diff --git a/.github/workflows/scaffold-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/scaffold-smoke.yml
index c4ec9c6..cc142e5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/scaffold-smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/scaffold-smoke.yml
@@ -1,20 +1,15 @@
 name: scaffold smoke test
 
-# Scaffolds a fresh project with the CLI and compiles it (apsoai/cli#101).
+# Scaffolds a fresh project with the CLI, generates code from a seeded
+# entity, and compiles the result — one leg per language (apsoai/cli#101).
 #
-# Intentionally NOT a pull_request gate: the TypeScript template currently
-# references unpublished @apso/crud packages (file:../apso-crud), so a fresh
-# scaffold does not yet install/compile. Wiring this to pull_request would red
-# every PR until the template target is resolved (see cli#99 / publishing
-# @apso/crud). Run it on demand (or weekly) to verify once that lands, then
-# flip the trigger to pull_request to make it a real gate.
+# Intentionally NOT a pull_request gate yet: each leg clones its service
+# template repo and installs dependencies from the network, so template-side
+# breakage would red unrelated CLI PRs. Weekly + on-demand keeps it a
+# low-noise heartbeat; consider flipping to pull_request once the legs have
+# a stable green streak.
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
-    inputs:
-      language:
-        description: "Template language to scaffold"
-        required: false
-        default: "typescript"
   schedule:
     # Mondays 06:00 UTC — a low-noise heartbeat, does not block PRs.
     - cron: "0 6 * * 1"
@@ -22,6 +17,14 @@ on:
 jobs:
   scaffold-and-compile:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      # One leg per language: this workflow is the only regression net for
+      # the Python and Go generators, so a red leg in one language must not
+      # cancel the others.
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        language: [typescript, python, go]
+    name: scaffold-and-compile (${{ matrix.language }})
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
@@ -34,5 +37,17 @@ jobs:
           registry-url: "https://npm.pkg.github.com"
           scope: "@mavric"
 
+      - name: Setup Go
+        if: matrix.language == 'go'
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+        with:
+          go-version: "stable"
+
+      - name: Setup Python
+        if: matrix.language == 'python'
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.12"
+
       - name: Scaffold and compile
-        run: bash scripts/scaffold-smoke.sh "${{ github.event.inputs.language || 'typescript' }}"
+        run: bash scripts/scaffold-smoke.sh "${{ matrix.language }}"
diff --git a/scripts/scaffold-smoke.sh b/scripts/scaffold-smoke.sh
index d7d901e..7398710 100755
--- a/scripts/scaffold-smoke.sh
+++ b/scripts/scaffold-smoke.sh
@@ -5,12 +5,14 @@
 # Drives the CLI exactly as a new user would, then proves the scaffolded
 # project actually compiles:
 #   1. build the CLI from this checkout
-#   2. `apso init` a fresh TypeScript project (offline, --skip-platform)
-#   3. `apso generate` from the scaffolded .apsorc (if present)
-#   4. install the project's deps and typecheck it
+#   2. `apso init` a fresh project (offline, --skip-platform)
+#   3. `apso generate` from the scaffolded .apsorc (if present) — no
+#      --language flag on purpose: this also regression-tests that a fresh
+#      scaffold resolves its language headlessly instead of prompting
+#   4. install the project's deps and compile/typecheck it (per language)
 #
 # Exit non-zero on the first failure so CI surfaces a broken scaffold.
-# Run locally: bash scripts/scaffold-smoke.sh
+# Run locally: bash scripts/scaffold-smoke.sh [typescript|python|go]
 set -euo pipefail
 
 LANGUAGE="${1:-typescript}"
@@ -30,6 +32,25 @@ cd "$WORKDIR"
 cd smoke-app
 
 if [ -f .apsorc ]; then
+  # Templates ship with "entities": [] and every generator rejects an empty
+  # entity list, so seed one small entity. This also turns the run into a real
+  # codegen check: the generated files must compile below.
+  echo "==> Seeding a smoke entity into .apsorc"
+  node -e '
+    const fs = require("fs");
+    const rc = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(".apsorc", "utf8"));
+    rc.entities = [{
+      name: "SmokeWidget",
+      created_at: true,
+      updated_at: true,
+      fields: [
+        { name: "label", type: "text" },
+        { name: "count", type: "integer", nullable: true },
+      ],
+    }];
+    fs.writeFileSync(".apsorc", JSON.stringify(rc, null, 2) + "\n");
+  '
+
   echo "==> Generating code from .apsorc"
   "$CLI_ROOT/bin/run" generate || {
     echo "FAIL: apso generate errored on a fresh scaffold"
@@ -37,12 +58,43 @@ if [ -f .apsorc ]; then
   }
 fi
 
