diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 6492e41db58d..3199f72f9a63 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -883,7 +883,12 @@ jobs:
           name: llama-windows-cuda-${{ matrix.sm }}-x64.7z
 
   release:
-    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'schedule' || github.event.inputs.create_release == 'true' }}
+    # always() overrides the default behavior of skipping this job when a
+    # needed build job fails or is skipped (e.g. one CUDA sm_* matrix leg
+    # fails, or windows-cuda gets skipped because windows-cpu failed). The
+    # job must still run so the per-family checks below can decide what's
+    # actually complete and safe to publish.
+    if: ${{ always() && (github.event_name == 'schedule' || github.event.inputs.create_release == 'true') }}
 
     # Fine-grant permission
     # https://docs.github.com/en/actions/security-for-github-actions/security-guides/automatic-token-authentication#modifying-the-permissions-for-the-github_token
@@ -925,12 +930,21 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           mkdir -p release
 
+          # Windows CPU is a hard prerequisite for every Windows zip-based
+          # artifact (its binaries get merged into e.g. the ROCm zip below),
+          # not just its own "cpu" family. If it's missing, none of those
+          # zips can be completed, so skip moving any of them into release/
+          # rather than hard-failing the whole job — Ubuntu/CUDA artifacts
+          # below are unaffected, and the completeness check further down
+          # will see the missing files and drop the cpu/rocm families.
           echo "Adding CPU backend files to Windows ZIP archives..."
+          cpu_zip_available=true
           for arch in x64; do
             cpu_zip="artifact/llama-bin-win-cpu-${arch}.zip"
             if [ ! -f "$cpu_zip" ]; then
-              echo "::error::Missing required CPU artifact $cpu_zip"
-              exit 1
+              echo "::warning::Missing CPU artifact $cpu_zip — Windows zip-based artifacts (cpu, rocm) cannot be completed and will be dropped by the completeness check below."
+              cpu_zip_available=false
+              continue
             fi
             temp_dir=$(mktemp -d)
             echo "Extracting CPU backend for $arch..."
@@ -949,16 +963,21 @@ jobs:
             rm -rf "$temp_dir"
           done
 
-          echo "Renaming and moving zips to release..."
-          for zip_file in artifact/llama-bin-win-*.zip; do
-            base_name=$(basename "$zip_file" .zip)
-            zip_name="llama-${{ steps.tag.outputs.name }}-${base_name#llama-}.zip"
-            echo "Moving $zip_file to release/$zip_name"
-            mv "$zip_file" "release/$zip_name"
-          done
+          if [ "$cpu_zip_available" = true ]; then
+            echo "Renaming and moving zips to release..."
+            for zip_file in artifact/llama-bin-win-*.zip; do
+              base_name=$(basename "$zip_file" .zip)
+              zip_name="llama-${{ steps.tag.outputs.name }}-${base_name#llama-}.zip"
+              echo "Moving $zip_file to release/$zip_name"
+              mv "$zip_file" "release/$zip_name"
+            done
+          else
+            echo "Skipping Windows zip artifacts (cpu, rocm) — CPU backend was unavailable to merge into them."
+          fi
 
           echo "Renaming and moving tar.gz files to release..."
           for tar_file in artifact/*.tar.gz; do
+            [ -f "$tar_file" ] || continue
             base_name=$(basename "$tar_file" .tar.gz)
             tar_name="llama-${{ steps.tag.outputs.name }}-${base_name#llama-}.tar.gz"
             echo "Moving $tar_file to release/$tar_name"
@@ -993,13 +1012,72 @@ jobs:
           fi
 
