_fp4_gemm_config(server_args)
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/overrides.py b/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/overrides.py
index 2f1654528..b0d783881 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/overrides.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/arg_groups/overrides.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ Two declaration forms, keyed on ``hf_config.architectures[0]``:
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import copy
 import dataclasses
 import inspect
 import json
@@ -380,6 +381,41 @@ def resolution_result(server_args: Any, field: str, default: Any = None) -> Any:
     return getattr(server_args, field, default)
 
 
+def resolution_projection(server_args: Any) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    """Every field's resolved value, nested dataclasses expanded.
+
+    The whole-object shape of ``resolution_result``, for the exits that hand out
+    the entire configuration (``/server_info``, the gRPC and engine readbacks).
+    They used ``dataclasses.asdict``, which reads the fields -- correct only for
+    as long as declarations materialize onto the record, and the point of
+    declaring is that they will not. Field values only: the private resolution
+    bookkeeping and the ``model_config`` memo that a ``vars()`` dump carried into
+    the readback are not configuration.
+    """
+    return {
+        field.name: _plain(resolution_result(server_args, field.name))
+        for field in dataclasses.fields(server_args)
+    }
+
+
+def _plain(value: Any) -> Any:
+    """``dataclasses.asdict``'s conversion, applied to one value: dataclasses
+    become dicts, containers recurse, everything else is deep-copied (a caller
+    mutating the dump must not reach the live configuration)."""
+    if dataclasses.is_dataclass(value) and not isinstance(value, type):
+        return {
+            field.name: _plain(getattr(value, field.name))
+            for field in dataclasses.fields(value)
+        }
+    if isinstance(value, tuple) and hasattr(value, "_fields"):  # namedtuple
+        return type(value)(*(_plain(item) for item in value))
+    if isinstance(value, (list, tuple)):
+        return type(value)(_plain(item) for item in value)
+    if isinstance(value, dict):
+        return type(value)((_plain(k), _plain(v)) for k, v in value.items())
+    return copy.deepcopy(value)
+
+
 def resolved_view(server_args: Any) -> ResolvedView:
     """Read-only view of the resolving configuration for mid-resolution code
     that is not a pass (``__post_init__`` handlers and hooks). Internal to
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/grpc_server.py b/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/grpc_server.py
index 163dc276d..91024e859 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/grpc_server.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/grpc_server.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ from smg_grpc_proto import sglang_encoder_pb2, sglang_encoder_pb2_grpc
 from sglang.srt.disaggregation.encoder.server import MMEncoder, launch_encoder
 from sglang.srt.managers.io_struct import async_sock_send, wrap_as_pickle
 from sglang.srt.managers.schedule_batch import Modality
-from sglang.srt.runtime_context import get_disagg
+from sglang.srt.runtime_context import get_disagg, publish
 from sglang.srt.server_args import PortArgs, ServerArgs
 from sglang.srt.utils import random_uuid
 from sglang.srt.utils.network import NetworkAddress, get_zmq_socket
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ class SGLangEncoderServer(SGLangEncoderServicer):
 
 
 async def serve_grpc_encoder(server_args: ServerArgs):
+    publish(server_args, role="encoder")
     ctx = mp.get_context("spawn")
     zmq_ctx = zmq.asyncio.Context(10)
     ipc_path_prefix = random_uuid()
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/runtime.py b/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/runtime.py
index 330a8b933..433f0e9fc 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/runtime.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/runtime.py
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ from sglang.srt.runtime_context import (
     get_observability,
     get_parallel,
     get_serving,
+    publish,
 )
 from sglang.srt.server_args import PortArgs, ServerArgs
 from sglang.srt.utils import configure_logger, random_uuid, set_prometheus_multiproc_dir
@@ -1473,6 +1474,7 @@ def launch_dp_worker(
     dispatch_path: str,
     result_path: str,
 ):
+    publish(server_args, role="encoder")
     try:
         configure_logger(server_args, prefix=f" encode_dp_worker[{dp_rank}]")
         asyncio.run(
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/server.py b/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/server.py
index 3d9596d81..cef8e884b 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/server.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/disaggregation/encoder/server.py
@@ -57,12 +57,13 @@ from sglang.srt.multimodal.encoder_preprocessing import (
 )
 from sglang.srt.observability.metrics_collector import EncoderMetricsCollector
 from sglang.srt.runtime_context import (
-    ensure_published,
+    assert_published,
     get_device,
     get_disagg,
     get_exec,
     get_mm,
     get_model,
+    publish,
 )
 from sglang.srt.server_args import ServerArgs
 from sglang.srt.utils import configure_media_url_security
@@ -448,7 +449,7 @@ class MMEncoder:
         ``base_gpu_id + rank`` — the DP launcher's per-worker placement. It is
         this instance's value, not a config change, so it travels as an
         argument."""
-        ensure_published(server_args, role="encoder")
+        assert_published(server_args, role="encoder")
         logger.info(f"init MMEncoder {rank}/{server_args.tp_size}")
         self.server_args = server_args
         configure_media_url_security(
@@ -2036,6 +2037,7 @@ async def _handle_encoder_worker_request(encoder: MMEncoder, request):
 
