diff --git a/packages/agents-audit/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/agents-audit/CHANGELOG.md
index 46292ce..240b5a8 100644
--- a/packages/agents-audit/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/agents-audit/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,17 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.4.3] - 2026-07-17
+
+### Patch Changes
+
+- Fix the `agents-audit` CLI entry-point guard so it fires when invoked through npm's `.bin` symlink (`npx agents-audit`, `npm exec agents-audit`). The guard previously compared `resolve(process.argv[1])` against the resolved module URL, which never matched through a symlink — every subcommand (`generate`, `scan`) silently no-op'd and exited 0 instead of running. It now compares real paths via `realpathSync`.
+
+  Also hardens `scripts/verify-package-tarball.mjs` for `agents-audit`: after packing and installing the tarball fresh, it now runs `npx agents-audit generate` and asserts `.agents/workspace.json` actually exists and parses, rather than trusting a clean exit code.
+
+- Updated dependencies
+  - @workspacejson/rules@0.4.3
+  - @workspacejson/spec@0.4.3
+
 ## 0.4.2
 
 ### Patch Changes
diff --git a/packages/agents-audit/package.json b/packages/agents-audit/package.json
index 7e8ceb7..a04d44c 100644
--- a/packages/agents-audit/package.json
+++ b/packages/agents-audit/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "agents-audit",
-  "version": "0.4.2",
+  "version": "0.4.3",
   "description": "Audit tool for AGENTS.md hygiene - reads .agents/workspace.json for richer findings",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "author": "workspace-json contributors",
diff --git a/packages/agents-audit/src/cli.ts b/packages/agents-audit/src/cli.ts
index 477e5de..9153abb 100644
--- a/packages/agents-audit/src/cli.ts
+++ b/packages/agents-audit/src/cli.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 import { resolve } from 'node:path';
+import { realpathSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { createRequire } from 'node:module';
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 import { Command } from 'commander';
@@ -147,7 +148,10 @@ export async function runCli(argv: string[] = process.argv): Promise<number> {
   return exitCode;
 }
 
-if (process.argv[1] && resolve(process.argv[1]) === fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)) {
+// npm exposes package bins through node_modules/.bin symlinks. Resolve both
+// paths before comparing them so the executable runs whether invoked directly
+// or through npx/npm exec.
+if (process.argv[1] && realpathSync(process.argv[1]) === realpathSync(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url))) {
   const exitCode = await runCli(process.argv);
   process.exit(exitCode);
 }
diff --git a/packages/rules/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/rules/CHANGELOG.md
index 9b15e5b..f6ce1ae 100644
--- a/packages/rules/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/rules/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.4.3] - 2026-07-17
+
+### Patch Changes
+
+- Fix the `agents-audit` CLI entry-point guard so it fires when invoked through npm's `.bin` symlink (`npx agents-audit`, `npm exec agents-audit`). The guard previously compared `resolve(process.argv[1])` against the resolved module URL, which never matched through a symlink — every subcommand (`generate`, `scan`) silently no-op'd and exited 0 instead of running. It now compares real paths via `realpathSync`.
+
+  Also hardens `scripts/verify-package-tarball.mjs` for `agents-audit`: after packing and installing the tarball fresh, it now runs `npx agents-audit generate` and asserts `.agents/workspace.json` actually exists and parses, rather than trusting a clean exit code.
+
+- Updated dependencies
+  - @workspacejson/spec@0.4.3
+
 ## 0.4.2
 
