diff --git a/ark/schema/__tests__/alias.test.ts b/ark/schema/__tests__/alias.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b9619be03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ark/schema/__tests__/alias.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import { attest, contextualize } from "@ark/attest"
+import {
+	arkKind,
+	nodesByRegisteredId,
+	schemaScope,
+	type NodeId
+} from "@ark/schema"
+import { writeShallowCycleErrorMessage } from "@ark/schema/internal/roots/alias.ts"
+
+contextualize(() => {
+	it("alias resolution detects self-cycling context", () => {
+		// Synthesize a context node registered to its own id, the shape an
+		// in-progress parse would have before the enclosing finalize swaps
+		// the resolved root in. Since BaseScope.finalize now defers in this
+		// case (see scope.ts hasUnresolvedContextAlias), this is the only
+		// way to exercise the cycle detector through a test.
+		const cyclicId = "shallowCycleProbeSelf" as NodeId
+		nodesByRegisteredId[cyclicId] = {
+			[arkKind]: "context",
+			id: cyclicId
+		} as never
+		try {
+			const alias = schemaScope({}).node(
+				"alias",
+				{ reference: cyclicId },
+				{ prereduced: true }
+			)
+			attest(() => alias.resolution).throws(
+				writeShallowCycleErrorMessage(cyclicId, [cyclicId])
+			)
+		} finally {
+			delete nodesByRegisteredId[cyclicId]
+		}
+	})
+
+	it("alias resolution detects multi-step context cycle", () => {
+		// A -> B -> A should also trip the detector after walking once.
+		const aId = "shallowCycleProbeA" as NodeId
+		const bId = "shallowCycleProbeB" as NodeId
+		nodesByRegisteredId[aId] = {
+			[arkKind]: "context",
+			id: bId
+		} as never
+		nodesByRegisteredId[bId] = {
+			[arkKind]: "context",
+			id: aId
+		} as never
+		try {
+			const alias = schemaScope({}).node(
+				"alias",
+				{ reference: aId },
+				{ prereduced: true }
+			)
+			attest(() => alias.resolution).throws(
+				writeShallowCycleErrorMessage(bId, [bId, aId])
+			)
+		} finally {
+			delete nodesByRegisteredId[aId]
+			delete nodesByRegisteredId[bId]
+		}
+	})
+})
diff --git a/ark/schema/scope.ts b/ark/schema/scope.ts
index e0128e2fa..cf746f8d3 100644
--- a/ark/schema/scope.ts
+++ b/ark/schema/scope.ts
@@ -709,6 +709,14 @@ export abstract class BaseScope<$ extends {} = {}> {
 	}
 
 	finalize<node extends BaseRoot>(node: node): node {
+		// If this node contains an alias whose reference still points to an
+		// in-progress context node (e.g. `this[]` parsed before its enclosing
+		// type has finished), defer finalization. The enclosing parse will
+		// finalize once the context has been replaced with the resolved node.
+		// Gating on isCyclic skips the reference walk for non-cyclic roots,
+		// which are the overwhelming majority of finalize calls.
+		if (node.isCyclic && hasUnresolvedContextAlias(node)) return node
+
 		bootstrapAliasReferences(node)
 		if (!node.precompilation && !this.resolvedConfig.jitless)
 			precompile(node.references)
@@ -751,6 +759,19 @@ export class SchemaScope<$ extends {} = {}> extends BaseScope<$> {
 	}
 }
 
+// Invariant: scope-named aliases are normalized to `$name` references (see
+// alias.ts `serialize` and the `$`-prefix branch in `_resolve`), while
+// synthetic `this` aliases use a bare context NodeId (see unenclosed.ts
+// `maybeParseReference`). The `$`-prefix carve-out skips scope aliases so
+// only synthetic `this` references can defer finalization here.
+const hasUnresolvedContextAlias = (node: BaseRoot): boolean =>
+	node.references.some(
+		ref =>
+			ref.hasKind("alias") &&
+			ref.reference[0] !== "$" &&
+			hasArkKind(nodesByRegisteredId[ref.reference as NodeId], "context")
+	)
+
 const bootstrapAliasReferences = (resolution: BaseRoot | GenericRoot) => {
 	const aliases = resolution.references.filter(node => node.hasKind("alias"))
 	for (const aliasNode of aliases) {
diff --git a/ark/type/__tests__/this.test.ts b/ark/type/__tests__/this.test.ts
index 08a6f130d..264470490 100644
--- a/ark/type/__tests__/this.test.ts
+++ b/ark/type/__tests__/this.test.ts
@@ -109,4 +109,42 @@ contextualize(() => {
 			"a must be a string (was missing), b.a must be a string (was missing) or b.b must be b.b.a must be a string (was missing) or b.b.b must be an object (was missing) (was {})"
 		)
 	})
+
+	// https://github.com/arktypeio/arktype/issues/1406
+	it("this[] (array of self)", () => {
+		const T = type({
+			name: "string",
+			"children?": "this[]"
+		})
+
+		attest(T).type.toString.snap(
+			"Type<{ name: string; children?: cyclic[] }, {}>"
+		)
+
+		attest(T({ name: "a" })).snap({ name: "a" })
+		attest(T({ name: "a", children: [{ name: "b" }] })).snap({
+			name: "a",
+			children: [{ name: "b" }]
+		})
+		attest(T({ name: "a", children: [{ name: 5 as never }] }).toString()).snap(
+			"children[0].name must be a string (was a number)"
+		)
+	})
+
+	it("this[] in unions of self", () => {
+		const T = type({
+			"AND?": "this[]",
+			"OR?": "this[]",
+			"name?": "string"
+		})
+
+		attest(T).type.toString.snap(`Type<
+	{ AND?: cyclic[]; OR?: cyclic[]; name?: string },
+	{}
+>`)
+
+		attest(T({ AND: [{ name: "a" }, { OR: [{ name: "b" }] }] })).snap({
+			AND: [{ name: "a" }, { OR: [{ name: "b" }] }]
+		})
+	})
 })