diff --git a/packages/core/src/vta/tsp-relationship.ts b/packages/core/src/vta/tsp-relationship.ts
index dfa1573..c562406 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/vta/tsp-relationship.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/vta/tsp-relationship.ts
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 
 import {
   packInvite,
+  resolveAccept,
   unpack,
   transition,
   type ControlMessage,
@@ -111,9 +112,6 @@ export class MemoryRelationshipStore implements RelationshipStore {
 const toHex = (bytes: Uint8Array): string =>
   Array.from(bytes, (b) => b.toString(16).padStart(2, "0")).join("");
 
-const bytesEqual = (a: Uint8Array, b: Uint8Array): boolean =>
-  a.length === b.length && a.every((v, i) => v === b[i]);
-
 export interface EnsureRelationshipOpts {
   transport: TspTransport;
   holder: TspHolderIdentity;
@@ -203,8 +201,9 @@ export async function ensureRelationship(
       declined = `a ${control.controlType}, not an accept`;
       return false;
     }
-    if (!control.inReplyTo || !bytesEqual(control.inReplyTo, invite.threadDigest)) {
-      declined = "an accept to an invite we did not send";
+    const outcome = resolveAccept(pending, control.inReplyTo, invite.threadDigest);
+    if (outcome.action === "ignore") {
+      declined = `an accept that ${outcome.reason}`;
       return false;
     }
     return true;
diff --git a/packages/core/tests/tsp.relationship.mjs b/packages/core/tests/tsp.relationship.mjs
index c674cd2..6bea89e 100644
--- a/packages/core/tests/tsp.relationship.mjs
+++ b/packages/core/tests/tsp.relationship.mjs
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ function tspIdentity(vid) {
  * an application message from a VID it holds no relationship with is **dropped
  * silently**, which on this transport means the reply never resolves.
  */
-function relationshipVta(vta, holder, { gating = true, answerInvites = true } = {}) {
+function relationshipVta(vta, holder, { gating = true, answerInvites = true, acceptDigest } = {}) {
   const sent = [];
   let related = false;
   return {
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ function relationshipVta(vta, holder, { gating = true, answerInvites = true } =
         if (req.control.controlType !== "invite") throw new Error("unexpected control message");
         if (!answerInvites) throw new Error("timeout: this VTA does not answer invites");
         related = true;
-        const accept = await packAccept(req.control.digest, vta.vid, holder.vid, {
+        const accept = await packAccept(acceptDigest ?? req.control.digest, vta.vid, holder.vid, {
           senderSigningKey: vta.signSk,
           receiverEncryptionKey: holder.encPk,
         });
@@ -165,6 +165,20 @@ test("a VTA that never answers an invite still gets the application message", as
   assert.equal(transport.sent[1].messageType, "direct", "sent anyway");
 });
 
+test("an accept that answers an invite we never sent does not establish the relationship", async () => {
+  // §7.2.2: the accept's Digest must be the one our invite carried.
+  const { channel, outcomes, store, holder } = makeChannel({
+    gating: false,
+    acceptDigest: new Uint8Array(32).fill(7),
+  });
+
+  await channel.send(task(), { expectedResponseType: LIST_RESP });
+
+  assert.equal(outcomes[0].kind, "notAnswered");
+  assert.match(outcomes[0].reason, /answers an invite we did not send/);
+  assert.equal((await store.get(holder.vid, VTA_VID)).state, "pending");
+});
+
 test("a VTA restart is recovered from by re-inviting, not by failing forever", async () => {
   // The far side's relationship store is in-memory by default, so it forgets
   // every relationship when it restarts. A wallet that kept believing its own
diff --git a/packages/tsp-js/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/tsp-js/CHANGELOG.md
index 7bee63d..4e38074 100644
--- a/packages/tsp-js/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/tsp-js/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ For history before this file, see `git log` on `packages/tsp-js`.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+
+- `resolveAccept(state, answeredDigest, ourInviteDigest)`: whether a received
+  accept answers the invite we have outstanding (§7.2.2). `transition` sees
+  only the state, so until now every client had to compare the digests itself
+  or adopt an accept for an invite it never sent.
+
 ### Fixed
 
