diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 073bb66..3c00eaf 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -21,9 +21,6 @@ jobs:
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
 
-      - name: Validate release tag
-        run: ./scripts/release-check release "$GITHUB_REF_NAME"
-
       - name: Require annotated tag
         run: |
           test "$(git cat-file -t "refs/tags/$GITHUB_REF_NAME")" = tag
@@ -35,6 +32,9 @@ jobs:
           tag_commit="$(git rev-parse "refs/tags/$GITHUB_REF_NAME^{commit}")"
           git merge-base --is-ancestor "$tag_commit" refs/remotes/origin/main
 
+      - name: Validate release tag
+        run: ./scripts/release-check release "$GITHUB_REF_NAME"
+
       - name: Install container tooling
         run: |
           sudo apt-get update
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ad87fbc..a58cf7a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- GitHub Release publication now establishes annotated-tag and main-ancestry
+  trust before running repository release code from the tagged checkout.
 - `RUNA_REF` tag checkout now resolves SemVer-shaped values only through
   explicit tag refs so homonymous branches cannot shadow release inputs.
 - Release tag validation now rejects leading-zero numeric identifiers so base
diff --git a/RELEASING.md b/RELEASING.md
index bcfe380..0b4423d 100644
--- a/RELEASING.md
+++ b/RELEASING.md
@@ -79,10 +79,11 @@ corrected by cutting the next `rc.N`, not by rewriting the existing tag.
 ## Post-Release Gate
 
 The tag push runs `.github/workflows/release.yml`. That workflow verifies the
-annotated tag, builds a local container image with `BASE_REF` set to the tag,
-verifies image identity, extracts release notes from `CHANGELOG.md`, and
-publishes the GitHub Release. Only `vX.Y.Z-rc.N` tags are published as GitHub
-prereleases.
+annotated tag and main-branch ancestry with git-only checks before running
+repository release code, builds a local container image with `BASE_REF` set to
+the tag, verifies image identity, extracts release notes from `CHANGELOG.md`,
+and publishes the GitHub Release. Only `vX.Y.Z-rc.N` tags are published as
+GitHub prereleases.
 
 Manual GitHub Release creation, when needed after a workflow failure, uses the
 same notes source and release classification.
diff --git a/scripts/release-check b/scripts/release-check
index 13fdb03..88cd597 100755
--- a/scripts/release-check
+++ b/scripts/release-check
@@ -147,6 +147,83 @@ workflow_tag_patterns() {
     ' "$workflow"
 }
 
+workflow_executable_lines() {
+    local workflow="$1"
+
+    awk '
+        function indent_of(line,    i, char) {
+            for (i = 1; i <= length(line); i++) {
+                char = substr(line, i, 1)
+                if (char != " ") {
+                    return i - 1
+                }
+            }
+            return length(line)
+        }
+
+        function trim(value) {
+            sub(/^[[:space:]]+/, "", value)
+            sub(/[[:space:]]+$/, "", value)
+            return value
+        }
+
+        function unquote(value) {
+            if ((value ~ /^".*"$/) || (value ~ /^\047.*\047$/)) {
+                return substr(value, 2, length(value) - 2)
+            }
+            return value
+        }
+
+        function strip_shell_comment(value) {
+            sub(/(^|[[:space:]])#.*/, "", value)
+            return value
+        }
+
+        function emit(line_number, command) {
+            command = strip_shell_comment(command)
+            command = trim(command)
+            if (command == "" || command ~ /^#/) {
+                return
+            }
+            print line_number "\t" command
+        }
+
+        {
+            line = $0
+            sub(/\r$/, "", line)
+            indent = indent_of(line)
+            stripped = trim(line)
+
+            if (in_run_block) {
+                if (stripped != "" && indent <= run_indent) {
+                    in_run_block = 0
+                } else {
+                    emit(NR, line)
+                    next
+                }
+            }
+
+            if (stripped ~ /^#/) {
+                next
+            }
+
+            if (line ~ /^[[:space:]]*(-[[:space:]]*)?run:[[:space:]]*/) {
+                value = line
+                sub(/^[[:space:]]*(-[[:space:]]*)?run:[[:space:]]*/, "", value)
+                value = trim(value)
+
+                if (value ~ /^[|>]/) {
+                    in_run_block = 1
+                    run_indent = indent
+                    next
+                }
+
+                emit(NR, unquote(value))
+            }
+        }
+    ' "$workflow"
+}
+
 check_release_workflow_surface() {
     local workflow="$repo_root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
     [[ -f "$workflow" ]] || die ".github/workflows/release.yml not found"
@@ -158,11 +235,18 @@ check_release_workflow_surface() {
     ! grep -Eq '^    paths:' "$workflow" \
         || die ".github/workflows/release.yml tag publication must not use paths filters"
 
