diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index be90d3d..7aa00b4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,12 +16,11 @@ has stopped being obvious._
 the guide and the migration guide, rendered as one set from the version that is
 `latest` on npm.
 
-> **Status:** `4.1` is the current line. It adds introspection and tooling to
-> `4.0.1` — a plan as JSON, a preflight failure as data, a command-line
-> tool, an API reference, a migration guide — and changes nothing that existed;
-> the VS Code floor stays `^1.134.0`. 2.x was a utility library with a
-> different shape; it continues on `v2-maintenance` and anything pinned to
-> `^2.x` is unaffected. See [Coming from 2.x](#coming-from-2x).
+> **Status:** Active. `2.x` was a utility library with a different shape; it
+> continues on `v2-maintenance`, so anything pinned to `^2.x` is unaffected by
+> anything here. See [Coming from 2.x](#coming-from-2x). What each release
+> changed is in the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md); the version badge above is the
+> one that is current.
 
 ---
 
@@ -461,10 +460,10 @@ This is a personal project maintained in spare time. It is active, but support
 is best-effort: I'll do my best to review issues and PRs, and releases may be a
 bit slow sometimes — thank you for your patience.
 
-The `4.x` line holds `latest` on npm, so a fresh `npm install` gets the
-framework. `2.x` continues on `v2-maintenance` and still takes bug fixes;
-anything pinned to `^2.x` resolves there and is unaffected. Breaking changes are
-listed in the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md).
+A fresh `npm install` gets the current release. `2.x` continues on
+`v2-maintenance` and still takes bug fixes; anything pinned to `^2.x` resolves
+there and is unaffected. Breaking changes are listed in the
+[CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md).
 
 Helpful things when reporting bugs:
 
diff --git a/tests/readme-versions.test.ts b/tests/readme-versions.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b1bcddb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/readme-versions.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+
+/**
+ * The versions the documentation quotes, checked against the manifest.
+ *
+ * Prose that names a version is correct on the day it is written and wrong on
+ * the day the version moves, and nothing fails in between — the reader is the
+ * one who finds out. This repository already pins the documented *code* to
+ * sources that compile; these are the documented *numbers*, pinned the same way.
+ *
+ * Only requirements are pinned here. A claim about which release is current
+ * belongs to the npm badge, which is generated: the pages below should not say
+ * it at all, and the last case asserts they do not.
+ */
+const PAGES = ['README.md', join('docs', 'guide.md'), join('docs', 'migration-from-2x.md')];
+
+const manifest = JSON.parse(readFileSync('package.json', 'utf8')) as {
+  engines: { vscode: string; node: string };
+  devDependencies: Record<string, string>;
+};
+
+const pages = PAGES.map((page) => ({ page, text: readFileSync(page, 'utf8') }));
+
+describe('documented versions', () => {
+  it('quotes the VS Code floor exactly as the manifest declares it', () => {
+    const declared = manifest.engines.vscode;
+    const readme = pages.find((p) => p.page === 'README.md');
+    expect(readme?.text).toContain(`\`${declared}\``);
+  });
+
+  it('quotes the Node floor exactly as the manifest declares it', () => {
+    const declared = manifest.engines.node;
+    const readme = pages.find((p) => p.page === 'README.md');
+    expect(readme?.text).toContain(`\`${declared}\``);
+  });
+
+  it('names no VS Code version other than the declared floor', () => {
+    // `1.134.0` on its own is the same floor written without a range, which the
+    // paragraph under the requirements table does deliberately. Anything else
+    // is a version that moved without the prose moving with it.
+    const floor = manifest.engines.vscode.replace(/^[^\d]*/, '');
+    const found = pages.flatMap(({ page, text }) =>
+      [...text.matchAll(/`\^?(1\.\d{2,3}\.\d+)`/g)].map((m) => ({ page, version: m[1] ?? '' }))
+    );
+    const stale = found.filter((f) => f.version !== floor);
+    expect(stale).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps @types/vscode on the same version as the floor', () => {
+    // Raising only the types would let code compile against an API the declared
+    // floor does not have, and `vsce` refuses the opposite. The README says the
+    // two move together; this is that sentence as a check.
+    const types = (manifest.devDependencies['@types/vscode'] ?? '').replace(/^[^\d]*/, '');
+    const floor = manifest.engines.vscode.replace(/^[^\d]*/, '');
+    expect(types).toBe(floor);
+  });
+
+  it('leaves "which release is current" to the badge', () => {
+    // The npm badge renders the current version and cannot go stale. Prose that
+    // repeats it can, and did: `4.1.0 is the current release` survived into the
+    // release that replaced it.
+    const claims = pages.flatMap(({ page, text }) =>
+      [...text.matchAll(/^.*\b(?:is the current (?:release|line)|holds `latest`).*$/gm)].map(
+        (m) => `${page}: ${m[0].trim()}`
+      )
+    );
+    expect(claims).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});