 - An XSCS/XCTL body that is not exactly one Bytes primitive is refused. It was
diff --git a/packages/tsp-js/README.md b/packages/tsp-js/README.md
index 24a9e34..75d386e 100644
--- a/packages/tsp-js/README.md
+++ b/packages/tsp-js/README.md
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ accept.control.inReplyTo; // equals invite.threadDigest
 ```
 
 The state machine (`transition`, `canSend`, `admitsApplicationMessage`,
-`resolveInviteRace`, `resolveCancel`) is **pure** — state and event in, state or
+`resolveInviteRace`, `resolveAccept`, `resolveCancel`) is **pure** — state and event in, state or
 a refusal out. No storage, no clock, no keys. That is the line: this package
 owns what the protocol says happens next, and the client owns where that is
 written down.
diff --git a/packages/tsp-js/src/index.ts b/packages/tsp-js/src/index.ts
index 94e930a..8e96e42 100644
--- a/packages/tsp-js/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/tsp-js/src/index.ts
@@ -67,9 +67,11 @@ export {
   canSend,
   compareBytes,
   InvalidTransitionError,
+  resolveAccept,
   resolveCancel,
   resolveInviteRace,
   transition,
+  type AcceptOutcome,
   type CancelOutcome,
   type InviteRaceOutcome,
   type RelationshipEvent,
diff --git a/packages/tsp-js/src/relationship.ts b/packages/tsp-js/src/relationship.ts
index 74110b9..60711bb 100644
--- a/packages/tsp-js/src/relationship.ts
+++ b/packages/tsp-js/src/relationship.ts
@@ -146,6 +146,40 @@ export function compareBytes(a: Uint8Array, b: Uint8Array): number {
   return a.length - b.length;
 }
 
+/** What a received accept calls for, per §7.2.2. */
+export type AcceptOutcome =
+  /** It answers our outstanding invite: apply `receiveAccept`. */
+  | { action: "adopt" }
+  /** Drop it silently — it answers nothing we sent. */
+  | { action: "ignore"; reason: string };
+
+/**
+ * Decide whether a received accept answers our invite (§7.2.2).
+ *
+ * An accept's Digest is copied verbatim from the invite it answers, so it must
+ * equal the digest of the invite we have outstanding. Anything else — no invite
+ * outstanding, or a digest naming an invite we never sent — is ignored rather
+ * than answered, for the same reason {@link resolveCancel} ignores an unknown
+ * cancellation. {@link transition} alone cannot make this check: it sees the
+ * state, not the digests.
+ *
+ * `answeredDigest` is the accept's Digest; `ourInviteDigest` is the digest of
+ * the invite we sent, or `undefined` if we hold none.
+ */
+export function resolveAccept(
+  state: RelationshipState,
+  answeredDigest: Uint8Array | undefined,
+  ourInviteDigest: Uint8Array | undefined,
+): AcceptOutcome {
+  if (state !== "pending" || ourInviteDigest === undefined) {
+    return { action: "ignore", reason: "answers no invite we have outstanding" };
+  }
+  if (answeredDigest === undefined || compareBytes(answeredDigest, ourInviteDigest) !== 0) {
+    return { action: "ignore", reason: "answers an invite we did not send" };
+  }
+  return { action: "adopt" };
+}
+
 /** What a cancellation calls for, per §7.3. */
 export type CancelOutcome =
   /** Ignore it entirely — we hold nothing it could be about. */
diff --git a/packages/tsp-js/tests/relationship.test.mjs b/packages/tsp-js/tests/relationship.test.mjs
index 0912ec9..488073c 100644
--- a/packages/tsp-js/tests/relationship.test.mjs
+++ b/packages/tsp-js/tests/relationship.test.mjs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import {
   canSend,
   admitsApplicationMessage,
   resolveInviteRace,
+  resolveAccept,
   resolveCancel,
   compareBytes,
   InvalidTransitionError,
@@ -120,3 +121,13 @@ test("a cancellation may name either half of the relationship", () => {
   assert.equal(resolveCancel("bidirectional", invite, [invite, accept]).action, "removeAndReply");
   assert.equal(resolveCancel("bidirectional", accept, [invite, accept]).action, "removeAndReply");
 });
+
+test("an accept is adopted only when it answers our outstanding invite", () => {
+  const ours = digest(0xaa);
+  assert.equal(resolveAccept("pending", ours, ours).action, "adopt");
+  assert.equal(resolveAccept("pending", digest(0xbb), ours).action, "ignore", "an invite we never sent");
+  assert.equal(resolveAccept("pending", undefined, ours).action, "ignore");
+  assert.equal(resolveAccept("pending", ours, undefined).action, "ignore", "no invite on record");
+  assert.equal(resolveAccept("none", ours, ours).action, "ignore");
+  assert.equal(resolveAccept("bidirectional", ours, ours).action, "ignore");
+});