diff --git a/.github/workflows/electron-release.yml b/.github/workflows/electron-release.yml
index 2a7fee0e9a..4fb103549d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/electron-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/electron-release.yml
@@ -120,6 +120,18 @@ jobs:
         env:
           JWT_SECRET: ci-build-secret-with-sufficient-length-for-validation
           NODE_OPTIONS: "--max_old_space_size=6144"
+          # Linux builds with webpack, not Turbopack. Turbopack's production build
+          # allocates natively (Rust, off the V8 heap), so --max_old_space_size does
+          # not bound it, and on this module graph it peaks above what the hosted
+          # runner can give — the VM is reclaimed mid-compile with "The runner has
+          # received a shutdown signal", no exit code. That is what silently took the
+          # whole desktop channel out of v3.8.49: the linux leg died, `release` was
+          # skipped, and the release shipped with ZERO assets. Measured on a 32 GB
+          # box the same build passes and peaks past 14 GB. The webpack fallback is
+          # the project's documented escape hatch for RAM-constrained machines
+          # (docs/reference/ENVIRONMENT.md, #6409) and is the same remedy already
+          # applied to nightly-compat's Node 26 build (#8090).
+          OMNIROUTE_USE_TURBOPACK: ${{ matrix.platform == 'linux' && '0' || '1' }}
         run: npm run build
 
       - name: Sync version in electron/package.json
@@ -217,6 +229,16 @@ jobs:
   release:
     name: Create Release
     needs: [validate, build]
+    # Fail-partial, not fail-closed. `build` is a 4-leg matrix with `fail-fast: false`,
+    # so the legs that succeed still upload their artifacts — but a default `needs:`
+    # gate skips this job the moment ANY leg fails, discarding all of them. That is
+    # exactly what happened to v3.8.49: the linux leg died and the release shipped with
+    # ZERO assets, throwing away 1.7 GB of good Windows/macOS installers **and** the
+    # source archives + SBOM, which do not depend on a build at all. The result was
+    # indistinguishable from "this version has no desktop channel".
+    # Now: attach everything that did build, then fail the job loudly (see the last
+    # step) so an incomplete channel is visible instead of silent.
+    if: ${{ !cancelled() && needs.validate.result == 'success' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     permissions:
       contents: write # softprops/action-gh-release creates the GitHub Release
@@ -275,6 +297,47 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
+  verify-desktop-assets:
+    name: Verify desktop assets landed
+    needs: [validate, release]
+    # Deliberately a SEPARATE job, not a final step of `release`: failing inside
+    # `release` would cascade into `publish-npm` (which gates on `needs: release`) and
+    # block the npm channel over a desktop-only gap. Here the assets are attached, npm
+    # still publishes, and an incomplete desktop channel shows up as a red job instead
+    # of passing unnoticed — the v3.8.49 release had ZERO assets and every gate was
+    # green, because nothing ever asserted the release HAS binaries.
+    if: ${{ !cancelled() && needs.release.result == 'success' }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    steps:
+      - name: Assert every platform is present on the release
+        env:
+          # Regex-validated (^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$) in the `validate` job, and
+          # passed via env rather than interpolated into the script body.
+          VERSION: ${{ needs.validate.outputs.version }}
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          names=$(gh release view "$VERSION" --repo "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" \
+                    --json assets --jq '.assets[].name')
+          echo "Assets on $VERSION:"
+          echo "$names" | sed 's/^/  /'
+
+          missing=""
+          # `[ ... ] && missing=...` as the last command in a branch returns 1 and
+          # would abort the whole script under Actions' default `set -e`. Use if/fi.
+          for want in '\.exe$' '\.dmg$' '\.AppImage$' '\.deb$' '^latest.*\.yml$' '\.source\.tar\.gz$'; do
+            if ! echo "$names" | grep -qE "$want"; then
+              missing="$missing $want"
+            fi
+          done
+
+          if [ -n "$missing" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Desktop channel incomplete on $VERSION — no asset matching:$missing"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "✓ every platform present on $VERSION"
+
   publish-npm:
     name: Publish to npm
     needs: [validate, release]
diff --git a/tests/unit/electron-release-desktop-channel-8949.test.ts b/tests/unit/electron-release-desktop-channel-8949.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d1fbd768ca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/electron-release-desktop-channel-8949.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+/**
+ * Regression guard for the v3.8.49 desktop channel, which shipped with ZERO assets
+ * while every gate stayed green.
+ *
+ * What actually happened, measured from the run (30503231362) and not inferred:
+ *
+ *   Build Electron (windows) ....... success
+ *   Build Electron (macos-intel) ... success
+ *   Build Electron (macos-arm64) ... success
+ *   Build Electron (linux) ......... failure — "The runner has received a shutdown
+ *                                    signal", 8 min into "Creating an optimized
+ *                                    production build", on runner `GitHub Actions
+ *                                    1000378558` (github-hosted)
+ *   Create Release ................. skipped
+ *   Publish to npm ................. skipped
+ *
+ * Three independent defects compounded:
+ *
+ *  1. Turbopack's production build allocates natively (Rust, off the V8 heap), so
+ *     `--max_old_space_size` does not bound it. On this module graph it outgrows what
+ *     the hosted runner can give and the VM is reclaimed mid-compile — the same wall
+ *     nightly-compat hit on Node 26 (#8090) and the same documented remedy applies:
+ *     the webpack fallback (OMNIROUTE_USE_TURBOPACK=0, docs/reference/ENVIRONMENT.md,
+ *     #6409). The identical build passes on a 32 GB machine, peaking past 14 GB.
