diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-matrix-check.yml b/.github/workflows/release-matrix-check.yml
index 7135158..fd0d03b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-matrix-check.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-matrix-check.yml
@@ -1,13 +1,15 @@
 # Builds every target the release matrix builds, without releasing anything.
 #
-# The release build only runs on a `v*` tag push, so a dependency that breaks a
-# cross-compiled target is discovered while cutting the release. That is the
-# wrong moment: the tag exists, and the fix lands after a failed publish.
+# A release compiles its binaries once, on the `v*` tag push. What breaks a
+# cross-compiled target is a change to the dependency graph or the toolchain
+# pin, so a pull request to `dev` that makes one pays this matrix, and the tag
+# builds a graph every such change already built.
 #
-# This runs the same seven targets at the two moments that matter: when the
-# dependency graph or toolchain pin changes, which is what breaks a cross
-# build, and on every release branch, which is the last point before a tag
-# exists.
+# Nothing here runs for a release. A release pull request targets `main`, and
+# its version bump would match the paths below; the backport of that bump to
+# `dev` matches them too and changes no dependency. `workflow_dispatch` runs
+# the matrix on any ref, a release branch included, when a release wants a
+# rehearsal.
 #
 # The matrix and its build steps live in the shared workflow this calls, beside
 # the release workflow whose matrix they mirror. Every row is hard-fail there,
@@ -18,20 +20,14 @@ name: Release matrix check
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
-  # Dependency and toolchain changes are what break a cross-compiled target,
-  # so those PRs pay the matrix and nothing else does.
   pull_request:
+    branches:
+      - dev
     paths:
       - Cargo.toml
       - Cargo.lock
       - rust-toolchain.toml
       - .github/workflows/release-matrix-check.yml
-  # Every release branch runs the full matrix regardless of what changed. This
-  # is the last point before a tag exists, and a release carries commits the
-  # path filter above may never have seen together.
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - 'release/**'
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
@@ -42,4 +38,6 @@ concurrency:
 
 jobs:
   check:
+    # `scripts/sync-dev-after-release.sh` names the backport's branch.
+    if: ${{ !startsWith(github.head_ref, 'chore/sync-dev') }}
     uses: brettdavies/.github/.github/workflows/rust-release-matrix-check.yml@main
diff --git a/RELEASES-PREFLIGHT.md b/RELEASES-PREFLIGHT.md
index 4c45fdd..a2df848 100644
--- a/RELEASES-PREFLIGHT.md
+++ b/RELEASES-PREFLIGHT.md
@@ -196,9 +196,12 @@ These items duplicate steps in `RELEASES.md` deliberately: easy to skip, expensi
   or revert it before tagging.
 - [ ] No unmerged dependency advisories from `cargo deny check advisories`. The full local pre-push check
   (`scripts/hooks/pre-push`) mirrors CI; run it explicitly before pushing the release branch.
-- [ ] Every row of the `Release matrix check` run on the release branch is green. It is the only build of the
-  cross-compiled targets before the tag, and no ruleset can require it: the check is path-filtered on PRs, and a
-  required context that never reports leaves a PR pending.
+- [ ] The latest `Release matrix check` run on a PR to `dev` is green (`gh run list --workflow
+  release-matrix-check.yml --event pull_request --limit 5`). The tag's build is the release's one build of the
+  cross-compiled targets, and nothing builds them for the release branch. No ruleset can require the check: it is
+  path-filtered on PRs, and a required context that never reports leaves a PR pending, so a dependency or toolchain PR
+  can merge with it red. `gh workflow run release-matrix-check.yml --ref release/v<version>` rehearses the matrix on
+  the release branch when the release wants one.
 - [ ] `scripts/release/cut-release-branch.sh` exited 0, so its check A held: the staged tree equals `origin/dev`'s apart
   from the version carriers and the guarded paths. A cherry-pick release runs the triple diff in `RELEASES.md` §
   Exception: cherry-pick instead, with `HEAD..origin/dev` filtered by the guarded set (not all of `docs/`, since a
diff --git a/RELEASES.md b/RELEASES.md
index a0a5802..f9960e5 100644
--- a/RELEASES.md
+++ b/RELEASES.md
@@ -460,9 +460,11 @@ changelog check that reads a PR's files, and uses no extra secrets.
 
 Seven targets, listed in the `build` row of [§ Tagging and publishing](#tagging-and-publishing). The two musl rows are
 hard-blocking (`linux_musl_required: true`) and the x86_64-musl binary is exec-verified inside `alpine:latest`
-(`linux_musl_verify_alpine: true`). `release-matrix-check.yml` builds the same seven rows on every push to a `release/*`
-branch, and on a PR that changes `Cargo.toml`, `Cargo.lock`, or `rust-toolchain.toml`, so a broken row surfaces before
-the tag.
+(`linux_musl_verify_alpine: true`). A release compiles the seven rows once, on the tag push. `release-matrix-check.yml`
+builds the same rows on a PR to `dev` that changes `Cargo.toml`, `Cargo.lock`, or `rust-toolchain.toml`, since those
+are the changes that break a cross-compiled row, so a broken row surfaces on the change that broke it. It does not run
+for a release branch, a release PR, or the backport of a release's version bump; `gh workflow run
+release-matrix-check.yml --ref release/v<version>` runs it on a release branch when a release wants a rehearsal.
 
 Four of the archives are also what Homebrew installs. `Formula/agentnative.rb` in `brettdavies/homebrew-tap` names
 `agentnative-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz`, `agentnative-x86_64-apple-darwin.tar.gz`,