-echo "==> Installing scaffolded project dependencies"
-npm install
-
-echo "==> Typechecking the scaffolded project"
-if [ "$LANGUAGE" = "typescript" ]; then
-  npx tsc --noEmit
-fi
+case "$LANGUAGE" in
+  typescript)
+    echo "==> Installing scaffolded project dependencies"
+    npm install
+    echo "==> Typechecking the scaffolded project"
+    # --rootDir .: the v2.0.0 template's tsconfig includes test/**/* while
+    # setting rootDir to src, which trips TS6059 under a bare tsc run. rootDir
+    # only shapes emit layout and this is --noEmit, so widening it is safe.
+    npx tsc --noEmit --rootDir .
+    ;;
+  go)
+    echo "==> Resolving scaffolded project dependencies"
+    go mod tidy
+    # cmd/main.go imports the swag-generated app/docs package; the template
+    # README's setup runs swag init before the first build, so mirror that.
+    echo "==> Generating Swagger docs (app/docs package)"
+    go install github.com/swaggo/swag/cmd/swag@latest
+    "$(go env GOPATH)/bin/swag" init -g cmd/main.go -o docs
+    echo "==> Compiling the scaffolded project"
+    go build ./...
+    ;;
+  python)
+    # The template requires Python >= 3.11; override with PYTHON=python3.12
+    # if the default python3 is older.
+    PYTHON_BIN="${PYTHON:-python3}"
+    echo "==> Installing scaffolded project dependencies"
+    "$PYTHON_BIN" -m venv .venv
+    # shellcheck disable=SC1091
+    . .venv/bin/activate
+    pip install --quiet -e .
+    echo "==> Byte-compiling the scaffolded project"
+    python -m compileall -q app
+    ;;
+  *)
+    echo "FAIL: unknown language '$LANGUAGE' (expected typescript, python, or go)"
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+esac
 
 echo "PASS: scaffolded $LANGUAGE project installs and compiles"
diff --git a/src/commands/generate.ts b/src/commands/generate.ts
index 116160a..2b902f2 100644
--- a/src/commands/generate.ts
+++ b/src/commands/generate.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
 } from "../lib";
 import { TargetLanguage, GeneratorConfig } from "../lib/types";
 import BaseCommand from "../lib/base-command";
+import { isInteractive, missingFlag } from "../lib/utils/interactive";
 import { performance } from "perf_hooks";
 import { createFile } from "../lib/utils/file-system";
 import { installCoAuthorHook } from "../lib/utils/git-hooks";
@@ -53,6 +54,15 @@ export default class Generate extends BaseCommand {
       language = configLanguage;
       console.log(`[apso] Using language from .apsorc: ${language}`);
     } else {
+      // Headless (CI / no TTY / APSO_NONINTERACTIVE): never block on a prompt.
+      // Fail fast and name the flag so the caller can retry deterministically.
+      if (!isInteractive()) {
+        this.error(
+          missingFlag(
+            'Pass --language <typescript|python|go> or set "language" in .apsorc.'
+          )
+        );
+      }
       const implementedLanguages = getImplementedLanguages();
       const { selectedLanguage } = await inquirer.prompt<{ selectedLanguage: TargetLanguage }>([
         {
diff --git a/src/lib/utils/template.ts b/src/lib/utils/template.ts
index 043dbf5..3cc4f96 100644
--- a/src/lib/utils/template.ts
+++ b/src/lib/utils/template.ts
@@ -66,6 +66,45 @@ export function cloneTemplate(
   shell.rm("-rf", path.join(projectPath, ".git"));
 
