diff --git a/.changeset/cave-familiar-roster-contract-spelling.md b/.changeset/cave-familiar-roster-contract-spelling.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fda1d4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/cave-familiar-roster-contract-spelling.md
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+"@opencoven/cave-client": patch
+---
+
+Read the familiar roster in Cave's contract spelling. The discovered and
+managed transports parsed `GET /api/client/v1/familiars` with the earlier
+snake_case field names, while a real Cave serves the documented camelCase
+roster (`displayName`, `lastSeenAt`, `activeSessions`), so `credentialStatus()`
+and `familiars()` refused every non-empty roster with
+`invalid_response` ("display_name must be a non-empty string"). The contract
+spelling is read first; the snake_case spelling is still accepted for an older
+Cave. `listFamiliars()` and the other canonical reads were already correct and
+are unchanged.
diff --git a/packages/cave/src/pairing.ts b/packages/cave/src/pairing.ts
index df97687..9a1007a 100644
--- a/packages/cave/src/pairing.ts
+++ b/packages/cave/src/pairing.ts
@@ -421,10 +421,23 @@ function parsePairingExchange(value: unknown): CavePairingExchange {
 
 function parseFamiliar(value: unknown): CaveFamiliarWire {
   const familiar = expectObject(value, 'familiar');
+  // Cave's reviewed contract spells the roster in camelCase (`displayName`,
+  // `lastSeenAt`, `activeSessions`; docs/api/client-v1.md), and a real Cave has
+  // served it that way since its canonical read projections landed. This
+  // parser only knew the earlier snake_case spelling, so `credentialStatus`
+  // and `familiars()` refused every non-empty roster with "display_name must
+  // be a non-empty string"; the unit tests never noticed because they fed it
+  // an empty roster. Read the contract spelling first and keep the snake_case
+  // one as a fallback for an older Cave. The record still leaves here in the
+  // wire type's spelling, and `toFamiliar` stays the one place it converts.
+  const displayName = familiar.displayName ?? familiar.display_name;
+  const lastSeen = familiar.lastSeenAt ?? familiar.last_seen;
+  const activeSessions = familiar.activeSessions ?? familiar.active_sessions;
+  const memoryFreshness = familiar.memoryFreshness ?? familiar.memory_freshness;
 
   return {
     id: expectString(familiar.id, 'familiar.id'),
-    display_name: expectString(familiar.display_name, 'familiar.display_name'),
+    display_name: expectString(displayName, 'familiar.displayName'),
     role: expectString(familiar.role, 'familiar.role'),
     ...(familiar.description === undefined
       ? {}
@@ -435,24 +448,18 @@ function parseFamiliar(value: unknown): CaveFamiliarWire {
     ...(familiar.status === undefined
       ? {}
       : { status: expectString(familiar.status, 'familiar.status') }),
-    ...(familiar.last_seen === undefined
+    ...(lastSeen === undefined
       ? {}
-      : { last_seen: expectString(familiar.last_seen, 'familiar.last_seen') }),
-    ...(familiar.active_sessions === undefined
+      : { last_seen: expectString(lastSeen, 'familiar.lastSeenAt') }),
+    ...(activeSessions === undefined
       ? {}
       : {
-          active_sessions: expectTimestampNumber(
-            familiar.active_sessions,
-            'familiar.active_sessions',
-          ),
+          active_sessions: expectTimestampNumber(activeSessions, 'familiar.activeSessions'),
         }),
-    ...(familiar.memory_freshness === undefined
+    ...(memoryFreshness === undefined
       ? {}
       : {
-          memory_freshness: expectString(
-            familiar.memory_freshness,
-            'familiar.memory_freshness',
-          ),
+          memory_freshness: expectString(memoryFreshness, 'familiar.memoryFreshness'),
         }),
   };
 }
diff --git a/tests/cave-discovery-pairing.spec.ts b/tests/cave-discovery-pairing.spec.ts
index 7eb4e97..e4b5d93 100644
--- a/tests/cave-discovery-pairing.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/cave-discovery-pairing.spec.ts
@@ -1354,6 +1354,110 @@ describe('discovered Cave pairing helpers', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  // A real Cave spells the roster the way docs/api/client-v1.md does, in
+  // camelCase. Before this test, `credentialStatus` and `familiars()` refused
+  // that roster outright ("display_name must be a non-empty string"), so a
+  // freshly exchanged credential read as broken the moment the Cave had a
+  // single familiar. The roster here is the documented sample.
