diff --git a/.github/workflows/package-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/package-smoke.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb9ecbf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/package-smoke.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+name: Package install smoke
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  package:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 10
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: '22'
+          cache: npm
+      - run: npm ci
+      - run: npm run test:package
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 119d1c0..17d9bb6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,20 @@
 
 All notable changes to pot-cli will be documented in this file.
 
+## [0.8.12] - Unreleased
+
+### Fixed
+- Pin `@pot-sdk2/bridge` to the tested `1.2.0`. Fresh npm installs of
+  `0.8.11` selected `1.3.0`, which removed `checkAuthorVerifierSeparation`
+  and caused every CLI command to fail during module loading.
+- Read the CLI `--version` from the installed package instead of the
+  hard-coded `0.5.0`.
+
+### Added
+- `npm run test:package` packs the build, installs it in a clean consumer
+  without the development lockfile, and checks `--version` and
+  `ask --dry-run`. Both checks reproduced the `0.8.11` import failure.
+
 ## [0.8.11] - 2026-10-09
 
 Sentinel had been shipping these fixes only as a hand-patched
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index df5bb60..e37f827 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,15 +1,15 @@
 {
   "name": "pot-cli",
-  "version": "0.8.11",
+  "version": "0.8.12",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "pot-cli",
-      "version": "0.8.11",
+      "version": "0.8.12",
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
-        "@pot-sdk2/bridge": "^1.2.0",
+        "@pot-sdk2/bridge": "1.2.0",
         "better-sqlite3": "^12.8.0",
         "chalk": "^5.3.0",
         "commander": "^12.0.0",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 71dca12..9744469 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "pot-cli",
-  "version": "0.8.11",
+  "version": "0.8.12",
   "description": "Multi-model AI verification with adversarial critique. No AI can verify itself — so they verify each other.",
   "main": "dist/index.js",
   "bin": {
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
     "prepublishOnly": "npm run build",
     "test": "node dist/index.js ask 'Test question' --dry-run",
     "test:rv": "npm run build && node --test tests/rv-pipeline.test.mjs",
+    "test:package": "npm run build && node --test tests/cli-package.test.mjs",
     "test:plan": "node --test dist/plan/test-*.js dist/plan/probes/test-*.js",
     "check:boundaries": "node scripts/check-product-boundaries.mjs",
     "smoke:v1": "bash scripts/smoke-v1.sh"
@@ -82,7 +83,7 @@
     "url": "https://github.com/ThoughtProof/pot-cli/issues"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "@pot-sdk2/bridge": "^1.2.0",
+    "@pot-sdk2/bridge": "1.2.0",
     "better-sqlite3": "^12.8.0",
     "chalk": "^5.3.0",
     "commander": "^12.0.0",
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index e6ae8ba..6c0790a 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
 import { Command } from 'commander';
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { askCommand } from './commands/ask.js';
 import { deepCommand } from './commands/deep.js';
 import { debugCommand } from './commands/debug.js';
@@ -23,11 +24,14 @@ import { runAutoGen } from './commands/plan-auto-gen.js';
 import { runLOOCV } from './commands/plan-loocv.js';
 
 const program = new Command();
+const packageVersion = (JSON.parse(
+  readFileSync(new URL('../package.json', import.meta.url), 'utf8'),
+) as { version: string }).version;
 
 program
   .name('pot')
   .description('ThoughtProof Proof-of-Thought CLI Tool')
-  .version('0.5.0');
+  .version(packageVersion);
 
 program
   .command('ask <question>')
diff --git a/tests/cli-package.test.mjs b/tests/cli-package.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0b559d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cli-package.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { execFile } from 'node:child_process';
+import { mkdtempSync, mkdirSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
+import { after, before, test } from 'node:test';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+import { promisify } from 'node:util';
+
+const run = promisify(execFile);
+const root = dirname(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)));
+const version = JSON.parse(readFileSync(join(root, 'package.json'), 'utf8')).version;
+const workspace = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'pot-cli-package-'));
+const consumer = join(workspace, 'consumer');
+const cli = join(consumer, 'node_modules', 'pot-cli', 'dist', 'index.js');
+
+before(async () => {
+  mkdirSync(consumer);
+  writeFileSync(join(consumer, 'package.json'), '{"private":true}\n');
+  // npm ci in this repository keeps the development lockfile. A consumer
+  // installs only the packed package and resolves its declared dependencies.
+  const packed = await run('npm', ['pack', '--ignore-scripts', '--json', '--pack-destination', workspace], {
+    cwd: root,
+    timeout: 120_000,
+    maxBuffer: 8 * 1024 * 1024,
+  });
+  const [{ filename }] = JSON.parse(packed.stdout);
+  await run('npm', ['install', '--no-audit', '--no-fund', '--package-lock=false', join(workspace, filename)], {
+    cwd: consumer,
+    timeout: 120_000,
+    maxBuffer: 8 * 1024 * 1024,
+  });
+  const provider = (model) => ({ name: model, model, apiKey: 'unused-dry-run', baseUrl: 'http://127.0.0.1:1' });
+  writeFileSync(join(consumer, '.potrc.json'), JSON.stringify({
+    generators: [provider('mock-author')],
+    critic: provider('mock-critic'),
+    synthesizer: provider('mock-synthesizer'),
+    blockStoragePath: './blocks',
+    language: 'en',
+  }));
+});
+
+after(() => rmSync(workspace, { recursive: true, force: true }));
+
+test('freshly installed CLI reports the packed package version', async () => {
+  const { stdout } = await run(process.execPath, [cli, '--version'], { cwd: consumer });
+  assert.equal(stdout.trim(), version);
+});
+
+test('freshly installed CLI runs ask --dry-run without API credentials', async () => {
+  const { stdout } = await run(process.execPath, [cli, 'ask', 'Test question', '--dry-run'], {
+    cwd: consumer,
+    timeout: 30_000,
+  });
+  assert.match(stdout, /\[DRY-RUN\] Simulated synthesis/);
+  assert.match(stdout, /Saved as PoT-001/);
+});