   ensureEnvFile(projectPath, log);
+  stampApsorcLanguage(projectPath, language, log);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Stamp the chosen language into the scaffolded `.apsorc`.
+ *
+ * `apso generate` resolves its target language as flag > .apsorc > prompt.
+ * The TypeScript template (pinned at v2.0.0) ships an `.apsorc` without a
+ * `language` field, so a bare `apso generate` right after `apso init` fell
+ * through to the interactive prompt — which errors in non-TTY contexts
+ * (this is what kept the weekly scaffold-smoke workflow red). Recording the
+ * language `init` was given makes the scaffold self-describing.
+ *
+ * Best-effort: leaves an existing `language` value alone and skips files it
+ * cannot parse as JSON.
+ */
+export function stampApsorcLanguage(
+  projectPath: string,
+  language: TargetLanguage,
+  log: (msg: string) => void
+): void {
+  const apsorcPath = path.join(projectPath, ".apsorc");
+  if (!fs.existsSync(apsorcPath)) return;
+
+  try {
+    const raw = fs.readFileSync(apsorcPath, "utf-8");
+    const config = JSON.parse(raw) as { language?: string };
+    if (config.language) return;
+    config.language = language;
+    const indent = raw.match(/^([\t ]+)"/m)?.[1] ?? "  ";
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      apsorcPath,
+      `${JSON.stringify(config, null, indent)}\n`
+    );
+    log(`Recorded "language": "${language}" in .apsorc`);
+  } catch {
+    // .apsorc may use a format we don't fully parse (e.g. comments) —
+    // leave it untouched rather than risk mangling the user's schema file.
+  }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/test/lib/utils/stamp-apsorc-language.test.ts b/test/lib/utils/stamp-apsorc-language.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5711258
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/lib/utils/stamp-apsorc-language.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import { expect } from "@jest/globals";
+import * as fs from "fs";
+import * as os from "os";
+import * as path from "path";
+import { stampApsorcLanguage } from "../../../src/lib/utils/template";
+
+const noop = (): void => { /* no-op logger for tests */ };
+
+function tmpProject(): string {
+  return fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "apso-stamp-test-"));
+}
+
+describe("stampApsorcLanguage", () => {
+  test("writes the language into an .apsorc that lacks one (scaffold-smoke red)", () => {
+    const dir = tmpProject();
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(dir, ".apsorc"),
+      JSON.stringify({ version: 1, rootFolder: "src", entities: [] }, null, 4)
+    );
+
+    stampApsorcLanguage(dir, "typescript", noop);
+
+    // eslint-disable-next-line unicorn/prefer-json-parse-buffer -- TS types JSON.parse as string-only
+    const config = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path.join(dir, ".apsorc"), "utf-8"));
+    expect(config.language).toBe("typescript");
+    // Existing fields survive the rewrite.
+    expect(config.version).toBe(1);
+    expect(config.rootFolder).toBe("src");
+    expect(config.entities).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  test("leaves an existing language value alone", () => {
+    const dir = tmpProject();
+    const original = JSON.stringify({ version: 2, language: "go", entities: [] });
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(dir, ".apsorc"), original);
+
+    stampApsorcLanguage(dir, "typescript", noop);
+
+    expect(fs.readFileSync(path.join(dir, ".apsorc"), "utf-8")).toBe(original);
+  });
+
+  test("is a no-op when the project has no .apsorc", () => {
+    const dir = tmpProject();
+
+    stampApsorcLanguage(dir, "typescript", noop);
+
+    expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(dir, ".apsorc"))).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  test("leaves an unparseable .apsorc untouched", () => {
+    const dir = tmpProject();
+    const original = '// jsonc comment\n{ "version": 1 }\n';
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(dir, ".apsorc"), original);
+
+    stampApsorcLanguage(dir, "python", noop);
+
+    expect(fs.readFileSync(path.join(dir, ".apsorc"), "utf-8")).toBe(original);
+  });
+
+  test("preserves the file's existing indentation", () => {
+    const dir = tmpProject();
+    fs.writeFileSync(
+      path.join(dir, ".apsorc"),
+      JSON.stringify({ version: 1, entities: [] }, null, 4)
+    );
+
+    stampApsorcLanguage(dir, "go", noop);
+
+    const raw = fs.readFileSync(path.join(dir, ".apsorc"), "utf-8");
+    expect(raw).toContain('    "version"');
+    expect(JSON.parse(raw).language).toBe("go");
+  });
+});