 
 def launch_encoder(server_args, schedule_path, dist_init_method, rank):
+    publish(server_args, role="encoder")
     try:
         asyncio.run(run_encoder(server_args, schedule_path, dist_init_method, rank))
     except KeyboardInterrupt:
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/engine.py b/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/engine.py
index 118b05f85..e4e625c60 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/engine.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/engine.py
@@ -1342,7 +1342,7 @@ class Engine(EngineScoreMixin, EngineBase):
         )
         return msgspec_to_builtins(
             {
-                **dataclasses.asdict(self.tokenizer_manager.server_args),
+                **self.tokenizer_manager.server_args.resolved_dict(),
                 **self._scheduler_init_result.scheduler_infos[0],
                 "startup_time": self.tokenizer_manager.startup_time,
                 "internal_states": internal_states,
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/grpc_bridge.py b/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/grpc_bridge.py
index 56dfc1acf..9349d3f92 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/grpc_bridge.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/grpc_bridge.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ TokenizerManager's event loop.
 """
 
 import asyncio
-import dataclasses
 import json
 import logging
 from types import SimpleNamespace
@@ -423,7 +422,7 @@ class RuntimeHandle:
         return json.dumps(result, default=str)
 
     def get_server_info(self) -> str:
-        result: Dict[str, Any] = dataclasses.asdict(self.tokenizer_manager.server_args)
+        result: Dict[str, Any] = self.tokenizer_manager.server_args.resolved_dict()
         result.update(self.scheduler_info)
         result["kv_events"] = (
             self.tokenizer_manager.server_args.describe_kv_events_publisher()
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/http_server.py b/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/http_server.py
index df6d09fc3..69575931f 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/http_server.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/entrypoints/http_server.py
@@ -232,6 +232,8 @@ async def init_multi_tokenizer() -> ServerArgs:
         server_args.api_key is None
     ), "API key is not supported in multi-tokenizer mode"
 
+    publish(server_args, role="tokenizer")
+
     # Create a new ipc name for the current process
     port_args.tokenizer_ipc_name = (
         f"ipc://{tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False).name}"
@@ -488,6 +490,7 @@ from sglang.srt.runtime_context import (
     get_model,
     get_parallel,
     get_serving,
+    publish,
 )
 
 elastic_ep_router.route_class = ORJSONRoute
@@ -811,10 +814,9 @@ async def server_info():
 