-    local validation_line container_setup_line
-    validation_line="$(awk '/^[[:space:]]*(-[[:space:]]*)?run:[[:space:]]+\.\/scripts\/release-check release "\$GITHUB_REF_NAME"[[:space:]]*$/ { print NR; exit }' "$workflow")"
-    container_setup_line="$(awk '/sudo apt-get install -y podman|podman build/ { print NR; exit }' "$workflow")"
+    local validation_line container_setup_line annotated_tag_line main_ancestry_line repository_code_line
+    validation_line="$(workflow_executable_lines "$workflow" | awk -F '\t' 'index($2, "./scripts/release-check release \"$GITHUB_REF_NAME\"") { print $1; exit }')"
+    container_setup_line="$(workflow_executable_lines "$workflow" | awk -F '\t' '$2 ~ /sudo apt-get install -y podman|podman build/ { print $1; exit }')"
     [[ -n "$validation_line" ]] && [[ -n "$container_setup_line" ]] && [[ "$validation_line" -lt "$container_setup_line" ]] \
         || die ".github/workflows/release.yml must validate the release tag before container setup"
+
+    annotated_tag_line="$(workflow_executable_lines "$workflow" | awk -F '\t' '$2 ~ /git cat-file -t/ { print $1; exit }')"
+    main_ancestry_line="$(workflow_executable_lines "$workflow" | awk -F '\t' '$2 ~ /git merge-base --is-ancestor/ { print $1; exit }')"
+    repository_code_line="$(workflow_executable_lines "$workflow" | awk -F '\t' 'index($2, "./scripts/") || $2 ~ /podman build/ { print $1; exit }')"
+    [[ -n "$annotated_tag_line" ]] && [[ -n "$main_ancestry_line" ]] && [[ -n "$repository_code_line" ]] \
+        && [[ "$annotated_tag_line" -lt "$repository_code_line" ]] && [[ "$main_ancestry_line" -lt "$repository_code_line" ]] \
+        || die ".github/workflows/release.yml must establish tag trust before running repository code"
 }
 
 check_release_metadata_workflow_surface() {
diff --git a/scripts/test-release-check b/scripts/test-release-check
index 5b2175d..2f6a991 100755
--- a/scripts/test-release-check
+++ b/scripts/test-release-check
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - run: test "$(git cat-file -t "refs/tags/$GITHUB_REF_NAME")" = tag
+      - run: git merge-base --is-ancestor "$tag_commit" refs/remotes/origin/main
       - run: ./scripts/release-check release "$GITHUB_REF_NAME"
       - run: sudo apt-get install -y podman
       - run: podman build .
@@ -475,6 +477,63 @@ release_workflow_rejects_late_validation() {
     assert_failure_contains "${FUNCNAME[0]}" "validate the release tag before container setup" run_check "$root" metadata
 }
 
