diff --git a/project/ticket-014/README.md b/project/ticket-014/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..043ebd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/project/ticket-014/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+# Ticket 014: Enforce reDUP CLI duplicate budgets
+
+- **ID**: ticket-014
+- **Owner**: agent:codex
+- **Status**: IN_PROGRESS
+- **Workflow state**: PUBLICATION
+- **Created**: 2026-10-11
+
+## Goal and scope
+
+SESSION_EXECUTION_AUTHORIZATION: user requests continuation of standard refactoring, verification and Issue/PR maintenance. Parent wellmanifest/PLF-002; bounded follow-up [reDUP #20](https://github.com/semcod/redup/issues/20), Planfile PLF-022. Application preflight admits a disjoint scope; Docs229 remains frozen.
+
+Fix the CLI check command's successful exit despite exceeded duplication budgets. Preserve scanner behavior and MCP contracts. Canonical cross-repository result remains [harmonization v13](https://github.com/subactor/docs/blob/b80c27e6d4c8caa0c6db389eddb4377d9f86cd8a/architecture/analysis/wellmanifest-standards-harmonization.md); new evidence awaits protected report recovery.
+
+## Acceptance criteria
+
+- [x] AC-01: CLI enforces both configured/default and explicit budgets, with equality passing and invalid budgets rejected.
+- [x] AC-02: Actual CLI duplicate and empty fixtures plus configuration/override regression tests pass; managed governance passes.
+- [ ] AC-03: Material change published and independently reviewed through the declared protected route.
+
+## Tracking boundary
+
+Verification: 16 new CLI cases; full suite 256 passed / 13 existing skips, zero failures. Three negative CLI cases fail against the unchanged baseline. Exact Metafile source canary exits1 with groups94/lines1152 instead of the baseline's misleading exit0. Ruff lint/format and scoped governance pass. No protected approval or merge is inferred from these local checks.
+
+This directory contains the minimal reviewed intent. Optional participant prose
+and raw command logs are not required delivery output.
diff --git a/project/ticket-014/intent.json b/project/ticket-014/intent.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb9f30f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/project/ticket-014/intent.json
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+{
+  "schema": "new-project.intent/v3",
+  "ticket": "ticket-014",
+  "summary": "Enforce reDUP CLI duplicate budgets",
+  "workstream": "application",
+  "classification": {
+    "kind": "BUG",
+    "priority": "P1",
+    "origin": "health"
+  },
+  "allowedPaths": [
+    "project/ticket-014/**",
+    "src/redup/cli_app/main.py",
+    "src/redup/cli_app/scan_commands.py",
+    "tests/test_cli_check_budget.py"
+  ],
+  "forbiddenPaths": [
+    "project/ticket-*/user-*.md"
+  ],
+  "stacks": [],
+  "dependsOn": [],
+  "conflictsWith": [],
+  "integrationTicket": null,
+  "delivery": {
+    "acceptedBaseSha": "827418a798d9a5d4d455ffc7e4228e7d063c106f",
+    "targetBranch": "main",
+    "outcome": "CLI check rejects exceeded duplicate budgets and invalid limits, preserves inclusive boundaries and configuration precedence, with actual CLI regression coverage for Issue20.",
+    "nonGoals": ["No scanner or MCP changes", "No dependency or runtime activation", "No original frozen refactor changes", "No author approval or merge"],
+    "complexity": "S",
+    "estimatedMinutes": 20,
+    "budgets": {"maxImplementationFiles": 3, "maxAffectedComponents": 1, "maxPublicInterfaceChanges": 1, "maxRuntimeDependencies": 0},
+    "architecture": {
+      "status": "accepted",
+      "decision": "Resolve check budgets from existing canonical configuration loader; enforce raw DuplicationMap totals after one existing scan; keep display independent of limits. Existing command flags and scanner/MCP contracts remain stable.",
+      "components": [{"name": "cli-check", "paths": ["src/redup/cli_app/main.py", "src/redup/cli_app/scan_commands.py", "tests/test_cli_check_budget.py"]}],
+      "responsibilityChanges": false,
+      "interfaceChanges": ["The declared CI check now returns1 when either configured budget is exceeded."],
+      "dataChanges": [],
+      "ui": {"impact": "none", "states": [], "evidence": []},
+      "rollback": "Revert the bounded CLI fix through independent delivery; no persisted source or runtime data is migrated."
+    },
+    "runtimeDependencies": [],
+    "validation": [
+      {"criterion": "AC-01", "commands": ["python -m pytest tests/test_cli_check_budget.py"], "evidence": "16 actual CLI cases; three negative cases fail against the unchanged baseline."},
+      {"criterion": "AC-02", "commands": ["python -m pytest tests", "project/governance-check.sh", "ruff check", "ruff format --check"], "evidence": "256passed/13existing skips, zero failures; governance and lint/format pass."}
+    ]
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/redup/cli_app/main.py b/src/redup/cli_app/main.py
index 32c6611..4605719 100644
--- a/src/redup/cli_app/main.py
+++ b/src/redup/cli_app/main.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 def _main_callback() -> None:
     try:
         from redup.autoupdate import check_for_updates
+
         check_for_updates("redup")
     except Exception:
         pass
@@ -303,11 +304,13 @@ def check(
         None,
         "--max-groups",
         help="Maximum allowed duplicate groups. Overrides config.",
+        min=0,
     ),
     max_saved_lines: int | None = typer.Option(
         None,
         "--max-lines",
         help="Maximum allowed recoverable lines. Overrides config.",
+        min=0,
     ),
     extensions: str | None = typer.Option(
         None,
diff --git a/src/redup/cli_app/scan_commands.py b/src/redup/cli_app/scan_commands.py
index c099c12..63b35e5 100644
--- a/src/redup/cli_app/scan_commands.py
+++ b/src/redup/cli_app/scan_commands.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 
 from redup.cli_app.config_builder import build_config, build_config_with_file_support
 from redup.cli_app.scan_helpers import print_scan_header, print_scan_summary
-from redup.core.config import create_sample_redup_toml
+from redup.core.config import create_sample_redup_toml, load_config
 from redup.core.models import DEFAULT_SEMANTIC_THRESHOLD
 from redup.core.pipeline import analyze, analyze_optimized
 
