diff --git a/.claude/agent-memory/archgate-developer/MEMORY.md b/.claude/agent-memory/archgate-developer/MEMORY.md
index 0fc9c5bf..062a3d20 100644
--- a/.claude/agent-memory/archgate-developer/MEMORY.md
+++ b/.claude/agent-memory/archgate-developer/MEMORY.md
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ Skipping steps 2 or 3 is a workflow violation. The user should NEVER have to inv
 - **`Bun.Glob.scan({ dot: false })` silently drops dot-prefixed segments — even on explicit paths** — `dot: false` (the default) skips matches whose path contains a `.`-prefixed segment, including patterns that explicitly name the dir (e.g. `.github/workflows/release.yml`). Behavior also varies across platforms — Windows reliably drops the match while Linux can match the same pattern, so a rule appears to "work in CI" but no-ops locally. For code repos where `.github/`, `.husky/`, `.vscode/` are first-class source dirs, ALWAYS pass `dot: true` to `Bun.Glob.scan()`. Applied in `src/engine/runner.ts` (`ctx.glob`, `ctx.grepFiles`) and `src/engine/git-files.ts` (`resolveScopedFiles`). See archgate/cli#222.
 - **PowerShell 5.1 reads BOM-less `.ps1` files as ANSI — never use non-ASCII chars in `install.ps1`** — `install.ps1` has no UTF-8 BOM (first bytes are `# A...`). On Windows PowerShell 5.1, this means the file is decoded as the system codepage (Windows-1252), so multi-byte UTF-8 characters like em-dash (`—`, `\xE2\x80\x94`) get split into garbage bytes that break later string parsing — the parser reports cryptic errors like "string is missing the terminator" on lines that look fine. ALWAYS stick to ASCII (`-`, `--`, straight quotes) in comments and string literals in `install.ps1`. To verify after editing: `[System.Management.Automation.Language.Parser]::ParseFile((Resolve-Path .\install.ps1).Path, [ref]$null, [ref]$errs)`. Same caveat applies to any unsigned `.ps1` file the project distributes.
 - **SLSA reusable workflow MUST be tag-pinned, not SHA-pinned** — `slsa-framework/slsa-github-generator/.github/workflows/*` looks like it should follow CI-001 (SHA pin), but the SLSA generator's `generate-builder.sh` reads the workflow ref to download the prebuilt builder from a GitHub release and rejects non-tag refs (`Invalid ref: ... Expected ref of the form refs/tags/vX.Y.Z`, exit 2). Pinning by SHA broke the v0.31.0 release ([run 25107195589](https://github.com/archgate/cli/actions/runs/25107195589)). The CI-001 rule allowlists this path so it does NOT block a SHA repin — meaning a future agent could "fix" the tag pin and the rule would be silent until the next release fails. ALWAYS keep `@v2.x.y` for `release-binaries.yml:165` and read the inline comment + CI-001 "Carved-out exceptions" before changing. Upstream issue: [slsa-framework/slsa-github-generator#150](https://github.com/slsa-framework/slsa-github-generator/issues/150).
+- **`GITHUB_TOKEN`-authored pushes do NOT trigger downstream workflows — release.yml MUST use the GH App token** — When an Actions workflow pushes commits or opens PRs using `${{ github.token }}` / `secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN`, GitHub intentionally suppresses the resulting `push` / `pull_request` events to prevent recursion. Symptom on release PRs: the head SHA has no `pull_request`-event check runs, so `Validate Code` / `Lint, Test & Check` / `DCO Sign-off Check` are missing from the PR rollup and branch protection treats the PR as missing required checks. PR [#131](https://github.com/archgate/cli/pull/131) papered over this by manually `gh workflow run` + posting commit statuses, but `workflow_dispatch` runs land on `head_branch: release` with `pull_requests: []` — they are not associated with the PR ref, so `Lint, Test & Check` stayed orphaned and the bug recurred on PR [#251](https://github.com/archgate/cli/pull/251). Root-cause fix: in `release.yml` the `pull-request` job MUST generate a GitHub App installation token via `actions/create-github-app-token` (using `secrets.GH_APP_APP_ID` / `secrets.GH_APP_PRIVATE_KEY`) and pass it to BOTH `actions/checkout` and `simple-release-action`. App-token-authored pushes DO trigger `pull_request` events naturally. Apply the same pattern to any future workflow that pushes to a branch whose downstream CI must run.
