diff --git a/include/pup/core/string_id.hpp b/include/pup/core/string_id.hpp
index 383b1557..8a797cdf 100644
--- a/include/pup/core/string_id.hpp
+++ b/include/pup/core/string_id.hpp
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #pragma once
 
+#include <compare>
 #include <cstdint>
 
 namespace pup {
@@ -36,10 +37,13 @@ constexpr auto make_string_id(std::uint32_t value) -> StringId
 /// means: `handle_less` for a set, or a pool projection for anything observable.
 /// The built-in enum comparison is interning order, and the two spellings were
 /// indistinguishable — issues #171, #175, #183 and #184 were all that confusion.
+/// <=> is deleted too, or a defaulted operator<=> on any struct holding a StringId
+/// would order by handle without naming it.
 auto operator<(StringId, StringId) -> bool = delete;
 auto operator>(StringId, StringId) -> bool = delete;
 auto operator<=(StringId, StringId) -> bool = delete;
 auto operator>=(StringId, StringId) -> bool = delete;
+auto operator<=>(StringId, StringId) -> std::strong_ordering = delete;
 
 /// Order by interning handle. Valid only where the order is unobservable —
 /// membership, dedup, binary search against a handle-keyed range.
diff --git a/src/cli/context.cpp b/src/cli/context.cpp
index ab1b2b8a..90a93741 100644
--- a/src/cli/context.cpp
+++ b/src/cli/context.cpp
@@ -460,7 +460,10 @@ auto compose_nested_project_subtree(std::string_view dir, ParseContext& ctx) ->
     for (auto sub_id : sub_dirs) {
         auto sub_sv = pool.get(sub_id);
         auto rel_id = (sub_sv == ".") ? pool.intern(marker_prefix) : pup::path::join(marker_prefix, sub_sv);
-        if (!std::binary_search(available.begin(), available.end(), rel_id, pup::handle_less)) {
+        // Search only the sorted prefix: appending unsorts the tail, and a binary search
+        // over that reports a present directory absent, so it gets parsed twice.
+        auto* sorted_end = available.begin() + static_cast<std::ptrdiff_t>(before);
+        if (!std::binary_search(available.begin(), sorted_end, rel_id, pup::handle_less)) {
             available.push_back(rel_id);
         }
     }
@@ -468,6 +471,7 @@ auto compose_nested_project_subtree(std::string_view dir, ParseContext& ctx) ->
         return false;
     }
     std::sort(available.begin(), available.end(), pup::handle_less);
+    available.erase(std::unique(available.begin(), available.end()), available.end());
     return true;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/exec/scheduler.cpp b/src/exec/scheduler.cpp
index 1147eaf0..38654dac 100644
--- a/src/exec/scheduler.cpp
+++ b/src/exec/scheduler.cpp
@@ -126,7 +126,15 @@ auto prepare_job_launch(
     for (auto var_id : base_env) {
         env_ids.push_back(var_id);
     }
+    // Handle order reaches the child: create_env_block (process-win32.cpp:102) emits this
+    // sequence verbatim, and Win32 expects an alphabetically sorted block.
+    auto exported = Vec<StringId> {};
     for (auto var_id : job.exported_vars) {
+        exported.push_back(static_cast<StringId>(var_id));
+    }
+    std::ranges::sort(exported, {}, [&pool](StringId id) { return pool.get(id); });
+
+    for (auto var_id : exported) {
         auto var_sv = pool.get(var_id);
         if (auto it = env_cache_find(env_cache, var_sv)) {
             auto eb = Buf {};