+ *
+ *  2. `release` gated on `needs: [validate, build]` with no `if:`, so ONE failing
+ *     matrix leg skipped it and discarded the three artifacts that DID build (1.7 GB,
+ *     retained for 90 days and recoverable by hand) plus the source archives, which
+ *     depend on no build at all. Fail-closed made a partial failure look total.
+ *
+ *  3. Nothing anywhere asserted the release HAS assets. A release with 16 binaries and
+ *     a release with 0 were indistinguishable to CI.
+ */
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+
+const repoRoot = path.resolve(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), "../..");
+const workflowPath = path.join(repoRoot, ".github/workflows/electron-release.yml");
+
+function readWorkflow(): string {
+  return fs.readFileSync(workflowPath, "utf-8");
+}
+
+/** Job keys live at 2-space indentation under `jobs:`; the next such key ends the block. */
+function extractJobBlock(yaml: string, jobName: string): string {
+  const lines = yaml.split("\n");
+  const startIdx = lines.findIndex((l) => new RegExp(`^  ${jobName}:\\s*$`).test(l));
+  assert.ok(startIdx !== -1, `electron-release.yml must define the ${jobName} job`);
+  const block: string[] = [];
+  for (let i = startIdx + 1; i < lines.length; i++) {
+    if (/^  \S/.test(lines[i])) break;
+    block.push(lines[i]);
+  }
+  return block.join("\n");
+}
+
+test("the linux leg builds with the webpack fallback, not Turbopack", () => {
+  const buildBlock = extractJobBlock(readWorkflow(), "build");
+
+  assert.match(buildBlock, /npm run build/, "the build job must still run the production build");
+  assert.match(
+    buildBlock,
+    /OMNIROUTE_USE_TURBOPACK:/,
+    "the build job must pin the bundler explicitly — leaving it to the default is what " +
+      "let the linux leg die on the hosted runner and take the whole desktop channel down"
+  );
+  // The value is per-platform: linux gets webpack ('0'), the platforms that already
+  // build fine keep Turbopack. A blanket '0' would slow Windows/macOS for no reason.
+  assert.match(
+    buildBlock,
+    /matrix\.platform == 'linux'[^\n]*'0'/,
+    "linux specifically must select the webpack fallback ('0')"
+  );
+});
+
+test("one failing platform does not discard the platforms that built", () => {
+  const releaseBlock = extractJobBlock(readWorkflow(), "release");
+
+  assert.match(
+    releaseBlock,
+    /if:\s*\$\{\{\s*!cancelled\(\)/,
+    "the release job must run even when a build leg failed — a bare `needs: [.., build]` " +
+      "skips it on the first failure and throws away every artifact that succeeded"
+  );
+  assert.match(
+    releaseBlock,
+    /needs\.validate\.result == 'success'/,
+    "…but it must still require `validate` to have passed, so a bad version never releases"
+  );
+  assert.match(
+    releaseBlock,
+    /fail_on_unmatched_files:\s*false/,
+    "attaching a partial set requires tolerating globs that match nothing"
+  );
+});
+
+test("a release with no binaries fails a job instead of passing unnoticed", () => {
+  const wf = readWorkflow();
+  const verifyBlock = extractJobBlock(wf, "verify-desktop-assets");
+
+  for (const pattern of ["exe", "dmg", "AppImage", "deb"]) {
+    assert.ok(
+      verifyBlock.includes(pattern),
+      `the asset check must assert a ${pattern} installer is present`
+    );
+  }
+  assert.match(verifyBlock, /exit 1/, "a missing platform must fail the job, not just warn");
+});
+
+test("the asset check is a separate job, so it cannot block the npm channel", () => {
+  const wf = readWorkflow();
+
+  // publish-npm gates on `release`. If the assert lived inside `release`, a desktop-only
+  // gap would also stop the npm publish — the primary distribution channel.
+  const publishBlock = extractJobBlock(wf, "publish-npm");
+  assert.match(
+    publishBlock,
+    /needs:\s*\[validate, release\]/,
+    "publish-npm is expected to gate on release; if that changes, revisit this reasoning"
+  );
+  assert.doesNotMatch(
+    publishBlock,
+    /verify-desktop-assets/,
+    "publish-npm must NOT depend on the desktop asset check — npm must publish even when " +
+      "a desktop platform is missing"
+  );
+
+  const releaseBlock = extractJobBlock(wf, "release");
+  assert.doesNotMatch(
+    releaseBlock,
+    /exit 1/,
+    "the release job must not fail on missing assets — that would cascade into publish-npm; " +
+      "the dedicated verify-desktop-assets job carries that failure instead"
+  );
+});