diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index d2f47d5..24c2bb2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ name: Publish versioned release
 on:
   push:
     branches: [main]
-    paths: [VERSION, '.github/workflows/release.yml']
+    paths: [VERSION]
   workflow_dispatch:
 permissions:
   contents: read
@@ -23,9 +23,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: pip install build twine pytest pytest-asyncio httpx -e .
       - run: python -m pytest tests -q
       - run: python -m build && twine check dist/*
-      - name: Validate release version
-        run: |
-          python -c "import pathlib,re; v=pathlib.Path('VERSION').read_text().strip(); assert re.fullmatch(r'[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(?:a[0-9]+)?',v)"
+      - run: python scripts/check_release.py
       - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
           name: distributions
diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES.md b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
index d16d8bc..db32642 100644
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES.md
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-# Release 0.7.0
+# Release 0.7.1
 
-- Default create and verify commands target JEP Core 0.7 versioned API endpoints.
-- Validation uses `status` and independent checks rather than cumulative levels.
-- Current create path no longer assumes a Core nonce.
-- Historical pre-0.7 verification is available only through explicit `--legacy`
-  decoder selection.
-- Repository links and examples now point to the canonical `hjs-spec/jep-core`.
+Release the current JEP Core 0.7 CLI after repairing the acceptance regression gate.
 
+- Default creation and verification use `/v0.7/events/*`; audience is optional unless a selected profile requires it.
+- Explicit `--legacy` / `--legacy-format` options preserve the historical decoder contract. No fallback after current validation fails.
+- Invalid and indeterminate verification return exit code 2; input or transport errors return 1.
+- Large inline JSON is parsed before filesystem probing.
+- Package, import, user-agent, tag, and built distribution versions are aligned and checked before publication.
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index faef31a..39e898a 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.7.0
+0.7.1
diff --git a/jep_cli/__init__.py b/jep_cli/__init__.py
index 39e24bc..87ee72b 100644
--- a/jep_cli/__init__.py
+++ b/jep_cli/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """JEP CLI v0.6."""
 
-__version__ = "0.6.0"
+__version__ = "0.7.1"
diff --git a/jep_cli/client.py b/jep_cli/client.py
index feec2b5..c6be8b8 100644
--- a/jep_cli/client.py
+++ b/jep_cli/client.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def _json(self, method: str, path: str, payload: Optional[Dict[str, Any]]) -> Di
         data = None
         headers = {
             "content-type": "application/json",
-            "user-agent": "JEP-CLI/0.7.0",
+            "user-agent": "JEP-CLI/0.7.1",
         }
         if self.api_key:
             headers["authorization"] = f"Bearer {self.api_key}"
diff --git a/jep_cli/main.py b/jep_cli/main.py
index 21b6dbc..1ab7052 100644
--- a/jep_cli/main.py
+++ b/jep_cli/main.py
@@ -19,14 +19,19 @@ def parse_json_value(value: str) -> Any:
     if value == "-":
         return json.load(sys.stdin)
 
-    path = Path(value)
-    if path.exists() and path.is_file():
-        return json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
-
     try:
         return json.loads(value)
     except json.JSONDecodeError:
-        return value
+        pass
+    # Inline event JSON may be longer than the filesystem filename limit.
+    path = Path(value)
+    try:
+        is_file = path.is_file()
+    except OSError:
+        is_file = False
+    if is_file:
+        return json.loads(path.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    return value
 