     server_args = _global_state.tokenizer_manager.server_args
 
-    # server_args.model_config is not serializable but should be excluded by asdict.
     return msgspec_to_builtins(
         {
-            **dataclasses.asdict(server_args),
+            **server_args.resolved_dict(),
             **_global_state.scheduler_info,
             "startup_time": _global_state.tokenizer_manager.startup_time,
             "internal_states": internal_states,
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/managers/tokenizer_manager.py b/python/sglang/srt/managers/tokenizer_manager.py
index c21fe1754..221877577 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/managers/tokenizer_manager.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/managers/tokenizer_manager.py
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ from sglang.srt.observability.request_metrics_exporter import (
 )
 from sglang.srt.observability.trace import SpanAttributes, extract_trace_headers
 from sglang.srt.runtime_context import (
-    ensure_published,
+    assert_published,
     get_context,
     get_device,
     get_disagg,
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ class TokenizerManager(TokenizerControlMixin, TokenizerManagerScoreMixin):
     ):
         # Parse args
         self.server_args = server_args
-        ensure_published(server_args, role="tokenizer")
+        assert_published(server_args, role="tokenizer")
         self.startup_time: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None
         self.elastic_worker_count = get_parallel().config.dp_size
         self.elastic_pending_ep_size = None
@@ -2040,7 +2040,7 @@ class TokenizerManager(TokenizerControlMixin, TokenizerManagerScoreMixin):
         part that cannot be reconstructed afterwards.
         """
         try:
-            return self.resolved_config_dict(dataclasses.asdict(self.server_args))
+            return self.resolved_config_dict(self.server_args.resolved_dict())
         except Exception as e:
             logger.error(f"Failed to snapshot the resolved config for the dump: {e!r}")
             return None
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/model_executor/model_runner.py b/python/sglang/srt/model_executor/model_runner.py
index b990b4914..cd3eb88ed 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/model_executor/model_runner.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/model_executor/model_runner.py
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ from sglang.srt.model_executor.runner import (
 )
 from sglang.srt.platforms import current_platform
 from sglang.srt.runtime_context import (
-    ensure_published,
+    assert_published,
     get_context,
     get_device,
     get_exec,
@@ -332,13 +332,10 @@ class ModelRunner:
         self.dist_port = nccl_port
         self.server_args = server_args
         self.is_draft_worker = is_draft_worker
-        # Set the global server_args in the scheduler process (target worker
-        # only, so a draft init cannot clobber target-derived global state).
-        # Before the constructor's bag reads (page_size below): a standalone
-        # construction (benchmark/one_batch, the manual runner tests) has no
-        # earlier publish.
+        # The process entry published; a draft runner is not one (it must not
+        # clobber the target's config), so only the target checks.
         if not is_draft_worker:
-            ensure_published(server_args, role="scheduler")
+            assert_published(server_args, role="scheduler")
         # Set by maybe_init_lora_manager; stays None when LoRA is off and on
         # draft runners, which serve adapters' target model unadapted.
         self.lora_manager: Optional[LoRAManager] = None
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/runtime_context.py b/python/sglang/srt/runtime_context.py
index 20fd37120..c94b32c6f 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/runtime_context.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/runtime_context.py
@@ -969,11 +969,12 @@ class RuntimeContext:
         in a readback: HiCache attach/detach, the generated forward-pass-metrics
         endpoint, tunables set via ``/set_internal_state``.
 
-        ``base`` defaults to ``dict(vars(server_args))`` (matching the legacy
-        ``vars`` dump); pass ``dataclasses.asdict(server_args)`` when nested
-        dataclass fields must be expanded first. Override leaves are flat
-        ``ServerArgs`` field names, so overlaying them onto the top level of
-        either base is exact.
+        ``base`` defaults to ``server_args.resolved_dict()`` -- the record's
+        fields as resolution decided them, nested dataclasses expanded. (It used
+        to be ``dict(vars(server_args))``, which carried the private resolution
+        bookkeeping and the ``model_config`` memo into the readback.) Override
+        leaves are flat ``ServerArgs`` field names, so overlaying them onto the
+        top level of the base is exact.
 
         The log is per process: it carries what *this* process overrode. A
         weight reload records ``model_path`` and ``load_format`` from the
@@ -984,7 +985,7 @@ class RuntimeContext:
         The top-level ``/server_info`` fields are the startup record, not this
         dump.
         """
-        d = dict(vars(self.server_args)) if base is None else dict(base)
+        d = self.server_args.resolved_dict() if base is None else dict(base)
         for _source, fields in self._overrides_log:
             d.update(fields)
         return d
@@ -1374,29 +1375,38 @@ def publish(server_args, *, role: str, hf_config: Any = None) -> RuntimeContext:
     return _CONTEXT
 
 
-def ensure_published(server_args, *, role: str) -> RuntimeContext:
-    """Publish unless this exact record is already published under this role.
+def assert_published(server_args, *, role: str) -> RuntimeContext:
+    """This record, under this role, is already published -- or fail loud.
 
