diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 4c1d652..5f98d78 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -18,8 +18,4 @@ jobs:
           node-version: 22
           cache: npm
       - run: npm ci
-      - run: npm run check
-      - run: npm run build
-      - run: npm test
-      - run: npm run smoke
-      - run: npm run package:smoke
+      - run: npm run release:check
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c36815f..a6f5417 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -137,7 +137,13 @@ MIT © [Roger Chappel](https://github.com/rogerchappel)
 
 ## Development
 
-Run the same checks locally before opening a PR:
+Run the same release gate used by CI before opening a PR:
+
+```bash
+npm run release:check
+```
+
+The release gate covers:
 
 - `npm run check` - tsc --noEmit
 - `npm run lint` - eslint src --ext .ts
diff --git a/scripts/validate.sh b/scripts/validate.sh
index dca6feb..11a40d6 100755
--- a/scripts/validate.sh
+++ b/scripts/validate.sh
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ npm run check
 npm run build
 npm test
 npm run smoke
+npm run package:smoke
 
 node dist/cli.js fixtures/fully-typed --format json --min-coverage 100 >/tmp/typegap-fully-typed.json
 node -e "const fs=require('node:fs'); const r=JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('/tmp/typegap-fully-typed.json','utf8')); if (r.coverage !== 100 || r.implicitCount !== 0) process.exit(1)"