diff --git a/.github/workflows/smoke-test.yml b/.github/workflows/smoke-test.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03f85c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/smoke-test.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+name: Smoke Test
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main, ci/smoke-tests]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [main]
+
+jobs:
+  demo-runs:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 5
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: '3.12'
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: pip install -r requirements.txt pytest
+      - name: Smoke test — imports, MemoryEntry, config validation
+        env:
+          MEMORY_BACKEND: engram
+          ELASTIC_CLOUD_ID: stub
+          ELASTIC_API_KEY: stub
+        run: |
+          python - <<'EOF'
+          # The judge-on-stage failure mode is "demo crashes on import".
+          # This catches it without needing a live engram/Elastic backend.
+          import agent.main
+          from agent.config import AgentConfig
+          from agent.memory.backend import MemoryEntry
+
+          issues = AgentConfig().validate()
+          assert issues == [], f"config validation failed: {issues}"
+
+          entry = MemoryEntry(content="smoke", category="fact", project="ci")
+          assert entry.id == ""
+          print("smoke test OK: imports, config, MemoryEntry")
+          EOF
+      - name: Unit tests
+        env:
+          MEMORY_BACKEND: engram
+          ELASTIC_CLOUD_ID: stub
+          ELASTIC_API_KEY: stub
+        run: python -m pytest tests/ -v