diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e17f52f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+name: CI
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [master]
+  pull_request:
+
+jobs:
+  test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: 24
+      - run: npm ci
+      - run: npm run typecheck
+      - run: npm test
+      - run: npm run build
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: dist
+          path: dist/
+
+  # The library claims engines >= 16; prove it by exercising the built
+  # ESM/CJS output on every supported major (the TS test suite itself needs
+  # Node 23+ for type stripping, so old majors smoke-test dist instead).
+  compat:
+    needs: test
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        node: [16, 18, 20, 22]
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: dist
+          path: dist
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}
+      - run: node scripts/smoke.mjs
+      - run: node scripts/smoke.cjs
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4a1b72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+name: Release
+
+# Publishes to npm when a version tag is pushed (git tag v1.2.3 && git push --tags).
+#
+# Authentication uses npm trusted publishing (OIDC): configure it once on
+# npmjs.com under the package's Settings -> Trusted publisher, pointing at
+# this repository and this workflow file. No token secret is needed, and
+# provenance attestation is generated automatically.
+#
+# Token fallback: create a granular automation token on npmjs.com, save it
+# as the NPM_TOKEN repository secret, and uncomment the env line below.
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags: ['v*']
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  id-token: write
+
+jobs:
+  publish:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: 24
+          registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
+      - run: npm ci
+      # prepublishOnly runs typecheck + tests + build before anything is sent.
+      - run: npm publish
+        # env:
+        #   NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..945af05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Changelog
+
+All notable changes to this project are documented in this file.
+The format follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
+and the project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
+
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Added
+- CI workflow: full test suite on Node 24 plus a compatibility matrix that
+  smoke-tests the built ESM/CJS output on Node 16/18/20/22, backing the
+  `engines: >=16` claim with an actual run.
+- Release workflow publishing to npm via trusted publishing (OIDC) with
+  provenance attestation.
+
+## [1.0.1] - 2026-08-28
+
+### Changed
+- Word/line modes now use a fused scan pipeline: token boundaries and
+  FNV-1a hashes are collected in one pass, interning runs through an
+  open-addressed table reading straight out of the input strings, and every
+  output text is a single slice — no token substrings are materialized.
+- `char` mode bypasses tokenization entirely (code point scan straight into
+  typed arrays, surrogate-pair-safe boundary handling).
+- Common token prefix/suffix is stripped before interning.
+
+### Performance
+- Word diff on a 44 KB / 10-edit document: 1.24 ms → 0.97 ms.
+- Char diff on the same document: 1.63 ms → 0.62 ms.
+- Line diff: 0.33 ms → 0.27 ms.
+
+### Documentation
+- README benchmarks now compare against jsdiff, diff-match-patch, and
+  fast-myers-diff end-to-end (`npm run bench`), with fairness caveats.
+- npm search metadata: rewritten description and expanded keywords.
+
+## [1.0.0] - 2026-08-28
+
+### Added
+- Initial release: Myers O(ND) shortest-edit-script diff with the
+  linear-space middle-snake refinement, token interning to `Int32Array`,
+  reusable scratch buffers, and Unicode-aware word/char/line tokenization.
+- `diff(a, b, { mode })`, `diffTokens(aTokens, bTokens)`, and `tokenize`
+  public API; ESM + CJS + browser IIFE builds with bundled type definitions.
+- Verification suite: seeded fuzz round-trips and optimality checks against
+  a reference LCS dynamic program.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cf2bc63..ef8c1ad 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # @krkarma777/string-diff
 
 [![npm version](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/%40krkarma777%2Fstring-diff)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@krkarma777/string-diff)
+[![CI](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/krkarma777/string-difference-finder/ci.yml?branch=master&label=CI)](https://github.com/krkarma777/string-difference-finder/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
 [![weekly downloads](https://img.shields.io/npm/dw/%40krkarma777%2Fstring-diff)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@krkarma777/string-diff)
 [![total downloads](https://badgen.net/npm/dt/@krkarma777/string-diff?label=total%20downloads)](https://npm-stat.com/charts.html?package=%40krkarma777%2Fstring-diff)
 [![minzipped size](https://img.shields.io/badge/min%2Bgzip-2.9%20kB-blue)](#how-it-works)
diff --git a/scripts/smoke.cjs b/scripts/smoke.cjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed1dbfd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/smoke.cjs
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+// Smoke test for the built CommonJS entry, runnable on every supported Node major.
+const assert = require('node:assert');
+const { diff } = require('../dist/index.cjs');
+
+const entries = diff('a b c', 'a x c');
+assert.deepStrictEqual(entries, [
+  { operation: 'equal', text: 'a ' },
+  { operation: 'delete', text: 'b' },
+  { operation: 'insert', text: 'x' },
+  { operation: 'equal', text: ' c' },
+]);
+
+const a = 'lorem ipsum dolor';
+const b = 'lorem IPSUM dolor sit';
+for (const mode of ['word', 'char', 'line']) {
+  const result = diff(a, b, { mode });
+  const joinedA = result.filter(e => e.operation !== 'insert').map(e => e.text).join('');
+  const joinedB = result.filter(e => e.operation !== 'delete').map(e => e.text).join('');
+  assert.strictEqual(joinedA, a);
+  assert.strictEqual(joinedB, b);
+}
+
+console.log(`smoke.cjs OK on node ${process.version}`);
diff --git a/scripts/smoke.mjs b/scripts/smoke.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f901357
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/smoke.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+// Smoke test for the built ESM entry, runnable on every supported Node major.
+import assert from 'node:assert';
+import { diff, diffTokens, tokenize } from '../dist/index.js';
+
+const entries = diff('the quick fox', 'the slow fox');
+assert.deepStrictEqual(entries, [
+  { operation: 'equal', text: 'the ' },
+  { operation: 'delete', text: 'quick' },
+  { operation: 'insert', text: 'slow' },
+  { operation: 'equal', text: ' fox' },
+]);
+
+assert.deepStrictEqual(diff('안녕하세요 세계', '안녕하세요 지구')[0], { operation: 'equal', text: '안녕하세요 ' });
+
+for (const mode of ['word', 'char', 'line']) {
+  const a = 'alpha beta\ngamma delta 😀';
+  const b = 'alpha BETA\ngamma epsilon 😀!';
+  const result = diff(a, b, { mode });
+  const joinedA = result.filter(e => e.operation !== 'insert').map(e => e.text).join('');
+  const joinedB = result.filter(e => e.operation !== 'delete').map(e => e.text).join('');
+  assert.strictEqual(joinedA, a, `round-trip a failed in ${mode} mode`);
+  assert.strictEqual(joinedB, b, `round-trip b failed in ${mode} mode`);
+}
+
+assert.deepStrictEqual(diffTokens(['x', 'y'], ['x', 'z']).length, 3);
+assert.deepStrictEqual(tokenize('a b', 'word'), ['a', ' ', 'b']);
+
+console.log(`smoke.mjs OK on node ${process.version}`);