diff --git a/packages/cli/test/dogfood-scaffold-current.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/dogfood-scaffold-current.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6016038d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/test/dogfood-scaffold-current.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { LATEST_SCHEMA_VERSION } from "../src/filesystem/migrate";
+
+/**
+ * This repository's own `.taskless/` is on the scaffold version this CLI
+ * ships.
+ *
+ * Migrations run on `init`, `demo`, `onboard`, and rule delivery, and on
+ * nothing the development loop invokes: `pnpm lint` builds and runs `check`,
+ * which refuses a stale scaffold rather than migrating it. So a pull request
+ * that adds a migration can pass every other check while leaving the dogfood
+ * tree behind, and the gap only shows when someone's `check` hits the wall.
+ * Measured: `install.cliVersion` sat at 0.11.0 from 2026-08-29 until
+ * migration 0008 made `check` refuse on 2026-09-21, because nobody had a
+ * reason to run `init` here in between.
+ *
+ * Asserted here, in `Validate`, so the pull request that adds a migration is
+ * the one that applies it: run `pnpm build && pnpm cli init` and commit the
+ * rewritten `.taskless/`. Deliberately NOT automated into a script. A tracked
+ * file rewritten as a side effect of `lint` is the surprise the `check` wall
+ * exists to prevent; a red test naming the command is the visible version.
+ *
+ * Only the schema version is pinned. `install.cliVersion` is the nightly the
+ * installed skill was reconciled against and moves on its own schedule.
+ */
+describe("the repository's own scaffold", () => {
+  it("is on the latest schema version", () => {
+    const manifestPath = join(
+      import.meta.dirname,
+      "..",
+      "..",
+      "..",
+      ".taskless",
+      "taskless.json"
+    );
+    const manifest = JSON.parse(readFileSync(manifestPath, "utf8")) as {
+      version?: unknown;
+    };
+
+    expect(
+      manifest.version,
+      `.taskless/taskless.json records scaffold version ${String(manifest.version)} ` +
+        `but this CLI's latest migration is ${String(LATEST_SCHEMA_VERSION)}. ` +
+        `Run \`pnpm build && pnpm cli init\` and commit the rewritten .taskless/.`
+    ).toBe(LATEST_SCHEMA_VERSION);
+  });
+});