diff --git a/lexicons/com/atproto/server/createAccount.json b/lexicons/com/atproto/server/createAccount.json
index 4db1f31e040..d9549624741 100644
--- a/lexicons/com/atproto/server/createAccount.json
+++ b/lexicons/com/atproto/server/createAccount.json
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
             "inviteCode": { "type": "string" },
             "password": { "type": "string" },
             "recoveryKey": { "type": "string" },
-            "plcOp": { "type": "bytes" }
+            "plcOp": { "type": "unknown" }
           }
         }
       },
diff --git a/packages/api/src/client/lexicons.ts b/packages/api/src/client/lexicons.ts
index df696e5d06b..4030fea961a 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/client/lexicons.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/client/lexicons.ts
@@ -2512,7 +2512,7 @@ export const schemaDict = {
                 type: 'string',
               },
               plcOp: {
-                type: 'bytes',
+                type: 'unknown',
               },
             },
           },
diff --git a/packages/api/src/client/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts b/packages/api/src/client/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts
index 4281128cae0..b5fb32fe90b 100644
--- a/packages/api/src/client/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts
+++ b/packages/api/src/client/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export interface InputSchema {
   inviteCode?: string
   password: string
   recoveryKey?: string
-  plcOp?: Uint8Array
+  plcOp?: {}
   [k: string]: unknown
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/bsky/src/lexicon/lexicons.ts b/packages/bsky/src/lexicon/lexicons.ts
index df696e5d06b..4030fea961a 100644
--- a/packages/bsky/src/lexicon/lexicons.ts
+++ b/packages/bsky/src/lexicon/lexicons.ts
@@ -2512,7 +2512,7 @@ export const schemaDict = {
                 type: 'string',
               },
               plcOp: {
-                type: 'bytes',
+                type: 'unknown',
               },
             },
           },
diff --git a/packages/bsky/src/lexicon/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts b/packages/bsky/src/lexicon/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts
index bd138919101..f82fe9ed82a 100644
--- a/packages/bsky/src/lexicon/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts
+++ b/packages/bsky/src/lexicon/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ export interface InputSchema {
   inviteCode?: string
   password: string
   recoveryKey?: string
-  plcOp?: Uint8Array
+  plcOp?: {}
   [k: string]: unknown
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/lex-cli/src/util.ts b/packages/lex-cli/src/util.ts
index 6c399ab9bd8..b3fc5668a52 100644
--- a/packages/lex-cli/src/util.ts
+++ b/packages/lex-cli/src/util.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import fs from 'fs'
 import { join } from 'path'
-import { lexiconDoc, LexiconDoc } from '@atproto/lexicon'
+import { parseLexiconDoc, LexiconDoc } from '@atproto/lexicon'
 import { ZodError, ZodFormattedError } from 'zod'
 import chalk from 'chalk'
 import { GeneratedAPI, FileDiff } from './types'
@@ -41,8 +41,7 @@ export function readLexicon(path: string): LexiconDoc {
     typeof (obj as LexiconDoc).lexicon === 'number'
   ) {
     try {
-      lexiconDoc.parse(obj)
-      return obj as LexiconDoc
+      return parseLexiconDoc(obj)
     } catch (e) {
       console.error(`Invalid lexicon`, path)
       if (e instanceof ZodError) {
diff --git a/packages/lexicon/src/lexicons.ts b/packages/lexicon/src/lexicons.ts
index 72d4ef0d5b2..29998140816 100644
--- a/packages/lexicon/src/lexicons.ts
+++ b/packages/lexicon/src/lexicons.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,9 @@
-import { ZodError } from 'zod'
 import {
   LexiconDoc,
-  lexiconDoc,
   LexRecord,
   LexXrpcProcedure,
   LexXrpcQuery,
   LexUserType,
-  LexiconDocMalformedError,
   LexiconDefNotFoundError,
   InvalidLexiconError,
   ValidationResult,
@@ -32,7 +29,7 @@ export class Lexicons {
   docs: Map<string, LexiconDoc> = new Map()
   defs: Map<string, LexUserType> = new Map()
 
