diff --git a/.github/workflows/agentic-ci-authorized-checks.yml b/.github/workflows/agentic-ci-authorized-checks.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0db32cf6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/agentic-ci-authorized-checks.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+name: "Agentic CI Authorization Checks"
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      pr_number:
+        description: "Agentic CI PR number"
+        required: true
+        type: string
+      expected_head_sha:
+        description: "PR head SHA authorized by the maintainer"
+        required: true
+        type: string
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  pull-requests: read
+
+concurrency:
+  group: agentic-ci-authorized-checks-${{ inputs.pr_number }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+defaults:
+  run:
+    shell: bash
+
+jobs:
+  pr:
+    timeout-minutes: 5
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      title_b64: ${{ steps.metadata.outputs.title_b64 }}
+      trusted: ${{ steps.metadata.outputs.trusted }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Load PR metadata
+        id: metadata
+        env:
+          EXPECTED_HEAD_SHA: ${{ inputs.expected_head_sha }}
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          PR_NUMBER: ${{ inputs.pr_number }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+        run: |
+          if ! [[ "$PR_NUMBER" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+            echo "::error::Invalid PR number: ${PR_NUMBER}"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          PR_JSON=$(gh api "repos/${REPO}/pulls/${PR_NUMBER}")
+          PR_AUTHOR=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.user.login')
+          HEAD_REPO=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.head.repo.full_name')
+          HEAD_REF=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.head.ref')
+          HEAD_SHA=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.head.sha')
+          TITLE=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.title')
+          PR_BODY=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.body // ""')
+
+          if [ "$HEAD_SHA" != "$EXPECTED_HEAD_SHA" ]; then
+            echo "::error::PR head moved from ${EXPECTED_HEAD_SHA} to ${HEAD_SHA}."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if [ "$GITHUB_SHA" != "$HEAD_SHA" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Workflow SHA ${GITHUB_SHA} does not match PR head ${HEAD_SHA}."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          TRUSTED=false
+          printf '%s' "$PR_BODY" > /tmp/pr-body-raw.txt
+          # Commit authors can be spoofed; trust only PR metadata GitHub controls.
+          if [ "$PR_AUTHOR" = "github-actions[bot]" ] && \
+             [ "$HEAD_REPO" = "$REPO" ] && \
+             [[ "$HEAD_REF" == agentic-ci/* ]] && \
+             grep -Eq '<!-- agentic-ci finding=[^[:space:]]+ suite=[^[:space:]]+ -->' /tmp/pr-body-raw.txt; then
+            TRUSTED=true
+          fi
+
+          echo "trusted=${TRUSTED}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "title_b64=$(printf '%s' "$TITLE" | base64 -w0)" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+  DCOAssistant:
+    needs: pr
+    if: always()
+    timeout-minutes: 5
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Validate authorization
+        env:
+          PR_RESULT: ${{ needs.pr.result }}
+          TRUSTED: ${{ needs.pr.outputs.trusted }}
+        run: |
+          if [ "$PR_RESULT" != "success" ] || [ "$TRUSTED" != "true" ]; then
+            echo "::error::This PR is not an authorized Agentic CI PR."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "Trusted Agentic CI PR authorized by a maintainer."
+
+  semantic-pull-request:
+    name: semantic-pull-request / semantic-pull-request
+    needs: pr
+    if: always()
+    timeout-minutes: 5
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Validate PR title
+        env:
+          PR_RESULT: ${{ needs.pr.result }}
+          TITLE_B64: ${{ needs.pr.outputs.title_b64 }}
+          TRUSTED: ${{ needs.pr.outputs.trusted }}
+        run: |
+          if [ "$PR_RESULT" != "success" ] || [ "$TRUSTED" != "true" ]; then
+            echo "::error::This PR is not an authorized Agentic CI PR."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          TITLE=$(printf '%s' "$TITLE_B64" | base64 -d)
+          TYPES='feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|build|ci|chore|revert|cp'
+          REGEX="^(${TYPES})(\\([^)]+\\))?!?: .+"
+          if ! [[ "$TITLE" =~ $REGEX ]]; then
+            echo "::error::PR title is not semantic: ${TITLE}"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if [ "${#TITLE}" -gt 80 ]; then
+            echo "::error::PR title is longer than 80 characters: ${#TITLE}"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+  check:
+    needs: pr
+    if: always()
+    timeout-minutes: 5
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Validate linked issue authorization
+        env:
+          PR_RESULT: ${{ needs.pr.result }}
+          TRUSTED: ${{ needs.pr.outputs.trusted }}
+        run: |
+          if [ "$PR_RESULT" != "success" ] || [ "$TRUSTED" != "true" ]; then
+            echo "::error::This PR is not an authorized Agentic CI PR."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "Trusted Agentic CI PRs do not require a linked issue."