 
 ## Validation Pipeline
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 7919acfc..e830be24 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -62,15 +62,28 @@ jobs:
     timeout-minutes: 10
     name: Pull request
     permissions:
-      actions: write
-      contents: write
-      pull-requests: write
-      statuses: write
+      contents: read
     needs: check
     if: needs.check.outputs.workflow == 'pull-request'
     steps:
+      # Use a GitHub App installation token (not GITHUB_TOKEN) so the push to the
+      # release branch triggers downstream `pull_request` events on the release PR.
+      # GITHUB_TOKEN-authored pushes are intentionally muted by GitHub to prevent
+      # workflow recursion — that mute is what causes release PRs to land without
+      # the required `Validate Code` / `Lint, Test & Check` / `DCO Sign-off Check`
+      # status checks attached to the PR ref. With an App token, the synchronize
+      # event fires naturally and code-pull-request.yml + dco.yml run against
+      # refs/pull/N/head, producing checks that branch protection accepts.
+      - name: Generate token
+        id: generate_token
+        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@1b10c78c7865c340bc4f6099eb2f838309f1e8c3 # v3
+        with:
+          app-id: ${{ secrets.GH_APP_APP_ID }}
+          private-key: ${{ secrets.GH_APP_PRIVATE_KEY }}
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6
+        with:
+          token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
       - uses: moonrepo/setup-toolchain@261c62cb5b0f580c7be7c8cd0f023a2e96756095 # v0
         with:
           auto-install: true
@@ -102,46 +115,8 @@ jobs:
         uses: TrigenSoftware/simple-release-action@a796225481a62b5b46b37d4481ef7fb114a6d399 # v1
         with:
           workflow: pull-request
-          github-token: ${{ github.token }}
+          github-token: ${{ steps.generate_token.outputs.token }}
           branch: release
-      - name: Run CI and set status checks on release PR
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
-        run: |
-          HEAD_SHA=$(gh api repos/${{ github.repository }}/git/ref/heads/release --jq '.object.sha' 2>/dev/null) || true
-
-          if [ -z "$HEAD_SHA" ]; then
-            echo "No release branch found — nothing to validate"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-
-          # Verify DCO sign-off and set status
-          COMMIT_MSG=$(gh api repos/${{ github.repository }}/git/commits/$HEAD_SHA --jq '.message')
-          if echo "$COMMIT_MSG" | grep -qiE '^Signed-off-by: .+ <.+>'; then
-            DCO_STATE=success
-            DCO_DESC="All commits are signed off"
-          else
-            DCO_STATE=failure
-            DCO_DESC="Missing DCO Signed-off-by line"
-          fi
-
-          gh api repos/${{ github.repository }}/statuses/$HEAD_SHA \
-            -f state="$DCO_STATE" \
-            -f context="DCO Sign-off Check" \
-            -f description="$DCO_DESC" \
-            --silent
-
-          gh workflow run code-pull-request.yml --ref release
-          sleep 5
-          RUN_ID=$(gh run list --branch release --workflow code-pull-request.yml --limit 1 --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId')
-          echo "Waiting for CI run $RUN_ID..."
-          gh run watch "$RUN_ID" --exit-status && STATUS=success || STATUS=failure
-
-          gh api repos/${{ github.repository }}/statuses/$HEAD_SHA \
-            -f state="$STATUS" \
-            -f context="Validate Code" \
-            -f description="CI $STATUS" \
-            --silent
   release:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 10