-  constructor(docs?: unknown[]) {
+  constructor(docs?: LexiconDoc[]) {
     if (docs?.length) {
       for (const doc of docs) {
         this.add(doc)
@@ -43,24 +40,8 @@ export class Lexicons {
   /**
    * Add a lexicon doc.
    */
-  add(doc: unknown): void {
-    try {
-      lexiconDoc.parse(doc)
-    } catch (e) {
-      if (e instanceof ZodError) {
-        throw new LexiconDocMalformedError(
-          `Failed to parse schema definition ${
-            (doc as Record<string, string>).id
-          }`,
-          doc,
-          e.issues,
-        )
-      } else {
-        throw e
-      }
-    }
-    const validatedDoc = doc as LexiconDoc
-    const uri = toLexUri(validatedDoc.id)
+  add(doc: LexiconDoc): void {
+    const uri = toLexUri(doc.id)
     if (this.docs.has(uri)) {
       throw new Error(`${uri} has already been registered`)
     }
@@ -68,10 +49,10 @@ export class Lexicons {
     // WARNING
     // mutates the object
     // -prf
-    resolveRefUris(validatedDoc, uri)
+    resolveRefUris(doc, uri)
 
-    this.docs.set(uri, validatedDoc)
-    for (const [defUri, def] of iterDefs(validatedDoc)) {
+    this.docs.set(uri, doc)
+    for (const [defUri, def] of iterDefs(doc)) {
       this.defs.set(defUri, def)
     }
   }
diff --git a/packages/lexicon/src/types.ts b/packages/lexicon/src/types.ts
index 906cd353328..5d7ed1f4a2a 100644
--- a/packages/lexicon/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/lexicon/src/types.ts
@@ -415,16 +415,9 @@ export function isDiscriminatedObject(
   return discriminatedObject.safeParse(value).success
 }
 
-export class LexiconDocMalformedError extends Error {
-  constructor(
-    message: string,
-    public schemaDef: unknown,
-    public issues?: z.ZodIssue[],
-  ) {
-    super(message)
-    this.schemaDef = schemaDef
-    this.issues = issues
-  }
+export function parseLexiconDoc(v: unknown): LexiconDoc {
+  lexiconDoc.parse(v)
+  return v as LexiconDoc
 }
 
 export type ValidationResult =
diff --git a/packages/lexicon/tests/_scaffolds/lexicons.ts b/packages/lexicon/tests/_scaffolds/lexicons.ts
index 4057c1efd50..d0cf414ccef 100644
--- a/packages/lexicon/tests/_scaffolds/lexicons.ts
+++ b/packages/lexicon/tests/_scaffolds/lexicons.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-export default [
+import { LexiconDoc } from '../../src/index'
+
+const lexicons: LexiconDoc[] = [
   {
     lexicon: 1,
     id: 'com.example.kitchenSink',
@@ -521,3 +523,5 @@ export default [
     },
   },
 ]
+
+export default lexicons
diff --git a/packages/lexicon/tests/general.test.ts b/packages/lexicon/tests/general.test.ts
index 5217ad49c52..685c99f40e0 100644
--- a/packages/lexicon/tests/general.test.ts
+++ b/packages/lexicon/tests/general.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { CID } from 'multiformats/cid'
-import { lexiconDoc, Lexicons } from '../src/index'
+import { LexiconDoc, Lexicons, parseLexiconDoc } from '../src/index'
 import LexiconDocs from './_scaffolds/lexicons'
 
 describe('Lexicons collection', () => {
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ describe('General validation', () => {
       },
     }
     expect(() => {
-      lexiconDoc.parse(schema)
+      parseLexiconDoc(schema)
     }).toThrow('Required field \\"foo\\" not defined')
   })
   it('fails when unknown fields are present', () => {
@@ -113,11 +113,11 @@ describe('General validation', () => {
     }
 
