diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/release.yml b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
index 6b9fa78..e57c8dc 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
@@ -64,7 +64,8 @@ jobs:
           docker logout docker.io
 
   # Its own job, not a step: the images are already pushed and irreversible by this point, so a Hub
-  # API outage or an under-scoped token must not report the release itself as failed.
+  # API outage or an under-scoped token leaves the promotion green and the images untouched (the run
+  # still shows red — the failure is real, it just is not the release's).
   publish-overview:
     if: always() && (github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || needs.retag-image.result == 'success')
     needs: [retag-image]
@@ -80,6 +81,11 @@ jobs:
           INPUT_VERSION: ${{ inputs.overview_version }}
         run: |
           VERSION=${INPUT_VERSION:-${GIT_TAG#v}}
+          # The manual door carries the same invariant as the tag door: this rejects a non-semver
+          # VERSION (an empty input falls back to the branch name) and one whose major.minor
+          # disagrees with the tree whose apiVersion sample is about to be published.
+          docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/repo" -w /repo node:24.19.0-alpine3.24 \
+            node release-tooling/contract-version.ts "$VERSION" src/plugin-host/plugin.ts
           docker run --rm -v "$PWD:/repo" -w /repo \
             -e DOCKERHUB_OVERVIEW_TOKEN -e DOCKERHUB_REPO -e DOCKERHUB_USER \
             node:24.19.0-alpine3.24 \
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a62ea15..430f981 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1418,8 +1418,10 @@ whose `major.minor` disagrees with `HOST_API_VERSION` and naming the value to se
 [`release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl`](release-tooling/dockerhub-overview.md.tmpl), with
 `{{VERSION}}` rendered to the release, so the image tags it tells adopters to pull cannot go stale.
 It is its own job for two reasons: the images are already pushed and irreversible by then, so a Hub
-outage must not report a good release as failed; and the page has its own door — run the workflow
-manually with an `overview_version` input to republish it without cutting a release. It uses
+outage leaves the promotion green and the images untouched; and the page has its own door — run the
+workflow manually with an `overview_version` input to republish it without cutting a release. That
+input goes through the same contract check as a tag, so a typo cannot publish a pull tag nobody can
+resolve. It uses
 `DOCKERHUB_OVERVIEW_TOKEN`, separate from the image-push token because editing repository metadata is
 a different permission and widening the push credential to cover it would widen what a leak costs.