diff --git a/docs/host-interop.md b/docs/host-interop.md
index 5d687dc..880e5e4 100644
--- a/docs/host-interop.md
+++ b/docs/host-interop.md
@@ -19,6 +19,36 @@ reflection and no class hierarchy. `(class x)` returns the JVM class name for th
 scalar/collection types Clojure programs compare against (`"java.lang.Long"`,
 `"java.lang.String"`, and so on).
 
+## Source layering: JVM-specific code lives in the java layer
+
+Keep anything JVM-specific in `host/chez/java/`. The rest of the runtime stays
+JVM-free, and the compiler in `jolt-core/` is JVM-free by construction.
+
+- `host/chez/java/` holds the JVM model: the `java.*` mirrors, the class tokens
+  and class hierarchy, `(class x)`/`(type x)`/`instance?`, exception classes, the
+  interop dispatch for `.method`/`Class/static`/`(Class.)`. If a value or name
+  only means something because the JVM has it, it belongs here.
+- The rest of `host/chez/` is the host-neutral runtime — the value model
+  (`values.ss`, `collections.ss`, `seq.ss`), reader, vars, multimethods, meta. It
+  speaks jolt's own taxonomy (`:string`, `:vector`, `:jolt/inst`), never JVM class
+  names.
+- `jolt-core/` (the Clojure compiler + `clojure.core` overlay) emits and reasons
+  in that taxonomy only. The JVM mapping happens *after*, in the java layer.
+
+The worked example is `type`. The core layer (`natives-meta.ss`) computes the
+keyword taxonomy and binds it as `__type-tag` — that's what `print-method` and the
+reader dispatch on, with no JVM in scope. The java layer (`java/host-class.ss`)
+then rebinds the public `clojure.core/type` to Clojure's `(or (:type meta) (class
+x))`, mapping `:jolt/inst` → `java.util.Date` and so on, right next to `(class
+…)`. So the compiler keeps emitting `:jolt/inst`; the java layer remaps it.
+
+When you add interop behaviour, prefer registering it through the generic hooks a
+java-layer file already uses — `register-class-arm!` for `(class x)`,
+`register-instance-check-arm!` for `instance?`, `register-eq-arm!` for value
+equality — rather than threading a JVM concept back into a host-neutral file. A
+new `java.*` shim is a new file under `host/chez/java/` loaded from `rt.ss`, not a
+branch added to `collections.ss` or `seq.ss`.
+
 ## What's shimmed
 
 This is the surface today, not the whole JVM. Methods not listed generally
diff --git a/host/chez/regex.ss b/host/chez/regex.ss
index 4436017..f38d0b7 100644
--- a/host/chez/regex.ss
+++ b/host/chez/regex.ss
@@ -33,6 +33,14 @@
       (apply %chez-error args)))
 (load "vendor/irregex/irregex.scm")
 
+;; irregex rejects a quantifier applied to anything that already contains one —
+;; including a GROUP like (a+)* — because sre-repeater? recurses through submatch.
+;; Java only rejects a DANGLING double quantifier (a**); it allows a quantifier on
+;; a group whose body is quantified. Restrict the check to a bare leading * / + so
+;; a** still errors but (a+)* parses (cuerdas's format tokenizer needs this).
+(set! sre-repeater?
+  (lambda (sre) (and (pair? sre) (memq (car sre) '(* +)) #t)))
+
 ;; Unicode property classes \p{...}: irregex's string syntax has no
 ;; \p{...}, so translate a fixed set of property names
 ;; to ASCII char classes before compiling. ASCII-only — \p{L} would need
@@ -92,6 +100,36 @@
                (write-char c out) (loop (fx+ i 1) #f))
               (else (write-char c out) (loop (fx+ i 1) in-class))))))))
 