 
 def parse_ext_items(items: list[str]) -> Dict[str, Any]:
@@ -140,7 +145,7 @@ def build_parser() -> argparse.ArgumentParser:
     verify = sub.add_parser("verify", help="Verify a JEP event")
     verify.add_argument("event", help="Event JSON object, event JSON file path, or '-' for stdin")
     verify.add_argument("--mode", default="archival", choices=["archival", "acceptance"], help="Validation mode")
-    verify.add_argument("--expected-audience", default="", help="Required receiving audience for acceptance")
+    verify.add_argument("--expected-audience", default="", help="Optional audience required by the selected acceptance profile")
     verify.add_argument("--max-age-seconds", type=int, default=None, help="Optional profile freshness window")
     verify.add_argument("--legacy", action="store_true", help="Use explicit pre-0.7 legacy verifier")
     verify.add_argument("--legacy-format", default="json-sorted-v1", choices=["json-sorted-v1", "hf-space-v06"], help="Historical decoder format; used only with --legacy")
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 00900ef..9a2a1f2 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "jep-cli"
-version = "0.7.0"
+version = "0.7.1"
 description = "Command-line client for JEP Core 0.7 with explicit legacy compatibility"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = { text = "MIT" }
diff --git a/scripts/check_release.py b/scripts/check_release.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b62fec7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check_release.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+"""Reject release tags whose built Python metadata disagrees with VERSION."""
+from email.parser import BytesParser
+from pathlib import Path
+import re
+import tarfile
+import tomllib
+import zipfile
+
+version = Path("VERSION").read_text().strip()
+project = tomllib.loads(Path("pyproject.toml").read_text())["project"]
+assert re.fullmatch(r"[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(?:a[0-9]+)?", version), version
+assert project["version"] == version, "VERSION differs from pyproject.toml"
+def check(raw):
+    metadata = BytesParser().parsebytes(raw)
+    assert metadata["Version"] == version, "Built package has a different version"
+    normalize = lambda text: re.sub(r"[-_.]+", "-", text).lower()
+    assert normalize(metadata["Name"]) == normalize(project["name"]), "Wrong distribution name"
+
+wheels, sources = list(Path("dist").glob("*.whl")), list(Path("dist").glob("*.tar.gz"))
+assert len(wheels) == len(sources) == 1, "Expected one wheel and one source distribution"
+with zipfile.ZipFile(wheels[0]) as archive:
+    names = [name for name in archive.namelist() if name.endswith(".dist-info/METADATA")]
+    assert len(names) == 1
+    check(archive.read(names[0]))
+with tarfile.open(sources[0]) as archive:
+    names = [name for name in archive.getnames() if name.count("/") == 1 and name.endswith("/PKG-INFO")]
+    assert len(names) == 1
+    check(archive.extractfile(names[0]).read())
+print(f"Release metadata verified: {project['name']} {version}")
diff --git a/tests/test_acceptance.py b/tests/test_acceptance.py
index ecdfa95..4e03b89 100644
--- a/tests/test_acceptance.py
+++ b/tests/test_acceptance.py
@@ -1,16 +1,40 @@
-import json
 from jep_cli import main as module
 
 
-def test_acceptance_requires_expected_audience(capsys):
-    assert module.main(["verify", '{"jep":"1"}', "--mode", "acceptance"]) == 1
-    assert "expected-audience" in capsys.readouterr().err
+def test_acceptance_does_not_require_core_audience(monkeypatch, capsys):
+    class FakeClient:
+        def verify_event(self, payload):
+            assert payload["mode"] == "acceptance"
+            assert "expected_audience" not in payload
+            return {
+                "status": "valid",
+                "mode": "acceptance",
+                "profile": "jep-core-0.7",
+                "checks": {"syntax": "pass", "cryptographic": "pass", "event_identity": "pass"},
+                "acceptance": {"outcome": "accepted", "effect_applied": True},
+            }
 
+    monkeypatch.setattr(module, "build_client", lambda args: FakeClient())
+    code = module.main([
+        "verify",
+        '{"jep":"1","id":"urn:uuid:x","verb":"J","who":"a","when":1,"what":{"claim":"x"},"sig":"s"}',
+        "--mode", "acceptance",
+    ])
+    assert code == 0
+    assert '"status": "valid"' in capsys.readouterr().out
 
-def test_verification_failure_returns_nonzero(monkeypatch):
-    class Client:
-        def verify_event(self, payload):
-            assert payload["expected_audience"] == "receiver"
-            return {"valid": False}
-    monkeypatch.setattr(module, "build_client", lambda args: Client())
-    assert module.main(["verify", '{}', "--mode", "acceptance", "--expected-audience", "receiver"]) == 2
+
+def test_failure_and_indeterminate_return_nonzero(monkeypatch):
+    for status in ("invalid", "indeterminate"):
+        class Client:
+            def verify_event(self, payload):
+                assert payload["expected_audience"] == "receiver"
+                return {"status": status}
+        monkeypatch.setattr(module, "build_client", lambda args: Client())
+        assert module.main(["verify", '{}', "--mode", "acceptance", "--expected-audience", "receiver"]) == 2
+
+
+def test_large_inline_event_is_not_treated_as_a_filename():
+    import json
+    event = {"what": {"claim": "x" * 4096}}
+    assert module.parse_json_value(json.dumps(event)) == event