diff --git a/.github/scripts/validate-published-poms.sh b/.github/scripts/validate-published-poms.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..dd730985
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/validate-published-poms.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Fails the build if any published SKaiNET POM contains invalid coordinates.
+#
+# Catches the class of bug shipped in 0.19.0, where `skainet-backend-cpu`'s POM
+# declared `sk.ainet:skainet-backend-api-jvm:unspecified` because
+# `skainet-backend-api` was not configured to publish and the root
+# `allprojects { group = "sk.ainet" }` disagreed with `GROUP=sk.ainet.core`.
+#
+# Two checks per generated POM under ~/.m2/repository/sk/ainet/core/**:
+#   1. No `<version>unspecified</version>` anywhere in the POM.
+#   2. Every `<dependency>` whose `<artifactId>` starts with `skainet-` uses
+#      `<groupId>sk.ainet.core</groupId>` — `project(...)` deps on sibling
+#      modules must resolve to the same publish group.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+REPO_ROOT="${HOME}/.m2/repository/sk/ainet/core"
+
+if [[ ! -d "${REPO_ROOT}" ]]; then
+  echo "ERROR: no published artifacts found under ${REPO_ROOT}" >&2
+  echo "Did ./gradlew publishToMavenLocal run successfully?" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+mapfile -t POMS < <(find "${REPO_ROOT}" -type f -name '*.pom' | sort)
+
+if [[ ${#POMS[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
+  echo "ERROR: no .pom files under ${REPO_ROOT}" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Scanning ${#POMS[@]} published POMs..."
+
+report_file="$(mktemp)"
+trap 'rm -f "${report_file}"' EXIT
+
+for pom in "${POMS[@]}"; do
+  rel="${pom#${REPO_ROOT}/}"
+
+  if grep -Fq '<version>unspecified</version>' "${pom}"; then
+    {
+      echo "FAIL  ${rel}: contains <version>unspecified</version>"
+      grep -n '<version>unspecified</version>' "${pom}" | sed 's/^/      /'
+    } >> "${report_file}"
+  fi
+
+  bad_deps="$(awk '
+    /<dependency>/                          { inDep=1; block=""; next }
+    inDep                                   { block = block "\n" $0 }
+    /<\/dependency>/ {
+      inDep=0
+      if (block ~ /<artifactId>skainet-/ && block !~ /<groupId>sk\.ainet\.core<\/groupId>/) {
+        print block
+      }
+    }
+  ' "${pom}")"
+
+  if [[ -n "${bad_deps}" ]]; then
+    {
+      echo "FAIL  ${rel}: skainet-* dependency with non-sk.ainet.core group"
+      printf '%s\n' "${bad_deps}" | sed 's/^/      /'
+    } >> "${report_file}"
+  fi
+done
+
+if [[ -s "${report_file}" ]]; then
+  cat "${report_file}" >&2
+  echo "" >&2
+  echo "POM validation failed. See the 0.19.1 CHANGELOG entry for the regression this check prevents." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "All ${#POMS[@]} POMs look good."
diff --git a/.github/workflows/verify-poms.yml b/.github/workflows/verify-poms.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d299192b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/verify-poms.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+name: Verify published POMs
+
+on: [push, pull_request]
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+jobs:
+  verify-poms:
+    name: Publish to Maven local and validate POM coordinates
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 45
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - name: Copy CI gradle.properties
+        run: mkdir -p ~/.gradle ; cp .github/ci-gradle.properties ~/.gradle/gradle.properties
+
+      - name: Set up JDK 25
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v5
+        with:
+          distribution: 'zulu'
+          java-version: 25
+
+      - name: Publish to Maven local
+        env:
+          GRADLE_OPTS: -Dorg.gradle.jvmargs="-Xmx4g -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8"
+        run: |
+          ./gradlew --no-daemon --stacktrace --no-configuration-cache \
+            -PRELEASE_SIGNING_ENABLED=false \
+            -PsignAllPublications=false \
+            publishToMavenLocal
+
+      - name: Validate POM coordinates
+        run: ./.github/scripts/validate-published-poms.sh
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3f607a29..b80d1b67 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.19.1] - 2026-04-21
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **Broken POM for `skainet-backend-cpu`**: The 0.19.0 POM for `sk.ainet.core:skainet-backend-cpu-*` declared a runtime dependency on `sk.ainet:skainet-backend-api-jvm:unspecified` — wrong group coordinate and no valid version, because `skainet-backend-api` was not configured to publish and the root `allprojects { group = "sk.ainet" }` disagreed with the `GROUP=sk.ainet.core` used by vanniktech's maven publish plugin. Consumers pulling 0.19.0 hit unresolved-dependency errors. Fixed by:
+  - Applying `vanniktech.mavenPublish` and setting `POM_ARTIFACT_ID=skainet-backend-api` on `skainet-backend-api` so it is actually published alongside the BOM entry that already referenced it.
+  - Aligning `allprojects { group = "sk.ainet.core" }` with the `GROUP` property and pinning `version` from `VERSION_NAME` so `project(...)` coordinates in generated POMs are consistent.
+- **CI guard**: New `verify-published-poms` job publishes to the local Maven repository and fails the build if any generated `.pom` contains `<version>unspecified</version>` or references a project-local group outside `sk.ainet.core`, preventing a regression of this class of coordinate bug.
+
 ## [0.19.0] - 2026-04-20
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
index 0df84bb7..aed173fb 100644
--- a/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/build.gradle.kts
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ plugins {
 }
 
 allprojects {
-    group = "sk.ainet"
+    group = "sk.ainet.core"
+    version = providers.gradleProperty("VERSION_NAME").getOrElse("unspecified")
 }
 
 // Require JDK 21+ but allow any newer version (produces Java 21 bytecode via --release / jvmTarget)
diff --git a/skainet-backends/skainet-backend-api/build.gradle.kts b/skainet-backends/skainet-backend-api/build.gradle.kts
index a573fcca..601c87ed 100644
--- a/skainet-backends/skainet-backend-api/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/skainet-backends/skainet-backend-api/build.gradle.kts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.dsl.JvmTarget
 plugins {
     alias(libs.plugins.kotlinMultiplatform)
     alias(libs.plugins.androidMultiplatformLibrary)
+    alias(libs.plugins.vanniktech.mavenPublish)
     id("sk.ainet.dokka")
 }
 
diff --git a/skainet-backends/skainet-backend-api/gradle.properties b/skainet-backends/skainet-backend-api/gradle.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a0f9c064
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skainet-backends/skainet-backend-api/gradle.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+POM_ARTIFACT_ID=skainet-backend-api
+POM_NAME=skainet backend-neutral API