diff --git a/ingester/package.json b/ingester/package.json
index b5d6387..e4d6beb 100644
--- a/ingester/package.json
+++ b/ingester/package.json
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
     "drizzle-orm": "^0.45.1",
     "pg": "^8.16.3",
     "tsx": "^4.19.0",
-    "ws": "^8.18.3"
+    "ws": "^8.18.3",
+    "@atproto/lexicon": "^0.5.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
     "@types/node": "^22.14.1",
diff --git a/ingester/src/lexicons.ts b/ingester/src/lexicons.ts
index c47f029..21c83bd 100644
--- a/ingester/src/lexicons.ts
+++ b/ingester/src/lexicons.ts
@@ -1,38 +1,41 @@
-import { jsonToLex } from "@atproto/lex-json";
-import { main as trail } from "../../lib/lexicons/app/sidetrail/trail.defs";
-import { main as walk } from "../../lib/lexicons/app/sidetrail/walk.defs";
-import { main as completion } from "../../lib/lexicons/app/sidetrail/completion.defs";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { Lexicons, jsonToLex, type LexiconDoc } from "@atproto/lexicon";
 
-// Runtime lexicon schemas for every collection we index. Records that fail
-// validation are rejected: PDSes don't reliably enforce third-party lexicons,
-// so validating is the indexer's responsibility.
-export const RECORD_SCHEMAS = {
-  "app.sidetrail.trail": trail,
-  "app.sidetrail.walk": walk,
-  "app.sidetrail.completion": completion,
-} as const;
+// Validate against the lexicon JSON documents directly (the same source the
+// generated lib/lexicons code is built from). PDSes don't reliably enforce
+// third-party lexicons, so validating is the indexer's responsibility.
+const loadDoc = (path: string): LexiconDoc =>
+  JSON.parse(readFileSync(new URL(`../../lexicons/${path}`, import.meta.url), "utf8"));
 
-export type IndexedCollection = keyof typeof RECORD_SCHEMAS;
+const lexicons = new Lexicons([
+  loadDoc("app/sidetrail/trail.json"),
+  loadDoc("app/sidetrail/walk.json"),
+  loadDoc("app/sidetrail/completion.json"),
+  loadDoc("com/atproto/repo/strongRef.json"),
+]);
+
+export const INDEXED_COLLECTIONS = [
+  "app.sidetrail.trail",
+  "app.sidetrail.walk",
+  "app.sidetrail.completion",
+] as const;
+
+export type IndexedCollection = (typeof INDEXED_COLLECTIONS)[number];
 
 export function validateRecord(
   collection: IndexedCollection,
   record: unknown,
 ): { success: true } | { success: false; reason: string } {
   // Records arrive as JSON (jetstream, listRecords, jsonb storage), where CID
-  // links are {"$link": ...} objects. Schemas validate lex values, so convert
-  // first; a record that can't even be converted (e.g. malformed CID) is invalid.
+  // links are {"$link": ...} objects. The validator expects lex values, so
+  // convert first; a record that can't be converted (e.g. malformed CID) is invalid.
   let lexValue: unknown;
   try {
-    lexValue = jsonToLex(record as Parameters<typeof jsonToLex>[0]);
+    lexValue = jsonToLex(record);
   } catch (err) {
     return { success: false, reason: `unparseable as lex: ${(err as Error).message}` };
   }
-  const result = RECORD_SCHEMAS[collection].validate(lexValue);
+  const result = lexicons.validate(collection, lexValue);
   if (result.success) return { success: true };
-  return {
-    success: false,
-    reason: result.error.issues
-      .map((issue) => `${issue.code} at ${issue.path.join(".") || "(root)"}`)
-      .join("; "),
-  };
+  return { success: false, reason: result.error.message };
 }
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index d2e247c..44dbc03 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@
       "name": "sidetrail-ingester",
       "version": "0.1.0",
       "dependencies": {
+        "@atproto/lexicon": "^0.5.0",
         "@sidetrail/db": "*",
         "dotenv": "^17.2.3",
         "drizzle-orm": "^0.45.1",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6e89715..ddd03e4 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@
     "db:studio": "drizzle-kit studio",
     "test": "npx vitest run",
     "test:watch": "npx vitest",
-    "deploy:app": "railway link --service sidetrail && railway up",
-    "deploy:ingester": "railway link --service ingester && railway up",
-    "deploy:realtime": "railway link --service realtime && railway up",
-    "deploy:all": "npm run deploy:app & npm run deploy:ingester & npm run deploy:realtime & wait"
+    "deploy:app": "railway up --service sidetrail --ci",
+    "deploy:ingester": "railway up --service ingester --ci",
+    "deploy:realtime": "railway up --service realtime --ci",
+    "deploy:all": "npm run deploy:app && npm run deploy:ingester && npm run deploy:realtime"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@atproto/api": "^0.17.4",