 ### Patch Changes
diff --git a/packages/rules/package.json b/packages/rules/package.json
index 95d38a9..5a3a3c6 100644
--- a/packages/rules/package.json
+++ b/packages/rules/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@workspacejson/rules",
-  "version": "0.4.2",
+  "version": "0.4.3",
   "description": "Rule engine for auditing AGENTS.md hygiene using .agents/workspace.json",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "author": "workspace-json contributors",
diff --git a/packages/spec/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/spec/CHANGELOG.md
index 281be99..4d33b45 100644
--- a/packages/spec/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/spec/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.4.3] - 2026-07-17
+
+### Patch Changes
+
+- Fix the `agents-audit` CLI entry-point guard so it fires when invoked through npm's `.bin` symlink (`npx agents-audit`, `npm exec agents-audit`). The guard previously compared `resolve(process.argv[1])` against the resolved module URL, which never matched through a symlink — every subcommand (`generate`, `scan`) silently no-op'd and exited 0 instead of running. It now compares real paths via `realpathSync`.
+
+  Also hardens `scripts/verify-package-tarball.mjs` for `agents-audit`: after packing and installing the tarball fresh, it now runs `npx agents-audit generate` and asserts `.agents/workspace.json` actually exists and parses, rather than trusting a clean exit code.
+
 ## [0.4.2] - 2026-07-16
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/packages/spec/package.json b/packages/spec/package.json
index 37ae573..4fdf5b1 100644
--- a/packages/spec/package.json
+++ b/packages/spec/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@workspacejson/spec",
-  "version": "0.4.2",
+  "version": "0.4.3",
   "description": "JSON Schema and TypeScript types for workspace.json",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "author": "workspace-json contributors",
diff --git a/scripts/verify-package-tarball.mjs b/scripts/verify-package-tarball.mjs
index 705a29b..528e603 100644
--- a/scripts/verify-package-tarball.mjs
+++ b/scripts/verify-package-tarball.mjs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
-import { existsSync, readFileSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import { existsSync, mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { basename, join } from "node:path";
 import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
 
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ try {
   assertNoWorkspaceProtocol(manifest, "package");
   assertFixedGroupDependencies(manifest);
   assertRuntimeFiles(manifest, files);
+  if (packageName === "agents-audit") assertAgentsAuditBinGenerates(tarballPath);
   console.log(`Verified ${basename(tarballPath)} with ${packer}: packed manifest and runtime files are release-safe.`);
 } finally {
   rmSync(tarballPath, { force: true });
@@ -93,3 +95,47 @@ function assertRuntimeFiles(manifest, files) {
 function normalizeArchivePath(file) {
   return file.replace(/^\.\//, "").replaceAll("\\", "/").replace(/\/{2,}/g, "/");
 }
+
+function assertAgentsAuditBinGenerates(tarballPath) {
+  const smokeDirectory = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "agents-audit-pack-"));
+  try {
+    writeFileSync(join(smokeDirectory, "package.json"), JSON.stringify({ private: true }));
+    // agents-audit's packed manifest depends on @workspacejson/rules and
+    // @workspacejson/spec at this same fixed-group version, which is not yet
+    // on the npm registry pre-publish. Pack and install those siblings from
+    // disk too, so the install resolves locally instead of hitting the registry.
+    const siblingTarballs = ["../rules", "../spec"].map((relative) =>
+      packSibling(join(packageDirectory, relative), smokeDirectory),
+    );
+    run("npm", ["install", "--ignore-scripts", "--no-package-lock", ...siblingTarballs, tarballPath], smokeDirectory);
+    run("npx", ["--no-install", "agents-audit", "generate"], smokeDirectory);
+
+    const artifact = join(smokeDirectory, ".agents", "workspace.json");
+    if (!existsSync(artifact)) {
+      throw new Error("Packed agents-audit bin exited without creating .agents/workspace.json.");
+    }
+    JSON.parse(readFileSync(artifact, "utf8"));
+  } finally {
+    rmSync(smokeDirectory, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+}
+
+function packSibling(siblingDirectory, destinationDirectory) {
+  const siblingManifest = JSON.parse(readFileSync(join(siblingDirectory, "package.json"), "utf8"));
+  const siblingTarballName = `${siblingManifest.name.replace(/^@/, "").replaceAll("/", "-")}-${siblingManifest.version}.tgz`;
+  const packArgs = packer === "npm"
+    ? ["pack", "--ignore-scripts", "--pack-destination", destinationDirectory]
+    : ["pack", "--pack-destination", destinationDirectory];
+  const packed = spawnSync(packer, packArgs, { cwd: siblingDirectory, encoding: "utf8" });
+  process.stdout.write(packed.stdout);
+  process.stderr.write(packed.stderr);
+  if (packed.status !== 0) throw new Error(`${packer} pack failed for ${siblingDirectory}.`);
+  return join(destinationDirectory, siblingTarballName);
+}
+
+function run(command, args, cwd) {
+  const result = spawnSync(command, args, { cwd, encoding: "utf8" });
+  process.stdout.write(result.stdout);
+  process.stderr.write(result.stderr);
+  if (result.status !== 0) throw new Error(`${command} ${args.join(" ")} failed with exit ${result.status ?? 1}.`);
+}