diff --git a/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/DebugStepRecordingTests.cs b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/DebugStepRecordingTests.cs
index a6b3912b2..cbdda8c8c 100644
--- a/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/DebugStepRecordingTests.cs
+++ b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests/DebugStepRecordingTests.cs
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests
 		const string RecordedStep = "recorded IL step";
 		const string DetachedStep = "step on a detached function";
 
+		const string SeamStep = "C# AST built from ILAst";
+
 		static readonly FullTypeName SampleType =
 			new FullTypeName("ICSharpCode.Decompiler.CSharp.ProjectDecompiler.WholeProjectDecompiler");
 
@@ -212,6 +214,39 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.Decompiler.Tests
 			}
 		}
 
+		/// <summary>
+		/// The plain ExpressionBuilder/StatementBuilder output is a state worth looking at, so it has
+		/// a step of its own at the top level rather than being reachable only as "before the first
+		/// AST transform". Halting there has to print C#: the whole type is converted by then, so
+		/// nothing is left in ILAst.
+		/// </summary>
+		[Test]
+		public void TheStateAtTheSeamIsUntransformedCSharp()
+		{
+			if (!Stepper.SteppingAvailable)
+				Assert.Ignore("Transform stepping is compiled out without the STEP symbol, so there is no seam step.");
+
+			var decompiler = CreateRecordingDecompiler();
+			string full = decompiler.DecompileTypeAsString(SampleType);
+
+			var seam = decompiler.Stepper.Steps.SingleOrDefault(n => n.Description.Contains(SeamStep));
+			Assert.That(seam, Is.Not.Null, $"'{SeamStep}' must be recorded once, at the top level");
+
+			var replay = CreateRecordingDecompiler();
+			replay.Stepper.StepLimit = seam!.BeginStep;
+			string atSeam = replay.DecompileTypeAsString(SampleType);
+
+			using (Assert.EnterMultipleScope())
+			{
+				Assert.That(replay.StepLimitHaltedFunction, Is.Null,
+					"the seam is past every member's IL phase, so there is no halted function to dump");
+				Assert.That(atSeam, Does.Contain("class WholeProjectDecompiler"),
+					"halting at the seam still prints C#");
+				Assert.That(atSeam, Is.Not.EqualTo(full),
+					"the AST transforms have not run yet, so this cannot equal the finished output");
+			}
+		}
+
 		/// <summary>
 		/// A member group ends where the next member's group begins, so the state after its last step is
 		/// the state that member finished in - not the untouched IL of the member the halt unwinds from.
diff --git a/ICSharpCode.Decompiler/CSharp/CSharpDecompiler.cs b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler/CSharp/CSharpDecompiler.cs
index 70eea317f..ed0668734 100644
--- a/ICSharpCode.Decompiler/CSharp/CSharpDecompiler.cs
+++ b/ICSharpCode.Decompiler/CSharp/CSharpDecompiler.cs
@@ -898,6 +898,11 @@ namespace ICSharpCode.Decompiler.CSharp
 			bool traceTransforms = DecompilerEventSource.Log.IsTransformTracingEnabled();
 			try
 			{
+				// The whole type has been converted and nothing has transformed it yet, so this is the
+				// one index whose state is the plain ExpressionBuilder/StatementBuilder output. Without
+				// it that state is only reachable as "before the first AST transform", which names a
+				// transform rather than the thing being shown and sits after every member's group.
+				context.Step("C# AST built from ILAst", rootNode);
 				foreach (var transform in astTransforms)
 				{
 					CancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();