diff --git a/Doc/reference/grammar.rst b/Doc/reference/grammar.rst
index 1037feb691f6bc..0ce8e42ddf3b0c 100644
--- a/Doc/reference/grammar.rst
+++ b/Doc/reference/grammar.rst
@@ -12,8 +12,17 @@ The notation used here is the same as in the preceding docs,
 and is described in the :ref:`notation <notation>` section,
 except for an extra complication:
 
-* ``~`` ("cut"): commit to the current alternative and fail the rule
-  even if this fails to parse
+* ``~`` ("cut"): commit to the current alternative; fail the rule
+  if the alternative fails to parse
+
+  Python mainly uses cuts for optimizations or improved error
+  messages. They often appear to be useless in the listing below.
+
+  .. see gh-143054, and CutValidator in the source, if you want to change this:
+
+  Cuts currently don't appear inside parentheses, brackets, lookaheads
+  and similar.
+  Their behavior in these contexts is deliberately left unspecified.
 
 .. literalinclude:: ../../Grammar/python.gram
   :language: peg
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_peg_generator/test_grammar_validator.py b/Lib/test/test_peg_generator/test_grammar_validator.py
index c7f20e1de802ce..857aced8ae5dcf 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_peg_generator/test_grammar_validator.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_peg_generator/test_grammar_validator.py
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@
 test_tools.skip_if_missing("peg_generator")
 with test_tools.imports_under_tool("peg_generator"):
     from pegen.grammar_parser import GeneratedParser as GrammarParser
-    from pegen.validator import SubRuleValidator, ValidationError, RaiseRuleValidator
+    from pegen.validator import SubRuleValidator, ValidationError
+    from pegen.validator import RaiseRuleValidator, CutValidator
     from pegen.testutil import parse_string
     from pegen.grammar import Grammar
 
@@ -59,3 +60,18 @@ def test_raising_valid_rule(self) -> None:
         with self.assertRaises(ValidationError):
             for rule_name, rule in grammar.rules.items():
                 validator.validate_rule(rule_name, rule)
+
+    def test_cut_validator(self) -> None:
+        grammar_source = """
+        star: (OP ~ OP)*
+        plus: (OP ~ OP)+
+        bracket: [OP ~ OP]
+        gather: OP.(OP ~ OP)+
+        nested: [OP | NAME ~ OP]
+        """
+        grammar: Grammar = parse_string(grammar_source, GrammarParser)
+        validator = CutValidator(grammar)
+        for rule_name, rule in grammar.rules.items():
+            with self.subTest(rule_name):
+                with self.assertRaises(ValidationError):
+                    validator.validate_rule(rule_name, rule)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_peg_generator/test_pegen.py b/Lib/test/test_peg_generator/test_pegen.py
index d03ba07975a616..f39fcc2e0d8daf 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_peg_generator/test_pegen.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_peg_generator/test_pegen.py
@@ -755,6 +755,30 @@ def test_cut(self) -> None:
             ],
         )
 
+    def test_cut_is_local_in_rule(self) -> None:
+        grammar = """
+        start:
+            | inner
+            | 'x' { "ok" }
+        inner:
+            | 'x' ~ 'y'
+            | 'x'
+        """
+        parser_class = make_parser(grammar)
+        node = parse_string("x", parser_class)
+        self.assertEqual(node, 'ok')
+
+    def test_cut_is_local_in_parens(self) -> None:
+        # we currently don't guarantee this behavior, see gh-143054
+        grammar = """
+        start:
+            | ('x' ~ 'y' | 'x')
+            | 'x' { "ok" }
+        """
+        parser_class = make_parser(grammar)
+        node = parse_string("x", parser_class)
+        self.assertEqual(node, 'ok')
+
     def test_dangling_reference(self) -> None:
         grammar = """
         start: foo ENDMARKER
diff --git a/Tools/peg_generator/pegen/validator.py b/Tools/peg_generator/pegen/validator.py
index 635eb398b41808..5e2bc238a1e966 100644
--- a/Tools/peg_generator/pegen/validator.py
+++ b/Tools/peg_generator/pegen/validator.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+from typing import Any
+
 from pegen import grammar
 from pegen.grammar import Alt, GrammarVisitor, Rhs, Rule
 
@@ -44,6 +46,37 @@ def visit_Alt(self, node: Alt) -> None:
             )
 
 
+class CutValidator(GrammarValidator):
+    """Fail if Cut is not directly in a rule.
+
+    For simplicity, we currently document that a Cut affects alternatives
+    of the *rule* it is in.
+    However, the implementation makes cuts local to enclosing Rhs
+    (e.g. parenthesized list of choices).
+    Additionally, in academic papers about PEG, repeats and optional items
+    are "desugared" to choices with an empty alternative, and thus contain
+    a Cut's effect.
+
+    Please update documentation and tests when adding this cut,
+    then get rid of this validator.
+
+    See gh-143054.
+    """
+
+    def visit(self, node: Any, parents: tuple[Any, ...] = ()) -> None:
+        super().visit(node, parents=(*parents, node))
+
+    def visit_Cut(self, node: Alt, parents: tuple[Any, ...] = ()) -> None:
+        parent_types = [type(p).__name__ for p in parents]
+        if parent_types != ['Rule', 'Rhs', 'Alt', 'NamedItem', 'Cut']:
+            raise ValidationError(
+                f"Rule {self.rulename!r} contains cut that's not on the "
+                "top level. "
+                "The intended semantics of such cases need "
+                "to be clarified; see the CutValidator docstring."
+                f"\nThe cut is inside: {parent_types}"
+            )
+
 def validate_grammar(the_grammar: grammar.Grammar) -> None:
     for validator_cls in GrammarValidator.__subclasses__():
         validator = validator_cls(the_grammar)