diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy-docs.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy-docs.yml
index de20bbe0..a0a5a366 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy-docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy-docs.yml
@@ -42,7 +42,14 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install pnpm
         uses: pnpm/action-setup@v6
         with:
-          version: "latest"
+          # Pinned, not "latest": pnpm/action-setup's self-update step
+          # (switching from its bundled version to whatever "latest"
+          # resolves to on the registry) started crashing with "Cannot
+          # use 'in' operator to search for 'integrity' in undefined"
+          # — an upstream pnpm bug, unrelated to this repo. Pinning to
+          # the bundled version it installs cleanly skips that
+          # self-update path entirely.
+          version: "11.7.0"
           run_install: true
 
       - name: Copy pnpm dependency files
diff --git a/.github/workflows/quick-checks.yml b/.github/workflows/quick-checks.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..363bcaa5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/quick-checks.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+name: Quick Checks
+
+# A growable bucket for cheap, mechanical checks that need no build step
+# — pure file/state assertions that finish in seconds. Add a new check
+# here as its own step (or job, if it needs different permissions/setup)
+# rather than creating a new one-off workflow per check.
+#
+# This is wired into scripts/dev/merge's REQUIRED_WORKFLOWS gate, so a
+# red (or still-running) "Quick Checks" run on dev's tip blocks
+# promotion into the release pipeline — same as Lint/Rust Tests/etc.
+# If you add a check here, it's automatically part of that gate; no
+# further wiring needed on the CI side. (The merge script itself still
+# needs "Quick Checks" listed in REQUIRED_WORKFLOWS — already done.)
+#
+# Push-only (no pull_request), same reasoning as lint.yml: pull_request
+# races fast auto-merges from scripts/dev/merge, producing noisy
+# failures on closed PRs once GitHub deletes the synthetic merge ref.
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [dev, staging, main]
+
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+permissions: {}
+
+jobs:
+  quick-checks:
+    name: Quick Checks
+    runs-on: [ubuntu-latest]
+
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - name: docs/ci pins are in sync with docs/package.json
+        run: |
+          fail=0
+          if ! diff -q docs/package.json docs/ci/package.json.ci > /dev/null; then
+            echo "::error file=docs/ci/package.json.ci::docs/package.json and docs/ci/package.json.ci have diverged. The deploy workflow builds from the .ci copies, not the live files, so this drift means production would build with stale dependencies. Run: cd docs && cp package.json ci/package.json.ci && cp pnpm-lock.yaml ci/pnpm-lock.yaml.ci (see docs/ci/README.md)."
+            fail=1
+          fi
+          if ! diff -q docs/pnpm-lock.yaml docs/ci/pnpm-lock.yaml.ci > /dev/null; then
+            echo "::error file=docs/ci/pnpm-lock.yaml.ci::docs/pnpm-lock.yaml and docs/ci/pnpm-lock.yaml.ci have diverged. The deploy workflow builds from the .ci copies, not the live files, so this drift means production would build with stale dependencies. Run: cd docs && cp package.json ci/package.json.ci && cp pnpm-lock.yaml ci/pnpm-lock.yaml.ci (see docs/ci/README.md)."
+            fail=1
+          fi
+          exit "$fail"
diff --git a/scripts/dev/merge b/scripts/dev/merge
index 26103ca6..4e347668 100755
--- a/scripts/dev/merge
+++ b/scripts/dev/merge
@@ -86,9 +86,13 @@ echo
 echo "Verifying dev@${DEV_SHA:0:10} CI status..."
 
 # Workflows that ALL must be green on a dev push for a promotion to
-# be allowed. Lint covers syntax; the four matrices cover code.
+# be allowed. Lint covers syntax; the four matrices cover code; Quick
+# Checks covers cheap mechanical/state assertions (see
+# .github/workflows/quick-checks.yml — add new fast checks there and
+# they're covered by this gate automatically).
 REQUIRED_WORKFLOWS=(
   "Lint"
+  "Quick Checks"
   "Suibase Daemon Tests"
   "Rust Tests"
   "TypeScript Tests"