diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 32b069ed..ed285188 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ signals a backwards-compatible change.
   worker's seed and the aggregator's from one seed. The unseeded constructors
   draw from the thread generator. The seed is not serialized, and the ASAPv1
   payload is unchanged.
+- **`peek_kind_id(&[u8])`** returns an ASAPv1 envelope's `kind_id` after
+  checking its magic, version, and framing, without decoding the sketch.
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/docs/asapv1_wire_format.md b/docs/asapv1_wire_format.md
index f85b81d8..3532dab5 100644
--- a/docs/asapv1_wire_format.md
+++ b/docs/asapv1_wire_format.md
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ This registry is the master list of algorithms still to design payloads for, and
 
 > Implementation note: the shared envelope module (`src/message_pack_format/envelope.rs`) owns rules 1-3 and the byte framing (`encode` / `split`); it is sketch-agnostic and does not know the registry.
 > Rule 4 (and metadata/kind_id validation) happens in each sketch's decoder, which checks the `kind_id` against the ones it owns.
-> `peek_kind_id` checks only rules 1-3, then returns the `kind_id` bytes; otherwise it fails.
+> `peek_kind_id` checks rules 2-3 and the length checks of rule 1, not that each block is filled exactly, then returns the `kind_id` bytes; otherwise it fails.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index b062b8b9..5119bb3c 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ pub mod __private {
 
 pub use common::*;
 pub use message_pack_format::MessagePackCodec;
+pub use message_pack_format::envelope::peek_kind_id;
 pub use message_pack_format::portable::countminsketch::{CountMinSketch, CountMinSketchDelta};
 pub use message_pack_format::portable::countminsketch_topk::{CmsHeapItem, CountMinSketchWithHeap};
 pub use message_pack_format::portable::countsketch::{
diff --git a/src/message_pack_format/envelope.rs b/src/message_pack_format/envelope.rs
index 4fb8c00d..ac1891bf 100644
--- a/src/message_pack_format/envelope.rs
+++ b/src/message_pack_format/envelope.rs
@@ -111,6 +111,13 @@ pub(crate) fn split(bytes: &[u8]) -> Result<Parts<'_>, String> {
     ))
 }
 
+/// Returns the `kind_id` of an ASAPv1 envelope after checking its magic, version,
+/// and framing; the metadata and payload blocks are not parsed.
+pub fn peek_kind_id(bytes: &[u8]) -> Result<&[u8], RmpDecodeError> {
+    let (kind_id, _, _) = split(bytes).map_err(RmpDecodeError::Uncategorized)?;
+    Ok(kind_id)
+}
+
 /// Decodes a metadata or payload block as one msgpack value that fills the
 /// block exactly; a byte left after the value is an error.
 pub(crate) fn decode_block<T: DeserializeOwned>(block: &[u8]) -> Result<T, RmpDecodeError> {
diff --git a/tests/asapv1_golden.rs b/tests/asapv1_golden.rs
index 30b41651..933d112b 100644
--- a/tests/asapv1_golden.rs
+++ b/tests/asapv1_golden.rs
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 use asap_sketchlib::{
     Classic, Count, CountMin, ErtlMLE, FastPath, HllSketch, HllVariant, HyperLogLogHIPP12,
-    HyperLogLogP12, KLL, MessagePackCodec, RegularPath, Vector2D,
+    HyperLogLogP12, KLL, MessagePackCodec, RegularPath, Vector2D, peek_kind_id,
 };
 
 fn decode_hex(s: &str) -> Vec<u8> {
@@ -287,3 +287,31 @@ fn kll_i64_k200_matches_golden() {
     assert_eq!(decoded.quantile(0.0), 1.0);
     assert_eq!(decoded.quantile(1.0), 50.0);
 }
+
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// peek_kind_id
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#[test]
+fn peek_kind_id_checks_magic_version_and_framing() {
+    let bytes = decode_hex(GOLDEN_CMS_I64);
+
+    let trailing = [&bytes[..], &[0xc0]].concat();
+    assert_eq!(
+        peek_kind_id(&trailing).expect("trailing bytes ignored"),
+        [0x02, 0x00]
+    );
+
+    let mut bad_magic = bytes.clone();
+    bad_magic[0] = b'X';
+    assert!(peek_kind_id(&bad_magic).is_err(), "bad magic");
+
+    let mut bad_version = bytes.clone();
+    bad_version[6] = 0x02;
+    assert!(peek_kind_id(&bad_version).is_err(), "unknown version");
+
+    // Cut inside the length fields, then inside the payload.
+    for len in [17, bytes.len() - 1] {
+        assert!(peek_kind_id(&bytes[..len]).is_err(), "truncated to {len}");
+    }
+}