diff --git a/database/csvx/doc.go b/database/csvx/doc.go
index bd796cd..06bbe03 100644
--- a/database/csvx/doc.go
+++ b/database/csvx/doc.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 // can be read from a sheet, written to a file, and scanned from a database.
 //
 // It also provides generic Parse/Serialize functions for CSV, TSV, JSON,
-// and JSONL, delimiter-specific string and integer slices, plus text
-// normalization helpers (NormalizeEmail, NormalizePhone).
+// and JSONL, delimiter-specific string and integer slices, and permissive
+// text/list value types, plus normalization helpers (NormalizeEmail,
+// NormalizePhone).
 package csvx
diff --git a/database/csvx/listish.go b/database/csvx/listish.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4470cbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/database/csvx/listish.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package csvx
+
+import (
+	"strings"
+	"unicode"
+)
+
+// Listish is a list encoded as comma- or whitespace-delimited text.
+type Listish []string
+
+// UnmarshalCSV parses comma- or whitespace-delimited values.
+func (s *Listish) UnmarshalCSV(data []byte) error {
+	if len(data) == 0 {
+		*s = Listish{}
+		return nil
+	}
+	parts := strings.FieldsFunc(string(data), func(r rune) bool {
+		return r == ',' || unicode.IsSpace(r)
+	})
+	if len(parts) == 0 {
+		*s = Listish{}
+		return nil
+	}
+	*s = Listish(parts)
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/database/csvx/listish_test.go b/database/csvx/listish_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b82f7dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/database/csvx/listish_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+package csvx
+
+import (
+	"reflect"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestListishUnmarshalCSV(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		in   string
+		want Listish
+	}{
+		{name: "comma", in: "admin,hr,pm", want: Listish{"admin", "hr", "pm"}},
+		{name: "whitespace", in: "admin hr\tpm", want: Listish{"admin", "hr", "pm"}},
+		{name: "mixed", in: " admin, hr\npm ", want: Listish{"admin", "hr", "pm"}},
+		{name: "empty", in: " , \t", want: Listish{}},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var got Listish
+			if err := got.UnmarshalCSV([]byte(tt.in)); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(got, tt.want) {
+				t.Fatalf("got %#v, want %#v", got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/database/csvx/textish.go b/database/csvx/textish.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4882d0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/database/csvx/textish.go
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+package csvx
+
+import (
+	"database/sql/driver"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// Textish is text with common explicit-empty words normalized to an empty value.
+type Textish string
+
+func (t Textish) Empty() bool { return string(t) == "" }
+
+func (t Textish) String() string { return string(t) }
+
+func normalizeTextish(value string) string {
+	switch strings.ToLower(strings.TrimSpace(value)) {
+	case "", "none", "disable", "disabled":
+		return ""
+	default:
+		return strings.TrimSpace(value)
+	}
+}
+
+func (t Textish) Value() (driver.Value, error) { return string(t), nil }
+
+func (t *Textish) Scan(value any) error {
+	if value == nil {
+		*t = ""
+		return nil
+	}
+	switch v := value.(type) {
+	case string:
+		*t = Textish(normalizeTextish(v))
+	case []byte:
+		*t = Textish(normalizeTextish(string(v)))
+	default:
+		return fmt.Errorf("csvx.Textish: cannot scan %T", value)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (t Textish) MarshalCSV() ([]byte, error) { return []byte(t), nil }
+
+func (t *Textish) UnmarshalCSV(data []byte) error {
+	*t = Textish(normalizeTextish(string(data)))
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (t Textish) MarshalJSON() ([]byte, error) { return json.Marshal(string(t)) }
+
+func (t *Textish) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
+	var value string
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &value); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	*t = Textish(normalizeTextish(value))
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/database/csvx/textish_test.go b/database/csvx/textish_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..afa12dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/database/csvx/textish_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package csvx
+
+import "testing"
+
+func TestTextishNormalizesExplicitEmptyValues(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, value := range []string{"", "none", "disable", "disabled", " NONE "} {
+		var got Textish
+		if err := got.UnmarshalCSV([]byte(value)); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+		if !got.Empty() {
+			t.Fatalf("Textish(%q) = %q, want empty", value, got)
+		}
+	}
+	var got Textish
+	if err := got.UnmarshalCSV([]byte("https://hooks.example.test/enrich")); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if got.String() != "https://hooks.example.test/enrich" {
+		t.Fatalf("Textish URL = %q", got)
+	}
+}