+release_workflow_ignores_yaml_comments_when_ordering_validation() {
+    local root
+    root="$(new_fixture workflow-yaml-comment-validation 1.2.3)"
+    sed -i '/release-check release "\$GITHUB_REF_NAME"/d' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    sed -i '/sudo apt-get install -y podman/i\      # Note: validate via ./scripts/release-check release "$GITHUB_REF_NAME"' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    sed -i '/podman build ./a\      - run: ./scripts/release-check release "$GITHUB_REF_NAME"' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    assert_failure_contains "${FUNCNAME[0]}" "validate the release tag before container setup" run_check "$root" metadata
+}
+
+release_workflow_ignores_inline_shell_comments_when_ordering_validation() {
+    local root
+    root="$(new_fixture workflow-inline-shell-comment-validation 1.2.3)"
+    sed -i '/release-check release "\$GITHUB_REF_NAME"/d' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    sed -i '/sudo apt-get install -y podman/i\      - run: true  # ./scripts/release-check release "$GITHUB_REF_NAME"' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    sed -i '/podman build ./a\      - run: ./scripts/release-check release "$GITHUB_REF_NAME"' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    assert_failure_contains "${FUNCNAME[0]}" "validate the release tag before container setup" run_check "$root" metadata
+}
+
+release_workflow_rejects_validation_before_tag_trust() {
+    local root
+    root="$(new_fixture workflow-pretrust-validation 1.2.3)"
+    sed -i '/release-check release "\$GITHUB_REF_NAME"/d' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    sed -i '/uses: actions\/checkout@v4/a\      - run: ./scripts/release-check release "$GITHUB_REF_NAME"' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    assert_failure_contains "${FUNCNAME[0]}" "establish tag trust before running repository code" run_check "$root" metadata
+}
+
+release_workflow_ignores_shell_comments_when_establishing_tag_trust() {
+    local root
+    root="$(new_fixture workflow-shell-comment-trust 1.2.3)"
+    sed -i '/git cat-file -t/d' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    sed -i '/uses: actions\/checkout@v4/a\      - run: |\n          # git cat-file -t "refs/tags/$GITHUB_REF_NAME"' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    assert_failure_contains "${FUNCNAME[0]}" "establish tag trust before running repository code" run_check "$root" metadata
+}
+
+release_workflow_ignores_inline_shell_comments_when_establishing_tag_trust() {
+    local root
+    root="$(new_fixture workflow-inline-shell-comment-trust 1.2.3)"
+    sed -i '/git cat-file -t/d' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    sed -i '/git merge-base --is-ancestor/d' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    sed -i '/uses: actions\/checkout@v4/a\      - run: true  # git merge-base --is-ancestor "$tag_commit" refs/remotes/origin/main' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    sed -i '/uses: actions\/checkout@v4/a\      - run: true  # git cat-file -t "refs/tags/$GITHUB_REF_NAME"' "$root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    assert_failure_contains "${FUNCNAME[0]}" "establish tag trust before running repository code" run_check "$root" metadata
+}
+
+release_workflow_establishes_tag_trust_before_repository_code_execution() {
+    local workflow="$workspace_root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+    local annotated_tag_line main_ancestry_line repository_code_line
+
+    annotated_tag_line="$(awk '/git cat-file -t/ { print NR; exit }' "$workflow")"
+    main_ancestry_line="$(awk '/git merge-base --is-ancestor/ { print NR; exit }' "$workflow")"
+    repository_code_line="$(awk 'index($0, "./scripts/release-check release \"$GITHUB_REF_NAME\"") || /podman build/ { print NR; exit }' "$workflow")"
+
+    [[ -n "$annotated_tag_line" ]] && [[ -n "$main_ancestry_line" ]] && [[ -n "$repository_code_line" ]] \
+        && [[ "$annotated_tag_line" -lt "$repository_code_line" ]] && [[ "$main_ancestry_line" -lt "$repository_code_line" ]] \
+        || fail "${FUNCNAME[0]}"
+}
+
 release_workflow_uses_semver_rc_classifier() {
     local workflow="$workspace_root/.github/workflows/release.yml"
 
@@ -515,6 +574,12 @@ release_rejects_container_label_mismatches
 release_workflow_uses_broad_tag_filter_with_early_validation
 release_workflow_rejects_missing_early_validation
 release_workflow_rejects_late_validation
+release_workflow_ignores_yaml_comments_when_ordering_validation
+release_workflow_ignores_inline_shell_comments_when_ordering_validation
+release_workflow_rejects_validation_before_tag_trust
+release_workflow_ignores_shell_comments_when_establishing_tag_trust
+release_workflow_ignores_inline_shell_comments_when_establishing_tag_trust
+release_workflow_establishes_tag_trust_before_repository_code_execution
 release_workflow_uses_semver_rc_classifier
 release_validation_rejects_malformed_broad_trigger_tags