-    Three constructors publish defensively, because each can be built with
-    nothing published before it -- `ModelRunner` (a benchmark harness, the
-    manual runner tests), `TokenizerManager`, and `MMEncoder` (spawned encoder
-    workers). Inside a process that already published the same record,
-    publishing again re-projects the bags: every `override()` taken between the
-    two calls is discarded, and the provenance log with it.
+    Publishing is the process entry's job: `run_scheduler_process`,
+    `init_multi_tokenizer`, a spawned encoder worker, the benchmark work
+    functions. A constructor arriving here unpublished means one of those
+    entries is missing.
 
-    No override sits in one of those windows today, so this removes a hazard
-    rather than a live bug. It is worth removing anyway: the drop is silent, it
-    depends on where a constructor happens to sit relative to the overrides
-    around it, and `publish` now says what a re-projection discarded so the
-    next one is loud.
-
-    So these callers ask for the end state -- this record, this role, published
-    -- and get a no-op when that already holds. An engine rebuild still calls
-    `publish` directly, because there the reset is the point.
+    A `publish` at this point re-projects the bags over a live process,
+    discarding every `override()` taken since and the provenance log with it,
+    so this raises.
     """
     if _CONTEXT._server_args is server_args and _CONTEXT._publish_role == role:
         return _CONTEXT
-    return publish(server_args, role=role)
+    if _CONTEXT._server_args is None:
+        detail = "nothing is published in this process"
+    elif _CONTEXT._server_args is not server_args:
+        detail = (
+            "a different record is published "
+            f"(role={_CONTEXT._publish_role!r}); this constructor was handed "
+            "one the process never published"
+        )
+    else:
+        detail = (
+            f"this record is published under role "
+            f"{_CONTEXT._publish_role!r}, not {role!r}"
+        )
+    raise RuntimeError(
+        f"config not published for role {role!r}: {detail}. The process entry "
+        "publishes -- add publish(server_args, role=...) there rather than "
+        "publishing from a constructor."
+    )
 
 
 def publish_role() -> str | None:
diff --git a/python/sglang/srt/server_args.py b/python/sglang/srt/server_args.py
index fb5c69cdf..d8e483f7b 100644
--- a/python/sglang/srt/server_args.py
+++ b/python/sglang/srt/server_args.py
@@ -3729,6 +3729,21 @@ class ServerArgs:
         # handlers ran, not how far they got.
         self._declarations_materialized = True
 
+    def resolved_dict(self) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        """This configuration as a plain dict of resolved field values.
+
+        What the whole-object readbacks report (`/server_info` and its gRPC and
+        in-process twins). `dataclasses.asdict(self)` reads the fields, which
+        carry resolution's result only while declarations materialize onto the
+        record; this reads the declarations, so it keeps answering with what
+        resolution decided once they stop. Nested dataclass fields are expanded
+        the way `asdict` expands them; the private resolution bookkeeping and the
+        `model_config` memo are not fields and do not appear.
+        """
+        from sglang.srt.arg_groups.overrides import resolution_projection
+
+        return resolution_projection(self)
+
     def replace_resolved(self, source: str, **changes: Any) -> ServerArgs:
         """A copy of this record that stays resolved, and says what it changed.
 
diff --git a/python/sglang/test/config_publishers.py b/python/sglang/test/config_publishers.py
index f473403a7..65544200b 100644
--- a/python/sglang/test/config_publishers.py
+++ b/python/sglang/test/config_publishers.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 """Who installs the startup record into the runtime context, derived from code.
 
 Two guards need this answer and neither should keep its own list: matching the
-spellings by hand is how `ensure_published` once read as *not* publishing,
-which turned a correct module into a reported violation. A publisher is
+spellings by hand is how the constructors' old defensive publish once read as
+*not* publishing, which turned a correct module into a reported violation. A publisher is
 defined by what it does -- it reaches ``RuntimeContext.set_server_args`` --
 and a *constructor* publisher is an ``__init__`` that calls one.
 """
diff --git a/test/manual/test_forward_split_prefill.py b/test/manual/test_forward_split_prefill.py
index c54c6456c..c020793c1 100644
--- a/test/manual/test_forward_split_prefill.py
+++ b/test/manual/test_forward_split_prefill.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ from sglang.srt.distributed.parallel_state_wrapper import ParallelState
 from sglang.srt.managers.schedule_batch import Req, ScheduleBatch
 from sglang.srt.model_executor.forward_batch_info import ForwardBatch, ForwardMode
 from sglang.srt.model_executor.model_runner import ModelRunner
+from sglang.srt.runtime_context import publish
 from sglang.srt.sampling.sampling_params import SamplingParams
 from sglang.srt.server_args import PortArgs, ServerArgs
 from sglang.srt.speculative.spec_info import SpeculativeAlgorithm
@@ -52,6 +53,8 @@ class TestForwardSplitPrefill(CustomTestCase):
 
