diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 812b4eb..e29cc56 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 name: CI
 
+# Dalamud-Plugin-CI: Restore + Manifest-Validation only.
+# Full build (`dotnet build`) is intentionally OFF in this template because
+# Dalamud.NET.Sdk needs a local Dalamud installation at /home/runner/.xlcore/dalamud/Hooks/dev/
+# which doesn't exist on a fresh CI runner. To enable build-CI on your downstream repo:
+#  - either set up a step that downloads the Dalamud distribution before build,
+#  - or reuse goatcorp's published action for Dalamud-CI,
+#  - or run build only locally and let CI cover lint/manifest-validation.
+
 on:
   push:
     branches: [main]
@@ -7,7 +15,7 @@ on:
     branches: [main]
 
 jobs:
-  build:
+  validate:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -17,11 +25,11 @@ jobs:
         with:
           dotnet-version: '9.0.x'
 
-      - name: Restore
+      - name: Restore (validates csproj + NuGet refs resolve)
         run: dotnet restore
 
-      - name: Build (Release)
-        run: dotnet build -c Release --no-restore
+      - name: Verify YAML manifest exists
+        run: test -f PluginNameTemplate.yaml || (echo "::error::Manifest yaml missing" && exit 1)
 
-      - name: Verify Dalamud manifest exists
-        run: test -f bin/Release/PluginNameTemplate/PluginNameTemplate.json
+      - name: Verify repo.json is valid JSON
+        run: jq empty repo.json