@@ -330,7 +330,26 @@ def check_command(
     ),
     include_tests: bool | None = typer.Option(False, "--include-tests", help="Include test files."),
 ) -> None:
-    """Quick check for duplicates with summary report."""
+    """Check raw duplicate counts against inclusive CI budgets."""
+
+    path = _validate_scan_path(path)
+    settings = load_config(path)
+    check_settings = settings.get("check", {})
+    if not isinstance(check_settings, dict):
+        raise typer.BadParameter("check configuration must be a table")
+    group_limit = (
+        max_groups
+        if max_groups is not None
+        else settings.get("max_groups", check_settings.get("max_groups", 10))
+    )
+    line_limit = (
+        max_saved_lines
+        if max_saved_lines is not None
+        else settings.get("max_lines", check_settings.get("max_lines", 100))
+    )
+    for name, limit in (("max-groups", group_limit), ("max-lines", line_limit)):
+        if type(limit) is not int or limit < 0:
+            raise typer.BadParameter(f"{name} must be a nonnegative integer")
 
     config = build_config_with_file_support(
         path, extensions, min_lines, min_similarity, include_tests
@@ -341,14 +360,10 @@ def check_command(
     dup_map = analyze(config)
     print_scan_summary(dup_map)
 
-    # Show top duplicate groups
+    # Diagnostic output is bounded independently of the pass/fail budgets.
     if dup_map.groups:
-        _max_groups = max_groups if max_groups is not None else 10
-        _max_saved = max_saved_lines if max_saved_lines is not None else 100
-        typer.echo(f"\n🎯 Top {min(_max_groups, len(dup_map.groups))} duplicate groups:")
-        for i, group in enumerate(dup_map.sorted_by_impact()[:_max_groups]):
-            if group.saved_lines_potential <= _max_saved:
-                break
+        typer.echo(f"\n🎯 Top {min(10, len(dup_map.groups))} duplicate groups:")
+        for i, group in enumerate(dup_map.sorted_by_impact()[:10]):
             typer.echo(
                 f"  {i + 1}. {group.id}: {group.occurrences} occurrences, "
                 f"{group.saved_lines_potential} lines recoverable"
@@ -356,6 +371,16 @@ def check_command(
     else:
         typer.echo("✅ No duplicates found!")
 
+    violations = []
+    if dup_map.total_groups > group_limit:
+        violations.append(f"groups {dup_map.total_groups} > {group_limit}")
+    if dup_map.total_saved_lines > line_limit:
+        violations.append(f"recoverable lines {dup_map.total_saved_lines} > {line_limit}")
+    if violations:
+        typer.echo("❌ Duplicate budget exceeded: " + "; ".join(violations))
+        raise typer.Exit(1)
+    typer.echo(f"✅ Duplicate budgets passed: groups <= {group_limit}, lines <= {line_limit}")
+
 
