diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index b6d10b3..247a339 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.PHONY: help build run test lint verify clean docker-up docker-down migrate-up migrate-down generate test-cover frontend-build qa-stats
+.PHONY: help build run test lint verify verify-docs verify-deploy clean docker-up docker-down migrate-up migrate-down generate test-cover frontend-build qa-stats
 
 # Default target - show help
 help:
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ help:
 	@echo "  make lint           Run linter (golangci-lint)"
 	@echo "  make fmt            Format code with gofmt"
 	@echo "  make verify         Pre-commit gate: fmt + vet + lint + test (CI-parity)"
+	@echo "  make verify-docs    Pre-tag gate:    QA-doc drift checks (operator-facing docs)"
+	@echo "  make verify-deploy  Pre-push gate:   digest validity + OpenAPI parity + docker build smoke"
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "Database:"
 	@echo "  make migrate-up     Run migrations (requires DB_URL)"
@@ -116,6 +118,38 @@ verify:
 	@echo ""
 	@echo "verify: PASS — safe to commit"
 
+# verify-docs: pre-tag gate. Runs the QA-doc Part-count + seed-count
+# drift guards that ci-pipeline-cleanup Phase 11 / frozen decision 0.13
+# moved out of CI (was per-push blocking; now operator-runs pre-tag).
+# These guards protect docs/qa-test-guide.md headlines from drifting
+# vs the underlying source-of-truth (testing-guide Part count, seed
+# row count). Operator-facing docs only — not product-affecting.
+verify-docs:
+	@echo "==> QA-doc Part-count drift"
+	@bash scripts/qa-doc-part-count.sh
+	@echo "==> QA-doc seed-count drift"
+	@bash scripts/qa-doc-seed-count.sh
+	@echo ""
+	@echo "verify-docs: PASS — safe to tag"
+
+# verify-deploy: optional pre-push gate. Runs the digest-validity check,
+# the OpenAPI ↔ handler parity check, and a Docker build smoke for the
+# production images (server + agent only — fast subset for local; CI
+# builds all 4 Dockerfiles per ci-pipeline-cleanup Phase 8 / frozen
+# decision 0.10).
+#
+# Per ci-pipeline-cleanup bundle Phase 11 / frozen decision 0.13.
+verify-deploy:
+	@echo "==> Digest validity"
+	@bash scripts/ci-guards/digest-validity.sh
+	@echo "==> OpenAPI ↔ handler parity"
+	@bash scripts/ci-guards/openapi-handler-parity.sh
+	@echo "==> Docker build smoke (server + agent — fast subset)"
+	@docker build -f Dockerfile        -t certctl:verify           .
+	@docker build -f Dockerfile.agent  -t certctl-agent:verify     .
+	@echo ""
+	@echo "verify-deploy: PASS — safe to push"
+
 # Database targets (requires migrate tool)
 migrate-up:
 	@echo "Running migrations..."
diff --git a/scripts/qa-doc-part-count.sh b/scripts/qa-doc-part-count.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..b659a8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/qa-doc-part-count.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# scripts/qa-doc-part-count.sh
+#
+# Bundle P / Strengthening #6 — QA-doc Part-count drift guard.
+# Forces every PR that adds a Part to docs/testing-guide.md to keep
+# docs/qa-test-guide.md headline in sync.
+#
+# Per ci-pipeline-cleanup bundle Phase 11 / frozen decision 0.13:
+# moved out of CI (was in ci.yml) — operator runs via 'make verify-docs'
+# pre-tag. Protects docs-the-operator-reads, not anything the product
+# depends on; CI-blocking on every push was overkill.
+
+set -e
+DOC_PARTS=$(grep -oE '49 of [0-9]+ Parts' docs/qa-test-guide.md | grep -oE '[0-9]+' | tail -1)
+GUIDE_PARTS=$(grep -cE '^## Part [0-9]+:' docs/testing-guide.md)
+if [ -z "$DOC_PARTS" ]; then
+  echo "::error::Could not extract Part count from docs/qa-test-guide.md headline."
+  echo "  Expected pattern: '49 of <N> Parts'"
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [ "$DOC_PARTS" != "$GUIDE_PARTS" ]; then
+  echo "::error::DRIFT — qa-test-guide.md headline claims $DOC_PARTS Parts; testing-guide.md has $GUIDE_PARTS Parts."
+  echo "  Update docs/qa-test-guide.md to match. Bundle I patched this once;"
+  echo "  Bundle P added this guard so the drift cannot recur silently."
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "qa-doc-part-count: clean ($DOC_PARTS == $GUIDE_PARTS)."
diff --git a/scripts/qa-doc-seed-count.sh b/scripts/qa-doc-seed-count.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..04d364b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/qa-doc-seed-count.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# scripts/qa-doc-seed-count.sh
+#
+# Bundle P / Strengthening #6 — QA-doc seed-count drift guard.
+# Forces every PR that adds a seed row to migrations/seed_demo.sql
+# to keep docs/qa-test-guide.md::Seed Data Reference in sync.
+#
+# Per ci-pipeline-cleanup bundle Phase 11 / frozen decision 0.13:
+# moved out of CI (was in ci.yml) — operator runs via 'make verify-docs'
+# pre-tag.
+
+set -e
+# Seed-cert count: agnostic to documented header format. The current
+# documented count lives in `### Certificates (32 total in ...` —
+# extract the first integer in that header.
+DOC_CERTS=$(grep -oE '### Certificates \([0-9]+' docs/qa-test-guide.md | grep -oE '[0-9]+' | head -1)
+# Authoritative count: unique mc-* IDs in seed_demo.sql.
+SEED_CERTS=$(grep -oE 'mc-[a-z0-9_-]+' migrations/seed_demo.sql | sort -u | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
+if [ -z "$DOC_CERTS" ]; then
+  echo "::warning::Could not extract documented cert count from docs/qa-test-guide.md."
+  echo "  Skipping cert-count drift check (header format may have changed)."
+elif [ "$DOC_CERTS" != "$SEED_CERTS" ]; then
+  echo "::error::DRIFT — qa-test-guide.md says $DOC_CERTS certs; seed_demo.sql has $SEED_CERTS unique mc-* IDs."
+  echo "  Update docs/qa-test-guide.md::Seed Data Reference to match."
+  exit 1
+fi
+# Issuers: seed-table count vs doc claim.
+DOC_ISS=$(grep -oE '### Issuers \([0-9]+' docs/qa-test-guide.md | grep -oE '[0-9]+' | head -1)
+# Authoritative: unique iss-* IDs (close enough proxy; the issuers
+# table count IS the unique-ID count for this prefix).
+SEED_ISS=$(grep -oE 'iss-[a-z0-9_-]+' migrations/seed_demo.sql | sort -u | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
+if [ -z "$DOC_ISS" ]; then
+  echo "::warning::Could not extract documented issuer count."
+elif [ "$DOC_ISS" != "$SEED_ISS" ] && [ "$((SEED_ISS - DOC_ISS))" -gt 5 ]; then
+  # Allow up to 5pp slack — iss-* IDs appear in audit_events and
+  # other reference tables that aren't issuer-table rows. Drift
+  # only flags when the spread grows large.
+  echo "::error::DRIFT — qa-test-guide.md says $DOC_ISS issuers; seed_demo.sql has $SEED_ISS unique iss-* IDs (spread > 5)."
+  exit 1
+fi
+echo "qa-doc-seed-count: clean."