diff --git a/authoring_server.py b/authoring_server.py
index c1e2191..28b4ca8 100755
--- a/authoring_server.py
+++ b/authoring_server.py
@@ -34,7 +34,9 @@ def looks_like_content_root(path: Path) -> bool:
 def resolve_root() -> Path:
     env_root = os.environ.get("AUTHOR_ROOT")
     if env_root:
-        return Path(env_root).expanduser().resolve()
+        resolved = Path(env_root).expanduser().resolve()
+        if looks_like_content_root(resolved):
+            return resolved
     candidates = [
         Path.cwd(),
         Path(__file__).resolve().parent,
diff --git a/posts/posts-list.org b/posts/posts-list.org
index 025867a..cc49ae4 100755
--- a/posts/posts-list.org
+++ b/posts/posts-list.org
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 See the categories: @@html:<a href="../home/categories.html">Categories</a>@@
 
 * Posts:
-- [[file:career/career-list.org][Career List]] @@html:<span class="post-date">07-05-2026 16:31</span>@@ 
+- [[file:career/career-list.org][Career List]] @@html:<span class="post-date">07-05-2026 16:35</span>@@ 
 - [[file:posts-list.sync-conflict-20260417-233432-VT6366A.org][Posts List]] @@html:<span class="post-date">14-04-2026 16:36</span>@@ 
 - [[file:career/ha-dr.org][High Availability, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity]] @@html:<span class="post-date">11-03-2026 17:18</span>@@ @@html:<a href="/tags/learning.html"><span class="post-tag">learning</span></a>@@ @@html:<a href="/tags/notes.html"><span class="post-tag">notes</span></a>@@
 - [[file:career/javascript.org][Understands the Javascript language]] @@html:<span class="post-date">11-03-2026 16:52</span>@@ @@html:<a href="/tags/learning.html"><span class="post-tag">learning</span></a>@@ @@html:<a href="/tags/notes.html"><span class="post-tag">notes</span></a>@@
diff --git a/sitemap.org b/sitemap.org
index 2789160..a3e59e4 100755
--- a/sitemap.org
+++ b/sitemap.org
@@ -11,12 +11,12 @@
   - [[file:tags/notes.org][Tag: notes]]
   - [[file:tags/review.org][Tag: review]]
   - [[file:tags/website.org][Tag: website]]
-  - [[file:tags/update.org][Tag: update]]
   - [[file:tags/life.org][Tag: life]]
   - [[file:tags/education.org][Tag: education]]
+  - [[file:tags/update.org][Tag: update]]
   - [[file:tags/insights.org][Tag: insights]]
-  - [[file:tags/reading.org][Tag: reading]]
   - [[file:tags/emacs.org][Tag: emacs]]
+  - [[file:tags/reading.org][Tag: reading]]
   - [[file:tags/maths.org][Tag: maths]]
 - home
   - [[file:home/countdown.org][Countdown]]
diff --git a/tests/test_authoring_server.py b/tests/test_authoring_server.py
index 7ec39e8..b75b532 100755
--- a/tests/test_authoring_server.py
+++ b/tests/test_authoring_server.py
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import os
 import tempfile
 import unittest
 from datetime import datetime
@@ -42,6 +43,14 @@ class AuthoringServerTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
 
 
 class UtilityTests(AuthoringServerTestCase):
+    def test_resolve_root_ignores_invalid_author_root(self):
+        wrong_root = self.root / "empty"
+        wrong_root.mkdir()
+        (self.root / "authoring_server.py").write_text("", encoding="utf-8")
+
+        with mock.patch.dict(os.environ, {"AUTHOR_ROOT": str(wrong_root)}), mock.patch.object(server.Path, "cwd", return_value=self.root):
+            self.assertEqual(server.resolve_root(), self.root)
+
     def test_slugify_normalises_text_and_keeps_fallback(self):
         self.assertEqual(server.slugify("Hello, Org Web!"), "hello-org-web")
         self.assertEqual(server.slugify(" "), "untitled")