       - name: Check release artifacts
+        id: check_artifacts
+        env:
+          TAG: ${{ steps.tag.outputs.name }}
         run: |
+          declare -A missing_by_family=()
+
+          # Glob that matches every artifact belonging to a family, used to
+          # drop the whole family if any piece of it is missing. Must not
+          # overlap with any other family's files.
+          declare -A family_glob=(
+            [cuda]="release/llama-${TAG}-*cuda-sm_*"
+            [rocm]="release/llama-${TAG}-bin-*rocm-*"
+            [openvino]="release/llama-${TAG}-bin-*openvino-*"
+            [cpu]="release/llama-${TAG}-bin-win-cpu-*"
+          )
+
+          check_glob() {
+            local family="$1" pattern="$2"
+            if ! ls $pattern >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+              echo "::error::[$family] Missing artifact: $pattern"
+              missing_by_family[$family]=$(( ${missing_by_family[$family]:-0} + 1 ))
+            fi
+          }
+
+          # Each backend family is checked independently, but must be
+          # published as a complete, internally-consistent set across every
+          # platform/variant it covers (e.g. all 7 CUDA sm_* builds for
+          # ubuntu x64/arm64 and windows) — never a partial mix. A gap in one
+          # family drops that whole family from the release; other families
+          # are unaffected.
+          for sm in sm_75 sm_80 sm_86 sm_89 sm_90 sm_100 sm_120; do
+            check_glob cuda "release/llama-${TAG}-ubuntu-cuda-${sm}-x64.tar.xz"
+            check_glob cuda "release/llama-${TAG}-ubuntu-cuda-${sm}-arm64.tar.xz"
+            check_glob cuda "release/llama-${TAG}-windows-cuda-${sm}-x64.7z"
+          done
+
+          check_glob rocm "release/llama-${TAG}-bin-ubuntu-rocm-*-x64.tar.gz"
+          check_glob rocm "release/llama-${TAG}-bin-win-rocm-*-x64.zip"
+          check_glob openvino "release/llama-${TAG}-bin-ubuntu-openvino-*-x64.tar.gz"
+          check_glob cpu "release/llama-${TAG}-bin-win-cpu-x64.zip"
+
+          missing=0
+          summary=""
+          for family in "${!missing_by_family[@]}"; do
+            count=${missing_by_family[$family]}
+            echo "::warning::$family family is incomplete ($count artifact(s) missing) — dropping all $family artifacts from this release."
+            rm -fv ${family_glob[$family]} 2>/dev/null || true
+            missing=$((missing + count))
+            summary="${summary}${summary:+, }${family}: $count missing, family dropped"
+          done
+          echo "missing=$missing" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "summary=$summary" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
           files=$(find ./release -maxdepth 1 \( -name '*.zip' -o -name '*.tar.gz' -o -name '*.tar.xz' -o -name '*.7z' \) 2>/dev/null | wc -l)
+
+          # Never create or update a release with nothing to publish.
           if [ "$files" -eq 0 ]; then
-            echo "No release artifacts found in ./release — aborting before creating a release."
+            echo "::error::No release artifacts found in ./release — aborting before creating a release."
             exit 1
           fi
-          echo "Found $files artifact(s) ready to upload."
+
+          if [ "$missing" -gt 0 ]; then
+            echo "$missing artifact(s) missing ($summary) — continuing to publish the $files artifact(s) from complete families. The job will still fail below so the gap gets noticed."
+          else
+            echo "All expected artifacts present. Found $files artifact(s) ready to upload."
+          fi
 
       # Get the release for this tag, creating it if it does not exist yet.
       # This is idempotent: if a previous run created the release but failed
@@ -1081,22 +1159,29 @@ jobs:
               }
             }
 
-            // Assets already attached (from an earlier partial run). GitHub only
-            // creates an asset once its upload completes, so anything listed here
-            // is intact and can be skipped — re-runs only fill the gaps.
+            const files = fs.readdirSync('./release').filter((f) =>
+              f.endsWith('.zip') || f.endsWith('.tar.gz') || f.endsWith('.tar.xz') || f.endsWith('.7z'));
+            const wanted = new Set(files);
+
+            // Reconcile existing release assets against what this run decided to
+            // publish: drop anything not fully uploaded (a broken partial upload)
+            // and anything not in the current file set. The latter case matters
+            // because the release is reused across runs against the same tag —
+            // if a family was complete and published in an earlier run but this
+            // run finds it incomplete and drops it locally, its assets from that
+            // earlier run would otherwise linger and make the family look
+            // complete even though this run couldn't reproduce it.
             const existing = new Set();
             for (const a of await github.paginate(github.rest.repos.listReleaseAssets, { owner, repo, release_id })) {
-              if (a.state === 'uploaded') {
+              if (a.state === 'uploaded' && wanted.has(a.name)) {
                 existing.add(a.name);
               } else {
-                core.warning(`deleting incomplete asset ${a.name} (${a.state})`);
+                const reason = a.state !== 'uploaded' ? `incomplete (${a.state})` : 'stale (not part of this run)';
+                core.warning(`deleting ${reason} asset ${a.name}`);
                 await github.rest.repos.deleteReleaseAsset({ owner, repo, asset_id: a.id });
               }
             }
 
-            const files = fs.readdirSync('./release').filter((f) =>
-              f.endsWith('.zip') || f.endsWith('.tar.gz') || f.endsWith('.tar.xz') || f.endsWith('.7z'));
-
             let uploaded = 0;
             let skipped = 0;
             for (const file of files) {
@@ -1128,3 +1213,9 @@ jobs:
             }
 
             core.info(`Done: ${uploaded} uploaded, ${skipped} already present, ${files.length} total.`);
+
+      - name: Fail if any artifacts were missing
+        if: steps.check_artifacts.outputs.missing != '0'
+        run: |
+          echo "::error::${{ steps.check_artifacts.outputs.missing }} artifact(s) were missing (${{ steps.check_artifacts.outputs.summary }}) — the incomplete families were dropped from this release; other families were still published. See the 'Check release artifacts' step for the full per-file list."
+          exit 1