diff --git a/src/commands/new.rs b/src/commands/new.rs
index 215da06..c2c5431 100644
--- a/src/commands/new.rs
+++ b/src/commands/new.rs
@@ -103,11 +103,15 @@ fn cmd_new_spel(
     target: &Path,
     bootstrap_cache: &std::path::Path,
 ) -> DynResult<()> {
-    let spel_bin = find_spel_on_path().context(
-        "spel binary not found on PATH.\n\
-         Install it first:\n  \
-         cargo install --git https://github.com/logos-co/spel.git --tag v0.5.0 spel",
-    )?;
+    let spel_bin = find_spel_on_path().with_context(|| {
+        format!(
+            "spel binary not found on PATH.\n\
+             Install it first:\n  \
+             cargo install --git https://github.com/logos-co/spel.git --tag {} spel",
+            DEFAULT_SPEL.tag
+        )
+    })?;
+    check_spel_version(&spel_bin);
 
     if cmd.lez_path.is_some() {
         anyhow::bail!(
@@ -313,6 +317,31 @@ fn build_scaffold_config(
     }
 }
 
+/// Warn if the installed `spel` version does not match `DEFAULT_SPEL.tag`.
+/// A mismatch is non-fatal — the user may have a newer version — but silently
+/// using the wrong version produces hard-to-diagnose mismatches at first
+/// `lgs build idl` or `lgs setup`.
+fn check_spel_version(spel_bin: &std::path::Path) {
+    let output = match std::process::Command::new(spel_bin)
+        .arg("--version")
+        .output()
+    {
+        Ok(o) => o,
+        Err(_) => return,
+    };
+    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
+    if !stdout.contains(DEFAULT_SPEL.tag) {
+        eprintln!(
+            "warning: installed spel version ({}) does not match the expected {} pinned by scaffold.\n\
+             This may cause unexpected behaviour. Install the pinned version with:\n  \
+             cargo install --git https://github.com/logos-co/spel.git --tag {} spel",
+            stdout.trim(),
+            DEFAULT_SPEL.tag,
+            DEFAULT_SPEL.tag,
+        );
+    }
+}
+
 /// Locate the `spel` binary by walking PATH entries.
 fn find_spel_on_path() -> anyhow::Result<std::path::PathBuf> {
     let path_var = std::env::var_os("PATH").unwrap_or_default();
diff --git a/src/commands/run_state.rs b/src/commands/run_state.rs
index 8c996c1..a07bd1a 100644
--- a/src/commands/run_state.rs
+++ b/src/commands/run_state.rs
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ pub(crate) fn compute_program_hashes(project: &Project) -> DynResult<BTreeMap<St
     let idl_dir = project.root.join(&project.config.framework.idl.path);
     let cfg_digest = config_digest(project);
     // Both lez-framework and spel projects require an IDL file at deploy time.
-    let is_lez_framework = matches!(
+    let requires_idl = matches!(
         project.config.framework.kind.as_str(),
         FRAMEWORK_KIND_LEZ_FRAMEWORK | FRAMEWORK_KIND_SPEL
     );
@@ -116,8 +116,8 @@ pub(crate) fn compute_program_hashes(project: &Project) -> DynResult<BTreeMap<St
                 .with_context(|| format!("read {} for hashing", idl_path.display()))?;
             hasher.update(b"\x00idl\x00");
             hasher.update(&idl_bytes);
-        } else if is_lez_framework {
-            // For lez-framework projects, the IDL file is a documented
+        } else if requires_idl {
+            // For spel and lez-framework projects, the IDL file is a documented
             // build artifact (`<stem>.json` produced by `build idl`).
             // Missing it would mean we cache a partial digest and silently
             // skip deploys after later ABI-only edits. Bail loudly.
diff --git a/src/template/project.rs b/src/template/project.rs
index c011d7c..bbe805c 100644
--- a/src/template/project.rs
+++ b/src/template/project.rs
@@ -137,6 +137,11 @@ pub(crate) fn available_templates() -> Vec<String> {
         })
         .filter(|s| !s.is_empty())
         .collect();
+    // `spel` is handled by delegating to `spel init` rather than an embedded
+    // template directory, so it does not appear in TEMPLATES_DIR.
+    if !names.contains(&"spel".to_string()) {
+        names.push("spel".to_string());
+    }
     names.sort();
     names
 }