diff --git a/app/build.gradle.kts b/app/build.gradle.kts
index b0de8c9..e7f7716 100644
--- a/app/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/app/build.gradle.kts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.PathSensitivity
 import org.gradle.testing.jacoco.tasks.JacocoReport
 
 plugins {
@@ -206,6 +207,16 @@ detekt {
 // `excludes` is not optional. Without it JaCoCo walks JDK-internal classes that Robolectric has
 // no location for either, and the test JVM dies rather than reporting a number.
 tasks.withType<Test>().configureEach {
+    // ReleasePermissionTest reads .github/workflows/build.yml, and Gradle cannot infer that a
+    // test depends on a file outside the source set. Without this the task stays UP-TO-DATE
+    // when the workflow changes, so the guard goes stale exactly when it matters. Measured:
+    // deleting the release job's `contents: write` and re-running gave "BUILD SUCCESSFUL in
+    // 614ms" with the test never executing; the same mutation under --rerun-tasks failed it.
+    // A guard that does not re-run when its subject changes is not a guard.
+    inputs.file(rootProject.file(".github/workflows/build.yml"))
+        .withPropertyName("releaseWorkflow")
+        .withPathSensitivity(PathSensitivity.RELATIVE)
+
     extensions.configure<JacocoTaskExtension> {
         isIncludeNoLocationClasses = true
         excludes = listOf("jdk.internal.*")
diff --git a/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/ci/ReleasePermissionTest.kt b/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/ci/ReleasePermissionTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9ec637
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/src/test/java/org/libremediaconverter/ci/ReleasePermissionTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+package org.libremediaconverter.ci
+
+import org.junit.Assert.assertTrue
+import org.junit.Test
+import java.io.File
+
+/**
+ * That the release job still holds the one permission it needs to publish.
+ *
+ * `build.yml`'s `release` job declares `contents: write`, and nothing was checking it. Deleting
+ * those two lines leaves actionlint clean and CodeQL silent — a *narrower* permission is not an
+ * alert — and the job is `if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v')`, so no pull request and no
+ * merge to `main` can exercise it. Measured: with the declaration removed, every gating check
+ * still passes. The first thing that would notice is a release failing to publish, at the moment
+ * someone is trying to cut one.
+ *
+ * The deletion also looks like tidying. A top-level `permissions: contents: read` now sits
+ * directly above it, so a reader could reasonably take the job-level block for a duplicate. It is
+ * an override, not a duplicate, and a comment saying so is not a check.
+ *
+ * `BackupExclusionsTest` is the precedent: a file that is configuration rather than code, load
+ * bearing, and unguarded because nothing compiles it.
+ *
+ * **What this pins, and what it does not.** It asserts the declaration exists in the `release`
+ * job's block. It cannot assert that a release actually publishes — that needs a tag push, which
+ * is the thing no PR can do. So this is a tripwire against silent removal, not proof the release
+ * path works.
+ */
+class ReleasePermissionTest {
+
+    @Test
+    fun `the release job declares the write permission it needs to publish`() {
+        val release = jobBlock("release")
+        assertTrue(
+            "build.yml's `release` job no longer declares `contents: write`. It is the only " +
+                "permission that lets the job create a release, the top-level block above it is " +
+                "`contents: read`, and nothing else in CI would catch this until a tag failed to " +
+                "publish. If the release moved elsewhere, delete this test deliberately.",
+            release.any { it.trimStart().startsWith("contents: write") },
+        )
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * The lines of one top-level job, from its `  <name>:` header to the next job at that indent.
+     *
+     * Line-based rather than parsed: the module has no YAML dependency, and adding one to read two
+     * lines would be a worse trade than a scan that fails loudly when the shape changes.
+     */
+    private fun jobBlock(name: String): List<String> {
+        val lines = workflow.readLines()
+        val start = lines.indexOfFirst { it == "  $name:" }
+        check(start >= 0) { "no `  $name:` job in ${workflow.path} — has the file been restructured?" }
+        val rest = lines.drop(start + 1)
+        val end = rest.indexOfFirst { it.matches(Regex("^ {2}[A-Za-z0-9_-]+:.*")) }
+        return if (end < 0) rest else rest.take(end)
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Found by walking up rather than by a fixed relative path: Gradle's working directory for the
+     * unit tests is the module, but that is a default rather than a promise.
+     */
+    private val workflow: File
+        get() = generateSequence(File(".").absoluteFile) { it.parentFile }
+            .map { File(it, ".github/workflows/build.yml") }
+            .firstOrNull { it.isFile }
+            ?: error("could not find .github/workflows/build.yml above ${File(".").absolutePath}")
+}