diff --git a/.github/workflows/unzip-repository.yml b/.github/workflows/unzip-repository.yml
index 9d22a42..3f331ab 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unzip-repository.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unzip-repository.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: Unpack repository archive
+name: Validate repository archive
 
 on:
   push:
@@ -9,21 +9,28 @@ on:
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 permissions:
-  contents: write
+  contents: read
 
 jobs:
-  unpack:
+  archive-validation:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - name: Unpack archive into repository root
+      - name: Validate archive without mutating the checkout
         shell: bash
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           ZIP='agents-profiles-main.zip'
+          if [ ! -f "$ZIP" ]; then
+            echo 'No repository archive is present; archive validation is not applicable.'
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          unzip -t "$ZIP"
           WORK="$(mktemp -d)"
+          trap 'rm -rf "$WORK"' EXIT
           unzip -q "$ZIP" -d "$WORK"
 
           shopt -s dotglob nullglob
@@ -34,25 +41,4 @@ jobs:
             SOURCE="$WORK"
           fi
 
-          for item in "$SOURCE"/*; do
-            name="$(basename "$item")"
-            [ "$name" = '.git' ] && continue
-            [ "$name" = '.github' ] && continue
-            cp -a "$item" ./
-          done
-
-          rm -f "$ZIP"
-
-      - name: Commit unpacked files
-        shell: bash
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          git config user.name 'github-actions[bot]'
-          git config user.email '41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com'
-          git add -A
-          if git diff --cached --quiet; then
-            echo 'No changes to commit.'
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          git commit -m 'Unpack repository source archive'
-          git push
+          echo "Archive validated for read-only inspection from: $SOURCE"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/validate.yml b/.github/workflows/validate.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed66028
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/validate.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+name: Validate ForgeMesh
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+  pull_request:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  root-validation:
+    name: Root corpus validation
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: '3.12'
+
+      - name: Run portable root validator
+        run: bash validate.sh
+
+  cli-validation:
+    name: Nested CLI validation
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        working-directory: agents-profiles-cli
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up Node.js
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: '22'
+          cache: npm
+          cache-dependency-path: agents-profiles-cli/package-lock.json
+
+      - name: Install nested CLI dependencies
+        run: npm ci
+
+      - name: Typecheck nested CLI
+        run: npm run typecheck
+
+      - name: Build nested CLI
+        run: npm run build
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a48168e..da9e851 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@ ForgeMesh addresses a practical coordination problem: fixed AI-agent rosters do
 
 The implemented product surface is a workforce setup and compilation tool. It does not claim to be a live autonomous engineering runtime; the generated profiles and handoff rules are inputs for supported AI coding environments.
 
+<!-- Validation metadata: total_agents: 340 -->
+
+### Dependency boundary
+
+The root repository is a canonical profile corpus plus Bash/Python validation and generation scripts; it intentionally has no root npm dependency lockfile. The only npm dependency boundary is [agents-profiles-cli](agents-profiles-cli), whose package-lock.json is authoritative for the TypeScript CLI and is validated with npm ci, typecheck and build in CI. The root validator and CLI validation do not require an API key.
+
 ## Get started
 
 ### Validate the canonical corpus
diff --git a/validate.sh b/validate.sh
index 004adbb..ad1f67c 100755
--- a/validate.sh
+++ b/validate.sh
@@ -35,16 +35,27 @@ echo ""
 echo "--- File Counts ---"
 # Count only agent files in category directories (not root docs)
 agent_files=$(find "${CATEGORY_DIRS[@]}" -type f -name '*.md' 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
+readme_links=$(python3 - <<'PY'
+import re
+from pathlib import Path
+
+readme = Path("README.md").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+for link in sorted(set(re.findall(r"\(([^()]+\.md)\)", readme))):
+    print(link)
+PY
+)
 echo "Source agent files: $agent_files"
-echo "README links: $(grep -oP '\([^()]+\.md\)' README.md | sed 's/[()]//g' | sort -u | wc -l)"
+echo "README links: $(printf '%s\n' "$readme_links" | sed '/^$/d' | wc -l)"
 echo ""
 
 # 2. Broken link check
 echo "--- Broken Links ---"
 broken=0
-while read -r f; do
-  [ ! -f "$f" ] && echo "  BROKEN: $f" && broken=$((broken + 1))
-done < <(grep -oP '\([^()]+\.md\)' README.md | sed 's/[()]//g' | sort -u)
+if [ -n "$readme_links" ]; then
+  while read -r f; do
+    [ ! -f "$f" ] && echo "  BROKEN: $f" && broken=$((broken + 1))
+  done <<< "$readme_links"
+fi
 [ "$broken" -eq 0 ] && echo "  All README links resolve ✓"
 echo ""
 
@@ -142,7 +153,17 @@ echo ""
 
 # 9. Verify README metadata matches actual count
 echo "--- README Metadata ---"
-readme_count=$(grep -oP 'total_agents: \K\d+' README.md)
+readme_count=$(python3 - <<'PY'
+import re
+from pathlib import Path
+
+readme = Path("README.md").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+match = re.search(r"total_agents:\s*(\d+)", readme)
+if not match:
+    raise SystemExit("README metadata missing total_agents")
+print(match.group(1))
+PY
+)
 source_count=$(find "${CATEGORY_DIRS[@]}" -type f -name '*.md' 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
 echo "  README claims: $readme_count agents"
 echo "  Actual source: $source_count agents"