diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 736568c..56923fb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -90,9 +90,10 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
+        # macos-latest (arm64) and macos-26-intel (x64) are GitHub's current pair for this macOS generation. macos-13, retired by GitHub on 2025-12-08 (github.blog/changelog/2025-09-19-github-actions-macos-13-runner-image-is-closing-down), used to be the x64 half of this pair; it queued forever with no runner ever assigned rather than failing loudly. macos-latest-large, listed alongside macos-26-intel in actions/runner-images' own README as an alias for the identical x64 image, was tried first and failed a job in 4 seconds with zero recorded steps — the signature of a runner request GitHub's scheduler could never satisfy at all, consistent with -large routing through the (opt-in, not enabled here) Larger Runners feature rather than being a plain alias in practice.
         include:
           - os: macos-latest
-          - os: macos-13
+          - os: macos-26-intel
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     timeout-minutes: 15
     steps:
@@ -167,10 +168,10 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        # Every (platform, arch) pair on a standard runner image: two darwin legs, two linux, two win32. Windows was excluded here previously (a genuine Node limitation: no filesystem-path AF_UNIX support on Windows, only named pipes — nodejs/node#55979), but CcPeer now branches to a real named pipe on native Windows (see paths.ts and win-proc-info.ts), so both legs build a working binary again. build-sea.ts qualifies each asset name by process.platform AND process.arch so shared-OS legs cannot clobber each other's release upload, and gives win32 its .exe.
+        # Every (platform, arch) pair on a standard runner image: two darwin legs (macos-26-intel is GitHub's current x64 counterpart to macos-latest's arm64 — see verify-macos's own comment on why this isn't macos-latest-large or the retired macos-13), two linux, two win32. Windows was excluded here previously (a genuine Node limitation: no filesystem-path AF_UNIX support on Windows, only named pipes — nodejs/node#55979), but CcPeer now branches to a real named pipe on native Windows (see paths.ts and win-proc-info.ts), so both legs build a working binary again. build-sea.ts qualifies each asset name by process.platform AND process.arch so shared-OS legs cannot clobber each other's release upload, and gives win32 its .exe.
         include:
           - os: macos-latest
-          - os: macos-13
+          - os: macos-26-intel
           - os: ubuntu-latest
           - os: ubuntu-24.04-arm
           - os: windows-latest