diff --git a/packages/utils/src/validation/course/public-course.ts b/packages/utils/src/validation/course/public-course.ts
index a4d6a454..379f7074 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/validation/course/public-course.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/validation/course/public-course.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import * as z from 'zod';
 
-import { ZSlug } from '../shared/slug';
+import { ZCourseSlug, ZSlug } from '../shared/slug';
 
 /**
  * Route params + query schemas for the anonymous, SEO-indexable public course
@@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ import { ZSlug } from '../shared/slug';
  */
 
 export const ZPublicCourseBySlugParam = z.object({
-  courseSlug: ZSlug
+  courseSlug: ZCourseSlug
 });
 export type TPublicCourseBySlugParam = z.infer<typeof ZPublicCourseBySlugParam>;
 
 export const ZPublicCourseItemParam = z.object({
-  courseSlug: ZSlug,
+  courseSlug: ZCourseSlug,
   itemSlug: ZSlug
 });
 export type TPublicCourseItemParam = z.infer<typeof ZPublicCourseItemParam>;
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/validation/shared/slug.ts b/packages/utils/src/validation/shared/slug.ts
index 2274e6f8..f0d0b12e 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/validation/shared/slug.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/validation/shared/slug.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,16 @@ export const ZSlug = z
   });
 export type TSlug = z.infer<typeof ZSlug>;
 
+/**
+ * Course slugs are `slugify(title)` (capped at 80) plus a `-<timestamp>` uniqueness
+ * suffix, so they routinely exceed the 80-char `ZSlug` cap. The `course.slug` column is
+ * unbounded `varchar` and there's no technical reason to cap the URL, so don't.
+ */
+export const ZCourseSlug = z.string().min(1, { message: 'Slug is required' }).regex(SLUG_REGEX, {
+  message: 'Slug must be lowercase letters, numbers, and single dashes'
+});
+export type TCourseSlug = z.infer<typeof ZCourseSlug>;
+
 /**
  * Generate a kebab-case slug from a free-form title. Does not enforce uniqueness;
  * callers must resolve collisions against the target namespace (e.g. per-course).