         cls.port_args = PortArgs.init_new(cls.server_args)
 
+        publish(cls.server_args, role="scheduler")
+
         # Load model and tokenizer
         cls.model_config = ModelConfig.from_server_args(cls.server_args)
         cls.model_runner = ModelRunner(
diff --git a/test/manual/test_tokenizer_batch_encode.py b/test/manual/test_tokenizer_batch_encode.py
index 31b9dd9c4..31d877304 100644
--- a/test/manual/test_tokenizer_batch_encode.py
+++ b/test/manual/test_tokenizer_batch_encode.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ from unittest.mock import Mock, patch
 
 from sglang.srt.managers.io_struct import GenerateReqInput
 from sglang.srt.managers.tokenizer_manager import TokenizerManager
+from sglang.srt.runtime_context import publish
 from sglang.srt.server_args import PortArgs, ServerArgs
 from sglang.test.test_utils import DEFAULT_SMALL_MODEL_NAME_FOR_TEST
 
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ class TestTokenizerBatchEncode(unittest.TestCase):
         ):
 
             mock_tokenizer.return_value = Mock(vocab_size=32000)
+            publish(self.server_args, role="tokenizer")
             self.tokenizer_manager = TokenizerManager(self.server_args, self.port_args)
 
     def test_batch_encode_enabled(self):
diff --git a/test/manual/test_tokenizer_manager.py b/test/manual/test_tokenizer_manager.py
index fb1df6454..3b9f63ba2 100644
--- a/test/manual/test_tokenizer_manager.py
+++ b/test/manual/test_tokenizer_manager.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ from sglang.srt.managers.tokenizer_manager import (
     TokenizerManager,
 )
 from sglang.srt.observability.req_time_stats import APIServerReqTimeStats
+from sglang.srt.runtime_context import publish
 from sglang.srt.server_args import PortArgs, ServerArgs
 from sglang.test.test_utils import DEFAULT_SMALL_MODEL_NAME_FOR_TEST
 
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ class TestInputFormatDetection(unittest.TestCase):
             ) as mock_tokenizer,
         ):
             mock_tokenizer.return_value = Mock(vocab_size=32000)
+            publish(self.server_args, role="tokenizer")
             self.tokenizer_manager = TokenizerManager(self.server_args, self.port_args)
 
     def test_detect_single_string(self):
@@ -143,6 +145,7 @@ class TestTokenizerInputPreparation(unittest.TestCase):
             ) as mock_tokenizer,
         ):
             mock_tokenizer.return_value = Mock(vocab_size=32000)
+            publish(self.server_args, role="tokenizer")
             self.tokenizer_manager = TokenizerManager(self.server_args, self.port_args)
 
     def test_prepare_single_string_input(self):
@@ -203,6 +206,7 @@ class TestTokenizerResultExtraction(unittest.TestCase):
             ) as mock_tokenizer,
         ):
             mock_tokenizer.return_value = Mock(vocab_size=32000)
+            publish(self.server_args, role="tokenizer")
             self.tokenizer_manager = TokenizerManager(self.server_args, self.port_args)
 
     def test_extract_single_string_results(self):
@@ -327,6 +331,7 @@ class TestTokenizerManagerIntegration(unittest.TestCase):
             ) as mock_tokenizer,
         ):
             mock_tokenizer.return_value = Mock(vocab_size=32000)
+            publish(self.server_args, role="tokenizer")
             self.tokenizer_manager = TokenizerManager(self.server_args, self.port_args)
 
