diff --git a/.github/workflows/gate.yml b/.github/workflows/gate.yml
index 173a61e..d267ffc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gate.yml
@@ -124,6 +124,26 @@ jobs:
             bash .ci-workflows/scripts/shell_gate.sh --base "${{ steps.base.outputs.ref }}"
           fi
 
+      - name: Settings gate
+        if: inputs.tier == 'a'
+        # Resolves every script path settings.json references and asserts it exists
+        # and is executable. Rewrites the "$HOME"/.claude/ prefix to the repo root,
+        # because CI has no ~/.claude and every hook would otherwise read as missing.
+        run: bash .ci-workflows/scripts/settings_gate.sh
+
+      - name: Hook smoke
+        if: inputs.tier == 'a'
+        # Only runs hooks that advertise a --dry-run flag. A hook is arbitrary code
+        # with side effects (one commits and pushes), so anything without a declared
+        # no-op mode is reported as skipped rather than executed.
+        run: bash .ci-workflows/scripts/hook_smoke.sh
+
+      - name: Frontmatter gate
+        if: inputs.tier == 'a'
+        # A skill with no description never triggers, and never errors either. It
+        # looks installed and does nothing.
+        run: bash .ci-workflows/scripts/frontmatter_gate.sh
+
       - name: Set up Node
         if: inputs.tier == 'b' && inputs.build_cmd != ''
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
diff --git a/scripts/frontmatter_gate.sh b/scripts/frontmatter_gate.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..108d8c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/frontmatter_gate.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# frontmatter_gate.sh: every skill and agent must declare a name and a description.
+#
+# WHY THIS EXISTS
+#
+# A skill's description is the only thing the model sees when deciding whether the
+# skill applies. A skill with no description, or with frontmatter that failed to
+# parse, does not error: it simply never triggers. It looks installed and does
+# nothing, which is the most expensive kind of broken because nobody investigates a
+# feature they believe is working.
+#
+# Frontmatter is parsed by hand rather than with PyYAML, which is not guaranteed to
+# be present on a runner. Checking that two keys exist and are non-empty does not
+# need a YAML parser, and adding a dependency to a gate makes the gate fragile.
+#
+# SCOPE, AND WHY IT IS NARROW
+#
+# Only files that MUST carry frontmatter are checked. An earlier version also swept
+# `agents/*.md`, which produced 55 failures against gtmify-config, every one of them
+# a false positive: git pathspec wildcards match across slashes by default, so that
+# glob reached `agents/instructions/*.md`, which are Paperclip instruction files and
+# prose documentation with no frontmatter by design. `:(glob)` magic is used below
+# precisely so `*` stops at a slash.
+#
+# Pass --glob to add targets, for example a repo that keeps real Claude Code agent
+# definitions in .claude/agents/.
+#
+# Usage: frontmatter_gate.sh [--glob <pathspec>]...
+set -euo pipefail
+
+REPO_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+
+globs=(':(glob)skills/*/SKILL.md' ':(glob).claude/agents/*.md')
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+  case "$1" in
+    --glob) shift; globs+=(":(glob)${1:-}") ;;
+    -h|--help) sed -n '2,28p' "$0" | sed 's/^# \{0,1\}//'; exit 0 ;;
+    *) echo "frontmatter_gate: unknown argument: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+  shift
+done
+
+targets=()
+while IFS= read -r -d '' f; do targets+=("$f"); done < <(
+  { git ls-files -z -- "${globs[@]}" 2>/dev/null || true; }
+)
+
+if [ "${#targets[@]}" -eq 0 ]; then
+  echo ">> frontmatter gate: no skills or agents in this repo, nothing to check."
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo ">> frontmatter gate: checking ${#targets[@]} file(s)"
+
+failures=0
+
+for f in "${targets[@]}"; do
+  problem="$(F="$f" python3 <<'PY'
+import os, sys
+
+path = os.environ["F"]
+with open(path, encoding="utf-8", errors="replace") as fh:
+    lines = fh.read().split("\n")
+
+if not lines or lines[0].strip() != "---":
+    sys.stdout.write("no YAML frontmatter; file must open with ---")
+    sys.exit(0)
+
+body = []
+closed = False
+for line in lines[1:]:
+    if line.strip() == "---":
+        closed = True
+        break
+    body.append(line)
+
+if not closed:
+    sys.stdout.write("frontmatter is never closed with a second ---")
+    sys.exit(0)
+
+found = {}
+for line in body:
+    if line[:1].isspace() or not line.strip() or line.lstrip().startswith("#"):
+        continue
+    if ":" not in line:
+        continue
+    key, _, value = line.partition(":")
+    found[key.strip()] = value.strip().strip('"').strip("'")
+
+missing = [k for k in ("name", "description") if not found.get(k)]
+if missing:
+    sys.stdout.write("missing or empty: " + ", ".join(missing))
+PY
+)"
+
+  if [ -n "$problem" ]; then
+    printf '   FAIL %s\n        %s\n' "$f" "$problem"
+    failures=$((failures + 1))
+  else
+    printf '   ok   %s\n' "$f"
+  fi
+done
+
+if [ "$failures" -ne 0 ]; then
+  echo
+  echo "!! frontmatter gate FAILED: ${failures} file(s) would never trigger."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo ">> frontmatter gate passed."