diff --git a/.github/workflows/authorize-agentic-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/authorize-agentic-ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6fa69648f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/authorize-agentic-ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
+name: "Authorize Agentic CI"
+
+on:
+  issue_comment:
+    types: [created]
+
+permissions:
+  actions: write
+  contents: read
+  issues: write
+  pull-requests: read
+
+defaults:
+  run:
+    shell: bash
+
+concurrency:
+  group: authorize-agentic-ci-${{ github.event.issue.number }}
+  cancel-in-progress: false
+
+jobs:
+  authorize:
+    if: >-
+      github.repository_owner == 'NVIDIA-NeMo'
+      && github.event.issue.pull_request != null
+      && github.event.comment.body == '/authorize-agentic-ci'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Check commenter permission
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          COMMENT_AUTHOR: ${{ github.event.comment.user.login }}
+          PR_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+        run: |
+          PERMISSION=$(gh api "repos/${REPO}/collaborators/${COMMENT_AUTHOR}/permission" \
+            --jq '.permission' 2>/dev/null || echo "none")
+          echo "Comment author ${COMMENT_AUTHOR} has ${PERMISSION} permission."
+
+          case "$PERMISSION" in
+            admin|maintain|write)
+              ;;
+            *)
+              gh issue comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body \
+                "Only maintainers with write access can authorize Agentic CI checks."
+              exit 1
+              ;;
+          esac
+
+      - name: Load PR metadata
+        id: pr
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          PR_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+        run: |
+          PR_JSON=$(gh api "repos/${REPO}/pulls/${PR_NUMBER}")
+
+          PR_AUTHOR=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.user.login')
+          HEAD_REPO=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.head.repo.full_name')
+          HEAD_REF=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.head.ref')
+          HEAD_SHA=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.head.sha')
+          STATE=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.state')
+          PR_BODY=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.body // ""')
+
+          TRUSTED=false
+          printf '%s' "$PR_BODY" > /tmp/pr-body-raw.txt
+          # Commit authors can be spoofed; trust only PR metadata GitHub controls.
+          if [ "$PR_AUTHOR" = "github-actions[bot]" ] && \
+             [ "$HEAD_REPO" = "$REPO" ] && \
+             [[ "$HEAD_REF" == agentic-ci/* ]] && \
+             grep -Eq '<!-- agentic-ci finding=[^[:space:]]+ suite=[^[:space:]]+ -->' /tmp/pr-body-raw.txt; then
+            TRUSTED=true
+          fi
+
+          echo "author=${PR_AUTHOR}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "head_ref=${HEAD_REF}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "head_sha=${HEAD_SHA}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "state=${STATE}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "trusted=${TRUSTED}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      - name: Validate Agentic CI PR
+        env:
+          COMMENT_ID: ${{ github.event.comment.id }}
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          HEAD_SHA: ${{ steps.pr.outputs.head_sha }}
+          PR_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+          STATE: ${{ steps.pr.outputs.state }}
+          TRUSTED: ${{ steps.pr.outputs.trusted }}
+        run: |
+          if [ "$STATE" != "open" ]; then
+            gh issue comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body \
+              "Agentic CI checks were not authorized because this PR is not open."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if [ "$TRUSTED" != "true" ]; then
+            gh issue comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body \
+              "Agentic CI checks were not authorized because this PR does not match the trusted Agentic CI metadata."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if [ -z "$COMMENT_ID" ]; then
+            gh issue comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body \
+              "Agentic CI checks were not authorized because the authorization comment ID was missing."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          COMMENT_FOUND=false
+          for ATTEMPT in 1 2 3; do
+            gh api --paginate "repos/${REPO}/issues/${PR_NUMBER}/timeline?per_page=100" \
+              -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
+              --jq '.[] | [.event, ((.id // .sha // "") | tostring)] | @tsv' > /tmp/pr-timeline.tsv
+            if awk -F '\t' -v comment_id="$COMMENT_ID" '
+              $1 == "commented" && $2 == comment_id { found = 1 }
+              END { exit found ? 0 : 1 }
+            ' /tmp/pr-timeline.tsv; then
+              COMMENT_FOUND=true
+              break
+            fi
+            sleep 2
+          done
+          if [ "$COMMENT_FOUND" != "true" ]; then
+            gh issue comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body \
+              "Agentic CI checks were not authorized because the authorization comment was not found in the PR timeline."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          HEAD_EVENT_AFTER_COMMENT=$(awk -F '\t' -v comment_id="$COMMENT_ID" '
+            $1 == "commented" && $2 == comment_id { seen_comment = 1; next }
+            seen_comment && ($1 == "committed" || $1 == "head_ref_force_pushed" || $1 == "head_ref_deleted" || $1 == "head_ref_restored") {
+              print $1 " " $2
+              exit
+            }
+          ' /tmp/pr-timeline.tsv)
+          if [ -n "$HEAD_EVENT_AFTER_COMMENT" ]; then
+            {
+              echo "Agentic CI checks were not authorized because the PR head changed after the authorization comment."