     def test_full_workflow_single_string(self):
diff --git a/test/manual/test_vlm_accuracy.py b/test/manual/test_vlm_accuracy.py
index 0387f227a..88fdfec01 100644
--- a/test/manual/test_vlm_accuracy.py
+++ b/test/manual/test_vlm_accuracy.py
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ from sglang.srt.managers.schedule_batch import (
 from sglang.srt.model_executor.model_runner import ModelRunner
 from sglang.srt.multimodal.processors.base_processor import BaseMultimodalProcessor
 from sglang.srt.parser.conversation import generate_chat_conv
+from sglang.srt.runtime_context import publish
 from sglang.srt.server_args import ServerArgs
 from sglang.test.test_utils import download_image_with_retry
 
@@ -141,16 +142,18 @@ class VisionLLMLogitsBase(unittest.IsolatedAsyncioTestCase):
         return inputs
 
     def get_sglang_model(self):
+        server_args = ServerArgs(
+            model_path=self.model_path,
+            disable_cuda_graph=True,
+        )
+        publish(server_args, role="scheduler")
         self.model_runner = ModelRunner(
             model_config=ModelConfig(self.model_path, model_override_args="{}"),
             mem_fraction_static=0.8,
             gpu_id=0,
             ps=ParallelState.trivial(),
             nccl_port=12435,
-            server_args=ServerArgs(
-                model_path=self.model_path,
-                disable_cuda_graph=True,
-            ),
+            server_args=server_args,
         )
         return self.model_runner.model
 
diff --git a/test/registered/unit/entrypoints/test_server_info.py b/test/registered/unit/entrypoints/test_server_info.py
index 56d72cc1b..8aa9b3276 100644
--- a/test/registered/unit/entrypoints/test_server_info.py
+++ b/test/registered/unit/entrypoints/test_server_info.py
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ class TestServerInfoControlPlaneUpdates(CustomTestCase):
             tokenizer_manager.record_config_updates("test", weight_version="v2")
             self.assertEqual(tokenizer_manager.config_value("weight_version"), "v2")
             overlaid = tokenizer_manager.resolved_config_dict(
-                dataclasses.asdict(server_args)
+                server_args.resolved_dict()
             )
             self.assertEqual(overlaid["weight_version"], "v2")
         finally:
@@ -313,9 +313,9 @@ class TestServerInfoExistingFieldsPreserved(CustomTestCase):
     """
 
     def test_every_server_args_field_appears_in_response(self):
-        # `dataclasses.asdict(server_args)` is spread into the response;
-        # asserting every dataclass field surfaces is the strongest
-        # backward-compat guarantee that's still implementation-agnostic.
+        # `server_args.resolved_dict()` is spread into the response; asserting
+        # every dataclass field surfaces is the strongest backward-compat
+        # guarantee that's still implementation-agnostic.
         args = ServerArgs(model_path="dummy")
 
         info = _call_server_info_with(args)
diff --git a/test/registered/unit/server_args/test_resolution_declarations.py b/test/registered/unit/server_args/test_resolution_declarations.py
index 292581161..331e17779 100644
--- a/test/registered/unit/server_args/test_resolution_declarations.py
+++ b/test/registered/unit/server_args/test_resolution_declarations.py
@@ -376,6 +376,32 @@ class TestResolutionDeclarations(CustomTestCase):
             + "\n  ".join(differences),
         )
 
+    def test_the_whole_object_readback_carries_only_fields(self):
+        """`/server_info` and its gRPC and in-process twins report
+        `ServerArgs.resolved_dict()`.
+
+        The dump is exactly the field names, carrying the resolution result
+        for each. It holds none of the resolution bookkeeping (`_raw_input`, the
+        declaration stash, the finished flag) and no `ModelConfig` memo: none of
+        that is configuration, and all of it would cross IPC with the
+        readback.
+        """
+        server_args = self._resolve({"tp_size": 2})
+        dump = server_args.resolved_dict()
+        self.assertEqual(
+            sorted(dump),
+            sorted(field.name for field in dataclasses.fields(server_args)),
+            "the readback dump is no longer exactly the fields",
+        )
+        leaked = sorted(
+            name
+            for name in vars(server_args)
+            if name not in dump and not name.startswith("__")
+        )
+        self.assertNotEqual(
+            leaked, [], "nothing to leak any more -- this check is now vacuous"
+        )
+
     def test_every_published_leaf_is_what_resolution_decided(self):
         """One hop further than the check above: the leaf a reader reads.
 
