diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index 9a3b9da..ab0b14f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -9,8 +9,14 @@ on:
       release-notes:
         description: "Release notes"
         required: false
-  pull_request:
-    types: [closed]
+  # Releasing on push rather than on the pull_request closed event is deliberate. A pull request from a fork
+  # runs with a read-only GITHUB_TOKEN and no secrets even on merge, so it cannot create the release or reach
+  # the publishing credentials - which is how a merged, labeled fork contribution silently released nothing.
+  # A push to main always runs with a full-permission token, and the release action finds the merged pull
+  # request and its label from the commit.
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
 
 # Creating the GitHub release needs a write-capable token.
 permissions:
@@ -22,6 +28,7 @@ jobs:
     outputs:
       version: ${{ steps.release.outputs.version }}
       publish: ${{ steps.release.outputs.should-publish }}
+      reason: ${{ steps.release.outputs.reason }}
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -103,3 +110,21 @@ jobs:
     with:
       version: ${{ needs.release.outputs.version }}
     secrets: inherit
+
+  verify-published:
+    # A merge that publishes nothing is the failure mode that silently costs a release: the release job
+    # succeeds, every publish job is skipped for want of should-publish, and the whole run reports green. Fail
+    # instead, so a release that did not happen cannot be mistaken for one that did.
+    #
+    # Only for the reasons that mean something went wrong. Publishing nothing is correct and routine for the
+    # others - a commit pushed straight to main, a Dependabot merge, a re-run of a run that already released -
+    # and failing on those would make this job noise that everyone learns to ignore.
+    if: always() && needs.release.result == 'success' && contains(fromJSON('["no-label", "error"]'), needs.release.outputs.reason)
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [release]
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Report that nothing was published
+        run: |
+          echo "::error::Nothing was published and no release was cut (reason: ${{ needs.release.outputs.reason }}). For 'no-label', add exactly one of major, minor or patch to the merged pull request and re-run this workflow - see verify-semver-label, which is meant to catch this before the merge."
+          exit 1
diff --git a/.github/workflows/verify-semver-label.yml b/.github/workflows/verify-semver-label.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cb60751
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/verify-semver-label.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+name: Verify Semver Label
+
+# A merged pull request with no major/minor/patch label produces a Publish run that reports success while
+# skipping every publish step, because the release action resolves should-publish to false. That reads as a
+# release having happened when nothing was published. Requiring the label here turns a silent non-release into
+# a visible failure before the merge, where it costs nothing to fix.
+#
+# It also closes a race the publish workflow cannot: a label added moments after the merge may land too late
+# for the release to pick it up. Demanding the label before the merge means there is nothing to race.
+#
+# Triggered on labeled/unlabeled as well as the usual events, so adding the label re-runs the check rather than
+# leaving a red cross behind that only a push would clear.
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event.pull_request.number || github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    types: [opened, reopened, synchronize, labeled, unlabeled]
+    # Scoped to the same branch Publish releases from. A pull request stacked onto another one's branch cannot
+    # cut a release, so demanding a version label of it would be asking which version a merge that publishes
+    # nothing should carry.
+    branches:
+      - main
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  verify:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Require exactly one semantic version label
+        env:
+          LABELS: ${{ toJSON(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name) }}
+        run: |
+          count=$(printf '%s' "$LABELS" | jq '[.[] | select(. == "major" or . == "minor" or . == "patch")] | length')
+
+          if [ "$count" -eq 1 ]; then
+            echo "Found one semantic version label."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          if [ "$count" -eq 0 ]; then
+            echo "::error::This pull request has no semantic version label. Add exactly one of major, minor or patch. Without one, merging produces a Publish run that succeeds while skipping every publish step, so no release is cut and nothing is published."
+          else
+            echo "::error::This pull request carries $count semantic version labels. Exactly one of major, minor or patch is required, since the release version cannot be derived from more than one."
+          fi
+
+          exit 1