diff --git a/.github/workflows/deps-locked.yml b/.github/workflows/deps-locked.yml
index 3c0eaee..9ffc563 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deps-locked.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deps-locked.yml
@@ -62,6 +62,19 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Verify lockfile is in sync with pyproject.toml
         run: |
+          # Seed the temp output file from the committed lock so that uv pip
+          # compile treats existing pins as the resolution baseline (uv's
+          # documented behaviour: "if the file already exists, the existing
+          # versions will be preferred … unless --upgrade is specified").
+          # This means a satisfying already-pinned version (e.g. pytest==9.0.3
+          # satisfying >=9.0.3) is KEPT even when a newer release (9.1.0) is
+          # available upstream — preventing false-positive failures on every
+          # new upstream release that has nothing to do with this repo.
+          #
+          # The diff still detects the real failure mode: pyproject adds or
+          # changes a dependency without the lock being regenerated, which
+          # causes the recompiled output to diverge from the committed lock.
+          cp requirements-dev.lock /tmp/requirements-dev.regenerated.lock
           uv pip compile --universal --generate-hashes --python-version 3.11 \
             --extra dev pyproject.toml -o /tmp/requirements-dev.regenerated.lock
           # Compare only the dependency body. The autogenerated header comment