+  test('reads the roster in the contract spelling after a discovered exchange', async () => {
+    const root = createScratchRoot('pairing-credential-status-contract-roster');
+    await writeDiscoveryRecord(root, discoveryRecord());
+    const contractRoster = [
+      {
+        id: 'scribe',
+        displayName: 'Scribe',
+        role: 'Archivist',
+        description: 'Keeps the ledger.',
+        pronouns: 'they/them',
+        status: 'idle',
+        lastSeenAt: '2026-08-20T10:00:00.000Z',
+        activeSessions: 1,
+      },
+      // The contract's optional fields are optional on the wire too.
+      { id: 'astra', displayName: 'Astra', role: 'Strategy / Navigation' },
+    ];
+    const fetchImplementation = queuedFetch([
+      () =>
+        jsonResponse(
+          201,
+          successEnvelope({
+            requestId: '018f4f1a-77c2-7a31-8a15-55a25aaba001',
+            secret: PAIRING_SECRET,
+            expiresAt: 1_755_731_112_617,
+          }),
+        ),
+      () =>
+        jsonResponse(
+          200,
+          successEnvelope({
+            bearer: BEARER,
+            credential: {
+              id: '018f4f1a-77c2-7a31-8a15-55a25aaba002',
+              appName: 'OpenCoven Chat',
+              installationId: 'chat-install-1',
+              scopes: ['chat:read'],
+              createdAt: 1_755_730_812_617,
+              lastUsedAt: null,
+              revokedAt: null,
+              revocationReason: null,
+            },
+          }),
+        ),
+      (_url, init) => {
+        expect(header(init, 'authorization')).toBe(`Bearer ${BEARER}`);
+        return jsonResponse(200, successEnvelope({ familiars: contractRoster }));
+      },
+      (_url, init) => {
+        expect(header(init, 'authorization')).toBe(`Bearer ${BEARER}`);
+        return jsonResponse(200, successEnvelope({ familiars: contractRoster }));
+      },
+      (_url, init) => {
+        expect(header(init, 'authorization')).toBe(`Bearer ${BEARER}`);
+        // Neither spelling carries a name: still a malformed roster.
+        return jsonResponse(
+          200,
+          successEnvelope({ familiars: [{ id: 'nameless', role: 'Unknown' }] }),
+        );
+      },
+    ]);
+    const { client } = discoveredClient(root, fetchImplementation);
+
+    const session = await client.createPairing({
+      appName: 'OpenCoven Chat',
+      installationId: 'chat-install-1',
+      scopes: ['chat:read'],
+    });
+
+    await session.exchange();
+    await expect(client.credentialStatus()).resolves.toEqual({
+      status: 'valid',
+      access: 'chat:read',
+      health: caveHealth(),
+    });
+    const familiars = await client.familiars();
+    expect(familiars).toEqual([
+      {
+        id: 'scribe',
+        displayName: 'Scribe',
+        role: 'Archivist',
+        description: 'Keeps the ledger.',
+        pronouns: 'they/them',
+        status: 'idle',
+        lastSeen: '2026-08-20T10:00:00.000Z',
+        activeSessions: 1,
+      },
+      { id: 'astra', displayName: 'Astra', role: 'Strategy / Navigation' },
+    ]);
+    // The wire spelling, in either casing, must not survive the client.
+    for (const familiar of familiars) {
+      expect(Object.keys(familiar)).not.toContain('display_name');
+      expect(Object.keys(familiar)).not.toContain('lastSeenAt');
+    }
+    await expect(client.familiars()).rejects.toMatchObject({
+      code: 'invalid_response',
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('discovered Cave canonical reads', () => {
     const routeInventories = [
       {