diff --git a/.github/workflows/trunk-release-guard.yml b/.github/workflows/trunk-release-guard.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 5c35da9..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/trunk-release-guard.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,60 +0,0 @@
-name: Trunk release guard
-
-# Blocks merging any PR on the production repo (in practice: release-please's
-# release PRs) while the staging trunk has commits production lacks — i.e. the
-# promote hasn't run. Merging in that state ships a stale release and, via the
-# squash commit, forks the trunks (the 2026-08-24 v2.18.1 incident).
-#
-# pull_request-triggered only, BY DESIGN: a scheduled run that re-stamps
-# results onto open PRs is what deadlocked the staging back-sync PR — do not
-# add a schedule here. After a promote, release-please force-updates the
-# release PR, which re-triggers this check and turns it green.
-#
-# Lives in the staging repo (sealed as custom code) and rides the promote to
-# production, where the `trunk-synced-release` job is a required check.
-# First-run: a check counts as "required" only after it reports once.
-on:
-  pull_request:
-    branches: [main]
-    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
-  workflow_dispatch: {}
-
-permissions:
-  contents: read
-
-env:
-  STAGING_REPO: browserbase/browserbase-python-staging
-
-jobs:
-  trunk-synced-release:
-    # Runner comes from the STLC_RUNNER repo/org variable when set; defaults to GitHub-hosted.
-    runs-on: ${{ vars.STLC_RUNNER || 'ubuntu-latest' }}
-    # Only meaningful on production; the staging copy of this file is inert.
-    if: github.repository == 'browserbase/sdk-python'
-    steps:
-      # Short-lived installation token for browserbase-stlc-bot (CB-19) —
-      # needed to read the private staging repo.
-      - name: Mint bot token
-        id: bot-token
-        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@fee1f7d63c2ff003460e3d139729b119787bc349 # v2.2.2
-        with:
-          app-id: ${{ secrets.STLC_BOT_APP_ID }}
-          private-key: ${{ secrets.STLC_BOT_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-          owner: browserbase
-          repositories: sdk-python,browserbase-python-staging
-
-      - name: Require staging main to be contained in production main
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.bot-token.outputs.token }}
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          d=$(mktemp -d); git -C "$d" init -q
-          git -C "$d" fetch -q --no-tags \
-            "https://x-access-token:${GH_TOKEN}@github.com/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}.git" main:refs/remotes/prod/main
-          git -C "$d" fetch -q --no-tags \
-            "https://x-access-token:${GH_TOKEN}@github.com/${STAGING_REPO}.git" main:refs/remotes/staging/main
-          if ! git -C "$d" merge-base --is-ancestor staging/main prod/main; then
-            echo "::error title=Promote before merging::${STAGING_REPO} main has commits ${GITHUB_REPOSITORY} main lacks. Run stlc-promote.yml on the staging repo; release-please will refresh this PR and re-run this check."
-            exit 1
-          fi
-          echo "Staging trunk is contained in production main — safe to merge."