diff --git a/.github/workflows/android.yml b/.github/workflows/android.yml
index c602cb07..ff490e9c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/android.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/android.yml
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
 
       # The project toolchain (rust-toolchain.toml = 1.96) plus the two shipped
       # Android targets (arm64 ships; x86_64 is the emulator/CI ABI).
@@ -105,6 +107,8 @@ jobs:
     needs: cross-build
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       - name: Install Android Rust targets
         run: rustup target add aarch64-linux-android x86_64-linux-android
       - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index a0072b6f..65ef911e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -86,9 +86,19 @@ jobs:
       # the base commit. (On `pull_request` it uses the GitHub API and needs no
       # history.) Without this the push-event filter falls back to "everything
       # changed" — safe, but it loses the docs-only skip on direct main pushes.
+      #
+      # This is the one job in the credential-hardening sweep (#318) where the
+      # change touches the git layer at all: paths-filter reads local git on
+      # `push` events. It needs no authentication — `fetch-depth: 0` means the
+      # base commit is already local, and the `pull_request` path goes through
+      # the GitHub API with its own token — so dropping the persisted credential
+      # is expected to be inert. Failure mode if that is ever wrong is benign
+      # (the filter reports "everything changed" and the full suite runs), but
+      # it would silently cost the docs-only skip the comment above describes.
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
+          persist-credentials: false
       - uses: dorny/paths-filter@v4
         id: filter
         with:
@@ -168,6 +178,8 @@ jobs:
       RUSTDOCFLAGS: -D warnings
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       - uses: ./.github/actions/rust-setup
         with:
           toolchain: 1.96.0
@@ -219,6 +231,8 @@ jobs:
         os: ${{ fromJSON(needs.setup.outputs.os) }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       - uses: ./.github/actions/rust-setup
         with:
           cache-key: test
@@ -246,6 +260,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       - uses: ./.github/actions/rust-setup
         with:
           cache-key: test-roms
@@ -270,6 +286,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       - uses: ./.github/actions/rust-setup
         with:
           targets: thumbv7em-none-eabihf
@@ -288,6 +306,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       - uses: ./.github/actions/rust-setup
         with:
           targets: wasm32-unknown-unknown
@@ -402,6 +422,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       - uses: ./.github/actions/rust-setup
         with:
           apt: "false"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ios.yml b/.github/workflows/ios.yml
index 84ee0a28..d5a68e54 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ios.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ios.yml
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ jobs:
     if: ${{ github.event_name != 'schedule' || vars.IOS_SIGNING_READY == 'true' }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
 
       # v2.0.7 "Trim" — App Store submission floor. From 2026-04-28 every App Store
       # Connect upload must be built with the iOS 26 SDK (Xcode 26). Select the newest
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pgo.yml b/.github/workflows/pgo.yml
index 3eb3cf45..13e4da52 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pgo.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pgo.yml
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@ jobs:
       speedup_pct: ${{ steps.gate.outputs.speedup_pct }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
 
       # Pinned to the project toolchain (rust-toolchain.toml = 1.96.0), matching
       # the other jobs. PGO needs the llvm-tools-preview component (profdata
@@ -193,6 +195,8 @@ jobs:
       contents: read
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       - uses: ./.github/actions/rust-setup
         with:
           toolchain: 1.96.0
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-auto.yml b/.github/workflows/release-auto.yml
index 9eeb411f..276bf0ff 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-auto.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-auto.yml
@@ -67,9 +67,37 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
         with:
           # Build the release from the exact commit CI went green on. A shallow
-          # checkout suffices: we read Cargo.toml + CHANGELOG.md, and the tag
-          # existence check uses `git ls-remote` (no local tag history needed).
+          # checkout suffices: we only read plain text files (Cargo.toml,
+          # CHANGELOG.md, and the optional `.github/release-notes/vX.Y.Z.md`
+          # override), and the tag existence check uses `git ls-remote` (no
+          # local tag history needed).
           ref: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.head_sha }}
+          #
+          # DELIBERATELY the one checkout in this repo that KEEPS persisted Git
+          # credentials (every other one sets `persist-credentials: false`; see
+          # issue #318). The `git ls-remote --tags origin` below is the only
+          # operation in this repo that needs THIS checkout's `origin`
+          # credential. (It is not the only Git-over-network call in `.github/`
+          # — `fastlane match` in `ios.yml` clones the signing repository — but
+          # that one authenticates with its own `MATCH_GIT_*` secrets against a
+          # different remote, so it is unaffected by this setting.) This job is
+          # also unreachable from untrusted input — `workflow_run`, further
+          # gated to `event == 'push'` above — and executes no repository code
+          # at all: it only reads the text files named above. So hardening buys
+          # nothing here while risking a release path that is only exercised at
+          # a version cut.
+          #
+          # If a future sweep wants uniformity, first replace the `ls-remote`
+          # with `gh api repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/git/ref/tags/$tag` (which uses
+          # GH_TOKEN and is unaffected by credential persistence), THEN drop the
+          # credentials. That swap also fixes a latent bug: the `>/dev/null 2>&1`
+          # below makes a transient network/auth failure indistinguishable from
+          # "tag does not exist", so a blip sends the workflow down the
+          # should_release=true path for a version that is already tagged.
+          # `gh release create` then either fails outright (if a release already
+          # exists for that tag) or publishes a release against the pre-existing
+          # tag — noisy or wrong, but not silently duplicated. Fail-closed
+          # handling belongs with that change, not here.
 
