diff --git a/.github/workflows/cli-consistency.yml b/.github/workflows/cli-consistency.yml
index ba0edc6..ff97cab 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cli-consistency.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cli-consistency.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ on:
       # sdk-and-plugins as much as in the command reference. A narrower filter
       # means a PR can add a broken invocation and never run this job.
       - 'docs/**'
+      # The repo-root README is a docs surface too, and it is the one GitHub
+      # shows first. It is now swept for version claims, so a change to it must
+      # run this job.
+      - 'README.md'
       - 'scripts/check_cli_docs.py'
       - 'scripts/check_providers.py'
       - 'scripts/cli-docs-allowlist.yml'
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 88755df..b5d05ad 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ Fluid Forge is a contract-first CLI for building, validating, and deploying data
 
 ## Current Versioning
 
-- Current CLI release documented here: `0.8.11`
-- Current scaffolded contract schema examples: `fluidVersion: 0.7.4`
+- Current CLI release documented here: `0.15.0`
+- Current scaffolded contract schema examples: `fluidVersion: 0.7.5`
 
 Those are different on purpose. `fluid version` reports the installed CLI release, while `fluidVersion` inside a contract selects the contract schema version.
 
diff --git a/scripts/check_cli_docs.py b/scripts/check_cli_docs.py
index 3588a23..ae9acdc 100644
--- a/scripts/check_cli_docs.py
+++ b/scripts/check_cli_docs.py
@@ -333,6 +333,14 @@ def _iter_doc_files(root: Path) -> list[Path]:
         if _SKIP_DIR_PARTS & set(path.relative_to(root).parts):
             continue
         out.append(path)
+    # The repo-root README is a docs surface with the widest audience of all -
+    # it is what GitHub shows first - but it lives outside docs/, so the sweep
+    # never saw it. It sat seven releases stale (0.8.11 against a 0.15.0 pin)
+    # while every in-tree page was green.
+    if root == DOCS_DIR:
+        root_readme = REPO_ROOT / "README.md"
+        if root_readme.is_file():
+            out.append(root_readme)
     return out
 
 
@@ -831,7 +839,10 @@ def check_doc_flags(allowlist: set[str]) -> int:
     ),
     (
         "CLI release bullet",
-        re.compile(r"(?i)^\s*[-*]\s*CLI\s+release\s*" + _V),
+        # Tolerates words between "CLI release" and the version - the repo-root
+        # README writes "Current CLI release documented here: `x.y.z`", which the
+        # tighter form missed, letting it sit seven releases stale.
+        re.compile(r"(?i)^\s*[-*]\s*(?:current\s+)?CLI\s+release\b[^.\n]{0,32}?" + _V),
         "cli",
     ),
     (