diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 452315c..5563435 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -11,18 +11,22 @@ name: CI
 # workflows), and main is already CI-gated on every push via the workflow_call
 # above, so re-running the whole suite on that PR is pure redundancy — yet its
 # three jobs are required status checks, so the PR can't merge until they report.
-# release-please commits with GITHUB_TOKEN, whose events don't reliably trigger
-# this workflow, so those checks would otherwise sit unreported and the release
-# PR would stay blocked, needing a human to re-trigger CI. Instead each job below
-# skips itself on the release-please branch; a skipped job reports Success and so
-# satisfies the required check, letting the release PR go green with no
-# intervention. On a workflow_call from a push the head_ref is empty, so the full
-# suite still runs on main. (If a fourth required check is ever added, give it the
-# same guard.)
+# The catch: release-please authors that PR as github-actions[bot], and GitHub
+# gates the pull_request run from a bot-authored PR behind manual approval, so it
+# never starts, no check runs are created, and the required checks sit unreported
+# forever. So release.yml dispatches this workflow (workflow_dispatch) onto the
+# release-please branch instead — API-triggered runs carrying GITHUB_TOKEN are
+# exempt from that approval gate and do start. Each job below skips itself on the
+# release-please branch (matched via head_ref on a PR run, or ref_name on the
+# dispatched run); a skipped job reports Success and so satisfies the required
+# check, letting the release PR go green with no intervention. On a workflow_call
+# from a push the ref_name is 'main', so the full suite still runs on main. (If a
+# fourth required check is ever added, give it the same guard.)
 
 on:
   pull_request:
   workflow_call:
+  workflow_dispatch:
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
@@ -38,7 +42,8 @@ jobs:
   test:
     # Skip on release-please's PR (see header) — a skipped job counts as a
     # passing required check, so the release PR merges without a full CI re-run.
-    if: ${{ !startsWith(github.head_ref, 'release-please--') }}
+    # head_ref matches the PR run; ref_name the workflow_dispatch run.
+    if: ${{ !startsWith(github.head_ref, 'release-please--') && !startsWith(github.ref_name, 'release-please--') }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 15
     env:
@@ -72,7 +77,7 @@ jobs:
     # the real binary through the wrapper's shim. Without this, a broken
     # resolver or a platform table that has drifted from the wrapper's
     # optionalDependencies would only surface after publishing.
-    if: ${{ !startsWith(github.head_ref, 'release-please--') }}
+    if: ${{ !startsWith(github.head_ref, 'release-please--') && !startsWith(github.ref_name, 'release-please--') }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 15
     env:
@@ -135,7 +140,7 @@ jobs:
         run: sccache --show-stats
 
   deny:
-    if: ${{ !startsWith(github.head_ref, 'release-please--') }}
+    if: ${{ !startsWith(github.head_ref, 'release-please--') && !startsWith(github.ref_name, 'release-please--') }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 10
     steps:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index f77a093..56e02f1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -34,12 +34,31 @@ jobs:
     needs: ci
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 10
+    # A job-level block replaces the inherited perms, so restate them; actions:
+    # write is new, for the `gh workflow run` in the dispatch step below.
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: write
+      actions: write
     outputs:
       release_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
       tag_name: ${{ steps.release.outputs.tag_name }}
     steps:
       - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@45996ed1f6d02564a971a2fa1b5860e934307cf7 # v5.0.0
         id: release
+      # release-please authors the release PR as github-actions[bot], and GitHub
+      # gates a bot-authored PR's pull_request run behind manual approval, so
+      # ci.yml never starts there and its app-pinned required checks (test/npm/
+      # deny) sit unreported. Dispatch ci.yml onto the release branch instead: a
+      # workflow_dispatch run carrying GITHUB_TOKEN skips that approval gate, and
+      # its jobs self-skip on the release-please branch, reporting the required
+      # checks green in seconds. prs_created is true when a PR was created or
+      # updated; on a merge push that only cuts a release it's false and this skips.
+      - name: Dispatch CI onto the release PR
+        if: ${{ steps.release.outputs.prs_created == 'true' }}
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+        run: gh workflow run ci.yml --repo "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" --ref "${{ fromJSON(steps.release.outputs.pr).headBranchName }}"
 
   build:
     needs: release-please