       - name: Decide whether a new version needs releasing
         id: decide
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 28cc7695..809301dc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -87,6 +87,8 @@ jobs:
             bin_name: rustynes.exe
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
 
       # Shared toolchain + Linux deps (no-op on macOS/Windows) + cargo cache.
       # The per-target cache key keeps each platform's artifacts separate.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/security.yml b/.github/workflows/security.yml
index 1abd0edb..a152767b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/security.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/security.yml
@@ -53,6 +53,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       # Install the PREBUILT binary, never `cargo install` (build-from-source):
       # the repo pins rustc 1.96 (rust-toolchain.toml), but the current
       # cargo-audit release needs >= 1.88 to COMPILE. The prebuilt binary RUNS
@@ -68,6 +70,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       # Prebuilt binary for the same reason as the audit job: the latest
       # cargo-deny needs rustc >= 1.88 to build from source, while the repo is
       # pinned to 1.96. Policy lives in `deny.toml`.
@@ -81,6 +85,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
       - uses: ./.github/actions/rust-setup
         with:
           toolchain: 1.96.0
diff --git a/.github/workflows/web.yml b/.github/workflows/web.yml
index b8671105..b7215c44 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/web.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/web.yml
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
 
       # Shared toolchain + cargo cache. `apt: true` because the rustdoc build
       # compiles the whole workspace (incl. rustynes-frontend) for the host,
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4f066a3f..e7f36d91 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -36,6 +36,38 @@ cycle-accurate core later replaced.
   `get_fastforwarding`-gated audio-push skip during RetroArch's
   fast-forward/rollback-netplay catch-up path.
 
+### Security
+
+- **`persist-credentials: false` on every CI checkout that compiles or runs
+  repository code (closes #318).** `actions/checkout` defaults to writing the
+  workflow `GITHUB_TOKEN` into `.git/config`, where any code the job then
+  executes from the checkout — Cargo build scripts, proc macros, test
+  binaries, Gradle build scripts, `scripts/*.sh`, the MkDocs build — can read
+  it. On a pull request that tree is by definition unreviewed code, and nearly
+  every CI job compiles or runs it — the exceptions being the `audit` / `deny`
+  jobs, which install prebuilt binaries and only parse `Cargo.lock`. Applied to
+  **18 of the 19** checkouts in
+  `.github/`. Highest-exposure site was not a `ci.yml` job but `web.yml`'s
+  `build`, whose workflow-level `permissions:` grant `pages: write` +
+  `id-token: write` and which is PR-reachable while running `trunk`,
+  `cargo doc`, `pip install`, and `mkdocs build`.
+  Audited rather than applied blanket: `.github/actions/rust-setup` performs
+  no checkout of its own, so call-site hardening is complete coverage; and
+  **every hardened job was confirmed not to need the checkout credential** —
+  nothing pushes commits, tags, or branches, there are no submodules, GitHub
+  Pages uses the OIDC flow (not a `gh-pages` push), and `gh release create` /
+  `softprops/action-gh-release` authenticate by API token while
+  `fastlane match` clones a different remote with its own `MATCH_GIT_*`
+  credentials. The single deliberate
+  exception is `release-auto.yml`'s `prepare`, the one job whose work needs
+  that credential (`git ls-remote --tags origin`); it is
+  unreachable from untrusted input and executes no repository code, so
+  hardening would buy nothing while risking a release path exercised only at a
+  version cut. Its checkout now carries an inline comment recording that, plus
+  the safe migration order for anyone wanting uniformity later. Purely
+  additive CI configuration — no source, build output, or emulation behavior
+  changes.
+
 ### Changed
 
 - **Dependency version-bump consolidation (closes Dependabot #313–#315).**