diff --git a/bin/debug/scan_artefact_check.py b/bin/debug/scan_artefact_check.py
index 83390f67..876db24e 100755
--- a/bin/debug/scan_artefact_check.py
+++ b/bin/debug/scan_artefact_check.py
@@ -536,7 +536,57 @@ def check_line_motion(signals, grid, fast_axis) -> None:
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- #
 
 
-def analyse(path: str, do_list: bool, force_lines=None, force_points=None) -> None:
+def dump_scan_command(h5: h5py.File) -> None:
+    """Print what the scan was actually asked to do.
+
+    This is the authoritative record: the file writer stores the whole scan
+    metadata under /entry/collection/metadata/bec, including `request_inputs`,
+    which holds the arguments the scan was called with. It beats notebooks,
+    logbooks and memory because it is written by the thing that ran the scan.
+    """
+    roots = [p for p in ("/entry/collection/metadata/bec",
+                         "/entry/collection/metadata") if p in h5]
+    if not roots:
+        print("  no metadata group found -- cannot recover the command from this file")
+        return
+    for root in roots[:1]:
+        print(f"  scan request, from {root}:")
+        shown = 0
+
+        def show(name, obj):
+            nonlocal shown
+            if not isinstance(obj, h5py.Dataset):
+                return
+            try:
+                val = obj[()]
+            except Exception:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
+                return
+            if isinstance(val, bytes):
+                val = val.decode(errors="replace")
+            if isinstance(val, np.ndarray):
+                val = val.tolist()
+            text = str(val)
+            if len(text) > 300:
+                text = text[:300] + " ..."
+            print(f"    {name:<46} {text}")
+            shown += 1
+
+        # request_inputs first: that is the command itself
+        for sub in ("request_inputs", "scan_args", "scan_parameters"):
+            if sub in h5[root]:
+                h5[f"{root}/{sub}"].visititems(lambda n, o, s=sub: show(f"{s}/{n}", o))
+        for key in sorted(h5[root]):
+            if key in ("request_inputs", "scan_args", "scan_parameters"):
+                continue
+            node = h5[f"{root}/{key}"]
+            if isinstance(node, h5py.Dataset):
+                show(key, node)
+        if not shown:
+            print("    (nothing readable -- run --list to see the raw structure)")
+
+
+def analyse(path: str, do_list: bool, force_lines=None, force_points=None,
+            show_command: bool = False) -> None:
     print("=" * 80)
     print(os.path.basename(path))
     print("=" * 80)
@@ -547,6 +597,10 @@ def analyse(path: str, do_list: bool, force_lines=None, force_points=None) -> No
                         "frames_per_trigger") if k in meta}
         print("  metadata:", interesting if interesting else "(none of the expected keys found)")
 
+        if show_command:
+            dump_scan_command(h5)
+            return
+
         if do_list:
             # Per-point arrays first: the file is dominated by scalar configuration
             # entries, and a naive dump buries the data under hundreds of them.
@@ -647,6 +701,8 @@ def main(argv=None) -> int:
     ap.add_argument("--root", default="/sls/x12sa/data/p23080/raw/data",
                     help="data root used with --scan")
     ap.add_argument("--list", action="store_true", help="dump the file structure and stop")
+    ap.add_argument("--command", action="store_true",
+                    help="print the scan request recorded in the file, and stop")
     ap.add_argument("--lines", type=int, help="override number of lines")
     ap.add_argument("--points", type=int, help="override points per line")
     args = ap.parse_args(argv)
@@ -663,7 +719,7 @@ def main(argv=None) -> int:
 
     for path in paths:
         try:
-            analyse(path, args.list, args.lines, args.points)
+            analyse(path, args.list, args.lines, args.points, args.command)
         except Exception as exc:  # pylint: disable=broad-except
             print(f"  FAILED on {path}: {type(exc).__name__}: {exc}")
         print()