diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/release-verify.yml b/.gitea/workflows/release-verify.yml
index b66e2832..6fd050ef 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/release-verify.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/release-verify.yml
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 name: release-verify
 
 # Workflow C: run after Jenkins has finished building (operator triggers manually).
-# Probes the customer URL until it serves a fresh build, then runs the e2e suite
-# against http://flights-ui.devwebzavod.ru with the console-error gate.
+# Smoke-checks that http://flights-ui.devwebzavod.ru is alive and that its /api
+# wiring responds — the e2e suite is intentionally NOT run here (parity gaps
+# against the customer build are tracked separately).
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
@@ -23,21 +24,12 @@ jobs:
         if: ${{ env.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN != '' }}
         run: scripts/ci/notify-telegram.sh start release-verify
 
-      - name: Setup Node + pnpm
-        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
-        with:
-          node-version-file: '.nvmrc'
-      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
-
-      - name: Install dependencies
-        run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
-
       - name: Add hosts entry for customer URL
         # `flights-ui.devwebzavod.ru` has no public DNS — operator hosts
         # resolve it via local /etc/hosts to 46.235.186.67 (the customer's
-        # web ingress IP). Mirror that override on the runner so curl,
-        # node fetch, and Playwright's chromium can resolve the host.
-        # Without this, every probe fails with `Could not resolve host`.
+        # web ingress IP). Mirror that override on the runner so curl can
+        # reach the host. Without this, every probe fails with
+        # `Could not resolve host`.
         run: echo "46.235.186.67 flights-ui.devwebzavod.ru" | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts
 
       - name: Wait for customer URL
@@ -47,8 +39,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Diagnose customer URL reachability
         id: customer_diag
         # Mirrors ci-deploy's tunnel-reachability probe but against the
-        # customer URL — surfaces /api wiring problems before the e2e
-        # suite spends 30 minutes hitting them.
+        # customer URL — proves /api wiring is intact post-Jenkins.
         run: |
           echo "--- /api/health ---"
           curl -sSI --max-time 10 http://flights-ui.devwebzavod.ru/api/health | head -10 || true
@@ -60,43 +51,10 @@ jobs:
           curl -sSI --max-time 10 \
             http://flights-ui.devwebzavod.ru/api/dictionary/1/world_regions | grep -iE "^HTTP|x-cache|x-envoy" || true
 
-      - name: Pre-warm /api cache (dictionaries shared across e2e specs)
-        id: cache_warmup
-        # Same rationale as ci-deploy: every page load reads the four
-        # dictionary endpoints, and the upstream WAF rate-limits per
-        # source IP. Warm them once with sleeps so the e2e suite hits
-        # the customer's nginx cache instead of the upstream WAF.
-        run: |
-          for path in world_regions countries cities airports; do
-            url="http://flights-ui.devwebzavod.ru/api/dictionary/1/${path}"
-            rc=$(curl -sS --max-time 10 -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "$url")
-            echo "warm $path -> HTTP $rc"
-            sleep 2
-          done
-
-      - name: Install Playwright browsers
-        id: playwright_install
-        run: pnpm exec playwright install --with-deps chromium
-
-      - name: Run Playwright e2e against customer URL
-        id: e2e_customer
-        env:
-          BASE_URL: http://flights-ui.devwebzavod.ru
-        run: pnpm test:e2e
-
-      - name: Upload artifacts on failure
-        if: failure()
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
-        with:
-          name: release-verify-failure-${{ github.run_id }}
-          path: |
-            playwright-report/
-          retention-days: 7
-
       - name: Notify (success)
         if: success() && env.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN != ''
-        run: scripts/ci/notify-telegram.sh ok release-verify "customer URL e2e green"
+        run: scripts/ci/notify-telegram.sh ok release-verify "customer URL reachable + /api responsive"
 
       - name: Notify (failure)
         if: failure() && env.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN != ''
-        run: scripts/ci/notify-telegram.sh fail release-verify "see Gitea run for Playwright report"
+        run: scripts/ci/notify-telegram.sh fail release-verify "customer URL probe failed — see Gitea run"