diff --git a/scripts/hook_smoke.sh b/scripts/hook_smoke.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..6ee6220
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/hook_smoke.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# hook_smoke.sh: run each hook's own safe self-check so a broken hook is caught
+# here rather than on somebody's machine mid-session.
+#
+# THE SAFETY RULE THAT SHAPES THIS SCRIPT
+#
+# A hook is arbitrary code with side effects. auto_commit_on_exit.sh commits and
+# pushes; log_session_transcript.sh writes to Supabase. Executing hooks blindly in
+# CI would be reckless, so this script NEVER runs a hook unless the hook itself
+# advertises a no-op flag: it greps for --dry-run handling and only then invokes it
+# with --dry-run. A hook without that flag is reported as skipped, not run.
+#
+# That means coverage here is partial by design, and the report says so rather than
+# implying every hook was exercised. A silent partial pass reading as full coverage
+# is the exact failure this repo's other checks exist to prevent.
+#
+# Usage: hook_smoke.sh [--dir <hooks dir>]
+set -euo pipefail
+
+HOOK_DIR="hooks"
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+  case "$1" in
+    --dir) shift; HOOK_DIR="${1:-}" ;;
+    -h|--help) sed -n '2,18p' "$0" | sed 's/^# \{0,1\}//'; exit 0 ;;
+    *) echo "hook_smoke: unknown argument: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+  shift
+done
+
+REPO_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+DIR="$REPO_ROOT/$HOOK_DIR"
+
+if [ ! -d "$DIR" ]; then
+  echo ">> hook smoke: no $HOOK_DIR/ directory, nothing to check."
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+ran=0
+skipped=0
+failures=0
+
+echo ">> hook smoke: scanning $HOOK_DIR/"
+
+while IFS= read -r -d '' h; do
+  name="$(basename "$h")"
+
+  # Skip macOS artifacts, which is not hypothetical: every repo in this workspace
+  # has an `Icon` file inside .git/hooks, and gtmify-config tracks one in hooks/.
+  case "$name" in
+    Icon|Icon*|.DS_Store|._*) continue ;;
+  esac
+
+  case "$name" in
+    *.sh) ;;
+    *) continue ;;
+  esac
+
+  if ! grep -q -- '--dry-run' "$h"; then
+    printf '   skip %-32s no --dry-run flag; not safe to execute in CI\n' "$name"
+    skipped=$((skipped + 1))
+    continue
+  fi
+
+  rc=0
+  # `cmd || rc=$?` rather than set +e / set -e around it: re-enabling errexit inside
+  # a loop turns it back on for everything after, and a later non-zero status then
+  # kills the script before it can print a total.
+  timeout 60 bash "$h" --dry-run >/tmp/hooksmoke.out 2>&1 || rc=$?
+
+  if [ "$rc" -eq 0 ]; then
+    printf '   ok   %-32s --dry-run exited 0\n' "$name"
+    ran=$((ran + 1))
+  else
+    printf '   FAIL %-32s --dry-run exited %s\n' "$name" "$rc"
+    sed 's/^/        /' /tmp/hooksmoke.out | head -20
+    failures=$((failures + 1))
+  fi
+done < <(find "$DIR" -maxdepth 1 -type f -print0)
+
+rm -f /tmp/hooksmoke.out
+
+echo
+echo "   ran ${ran}, skipped ${skipped} (no safe flag), failed ${failures}"
+
+if [ "$failures" -ne 0 ]; then
+  echo "!! hook smoke FAILED."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ "$ran" -eq 0 ]; then
+  echo ">> hook smoke: nothing was executable in dry-run mode. Coverage here is zero,"
+  echo "   which is a real gap rather than a pass. Add --dry-run support to a hook to"
+  echo "   bring it under this check."
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo ">> hook smoke passed."
diff --git a/scripts/settings_gate.sh b/scripts/settings_gate.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0d61f8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/settings_gate.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# settings_gate.sh: verify a Claude Code config repo's settings.json is valid and
+# every script it points at actually exists and can run.
