diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-php-cli-binaries.yml b/.github/workflows/build-php-cli-binaries.yml
index 6d17471f61..0b7f60f777 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-php-cli-binaries.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-php-cli-binaries.yml
@@ -126,20 +126,53 @@ jobs:
           echo "PHP_MINOR=$php_minor" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
           echo "PHP_PACKAGE_ID=$PHP_VERSION-$PHP_PACKAGE_VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
+      # Linux runs SPC inside the spc-gnu-docker container, which ships its own
+      # PHP + Composer; host PHP is only needed for the macOS path. The two
+      # macOS runners need different treatment:
+      #
+      #   - macos-15-intel preinstalls PHP and Composer, and cannot use
+      #     shivammathur/setup-php: that action installs from the
+      #     shivammathur/php tap, which no longer publishes x86_64 macOS
+      #     bottles. brew then falls back to building PHP from source and the
+      #     step times out after ~30 minutes, failing every macos-x86_64 build.
+      #   - macos-15 (arm64) preinstalls neither, so it keeps using the action,
+      #     which resolves an arm64 bottle quickly.
+      #
+      # SPC only needs PHP >= 8.3 with mbstring and zlib.
       - name: Setup PHP for static-php-cli
-        # Linux runs SPC inside the spc-gnu-docker container, which ships
-        # its own PHP + Composer; host PHP is only needed for the macOS path.
-        if: runner.os == 'macOS'
+        if: matrix.target == 'macos-aarch64'
         uses: shivammathur/setup-php@f3e473d116dcccaddc5834248c87452386958240 # 2.37.2
         with:
           coverage: none
           tools: composer:v2
           php-version: 8.4
           ini-values: memory_limit=-1
-          extensions: curl, openssl, mbstring
+          extensions: mbstring, zlib
         env:
           phpts: nts
 
+      - name: Verify preinstalled PHP for static-php-cli
+        if: matrix.target == 'macos-x86_64'
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+
+          if ! command -v php >/dev/null || ! command -v composer >/dev/null; then
+            echo "Expected PHP and Composer to be preinstalled on the macOS Intel runner image." >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          php -r 'exit(version_compare(PHP_VERSION, "8.3", ">=") ? 0 : 1);' \
+            || { echo "static-php-cli needs PHP >= 8.3, found $(php -r 'echo PHP_VERSION;')." >&2; exit 1; }
+
+          for extension in mbstring zlib; do
+            php -m | grep -qix "$extension" \
+              || { echo "Required PHP extension missing: $extension." >&2; exit 1; }
+          done
+
+          php -v
+          composer --version
+
       - name: Install static-php-cli dependencies
         # See above — composer install for Linux happens inside the container.
         if: runner.os == 'macOS'