diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-readiness.yml b/.github/workflows/release-readiness.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..96c0bf1b94a
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+++ b/.github/workflows/release-readiness.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+name: Release readiness (snapshot dependency)
+
+# Makes sure that we aren't relying on SNAPSHOT/dev versions of smithy-kotlin before merging
+# Otherwise we could forget because the rest of CI is masking it
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [ main ]
+
+jobs:
+  release-readiness:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout sources
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Configure Gradle
+        uses: awslabs/aws-kotlin-repo-tools/.github/actions/configure-gradle@main
+
+      - name: Build SDK
+        run: ./gradlew test jvmTest
+
+      - name: Build SDK client
+        run: |
+          ./gradlew -Paws.kotlin.native=false -Paws.services=s3 bootstrap
+          ./gradlew -Paws.kotlin.native=false build
+
+      - name: Emit error message
+        if: ${{ failure() }}
+        run: |
+          echo "::error ::Build failed. Did you forget to release smithy-kotlin and bump the dependency version?"
+          exit 1