     expect(() => {
-      lexiconDoc.parse(schema)
+      parseLexiconDoc(schema)
     }).toThrow("Unrecognized key(s) in object: 'foo'")
   })
   it('fails lexicon parsing when uri is invalid', () => {
-    const schema = {
+    const schema: LexiconDoc = {
       lexicon: 1,
       id: 'com.example.invalidUri',
       defs: {
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ describe('General validation', () => {
     }).toThrow('Uri can only have one hash segment')
   })
   it('fails validation when ref uri has multiple hash segments', () => {
-    const schema = {
+    const schema: LexiconDoc = {
       lexicon: 1,
       id: 'com.example.invalidUri',
       defs: {
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ describe('General validation', () => {
     }).toThrow('Uri can only have one hash segment')
   })
   it('union handles both implicit and explicit #main', () => {
-    const schemas = [
+    const schemas: LexiconDoc[] = [
       {
         lexicon: 1,
         id: 'com.example.implicitMain',
diff --git a/packages/pds/src/lexicon/lexicons.ts b/packages/pds/src/lexicon/lexicons.ts
index 38af4475fb8..4030fea961a 100644
--- a/packages/pds/src/lexicon/lexicons.ts
+++ b/packages/pds/src/lexicon/lexicons.ts
@@ -1826,6 +1826,8 @@ export const schemaDict = {
               },
               reason: {
                 type: 'string',
+                maxGraphemes: 2000,
+                maxLength: 20000,
               },
               subject: {
                 type: 'union',
@@ -2510,7 +2512,7 @@ export const schemaDict = {
                 type: 'string',
               },
               plcOp: {
-                type: 'bytes',
+                type: 'unknown',
               },
             },
           },
diff --git a/packages/pds/src/lexicon/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts b/packages/pds/src/lexicon/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts
index bd138919101..f82fe9ed82a 100644
--- a/packages/pds/src/lexicon/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts
+++ b/packages/pds/src/lexicon/types/com/atproto/server/createAccount.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ export interface InputSchema {
   inviteCode?: string
   password: string
   recoveryKey?: string
-  plcOp?: Uint8Array
+  plcOp?: {}
   [k: string]: unknown
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/xrpc-server/src/server.ts b/packages/xrpc-server/src/server.ts
index 4e0a84ce4b7..1a258097d66 100644
--- a/packages/xrpc-server/src/server.ts
+++ b/packages/xrpc-server/src/server.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import express, {
   RequestHandler,
 } from 'express'
 import {
+  LexiconDoc,
   Lexicons,
   lexToJson,
   LexXrpcProcedure,
@@ -45,7 +46,7 @@ import {
 import log from './logger'
 import { consumeMany } from './rate-limiter'
 
-export function createServer(lexicons?: unknown[], options?: Options) {
+export function createServer(lexicons?: LexiconDoc[], options?: Options) {
   return new Server(lexicons, options)
 }
 
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ export class Server {
   sharedRateLimiters: Record<string, RateLimiterI>
   routeRateLimiterFns: Record<string, RateLimiterConsume[]>
 
-  constructor(lexicons?: unknown[], opts?: Options) {
+  constructor(lexicons?: LexiconDoc[], opts?: Options) {
     if (lexicons) {
       this.addLexicons(lexicons)
     }
@@ -140,11 +141,11 @@ export class Server {
   // schemas
   // =
 
-  addLexicon(doc: unknown) {
+  addLexicon(doc: LexiconDoc) {
     this.lex.add(doc)
   }
 
-  addLexicons(docs: unknown[]) {
+  addLexicons(docs: LexiconDoc[]) {
     for (const doc of docs) {
       this.addLexicon(doc)
     }
diff --git a/packages/xrpc/src/client.ts b/packages/xrpc/src/client.ts
index fbb5d33662c..6603345608a 100644
--- a/packages/xrpc/src/client.ts
+++ b/packages/xrpc/src/client.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { Lexicons, ValidationError } from '@atproto/lexicon'
+import { LexiconDoc, Lexicons, ValidationError } from '@atproto/lexicon'
 import {
   getMethodSchemaHTTPMethod,
   constructMethodCallUri,
@@ -46,11 +46,11 @@ export class Client {
   // schemas
   // =
 
-  addLexicon(doc: unknown) {
+  addLexicon(doc: LexiconDoc) {
     this.lex.add(doc)
   }
 
-  addLexicons(docs: unknown[]) {
+  addLexicons(docs: LexiconDoc[]) {
     for (const doc of docs) {
       this.addLexicon(doc)
     }