diff --git a/.husky/pre-push b/.husky/pre-push
index a10fb62..939645b 100755
--- a/.husky/pre-push
+++ b/.husky/pre-push
@@ -13,6 +13,30 @@ unset GIT_ALTERNATE_OBJECT_DIRECTORIES GIT_CONFIG GIT_CONFIG_PARAMETERS \
     GIT_NO_REPLACE_OBJECTS GIT_REPLACE_REF_BASE GIT_PREFIX \
     GIT_SHALLOW_FILE GIT_COMMON_DIR
 
+# Git sends one line per ref being pushed on stdin:
+#   <local-ref> <local-oid> <remote-ref> <remote-oid>
+#
+# A tag push carries no new code. The commit a tag points at was already checked
+# when the branch holding it was pushed, and again by CI, so re-running the full
+# build + integration suite here costs minutes during a release and can never
+# produce a different answer. Skip only when EVERY ref is a tag; a push carrying
+# any branch ref, or one we cannot classify, runs the checks as before.
+refs_total=0
+tag_refs=0
+while read -r _local_ref _local_oid remote_ref _remote_oid; do
+    [ -z "$remote_ref" ] && continue
+    refs_total=$((refs_total + 1))
+    case "$remote_ref" in
+        refs/tags/*) tag_refs=$((tag_refs + 1)) ;;
+    esac
+done
+
+if [ "$refs_total" -gt 0 ] && [ "$refs_total" -eq "$tag_refs" ]; then
+    echo "⏭️  Tag-only push ($tag_refs ref(s)): skipping pre-push checks."
+    echo "   The tagged commit was already verified when its branch was pushed."
+    exit 0
+fi
+
 echo "🔍 Running pre-push checks..."
 echo ""
 
diff --git a/test/integration/hooks.test.ts b/test/integration/hooks.test.ts
index ad6a350..51c7d4b 100644
--- a/test/integration/hooks.test.ts
+++ b/test/integration/hooks.test.ts
@@ -1139,3 +1139,132 @@ describe("hooksStatus command", () => {
     }
   })
 })
+
+// =============================================================================
+// Pre-push Hook: tag-only push guard
+// =============================================================================
+
+describe("pre-push hook ref filtering", () => {
+  let testDir: string
+
+  /**
+   * Run the real .husky/pre-push against a stubbed scripts/check.sh.
+   *
+   * The stub records that it ran instead of executing the real build and
+   * integration suite, so a regression in the ref guard fails in milliseconds
+   * rather than kicking off a multi-minute check run inside the test.
+   */
+  const runPrePush = (stdin: string): { status: number; checksRan: boolean; output: string } => {
+    const marker = resolve(testDir, "check-ran")
+    mkdirSync(resolve(testDir, "scripts"), { recursive: true })
+    writeFileSync(
+      resolve(testDir, "scripts", "check.sh"),
+      `#!/bin/sh\ntouch "${marker}"\nexit 0\n`,
+    )
+    chmodSync(resolve(testDir, "scripts", "check.sh"), 0o755)
+
+    let status = 0
+    let output = ""
+    try {
+      output = execSync(`sh "${resolve(testDir, "pre-push")}" origin https://example.invalid/repo.git`, {
+        cwd: testDir,
+        input: stdin,
+        encoding: "utf-8",
+        timeout: 30000,
+      })
+    } catch (err) {
+      const e = err as { status?: number; stdout?: string; stderr?: string }
+      status = e.status ?? 1
+      output = `${e.stdout ?? ""}${e.stderr ?? ""}`
+    }
+
+    return { status, checksRan: existsSync(marker), output }
+  }
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    testDir = createTestDir("pre-push-refs", false)
+    mkdirSync(testDir, { recursive: true })
+    writeFileSync(
+      resolve(testDir, "pre-push"),
+      readFileSync(resolve(__dirname, "../../.husky/pre-push"), "utf-8"),
+    )
+  })
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    cleanupTestDir(testDir)
+  })
+
+  const SHA_A = "1111111111111111111111111111111111111111"
+  const SHA_B = "2222222222222222222222222222222222222222"
+
+  it("skips checks for a tag-only push", () => {
+    const result = runPrePush(`refs/tags/v1.2.3 ${SHA_A} refs/tags/v1.2.3 ${SHA_B}\n`)
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(0)
+    expect(result.checksRan).toBe(false)
+    expect(result.output).toContain("Tag-only push")
+  })
+
+  it("skips checks when several tags are pushed at once", () => {
+    const result = runPrePush(
+      `refs/tags/v1.2.3 ${SHA_A} refs/tags/v1.2.3 ${SHA_B}\n` +
+        `refs/tags/v1.2.4 ${SHA_A} refs/tags/v1.2.4 ${SHA_B}\n`,
+    )
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(0)
+    expect(result.checksRan).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  it("skips checks for a tag deletion", () => {
+    const zero = "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000"
+    const result = runPrePush(`(delete) ${zero} refs/tags/v1.2.3 ${SHA_B}\n`)
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(0)
+    expect(result.checksRan).toBe(false)
+  })
+
+  it("runs checks for a branch push", () => {
+    const result = runPrePush(`refs/heads/main ${SHA_A} refs/heads/main ${SHA_B}\n`)
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(0)
+    expect(result.checksRan).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it("runs checks when a push mixes a branch and a tag", () => {
+    const result = runPrePush(
+      `refs/heads/main ${SHA_A} refs/heads/main ${SHA_B}\n` +
+        `refs/tags/v1.2.3 ${SHA_A} refs/tags/v1.2.3 ${SHA_B}\n`,
+    )
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(0)
+    expect(result.checksRan).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it("runs checks when stdin carries no refs", () => {
+    // Never skip on an input shape we do not understand.
+    const result = runPrePush("")
+
+    expect(result.status).toBe(0)
+    expect(result.checksRan).toBe(true)
+  })
+
+  it("still blocks the push when checks fail on a branch push", () => {
+    mkdirSync(resolve(testDir, "scripts"), { recursive: true })
+    writeFileSync(resolve(testDir, "scripts", "check.sh"), "#!/bin/sh\nexit 1\n")
+    chmodSync(resolve(testDir, "scripts", "check.sh"), 0o755)
+
+    let status = 0
+    try {
+      execSync(`sh "${resolve(testDir, "pre-push")}" origin https://example.invalid/repo.git`, {
+        cwd: testDir,
+        input: `refs/heads/main ${SHA_A} refs/heads/main ${SHA_B}\n`,
+        encoding: "utf-8",
+        timeout: 30000,
+      })
+    } catch (err) {
+      status = (err as { status?: number }).status ?? 1
+    }
+
+    expect(status).toBe(1)
+  })
+})