diff --git a/import_specifications/schema/dts_manifest.json b/import_specifications/schema/dts_manifest.json
index 07578596..1bf6dc80 100644
--- a/import_specifications/schema/dts_manifest.json
+++ b/import_specifications/schema/dts_manifest.json
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@
         "instructions": {
             "type": "object",
             "properties": {
-                "protocol": {"type": "string"},
+                "protocol": {
+                    "type": "string",
+                    "const": "KBase narrative import"
+                },
                 "objects": {
                     "type": "array",
                     "items": {
@@ -15,17 +18,14 @@
                             "data_type": {"type": "string"},
                             "parameters": {
                                 "type": "object",
-                                "patternProperties": {
-                                    ".*": {
-                                        "oneOf": [
-                                            {"type": "string"},
-                                            {"type": "number"},
-                                            {"type": "boolean"},
-                                            {"type": "null"}
-                                        ]
-                                    }
-                                },
-                                "additionalProperties": false
+                                "additionalProperties": {
+                                    "oneOf": [
+                                        {"type": "string"},
+                                        {"type": "number"},
+                                        {"type": "boolean"},
+                                        {"type": "null"}
+                                    ]
+                                }
                             }
                         },
                         "required": ["data_type", "parameters"]
diff --git a/staging_service/import_specifications/individual_parsers.py b/staging_service/import_specifications/individual_parsers.py
index c3f4b0c5..f5ca0b64 100644
--- a/staging_service/import_specifications/individual_parsers.py
+++ b/staging_service/import_specifications/individual_parsers.py
@@ -359,22 +359,9 @@ def parse_dts_manifest(path: Path, dts_manifest_schema: dict) -> ParseResults:
         validator = jsonschema.Draft202012Validator(dts_manifest_schema)
         for err in validator.iter_errors(manifest_json):
             err_str = err.message
-            err_path = err.absolute_path
+            err_path = list(err.absolute_path)
             if err_path:
-                # paths can look like, say, ["instructions", "objects", 0, "data_type"]
-                # convert that '0' to "item 0" to be slightly more readable to users.
-                # kind of a mouthful below, but does that conversion in place
-                # The error above gets translated into:
-                # "<err.message> at instructions/objects/item 0/data_type"
-                #
-                # Another example would be if the path is just ["instructions"] and it's missing
-                # a property, the error might be:
-                # "missing property 'foo' for 'instructions'"
-                err_path = [f"item {elem}" if isinstance(elem, int) else elem for elem in err_path]
-                prep = "for"
-                if len(err_path) > 1:
-                    prep = "at"
-                err_str += f" {prep} {'/'.join(err_path)}"
+                err_str += f" at {err_path}"
             errors.append(Error(ErrorType.PARSE_FAIL, err_str, spcsrc))
     except jsonschema.exceptions.SchemaError:
         return _error(Error(ErrorType.OTHER, "Manifest schema is invalid", spcsrc))
diff --git a/tests/import_specifications/test_individual_parsers.py b/tests/import_specifications/test_individual_parsers.py
index 4ef05d8b..87a63d41 100644
--- a/tests/import_specifications/test_individual_parsers.py
+++ b/tests/import_specifications/test_individual_parsers.py
@@ -926,7 +926,7 @@ def test_dts_manifest_fail_with_path(
         [
             Error(
                 ErrorType.PARSE_FAIL,
-                "'data_type' is a required property at instructions/objects/item 1",
+                "'data_type' is a required property at ['instructions', 'objects', 1]",
                 SpecificationSource(manifest_path),
             )
         ],