+;; Inside a [...] class, irregex reads a '-' that follows a shorthand class
+;; (\w \d \s \W \D \S) as the start of a range and errors ("bad char-set"); Java
+;; reads it as a literal hyphen (a shorthand can't be a range endpoint). Escape
+;; such a '-' to \- so the class parses. Only a '-' right after a shorthand and
+;; not the class terminator is touched; a '-' after a plain char (a real range
+;; like [a-z]) is left alone.
+(define (escape-class-shorthand-dash src)
+  (let ((len (string-length src)) (out (open-output-string)))
+    (let loop ((i 0) (in-class #f) (after-shorthand #f))
+      (if (fx>=? i len)
+          (get-output-string out)
+          (let ((c (string-ref src i)))
+            (cond
+              ;; an escape pair: \w-style shorthand sets after-shorthand inside a class
+              ((and (char=? c #\\) (fx<? (fx+ i 1) len))
+               (let ((n (string-ref src (fx+ i 1))))
+                 (write-char c out) (write-char n out)
+                 (loop (fx+ i 2) in-class
+                       (and in-class (memv n '(#\w #\d #\s #\W #\D #\S)) #t))))
+              ((and (not in-class) (char=? c #\[))
+               (write-char c out) (loop (fx+ i 1) #t #f))
+              ((and in-class (char=? c #\]))
+               (write-char c out) (loop (fx+ i 1) #f #f))
+              ;; the case Java reads as a literal hyphen
+              ((and in-class after-shorthand (char=? c #\-)
+                    (fx<? (fx+ i 1) len) (not (char=? (string-ref src (fx+ i 1)) #\])))
+               (write-char #\\ out) (write-char #\- out)
+               (loop (fx+ i 1) in-class #f))
+              (else (write-char c out) (loop (fx+ i 1) in-class #f))))))))
+
 ;; Java/Clojure inline flags: a leading (?imsx…) group sets a flag over the whole
 ;; pattern. irregex has the same semantics but as constructor OPTIONS, not inline
 ;; syntax (it rejects (?s)/(?s:…)), so peel any leading flag groups off the source
@@ -123,7 +161,8 @@
 (define-record-type regex-t (fields source irx) (nongenerative jolt-regex-v1))
 (define (jolt-regex source)
   (let-values (((opts pat) (regex-parse-flags source)))
-    (make-regex-t source (apply irregex (translate-prop-classes pat) opts))))
+    (make-regex-t source
+                  (apply irregex (translate-prop-classes (escape-class-shorthand-dash pat)) opts))))
 (define (jolt-regex? x) (regex-t? x))
 (define (jolt-re-pattern x) (if (regex-t? x) x (jolt-regex x)))
 
diff --git a/test/chez/corpus.edn b/test/chez/corpus.edn
index 1fbc725..e9d99f5 100644
--- a/test/chez/corpus.edn
+++ b/test/chez/corpus.edn
@@ -1823,6 +1823,10 @@
   {:suite "regex / re-seq" :label "all matches" :expected "[\"1\" \"22\" \"333\"]" :actual "(re-seq #\"\\d+\" \"a1b22c333\")"}
   {:suite "regex / re-seq" :label "empty when none" :expected "nil" :actual "(seq (re-seq #\"z\" \"abc\"))"}
   {:suite "regex / re-seq" :label "words" :expected "[\"foo\" \"bar\"]" :actual "(re-seq #\"\\w+\" \"foo bar\")"}
+  {:suite "regex / char-class dash" :label "dash after \\w is literal" :expected "\"a_b-c\"" :actual "(re-matches #\"[\\w-_]+\" \"a_b-c\")"}
+  {:suite "regex / char-class dash" :label "dash + escaped dot in class" :expected "\"a.b_c-d\"" :actual "(re-matches #\"[\\w-_\\.]+\" \"a.b_c-d\")"}
+  {:suite "regex / char-class dash" :label "trailing dash in class" :expected "[\"a-b\" \"c-d\"]" :actual "(vec (re-seq #\"[\\w-]+\" \"a-b c-d\"))"}
+  {:suite "regex / nested quantifier" :label "(X+)* parses and matches" :expected "true" :actual "(boolean (re-matches #\"([^%]+)*(%(d))?\" \"abc\"))"}
   {:suite "regex / re-pattern & string ops" :label "re-pattern build" :expected "\"hi\"" :actual "(re-find (re-pattern \"\\\\w+\") \"hi!\")"}
   {:suite "regex / re-pattern & string ops" :label "re-pattern is regex?" :expected "true" :actual "(regex? (re-pattern \"a\"))"}
   {:suite "regex / re-pattern & string ops" :label "split on regex" :expected "[\"a\" \"b\" \"c\"]" :actual "(do (require '[clojure.string :as s]) (s/split \"a1b2c\" #\"\\d\"))"}