+              echo
+              echo "Latest PR head: \`${HEAD_SHA}\`"
+              echo "Detected update: \`${HEAD_EVENT_AFTER_COMMENT}\`"
+              echo
+              echo "Please review the latest commit and comment \`/authorize-agentic-ci\` again."
+            } > /tmp/agentic-ci-auth-stale.md
+            gh issue comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body-file /tmp/agentic-ci-auth-stale.md
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          BLOCKED=$(gh pr diff "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --name-only \
+            | grep -E '^\.github/' || true)
+          if [ -n "$BLOCKED" ]; then
+            {
+              echo "Agentic CI checks were not authorized because this PR changes privileged repository files:"
+              echo
+              printf '%s\n' "$BLOCKED" | sed 's/^/- `/' | sed 's/$/`/'
+            } > /tmp/agentic-ci-auth-failed.md
+            gh issue comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body-file /tmp/agentic-ci-auth-failed.md
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          echo "Authorizing checks for ${HEAD_SHA}."
+
+      - name: Dispatch checks
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          HEAD_REF: ${{ steps.pr.outputs.head_ref }}
+          HEAD_SHA: ${{ steps.pr.outputs.head_sha }}
+          PR_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+        run: |
+          gh workflow run ci.yml --repo "$REPO" --ref "$HEAD_REF" \
+            -f expected_head_sha="$HEAD_SHA"
+          gh workflow run agentic-ci-authorized-checks.yml --repo "$REPO" --ref "$HEAD_REF" \
+            -f pr_number="$PR_NUMBER" \
+            -f expected_head_sha="$HEAD_SHA"
+
+          gh issue comment "$PR_NUMBER" --repo "$REPO" --body \
+            "Authorized Agentic CI checks for \`${HEAD_SHA}\`. Launched CI and authorization checks."
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 312bd1a32..428484e50 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -6,10 +6,29 @@ on:
   pull_request:
     branches: [ main ]
   workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      expected_head_sha:
+        description: "Optional head SHA that this dispatched run must execute"
+        required: false
+        type: string
 
 permissions: {}
 
 jobs:
+  validate-dispatch:
+    name: Validate dispatched SHA
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Check expected SHA
+        env:
+          EXPECTED_HEAD_SHA: ${{ inputs.expected_head_sha }}
+        run: |
+          if [ -n "$EXPECTED_HEAD_SHA" ] && [ "$GITHUB_SHA" != "$EXPECTED_HEAD_SHA" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Workflow SHA ${GITHUB_SHA} does not match expected ${EXPECTED_HEAD_SHA}."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "Dispatch target SHA validated."
+
   # ===========================================================================
   # Independent Package Tests
   # Each package is tested in isolation to ensure proper dependency boundaries
@@ -17,6 +36,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-config:
     name: Test Config (Python ${{ matrix.python-version }} on ${{ matrix.os }})
+    needs: validate-dispatch
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -48,6 +68,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-engine:
     name: Test Engine (Python ${{ matrix.python-version }} on ${{ matrix.os }})
+    needs: validate-dispatch
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -79,6 +100,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-interface:
     name: Test Interface (Python ${{ matrix.python-version }} on ${{ matrix.os }})
+    needs: validate-dispatch
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -119,6 +141,7 @@ jobs:
 
   coverage:
     name: Coverage Check (Python ${{ matrix.python-version }})
+    needs: validate-dispatch
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -156,6 +179,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-e2e:
     name: End to end test (Python ${{ matrix.python-version }} on ${{ matrix.os }})
+    needs: validate-dispatch
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -183,6 +207,7 @@ jobs:
 
   lint:
     name: Lint and Format Check
+    needs: validate-dispatch
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
@@ -207,6 +232,7 @@ jobs:
 
   license-headers:
     name: Check License Headers
+    needs: validate-dispatch
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
@@ -237,7 +263,7 @@ jobs:
   test-summary:
     name: Test (Python ${{ matrix.python-version }} on ${{ matrix.os }})
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [test-config, test-engine, test-interface]
+    needs: [validate-dispatch, test-config, test-engine, test-interface]
     if: always()
     strategy:
       matrix:
@@ -247,10 +273,12 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Check all tests passed
