diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index fa4b432..f99bfe7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ on:
 permissions:
   contents: read
 
+# Cancel superseded PR runs; keep main runs so we get a green history.
+concurrency:
+  group: ci-${{ github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' }}
+
 jobs:
   lint:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -17,19 +22,22 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: "3.12"
+          cache: 'pip'
       - run: pip install ruff
       - run: ruff check src/ scripts/ tests/
 
   test:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        python-version: ["3.9", "3.11", "3.12"]
+        python-version: ["3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12"]
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          cache: 'pip'
       - run: pip install -e ".[dev]"
       - name: Registry sanity
         run: |
@@ -44,3 +52,57 @@ jobs:
         run: pytest tests/ -v
       - name: Legacy shim smoke
         run: python scripts/run_benchmarks.py --list
+
+  # Build the wheel, install it from the built artifact (not editable), and run
+  # the bundled smoke test. Catches the "works in -e ., broken in wheel" class
+  # of bugs — specifically package-data globs for _verify_data/.
+  verify:
+    name: verify (wheel + bundled fixture)
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.12"
+          cache: 'pip'
+      - name: Build wheel
+        run: |
+          pip install build
+          rm -rf dist/
+          python -m build --wheel
+      - name: Install from wheel
+        run: pip install dist/lica_gdb-*.whl
+      - name: Assert bundled fixture ships in wheel
+        run: |
+          python -c "
+          from pathlib import Path
+          import gdb
+          root = Path(gdb.__file__).parent / '_verify_data'
+          assert root.is_dir(), f'{root} missing from installed wheel'
+          assert (root / 'benchmarks').is_dir(), 'bundled benchmarks/ missing'
+          print(f'bundled fixture OK: {root}')
+          "
+      - name: gdb verify (zero-config smoke test)
+        run: gdb verify
+
+  # Resolve each optional extra independently so a broken version pin in one
+  # provider or metrics bundle fails loudly here, not on a user's machine.
+  # Heavy ML extras (svg-metrics / lottie-metrics / layout-metrics / vllm*)
+  # pull in torch/transformers/GPU deps and are intentionally excluded.
+  extras:
+    name: extras (${{ matrix.extra }})
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        extra: [openai, anthropic, gemini, hub, metrics, all-providers]
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.12"
+          cache: 'pip'
+      - name: Install extra
+        run: pip install -e ".[${{ matrix.extra }}]"
+      - name: Smoke import gdb
+        run: python -c "import gdb; print(gdb.__version__)"