diff --git a/.github/workflows/production-marketplace-release.yml b/.github/workflows/production-marketplace-release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a88380d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/production-marketplace-release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+name: Production marketplace release gate
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  pull-requests: read
+
+jobs:
+  production-marketplace-release:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Identify release-related changes
+        id: changes
+        uses: actions/github-script@v7
+        with:
+          script: |
+            const files = await github.paginate(github.rest.pulls.listFiles, {
+              ...context.repo,
+              pull_number: context.issue.number,
+              per_page: 100,
+            });
+            const paths = [
+              ".github/workflows/production-marketplace-release.yml",
+              "docs/canvas-authoring/SHA256SUMS",
+              "docs/plugin-marketplace.md",
+              "docs/release-process.md",
+              "scripts/verify-plugin-marketplace.mjs",
+              "test/plugin-marketplace.test.mjs",
+              "test/fixtures/marketplace.candidate.json",
+            ];
+            const prefixes = [
+              ".github/plugin/",
+              "canvases/azure-functions-hosted-skills/",
+              "canvases/azure-resources-query/",
+              "plugins/canvas-authoring/",
+            ];
+            const relevant = (path) =>
+              paths.includes(path) || prefixes.some((prefix) => path.startsWith(prefix));
+            const verify = files.length >= 3000 || files.some(({ filename, previous_filename }) =>
+              relevant(filename) || (previous_filename && relevant(previous_filename)));
+            core.setOutput("verify", verify ? "true" : "false");
+            core.info(verify ? "Run strict marketplace verification." : "Unrelated changes; skip marketplace verification.");
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        if: steps.changes.outputs.verify == 'true'
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-tags: true
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        if: steps.changes.outputs.verify == 'true'
+        with:
+          node-version: '22'
+      - name: Test marketplace policy
+        if: steps.changes.outputs.verify == 'true'
+        run: node --test test/plugin-marketplace.test.mjs
+      - name: Verify production marketplace against release tags
+        if: steps.changes.outputs.verify == 'true'
+        run: node scripts/verify-plugin-marketplace.mjs
diff --git a/docs/plugin-marketplace.md b/docs/plugin-marketplace.md
index 1fd255a..d0cb40c 100644
--- a/docs/plugin-marketplace.md
+++ b/docs/plugin-marketplace.md
@@ -87,6 +87,16 @@ does not prove the build's origin.
 tags exist.** Pre-tag tests with temporary *local-only* tags in a disposable
 clone are synthetic candidate qualification, not release verification; never
 push those refs or present the result as a published install.
+The `production-marketplace-release` pull-request check is always present.
+For marketplace, product, verifier, and related release-file changes, it runs
+the marketplace tests and then this unmodified strict validator with complete
+Git history and fetched tags. An unrelated PR skips checkout and verification
+but still reports a successful check; a failed changed-files lookup cannot
+skip the gate. Relevant PRs are expected to fail until the approved product
+PRs merge and all three real production tags exist; rerun after tag
+publication. No candidate manifest or temporary tags satisfy this CI gate.
+An administrator must require `production-marketplace-release` on protected
+release branches; the workflow alone does not enforce merging policy.
 
 After publication, check the actual GitHub-hosted marketplace with fresh, isolated
 `HOME`, `COPILOT_HOME`, and `COPILOT_CACHE_HOME` directories. Confirm that each