diff --git a/test/registered/unit/test_publish_precedes_bag_reads.py b/test/registered/unit/test_publish_precedes_bag_reads.py
index 8429b0915..78ced6117 100644
--- a/test/registered/unit/test_publish_precedes_bag_reads.py
+++ b/test/registered/unit/test_publish_precedes_bag_reads.py
@@ -78,15 +78,22 @@ _KNOWN_ENTRIES = frozenset(
             "run_data_parallel_controller_process",
         ),
         ("srt/ray/scheduler_actor.py", "__init__"),
-        ("srt/disaggregation/encoder/server.py", "__init__"),
         ("srt/disaggregation/encoder/http_server.py", "launch_server"),
-        ("srt/managers/tokenizer_manager.py", "__init__"),
         ("srt/entrypoints/engine.py", "_launch_subprocesses"),
         (
             "srt/elastic_ep/expert_backup_manager.py",
             "run_expert_backup_manager_process",
         ),
         ("srt/weight_cache/daemon.py", "load"),
+        # The multi-tokenizer worker, the benchmark work functions (run
+        # inline or spawned per rank), and the encoder's gRPC / spawned-TP /
+        # spawned-DP entries.
+        ("srt/entrypoints/http_server.py", "init_multi_tokenizer"),
+        ("benchmark/one_batch.py", "latency_test"),
+        ("benchmark/one_batch.py", "correctness_test"),
+        ("srt/disaggregation/encoder/grpc_server.py", "serve_grpc_encoder"),
+        ("srt/disaggregation/encoder/server.py", "launch_encoder"),
+        ("srt/disaggregation/encoder/runtime.py", "launch_dp_worker"),
     }
 )
 
diff --git a/test/registered/unit/test_runtime_context.py b/test/registered/unit/test_runtime_context.py
index b655102d1..11d4fd836 100644
--- a/test/registered/unit/test_runtime_context.py
+++ b/test/registered/unit/test_runtime_context.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ from sglang.srt.runtime_context import (
     ParallelContext,
     RuntimeContext,
     _FlagGroupBase,
-    ensure_published,
+    assert_published,
     get_context,
     get_exec,
     get_flags,
@@ -255,35 +255,30 @@ class TestServerArgsOwnership(_IsolatedServerArgs):
             get_server_args()
 
 
-class TestEnsurePublished(_IsolatedServerArgs):
-    """A defensive publish must not re-project over a live process.
+class TestAssertPublished(_IsolatedServerArgs):
+    """Publishing is the process entry's job; the constructors only check.
 
-    Three constructors publish because each can be built with nothing published
-    first: `ModelRunner`, `TokenizerManager`, `MMEncoder`. Inside a process that
-    already published the same record, publishing again re-projects the bags --
-    discarding every `override()` taken since, and the provenance log with it.
-
-    No current override sits in one of those windows, so what these assertions
-    protect is the mechanism, not a reproduction: the drop is silent and depends
-    on where a constructor happens to sit relative to the overrides around it.
+    `ModelRunner`, `TokenizerManager` and `MMEncoder` assert. A publish inside
+    a process that has already published re-projects the bags, discarding every
+    `override()` taken since and the provenance log with it, so a constructor
+    that finds nothing published fails loud.
     """
 
     def _record(self, **fields):
         return ServerArgs(model_path="dummy", **fields)
 
-    def test_a_second_publish_of_the_same_record_keeps_the_overrides(self):
+    def test_the_check_leaves_a_live_process_alone(self):
         record = self._record(grammar_backend="xgrammar")
         publish(record, role="scheduler")
         get_context().override("grammar.import_fallback", grammar_backend="none")
 
-        ensure_published(record, role="scheduler")
+        assert_published(record, role="scheduler")
 
         self.assertEqual(
             get_exec().kernel.grammar_backend,
             "none",
-            "the constructor's publish re-projected the bags, so the import "
-            "fallback was discarded and the process reports a backend it is "
-            "not using",
+            "the check re-projected the bags, so the import fallback was "
+            "discarded and the process reports a backend it is not using",
         )
         self.assertEqual(
             len(get_context().overrides_log()),
@@ -291,45 +286,49 @@ class TestEnsurePublished(_IsolatedServerArgs):
             "the provenance of the override went with it",
         )
 