         run: |
-          if [[ "${{ needs.test-config.result }}" != "success" ]] || \
+          if [[ "${{ needs.validate-dispatch.result }}" != "success" ]] || \
+             [[ "${{ needs.test-config.result }}" != "success" ]] || \
              [[ "${{ needs.test-engine.result }}" != "success" ]] || \
              [[ "${{ needs.test-interface.result }}" != "success" ]]; then
             echo "One or more test jobs failed"
+            echo "validate-dispatch: ${{ needs.validate-dispatch.result }}"
             echo "test-config: ${{ needs.test-config.result }}"
             echo "test-engine: ${{ needs.test-engine.result }}"
             echo "test-interface: ${{ needs.test-interface.result }}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/dco-assistant.yml b/.github/workflows/dco-assistant.yml
index dddb19bec..7c8cbb45c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/dco-assistant.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/dco-assistant.yml
@@ -25,8 +25,45 @@ jobs:
     if: github.repository_owner == 'NVIDIA-NeMo'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
+      - name: Check trusted Agentic CI PR
+        id: trusted-agentic-ci
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          EVENT_NAME: ${{ github.event_name }}
+          PR_AUTHOR: ${{ github.event.pull_request.user.login }}
+          HEAD_REPO: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }}
+          HEAD_REF: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.ref }}
+          PR_BODY: ${{ github.event.pull_request.body }}
+          ISSUE_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+        run: |
+          TRUSTED=false
+
+          if [ "$EVENT_NAME" = "issue_comment" ] && [ -n "$ISSUE_NUMBER" ]; then
+            PR_JSON=$(gh api "repos/${REPO}/pulls/${ISSUE_NUMBER}" 2>/dev/null || true)
+            if [ -n "$PR_JSON" ]; then
+              PR_AUTHOR=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.user.login')
+              HEAD_REPO=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.head.repo.full_name')
+              HEAD_REF=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.head.ref')
+              PR_BODY=$(printf '%s' "$PR_JSON" | jq -r '.body // ""')
+            fi
+          fi
+
+          printf '%s' "$PR_BODY" > /tmp/pr-body-raw.txt
+          # Commit authors can be spoofed; trust only PR metadata GitHub controls.
+          if [ "$PR_AUTHOR" = "github-actions[bot]" ] && \
+             [ "$HEAD_REPO" = "$REPO" ] && \
+             [[ "$HEAD_REF" == agentic-ci/* ]] && \
+             grep -Eq '<!-- agentic-ci finding=[^[:space:]]+ suite=[^[:space:]]+ -->' /tmp/pr-body-raw.txt; then
+            TRUSTED=true
+          fi
+
+          echo "trusted=${TRUSTED}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
       - name: "DCO Assistant"
-        if: (github.event.comment.body == 'recheck' || github.event.comment.body == 'I have read the DCO document and I hereby sign the DCO.') || github.event_name == 'pull_request_target'
+        if: >-
+          steps.trusted-agentic-ci.outputs.trusted != 'true'
+          && ((github.event.comment.body == 'recheck' || github.event.comment.body == 'I have read the DCO document and I hereby sign the DCO.') || github.event_name == 'pull_request_target')
         uses: contributor-assistant/github-action@ca4a40a7d1004f18d9960b404b97e5f30a505a08
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-linked-issue.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-linked-issue.yml
index 4842a0464..5cf7833df 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-linked-issue.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-linked-issue.yml
@@ -36,9 +36,23 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
           PR_AUTHOR: ${{ github.event.pull_request.user.login }}
+          HEAD_REPO: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.full_name }}
+          HEAD_REF: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.ref }}
+          PR_BODY: ${{ github.event.pull_request.body }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
         run: |
           USER="$PR_AUTHOR"
 
+          printf '%s' "$PR_BODY" > /tmp/pr-body-raw.txt
+          # Commit authors can be spoofed; trust only PR metadata GitHub controls.
+          if [ "$USER" = "github-actions[bot]" ] && \
+             [ "$HEAD_REPO" = "$REPO" ] && \
+             [[ "$HEAD_REF" == agentic-ci/* ]] && \
+             grep -Eq '<!-- agentic-ci finding=[^[:space:]]+ suite=[^[:space:]]+ -->' /tmp/pr-body-raw.txt; then
+            echo "is_collaborator=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
           # Bots that are always allowed (match DCO allowlist pattern).
           if [ "$USER" = "dependabot[bot]" ]; then
             echo "is_collaborator=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"