diff --git a/.github/smoke/Smoke.java b/.github/smoke/Smoke.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fee1f38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/smoke/Smoke.java
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+///usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
+//JAVA 25
+//RUNTIME_OPTIONS --enable-native-access=ALL-UNNAMED
+// Dependencies are supplied at run time via `jbang --deps ...` so the workflow
+// can pin the released version and the per-arch native jar from the matrix.
+
+import io.github.dfa1.zstd.Zstd;
+import io.github.dfa1.zstd.ZstdCompressCtx;
+import io.github.dfa1.zstd.ZstdDecompressCtx;
+import io.github.dfa1.zstd.ZstdDictionary;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/// Smoke test for a published zstd-java release: proves the bundled native
+/// library loads on the host OS/arch and the core + dictionary paths work.
+/// Run against a release from Maven Central, one arch per CI matrix leg.
+public class Smoke {
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) {
+        String platform = System.getProperty("os.name") + "/" + System.getProperty("os.arch");
+
+        // 1. Core round-trip — proves the native library loaded and compress/decompress work.
+        byte[] original = "the quick brown fox ".repeat(2000).getBytes();
+        byte[] compressed = Zstd.compress(original, 9);
+        byte[] restored = Zstd.decompress(compressed);
+        if (!Arrays.equals(original, restored)) {
+            throw new AssertionError("core round-trip mismatch on " + platform);
+        }
+        if (compressed.length >= original.length) {
+            throw new AssertionError("expected compression to shrink the input on " + platform);
+        }
+
+        // 2. Dictionary round-trip — exercises the ZDICT training path (the library's differentiator).
+        List<byte[]> samples = new ArrayList<>();
+        for (int i = 0; i < 2000; i++) {
+            samples.add(("{\"id\":" + i + ",\"user\":\"user_" + (i % 100) + "\",\"event\":\"click\"}").getBytes());
+        }
+        ZstdDictionary dict = ZstdDictionary.train(samples, 8 * 1024);
+        try (ZstdCompressCtx cctx = new ZstdCompressCtx();
+             ZstdDecompressCtx dctx = new ZstdDecompressCtx()) {
+            byte[] message = samples.get(7);
+            byte[] dictCompressed = cctx.compress(message, dict);
+            byte[] dictRestored = dctx.decompress(dictCompressed, message.length, dict);
+            if (!Arrays.equals(message, dictRestored)) {
+                throw new AssertionError("dictionary round-trip mismatch on " + platform);
+            }
+        }
+
+        System.out.println("OK " + platform
+                + " | zstd " + Zstd.version()
+                + " | core " + original.length + " -> " + compressed.length + " bytes"
+                + " | dictionary round-trip passed");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/release-smoke.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b617150
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-smoke.yml
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+name: Release smoke test
+
+# Verifies a PUBLISHED release on Maven Central actually loads and runs on every
+# supported OS/arch — one runner per native classifier. Pulls the release jars
+# from Central (no source build, no submodule, no zig), so it tests exactly what
+# users consume. Trigger manually and pass the version to check.
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        description: Version to smoke-test. Leave blank to use the latest release on Maven Central.
+        required: false
+        default: ""
+  schedule:
+    # Weekly, Mondays 06:00 UTC. No input on scheduled runs, so the resolve job
+    # picks the latest release on Maven Central — catches Central / runner-image
+    # drift against the published release without a manual trigger.
+    - cron: "0 6 * * 1"
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  resolve:
+    name: resolve version
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      version: ${{ steps.pick.outputs.version }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Resolve version (input, else latest on Maven Central)
+        id: pick
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          version="${{ inputs.version }}"
+          if [ -z "$version" ]; then
+            # <release> in maven-metadata.xml is the latest non-snapshot release.
+            version=$(curl -fsSL https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/io/github/dfa1/zstd/zstd/maven-metadata.xml \
+              | grep -oE '<release>[^<]+</release>' | sed -E 's/<\/?release>//g')
+          fi
+          if [ -z "$version" ]; then
+            echo "could not resolve a version from Maven Central" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "Smoke-testing version: $version"
+          echo "version=$version" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+  smoke:
+    name: ${{ matrix.classifier }}
+    needs: resolve
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - { os: ubuntu-latest,    classifier: linux-x86_64 }
+          - { os: ubuntu-24.04-arm, classifier: linux-aarch64 }
+          - { os: macos-13,         classifier: osx-x86_64 }
+          - { os: macos-14,         classifier: osx-aarch64 }
+          - { os: windows-latest,   classifier: windows-x86_64 }
+          - { os: windows-11-arm,   classifier: windows-aarch64 }
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout (smoke sources only)
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up JDK 25
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
+        with:
+          distribution: temurin
+          java-version: '25'
+
+      - name: Set up JBang
+        uses: jbangdev/setup-jbang@main
+
+      - name: Smoke-test ${{ needs.resolve.outputs.version }} on ${{ matrix.classifier }}
+        shell: bash
+        env:
+          VERSION: ${{ needs.resolve.outputs.version }}
+        run: |
+          jbang --java 25 \
+            --deps "io.github.dfa1.zstd:zstd:${VERSION},io.github.dfa1.zstd:zstd-native-${{ matrix.classifier }}:${VERSION}" \
+            .github/smoke/Smoke.java