-    def test_a_different_record_is_published(self):
+    def test_a_different_record_fails(self):
         first = self._record(grammar_backend="xgrammar")
         publish(first, role="scheduler")
         second = self._record(grammar_backend="llguidance")
 
-        ensure_published(second, role="scheduler")
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(RuntimeError, "a different record is published"):
+            assert_published(second, role="scheduler")
 
-        self.assertIs(get_server_args(), second)
-        self.assertEqual(get_exec().kernel.grammar_backend, "llguidance")
+        self.assertIs(
+            get_server_args(),
+            first,
+            "the failing check published anyway",
+        )
 
-    def test_an_empty_slot_is_published(self):
-        """The standalone case the defensive publish exists for."""
+    def test_an_empty_slot_fails(self):
+        """An empty slot fails."""
         reset_context()
         record = self._record(grammar_backend="xgrammar")
 
-        ensure_published(record, role="scheduler")
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(
+            RuntimeError, "nothing is published in this process"
+        ):
+            assert_published(record, role="scheduler")
 
-        self.assertIs(get_server_args(), record)
-        self.assertEqual(publish_role(), "scheduler")
-
-    def test_the_same_record_under_a_different_role_is_republished(self):
+    def test_the_same_record_under_a_different_role_fails(self):
         """The role decides which namespaces this process may read."""
         record = self._record()
         publish(record, role="tokenizer")
 
-        ensure_published(record, role="scheduler")
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(RuntimeError, "published under role 'tokenizer'"):
+            assert_published(record, role="scheduler")
 
-        self.assertEqual(publish_role(), "scheduler")
+        self.assertEqual(publish_role(), "tokenizer")
 
-    def test_every_constructor_that_publishes_is_classified(self):
-        """A new constructor publish has to say which of the two it is.
+    def test_no_constructor_publishes_outside_the_two_entries(self):
+        """Publishing from an `__init__` is an entry's job or a bug.
 
-        Publishing in a constructor is right when the constructor *is* the
-        entry -- a spawned worker, the Ray actor that stands in for
-        `run_scheduler_process`, an `Engine` being (re)built, where resetting
-        the bags is the point -- and wrong when the process is already live
-        with the same record, where it silently drops overrides. The
-        difference is not visible in the syntax, so the census is pinned:
-        adding one fails here until it is classified.
+        It is right when the constructor *is* the entry -- an `Engine` being
+        (re)built, the Ray actor that stands in for `run_scheduler_process`,
+        where resetting the bags is the point. It is wrong anywhere else,
+        because the process is already live with a record and re-projecting
+        drops its overrides. The census is pinned, so a new constructor publish
+        fails here until it is one of the two.
 
         Both the publisher set and "which `__init__` reaches one" come from
         `sglang.test.config_publishers`, which derives them from the code --
@@ -347,24 +346,11 @@ class TestEnsurePublished(_IsolatedServerArgs):
         self.assertEqual(
             constructor_publishers(srt),
             {
-                # Entries: nothing published yet, or a rebuild that must not
-                # inherit the previous engine's runtime overrides.
                 ("entrypoints/engine.py", "Engine", "publish"),
                 ("ray/scheduler_actor.py", "SchedulerActor", "publish"),
-                # Defensive: the process is usually already live with this
-                # record, and `launch_server` publishes before building the
-                # in-process encoder.
-                ("disaggregation/encoder/server.py", "MMEncoder", "ensure_published"),
-                (
-                    "managers/tokenizer_manager.py",
-                    "TokenizerManager",
-                    "ensure_published",
-                ),
-                ("model_executor/model_runner.py", "ModelRunner", "ensure_published"),
             },
-            "a constructor publishes and this census does not know which kind "
-            "it is; an entry uses publish(), one that may run inside a live "
-            "process with the same record uses ensure_published()",
+            "a constructor publishes and it is not one of the two entries; "
+            "publish at the process entry and let the constructor assert",
         )