+#
+# WHY THIS EXISTS
+#
+# settings.json wires hooks that fire on every session, on every machine. A typo in
+# a path, or a hook that loses its executable bit, does not fail loudly at commit
+# time; it fails later, quietly, on somebody's machine, usually as "why did the
+# session not log anything". Checking it costs a second.
+#
+# THE PATH MAPPING THAT MAKES THIS WORK IN CI
+#
+# Hook commands are written as "$HOME"/.claude/hooks/x.sh because that is where they
+# live on a workstation, where ~/.claude/hooks is a symlink into this repo. CI has no
+# ~/.claude at all, so every $HOME/.claude/ prefix is rewritten to the repo root
+# before the file is looked up. Without that rewrite this check would report every
+# hook as missing.
+#
+# Usage: settings_gate.sh [--settings <path>]
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SETTINGS="settings.json"
+
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+  case "$1" in
+    --settings) shift; SETTINGS="${1:-}" ;;
+    -h|--help) sed -n '2,20p' "$0" | sed 's/^# \{0,1\}//'; exit 0 ;;
+    *) echo "settings_gate: unknown argument: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
+  esac
+  shift
+done
+
+REPO_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+
+if [ ! -f "$REPO_ROOT/$SETTINGS" ]; then
+  echo ">> settings gate: no $SETTINGS in this repo, nothing to check."
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+echo ">> settings gate: checking $SETTINGS"
+
+REPO_ROOT="$REPO_ROOT" SETTINGS="$SETTINGS" python3 <<'PY'
+import json, os, re, stat, sys
+
+root = os.environ["REPO_ROOT"]
+rel = os.environ["SETTINGS"]
+path = os.path.join(root, rel)
+
+try:
+    with open(path) as f:
+        cfg = json.load(f)
+except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
+    print(f"!! {rel} is not valid JSON: {e}")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+print(f"   ok   {rel} parses as JSON")
+
+# Hook commands are authored for a workstation, where ~/.claude/hooks symlinks into
+# this repo. Rewrite that prefix to the repo root so the files resolve in CI too.
+def resolve(cmd_token):
+    t = cmd_token.strip().strip('"').strip("'")
+    for prefix in ('"$HOME"/.claude/', '$HOME/.claude/', '~/.claude/'):
+        if t.startswith(prefix):
+            return os.path.join(root, t[len(prefix):]), t
+    if t.startswith("/"):
+        return t, t
+    return os.path.join(root, t), t
+
+failures = 0
+checked = 0
+
+def check_command(where, command):
+    global failures, checked
+    # Strip quotes BEFORE extracting paths. Commands are authored as
+    # "$HOME"/.claude/hooks/x.sh, and a character class that accepts a quote will
+    # happily start matching at the closing one, yielding $HOME"/.claude/... which
+    # then resolves to nothing. Removing quotes first makes the token unambiguous.
+    # (Found by running this against the real settings.json, where an earlier version
+    # of this regex reported all 9 hooks as missing.)
+    cleaned = command.replace('"', "").replace("'", "")
+    tokens = re.findall(r'[\w$./~\-]+\.(?:sh|py|js|mjs)', cleaned)
+    if not tokens:
+        return
+    for tok in tokens:
+        resolved, original = resolve(tok)
+        checked += 1
+        if not os.path.exists(resolved):
+            print(f"   FAIL {where}: {original}")
+            print(f"        does not exist (looked in {os.path.relpath(resolved, root)})")
+            failures += 1
+            continue
+        mode = os.stat(resolved).st_mode
+        if not (mode & stat.S_IXUSR):
+            print(f"   FAIL {where}: {original}")
+            print(f"        exists but is not executable; fix with: chmod +x {os.path.relpath(resolved, root)}")
+            failures += 1
+            continue
+        print(f"   ok   {where}: {original}")
+
+for event, matchers in (cfg.get("hooks") or {}).items():
+    if not isinstance(matchers, list):
+        continue
+    for m in matchers:
+        for h in (m.get("hooks") or []):
+            cmd = h.get("command")
+            if isinstance(cmd, str):
+                check_command(f"hooks.{event}", cmd)
+
+status_line = cfg.get("statusLine")
+if isinstance(status_line, dict) and isinstance(status_line.get("command"), str):
+    check_command("statusLine", status_line["command"])
+
+if checked == 0:
+    print("   NOTE: no script paths found in settings.json; nothing to resolve.")
+
+if failures:
+    print(f"\n!! settings gate FAILED: {failures} of {checked} referenced script(s) unusable.")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+print(f"\n>> settings gate passed. {checked} referenced script(s) exist and are executable.")
+PY