diff --git a/android/app/build.gradle.kts b/android/app/build.gradle.kts
index a9e81eb..d82b097 100644
--- a/android/app/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/android/app/build.gradle.kts
@@ -57,7 +57,9 @@ android {
             isMinifyEnabled = true
             isShrinkResources = true
             val signingEnabled = System.getenv("ANDROID_SIGNING_ENABLED") == "true"
-            signingConfig = if (signingEnabled) signingConfigs.getByName("release") else signingConfigs.getByName("debug")
+            if (signingEnabled) {
+                signingConfig = signingConfigs.getByName("release")
+            }
             proguardFiles(
                 getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android-optimize.txt"),
                 "proguard-rules.pro"
@@ -95,6 +97,17 @@ android {
     }
 }
 
+gradle.taskGraph.whenReady {
+    val releaseTaskRequested = allTasks.any { task ->
+        task.path.startsWith(":app:") && task.name.contains("Release")
+    }
+    if (releaseTaskRequested && System.getenv("ANDROID_SIGNING_ENABLED") != "true") {
+        throw org.gradle.api.GradleException(
+            "Release builds require ANDROID_SIGNING_ENABLED=true and Android signing environment variables."
+        )
+    }
+}
+
 dependencies {
     // Go mobile library (built via gomobile bind)
     implementation(fileTree(mapOf("dir" to "libs", "include" to listOf("*.aar", "*.jar"))))