diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-skills.yml b/.github/workflows/release-skills.yml
index 57e1573..3cd55bd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-skills.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-skills.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ on:
     branches: [main]
     paths: ['skills/**']
   workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      ref:
+        description: "Branch or tag to release from (must be main)"
+        required: false
+        default: main
 
 permissions:
   contents: write
@@ -17,6 +22,14 @@ jobs:
       skipped: ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.skipped }}
       version: ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.version }}
     steps:
+      - name: Require main branch
+        if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
+        run: |
+          if [ "${{ github.ref_name }}" != "main" ]; then
+            echo "Releases must be run from the main branch (got '${{ github.ref_name }}')."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           token: ${{ secrets.IDEE_GH_TOKEN }}
@@ -28,6 +41,9 @@ jobs:
 
       - run: npm ci
 
+      - name: Validate skills
+        run: npm run validate:skills
+
       - name: Conventional Changelog Action
         id: changelog
         uses: TriPSs/conventional-changelog-action@v5
diff --git a/.github/workflows/validate-skills.yml b/.github/workflows/validate-skills.yml
index 51d83f2..0e9f492 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/validate-skills.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/validate-skills.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,13 @@ name: Validate Skills
 
 on:
   pull_request:
-    paths: ['skills/**']
+    paths:
+      - 'skills/**'
+      - 'scripts/validate-skills.ts'
+      - 'package.json'
+      - 'package-lock.json'
+      - '.nvmrc'
+      - '.github/workflows/validate-skills.yml'
 
 jobs:
   validate:
@@ -18,4 +24,13 @@ jobs:
 
       - run: npm ci
 
-      - run: npm run validate:skills -- --changed --base=origin/${{ github.base_ref }}
+      # Run against only changed skills when skills files are touched; fall back
+      # to full corpus validation when only tooling files changed, so validator
+      # regressions against existing skills are caught in the same PR.
+      - name: Validate skills
+        run: |
+          if git diff --name-only origin/${{ github.base_ref }}...HEAD | grep -q '^skills/'; then
+            npm run validate:skills -- --changed --base=origin/${{ github.base_ref }}
+          else
+            npm run validate:skills
+          fi
diff --git a/scripts/validate-skills.ts b/scripts/validate-skills.ts
index 57f80fe..dff6e8e 100644
--- a/scripts/validate-skills.ts
+++ b/scripts/validate-skills.ts
@@ -207,7 +207,9 @@ const CONTENT_CHECKS: ContentCheck[] = [
 
 /**
  * Returns the deduplicated list of top-level skill directory names that have
- * changed relative to `base` (e.g. `origin/main`).
+ * changed relative to `base` (e.g. `origin/main`) and still exist on disk.
+ * Deleted skill directories are intentionally excluded — removing a skill is
+ * valid and requires no structural validation.
  */
 function getChangedSkillDirs(base: string): string[] {
   const output = execSync(`git diff --name-only ${base}...HEAD`, { encoding: "utf8" })
@@ -219,7 +221,7 @@ function getChangedSkillDirs(base: string): string[] {
         .map((f) => f.split("/")[1])
         .filter(Boolean)
     ),
-  ]
+  ].filter((dir) => fs.existsSync(path.join(SKILLS_DIR, dir)))
 }
 
 /**