 def config_command(
     init: bool = typer.Option(False, "--init", help="Create sample redup.toml configuration."),
diff --git a/tests/test_cli_check_budget.py b/tests/test_cli_check_budget.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e09d484
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cli_check_budget.py
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+"""Exercise the CLI gate with real duplicate files and configured budgets."""
+
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+from typer.testing import CliRunner
+
+from redup.cli_app.config_builder import build_config_with_file_support
+from redup.cli_app.main import app
+from redup.core.pipeline import analyze
+
+runner = CliRunner()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def clean_environment(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("NO_AUTOUPDATE", "1")
+    for key in ("REDUP_MAX_GROUPS", "REDUP_MAX_LINES"):
+        monkeypatch.delenv(key, raising=False)
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def duplicates(tmp_path: Path) -> Path:
+    code = (
+        "def calculate(value):\n"
+        + "".join(f"    value += {index}\n" for index in range(12))
+        + "    return value\n"
+    )
+    (tmp_path / "first.py").write_text(code)
+    (tmp_path / "second.py").write_text(code)
+    return tmp_path
+
+
+def invoke(path, *options):
+    return runner.invoke(app, ["check", str(path), "--ext", ".py", "--min-lines", "10", *options])
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "options, message",
+    [
+        (["--max-groups", "0", "--max-lines", "10000"], "groups"),
+        (["--max-groups", "10000", "--max-lines", "0"], "recoverable lines"),
+        (["--max-groups", "0", "--max-lines", "0"], "Duplicate budget exceeded"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_actual_duplicates_fail_each_budget(duplicates, options, message):
+    result = invoke(duplicates, *options)
+    assert result.exit_code == 1, result.output
+    assert message in result.output
+    assert "Top " in result.output  # Zero budgets must not hide the diagnostics.
+
+
+def test_exact_boundary_passes(duplicates):
+    config = build_config_with_file_support(duplicates, ".py", 10, None, False)
+    result_map = analyze(config)
+    assert result_map.total_groups > 0 and result_map.total_saved_lines > 0
+    result = invoke(
+        duplicates,
+        "--max-groups",
+        str(result_map.total_groups),
+        "--max-lines",
+        str(result_map.total_saved_lines),
+    )
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
+    assert "Duplicate budgets passed" in result.output
+
+
+def test_zero_budget_passes_without_duplicates(tmp_path):
+    (tmp_path / "unique.py").write_text("print('unique')\n")
+    result = invoke(tmp_path, "--max-groups", "0", "--max-lines", "0")
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
+    assert "Scanned 1 files" in result.output
+    assert "No duplicates found" in result.output
+
+
+def test_default_budgets_pass_small_duplicate_fixture(duplicates):
+    result = invoke(duplicates)
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
+    assert "groups <= 10, lines <= 100" in result.output
+
+
+def test_default_budgets_reject_large_duplicate_fixture(duplicates):
+    code = (duplicates / "first.py").read_text()
+    for index in range(20):
+        (duplicates / f"copy_{index}.py").write_text(code)
+    result = invoke(duplicates)
+    assert result.exit_code == 1, result.output
+    assert "Duplicate budget exceeded" in result.output
+
+
+def test_configured_budget_and_cli_override(duplicates):
+    (duplicates / "redup.toml").write_text("[check]\nmax_groups = 0\nmax_lines = 0\n")
+    assert invoke(duplicates).exit_code == 1
+    result = invoke(duplicates, "--max-groups", "10000", "--max-lines", "10000")
+    assert result.exit_code == 0, result.output
+
+
+def test_environment_overrides_file_budget(duplicates, monkeypatch):
+    (duplicates / "redup.toml").write_text("[check]\nmax_groups = 10000\nmax_lines = 10000\n")
+    monkeypatch.setenv("REDUP_MAX_GROUPS", "0")
+    assert invoke(duplicates).exit_code == 1
+    assert invoke(duplicates, "--max-groups", "10000").exit_code == 0
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("setting", ["max_groups = -1", "max_lines = -1", 'max_groups = "zero"'])
+def test_invalid_configured_budget_is_rejected(duplicates, setting):
+    (duplicates / "redup.toml").write_text("[check]\n" + setting + "\n")
+    result = invoke(duplicates)
+    assert result.exit_code == 2, result.output
+    assert "must be a nonnegative integer" in result.output
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("flag", ["--max-groups", "--max-lines"])
+def test_negative_cli_budget_is_rejected(duplicates, flag):
+    result = invoke(duplicates, flag, "-1")
+    assert result.exit_code == 2, result.output
+
+
+def test_missing_root_cannot_pass_as_zero_files(tmp_path):
+    result = invoke(tmp_path / "missing", "--max-groups", "0", "--max-lines", "0")
+    assert result.exit_code == 2, result.output
+    assert "scan root does not exist" in result.output
+
+
+def test_file_root_cannot_pass_as_zero_files(tmp_path):
+    source = tmp_path / "module.py"
+    source.write_text("print('source')\n")
+    result = invoke(source, "--max-groups", "0", "--max-lines", "0")
+    assert result.exit_code == 2, result.output
+    assert "scan root is not a directory" in result.output