diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-example-collection.yml b/.github/workflows/test-example-collection.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7461953dfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-example-collection.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+name: Validate example collection
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - "examples/mcp_server/**"
+      - "examples/openai_api/**"
+      - "tests/test_example_smoke_collection.py"
+      - "tests/test_mcp_server_example.py"
+      - "tests/test_openai_api_docker_validation.py"
+      - ".github/workflows/test-example-collection.yml"
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+    paths:
+      - "examples/mcp_server/**"
+      - "examples/openai_api/**"
+      - "tests/test_example_smoke_collection.py"
+      - "tests/test_mcp_server_example.py"
+      - "tests/test_openai_api_docker_validation.py"
+      - ".github/workflows/test-example-collection.yml"
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  collection:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 5
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        python: ["3.10", "3.12"]
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || github.sha }}
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python }}
+      - name: Install test runner
+        run: python -m pip install pytest
+      - name: Check collection and standalone CLI compatibility
+        run: |
+          git rev-parse HEAD > source-commit.txt
+          python -m pip freeze > resolved-dependencies.txt
+          python -m pytest -q \
+            tests/test_example_smoke_collection.py \
+            tests/test_mcp_server_example.py \
+            tests/test_openai_api_docker_validation.py \
+            --junitxml=example-results.xml
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        if: always()
+        with:
+          name: example-collection-${{ matrix.python }}
+          path: |
+            source-commit.txt
+            resolved-dependencies.txt
+            example-results.xml
diff --git a/examples/mcp_server/__init__.py b/examples/mcp_server/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a188fda91e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/mcp_server/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"""Standalone MCP server example and its validation utilities."""
diff --git a/examples/openai_api/__init__.py b/examples/openai_api/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..577d094e49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/openai_api/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+"""Standalone OpenAI-compatible API example and its validation utilities."""
diff --git a/tests/test_example_smoke_collection.py b/tests/test_example_smoke_collection.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9c63124ade
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_example_smoke_collection.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+"""Keep the standalone smoke CLIs collectable together with default pytest."""
+
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+
+import pytest
+
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+EXAMPLES = ("mcp_server", "openai_api")
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("import_mode", ["prepend", "append", "importlib"])
+def test_smoke_scripts_collect_together(tmp_path, import_mode):
+    # Use real source files in the same directory layout, without local plugins.
+    scripts = []
+    for name in EXAMPLES:
+        source = ROOT / "examples" / name
+        target = tmp_path / "examples" / name
+        target.mkdir(parents=True)
+        for filename in ("smoke_test.py", "__init__.py"):
+            if (source / filename).exists():
+                shutil.copyfile(source / filename, target / filename)
+        scripts.append(str(target / "smoke_test.py"))
+    sentinel = tmp_path / "test_sentinel.py"
+    sentinel.write_text("def test_collection_sentinel():\n    pass\n", encoding="utf-8")
+    env = dict(os.environ, PYTEST_DISABLE_PLUGIN_AUTOLOAD="1")
+    env.pop("PYTEST_ADDOPTS", None)
+    env.pop("PYTEST_PLUGINS", None)
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        [sys.executable, "-m", "pytest", "--collect-only", "-q",
+         "--import-mode=" + import_mode, *scripts, str(sentinel)],
+        cwd=tmp_path, env=env, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=30,
+    )
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stdout + result.stderr
+    assert "test_sentinel.py::test_collection_sentinel" in result.stdout
+    assert "1 test collected" in result.stdout
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("example", EXAMPLES)
+def test_smoke_script_help_still_runs_directly(example):
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        [sys.executable, str(ROOT / "examples" / example / "smoke_test.py"), "--help"],
+        cwd=ROOT / "examples" / example,
+        capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=30,
+    )
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stdout + result.stderr
+    assert "usage:" in result.stdout
+    assert "--timeout" in result.stdout