diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 4924dca1..5c12fffc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -1,37 +1,40 @@
 name: CI
 
-# MANUAL ONLY. This suite runs when a human dispatches it and at no other time. The `push` to
-# `main` trigger went first (it re-ran the same content the PR run had already passed, for no new
-# information); `pull_request` has now gone too, so the automatic half of this workflow is empty.
+# ON EVERY MERGE, and on demand. A push to `main` is what a merge looks like from Actions' side,
+# so every merged PR now re-runs lint, the suite, and the build-identity check against the tree
+# that actually resulted from the merge.
 #
-# Be clear about what that costs: NOTHING VERIFIES A PULL REQUEST BEFORE IT MERGES ANY MORE. There
-# is no lint, no suite, and no build-identity check standing between a branch and `main`. Nor does
-# branch protection compensate. There IS a repository ruleset named `main`, and it does list
-# required status checks, but it currently matches no refs at all -- its `ref_name.include` is
-# empty, and `GET /repos/:owner/:repo/rules/branches/main` returns `[]`, meaning zero rules are in
-# force on the branch. Its two required contexts ("Lint, Unit tests, Build" and "Integration
-# Tests") also match no job this repo defines. So there is no required status check a merge could
-# fail on: a PR merges because a human decided to merge it, and that decision is the only gate at
-# merge time.
+# That last phrase is the point, and it is why this is NOT the redundant run it was once called.
+# A `pull_request` run tests the PR head; a `push` run tests `main` after the merge landed. Those
+# differ whenever two independently-green branches conflict semantically -- each passes alone, the
+# merge of them does not. Only the post-merge run can see that.
 #
-# What survives is the gate inside `release.yml`. That workflow is itself manual, but every run of
-# it re-runs `ruff` + `pytest` automatically before it will build an artifact -- so a red `main`
-# still cannot ship. That is the safety net that matters most for a tool that moves money: broken
-# code can reach `main`, but it cannot reach a wheel, a tag, or a release asset without the suite
-# passing first.
+# `pull_request` is here for a specific, load-bearing reason: it is what makes this job report a
+# status named `test` on a PR, and the `main` ruleset REQUIRES that context before a merge is
+# allowed (issue #236). The two are a matched pair and must be changed together -- removing this
+# trigger while the ruleset still requires `test` would leave every PR waiting forever on a check
+# that can never report, which is precisely the broken state #236 was filed to fix. That is not a
+# hypothetical: the ruleset previously required "Lint, Unit tests, Build" and "Integration Tests",
+# names no job here has ever produced.
 #
-# The accepted consequence, stated plainly: a breakage introduced by a merge is discovered at
-# release time, or whenever somebody next dispatches this workflow -- not at merge time. The
-# window between "merged" and "found" is now however long passes before one of those two happens.
-# Dispatching this suite against `main` after a batch of merges, and before cutting a release, is
-# what closes that window. Restoring `pull_request:` below is a one-line change if the trade stops
-# being worth it.
+# The context string is `test` because the job below is `test:` and declares no `name:`. Renaming
+# that job, or giving it a `name:`, silently changes the context and breaks the ruleset the same
+# way. If you rename it, update the ruleset in the same change.
+#
+# So the two triggers do different jobs: `pull_request` GATES the merge, `push` VERIFIES the result
+# of it. `release.yml` remains the gate that matters for money -- it re-runs `ruff` + `pytest`
+# itself before it will build an artifact, so a red `main` cannot become a wheel, a tag, or a
+# release asset even if both of these were removed.
 on:
+  pull_request:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
   workflow_dispatch:
 
-# `github.ref` is `refs/heads/<branch>` for a `workflow_dispatch` run -- the only kind of run this
-# workflow now has -- so the group keys on the branch that was dispatched. Two dispatches of the
-# same branch cancel each other; dispatches of different branches run side by side.
+# `github.ref` is `refs/pull/<n>/merge` for PR runs, `refs/heads/main` for the post-merge push, and
+# `refs/heads/<branch>` for a dispatch -- distinct keys, so a PR run never cancels the post-merge
+# run. Pushes to the same PR do cancel each other, and back-to-back merges cancel the older `main`
+# run -- correct in both cases: only the newest result matters.
 concurrency:
   group: ci-${{ github.ref }}
   cancel-in-progress: true