diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6003867d..1fc60ed7 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 <a href="docs/installation.md"><img src="badges/postgresql.svg" alt="PostgreSQL 15-18 (+19 beta)"></a>
 <a href="LICENSE"><img src="badges/license.svg" alt="License: MIT"></a>
-<a href="VERSION"><img src="badges/version.svg" alt="Version 1.0-alpha3"></a>
+<a href="VERSION"><img src="badges/version.svg" alt="Version 1.0-alpha4"></a>
 <a href="docs/limitations.md#release-status"><img src="badges/status.svg" alt="Status: pre-release"></a>
 
 <p><strong><a href="https://commandprompt.github.io/pgcolumnar/">Read the documentation at commandprompt.github.io/pgcolumnar</a></strong></p>
diff --git a/badges/version.svg b/badges/version.svg
index eee15c89..c2655b4e 100644
--- a/badges/version.svg
+++ b/badges/version.svg
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="124" height="20" role="img" aria-label="version: 1.0-alpha3"><title>version: 1.0-alpha3</title><g shape-rendering="crispEdges"><rect width="51" height="20" fill="#555"/><rect x="51" width="73" height="20" fill="#ea7233"/></g><g fill="#fff" text-anchor="middle" font-family="Verdana,Geneva,DejaVu Sans,sans-serif" text-rendering="geometricPrecision" font-size="110"><text x="265" y="140" textLength="410" transform="scale(.1)">version</text><text x="865" y="140" textLength="610" transform="scale(.1)">1.0-alpha3</text></g></svg>
\ No newline at end of file
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="124" height="20" role="img" aria-label="version: 1.0-alpha4"><title>version: 1.0-alpha4</title><g shape-rendering="crispEdges"><rect width="51" height="20" fill="#555"/><rect x="51" width="73" height="20" fill="#ea7233"/></g><g fill="#fff" text-anchor="middle" font-family="Verdana,Geneva,DejaVu Sans,sans-serif" text-rendering="geometricPrecision" font-size="110"><text x="265" y="140" textLength="410" transform="scale(.1)">version</text><text x="865" y="140" textLength="610" transform="scale(.1)">1.0-alpha4</text></g></svg>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/docs_style.sh b/test/docs_style.sh
index 4902a2fe..56dc1919 100755
--- a/test/docs_style.sh
+++ b/test/docs_style.sh
@@ -236,6 +236,34 @@ done
 check "every document citing VERSION quotes the version VERSION holds" \
 	"$(printf '%s' "$_stale" | sed 's/^ //')" ""
 
+# ---- and the VERSION BADGE, which is a third place the version is written ----
+#
+# `badges/version.svg` renders the version as an image, and README.md repeats it
+# in that image's alt text. Neither is prose, so neither the VERSION check above
+# nor the published-release check below can see them, and the badge sat at
+# `1.0-alpha3` for the whole alpha4 cycle. It is the first thing on the GitHub
+# page, so it is the version most readers see and the last one anything checked.
+#
+# THE SVG CARRIES THE STRING THREE TIMES -- aria-label, title, and the rendered
+# text node -- and a fix that updates one of them looks right in a browser while
+# leaving the accessible name stale. All three are compared.
+_badge="$SRCDIR/badges/version.svg"
+check "premise: the version badge is present" \
+	"$([ -f "$_badge" ] && echo yes || echo no)" "yes"
+
+_badgehits="$(grep -c -- "$_ver" "$_badge" 2>/dev/null || echo 0)"
+_badgeold="$(grep -oE '1\.0-[a-z]+[0-9]*' "$_badge" 2>/dev/null | sort -u | grep -vxF "$_ver" | tr '\n' ' ' | sed 's/ $//')"
+check "the version badge names no version other than VERSION's" \
+	"$_badgeold" ""
+check "premise: and it names VERSION's version at all" \
+	"$([ "${_badgehits:-0}" -ge 1 ] && echo yes || echo no)" "yes"
+
+# README's alt text is the badge's accessible name and drifts separately from the
+# image it describes.
+check "README's badge alt text names the version VERSION holds" \
+	"$(grep -oE 'alt="Version [^"]*"' "$SRCDIR/README.md" | sed 's/.*alt="Version //; s/"$//')" \
+	"$_ver"
+
 # ---- the OTHER version claim, which the check above cannot see --------------
 #
 # A second version sentence sits beside the first: "the latest published