diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fc594b786..4129f2aed 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ Versions follow [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### 📚 Documentation
+
+- **Initial guess: check a guess before solving with `build_initial_guess`** ([#965](https://github.com/control-toolbox/OptimalControl.jl/issues/965)). It builds and validates the guess against the problem. The other initial-guess helpers of CTModels (`initial_guess`, `pre_initial_guess`, `validate_initial_guess`, `initial_state`, `initial_control`, `initial_variable`, `PreInitialGuess`) stay unexported, and a test now records that choice.
+
 ### 🐛 Bug Fixes
 
 - **`init` and `initial_guess` together raise "Conflicting aliases" in descriptive mode too** ([#964](https://github.com/control-toolbox/OptimalControl.jl/issues/964)). Explicit mode already reported the conflict; descriptive mode, the common case, routed the leftover `init` to the strategies and rejected it as an unknown option, with unrelated suggestions. Both modes now run the same check before any routing.
diff --git a/docs/src/solve/initial-guess.md b/docs/src/solve/initial-guess.md
index 83700d8dc..7c002ace6 100644
--- a/docs/src/solve/initial-guess.md
+++ b/docs/src/solve/initial-guess.md
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ sol = solve(ocp2; init=(state=s -> [-1 + s, 0.0], control=0.1, variable=2.0), di
 println(iterations(sol), " iterations")
 ```
 
-## Inspect a guess
+## Inspect or check a guess
 
 Whatever you pass as `init`, `solve` turns it into an initial guess with
 [`build_initial_guess`](@ref)`(ocp, init)`. You can call it yourself, and read the result back
@@ -381,6 +381,24 @@ state(ig)(0.5), control(ig)(0.5), variable(ig)
 
 The same holds for the output of `@init` itself, which is an initial guess already.
 
+`build_initial_guess` also checks the guess against the problem: a component of the wrong
+dimension raises an `IncorrectArgument`. To check a guess before solving, build it:
+
+```@example main
+err = try
+    build_initial_guess(ocp2, (state=[-1.0, 0.0, 0.0],))   # ocp2 has a 2-D state
+    nothing
+catch e
+    e
+end
+err isa IncorrectArgument
+```
+
+```@example main
+@assert err isa IncorrectArgument # hide
+nothing # hide
+```
+
 ## Costate and multipliers
 
 There is currently no way to seed the costate or the multipliers — only state, control, and
diff --git a/test/suite/reexport/test_ctmodels.jl b/test/suite/reexport/test_ctmodels.jl
index baea935f5..abfabd71b 100644
--- a/test/suite/reexport/test_ctmodels.jl
+++ b/test/suite/reexport/test_ctmodels.jl
@@ -161,6 +161,24 @@ function test_ctmodels()
             end
             Test.@test reexports(OptimalControl, :build_initial_guess, CTModels.Init)
             Test.@test isdefined(CurrentModule, :build_initial_guess)
+
+            # Deliberately not exported (#965): `build_initial_guess` already builds and
+            # validates a guess, `@init` and named tuples cover construction, and
+            # `state`/`control`/`variable` cover inspection.
+            for f in (
+                :initial_guess,
+                :pre_initial_guess,
+                :validate_initial_guess,
+                :initial_state,
+                :initial_control,
+                :initial_variable,
+                :PreInitialGuess,
+            )
+                Test.@testset "$f not exported" begin
+                    Test.@test !is_exported(OptimalControl, f)
+                    Test.@test !isdefined(CurrentModule, f)
+                end
+            end
         end
 
         Test.@testset "Serialization" begin