diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 95a8915..716f741 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -89,6 +89,61 @@ jobs:
             bun build export/index.ts --compile --target=${{ matrix.target }} $EXTERNAL_FLAGS --outfile=supertag-export
           fi
 
+      # Apple Silicon (and increasingly x64 on macOS 26+) kills any Mach-O that
+      # lacks a valid code signature with SIGKILL (exit 137) at exec — no
+      # Gatekeeper dialog, quarantine removal does nothing. Bun's --compile
+      # *usually* ad-hoc signs, but some Bun versions (and cross-compiled
+      # targets) ship UNSIGNED binaries, which is exactly how #84 escaped for a
+      # month. Re-sign explicitly here so we never depend on Bun's auto-signing.
+      # --remove-signature first clears any malformed/partial signature that
+      # would otherwise make `codesign --force` fail with "invalid format".
+      - name: Codesign macOS binaries (ad-hoc)
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          for bin in supertag supertag-lite supertag-mcp supertag-export; do
+            codesign --remove-signature "$bin" 2>/dev/null || true
+            codesign --force --sign - --timestamp=none "$bin"
+            codesign --verify --verbose "$bin"
+          done
+
+      # Verification gate: actually EXECUTE every binary. This is the check that
+      # would have caught #84 in CI instead of a month later. An unsigned Mach-O
+      # is SIGKILLed by the kernel at exec (exit 137) on Apple Silicon, so we
+      # only need to prove each binary *starts*. supertag/-lite/-export exit
+      # cleanly on --version; supertag-mcp ignores the flag and runs as a stdio
+      # server, so we use a background guard (no GNU `timeout` on macOS runners):
+      # launch, wait 2s, and if it's still alive it execed fine (kill = pass);
+      # otherwise the only failure we care about is 137 (kernel SIGKILL).
+      - name: Smoke-test binaries
+        run: |
+          set -uo pipefail
+          RUNNER=""
+          if [ "${{ matrix.target }}" = "bun-darwin-arm64" ]; then
+            RUNNER=""                       # native arm64 on macos-latest
+          elif arch -x86_64 true 2>/dev/null; then
+            RUNNER="arch -x86_64"           # x64 via Rosetta
+          else
+            echo "Rosetta unavailable; skipping x64 execution (signatures verified above)"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+          smoke() {
+            local bin="$1"
+            $RUNNER "./$bin" --version </dev/null >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+            local pid=$!
+            sleep 2
+            if kill -0 "$pid" 2>/dev/null; then
+              kill "$pid" 2>/dev/null; wait "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
+              echo "ok: $bin started (long-running; killed after 2s)"
+            else
+              wait "$pid"; local rc=$?
+              if [ "$rc" -eq 137 ]; then
+                echo "FAIL: $bin was SIGKILLed (exit 137) — invalid/missing code signature"; exit 1
+              fi
+              echo "ok: $bin exited $rc"
+            fi
+          }
+          for b in supertag supertag-lite supertag-mcp supertag-export; do smoke "$b"; done
+
       - name: Create distribution package
         run: |
           DIST_NAME="supertag-cli-${{ matrix.suffix }}"