diff --git a/examples/basic/pom.xml b/examples/basic/pom.xml
index cc1252d..321c610 100644
--- a/examples/basic/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/basic/pom.xml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.getaxonflow</groupId>
             <artifactId>axonflow-sdk</artifactId>
-            <version>6.1.0</version>
+            <version>8.5.1</version>
         </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
diff --git a/examples/basic/src/main/java/com/getaxonflow/examples/Basic.java b/examples/basic/src/main/java/com/getaxonflow/examples/Basic.java
index f8f5c67..fb59b84 100644
--- a/examples/basic/src/main/java/com/getaxonflow/examples/Basic.java
+++ b/examples/basic/src/main/java/com/getaxonflow/examples/Basic.java
@@ -107,8 +107,20 @@ private static void proxyLLMCallStep(AxonFlow client, String clientId) {
             System.out.printf("  Success: %s%n", response.isSuccess());
             System.out.printf("  Blocked: %s%n", response.isBlocked());
         } catch (PolicyViolationException e) {
-            // Policy block is a valid outcome — community policies can match
-            // the demo query depending on configuration.
+            // SDK <= 8.5.1 misclassifies 403 auth rejections as policy
+            // violations: every agent error body carries a literal
+            // "blocked":false key, which trips handleErrorResponse's
+            // body.contains("blocked") heuristic. Until the library fix
+            // ships, treat tenant mismatch as the auth failure it is —
+            // otherwise a wrong AXONFLOW_CLIENT_ID (it must match the
+            // user token's tenant) sails through the smoke with exit 0.
+            if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().contains("Tenant mismatch")) {
+                System.err.println("proxyLLMCall failed (auth): " + e.getMessage()
+                        + " — AXONFLOW_CLIENT_ID must match the user token's tenant");
+                System.exit(1);
+            }
+            // Genuine policy block is a valid outcome — community policies
+            // can match the demo query depending on configuration.
             System.out.printf("  Blocked by policy: %s%n", e.getMessage());
         } catch (AuthenticationException | ConnectionException e) {
             // These are real failures: bad creds or stack down. Fail loud.
diff --git a/examples/explain-decision/pom.xml b/examples/explain-decision/pom.xml
index 5f68122..c8453e8 100644
--- a/examples/explain-decision/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/explain-decision/pom.xml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.getaxonflow</groupId>
             <artifactId>axonflow-sdk</artifactId>
-            <version>8.5.0</version>
+            <version>8.5.1</version>
         </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
diff --git a/examples/list-decisions/pom.xml b/examples/list-decisions/pom.xml
index fd1aab1..5b1c46b 100644
--- a/examples/list-decisions/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/list-decisions/pom.xml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.getaxonflow</groupId>
             <artifactId>axonflow-sdk</artifactId>
-            <version>8.5.0</version>
+            <version>8.5.1</version>
         </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
diff --git a/examples/wcp-retry-idempotency/pom.xml b/examples/wcp-retry-idempotency/pom.xml
index 11f313f..0197587 100644
--- a/examples/wcp-retry-idempotency/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/wcp-retry-idempotency/pom.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.getaxonflow</groupId>
             <artifactId>axonflow-sdk</artifactId>
-            <version>8.5.0</version>
+            <version>8.5.1</version>
         </dependency>
     </dependencies>