diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0609bc7..105f81e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -144,8 +144,41 @@ If you use NEEDLE for LLM fleet dispatch, `install.sh` automatically copies `cla
 - **One prompt per invocation** — there is no multi-turn session mode; each call starts a fresh session.
 - **Startup latency ~2–5s** — the PTY handshake and Claude Code startup add overhead versus a direct HTTP call.
 
+## Troubleshooting
+
+### Billing classification verification
+
+Before deploying to production, verify that sessions are billing against the subscription pool (`cc_entrypoint=cli`):
+
+```bash
+# Check the most recent session's billing classification
+./scripts/check-billing.sh
+```
+
+This script inspects the latest transcript JSONL under `~/.claude/projects/` and asserts the `entrypoint` field is `"cli"` (subscription), not `"sdk-cli"` (credit pool). Exit 0 means correct billing; exit 1 means a billing regression. Run this after every release or Claude Code upgrade.
+
+### Common issues
+
+**PTY open failed** — You may be in a container without `/dev/ptmx`. Run on a bare-metal host or a VM with full PTY support.
+
+**Session never completes** — The Stop hook may not be firing. Check `--verbose` output for "Stop received" and verify your `~/.claude/settings.json` isn't blocking hook execution.
+
+**Empty output despite success** — The transcript reader may have hit a race condition. Run with `--verbose` to see retry attempts; if retries exceed 40×50ms, the Stop hook fired before the JSONL was flushed.
+
+## Release checklist
+
+Before cutting a release tag:
+
+1. Run `./scripts/check-billing.sh` to verify billing conformance (requires credentials)
+2. Run `cargo test` to ensure all mocked tests pass
+3. Run `claude-print --check` to verify PTY and Stop hook mechanics
+4. Update version in `Cargo.toml`
+5. Commit and push: `git tag v0.x.y && git push origin v0.x.y`
+6. Monitor the `claude-print-ci` Argo Workflow for successful build and GitHub release
+
 ## Structure
 
 - `docs/notes/` — design decisions, constraints, integration details
 - `docs/plan/plan.md` — complete implementation plan
-# 
+- `scripts/check-billing.sh` — AS-4 billing conformance script (run before every release)
+- `scripts/` — integration test scripts
diff --git a/scripts/check-billing.sh b/scripts/check-billing.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..cfd2ddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check-billing.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# check-billing.sh - AS-4 billing conformance script
+# Inspects the most recent transcript JSONL under ~/.claude/projects/ and asserts
+# the session has entrypoint 'cli' (subscription pool), not 'sdk-cli'.
+# This is the AS-4 pre-release gate - run before every release.
+
+set -eu
+
+# ANSI color codes for output
+RED='\033[0;31m'
+GREEN='\033[0;32m'
+YELLOW='\033[1;33m'
+NC='\033[0m'
+
+log_info() {
+    echo -e "${GREEN}[INFO]${NC} $1"
+}
+
+log_error() {
+    echo -e "${RED}[ERROR]${NC} $1" >&2
+}
+
+log_warn() {
+    echo -e "${YELLOW}[WARN]${NC} $1" >&2
+}
+
+# Find the newest JSONL file under ~/.claude/projects/
+TRANSCRIPTS_DIR="$HOME/.claude/projects"
+
+if [ ! -d "$TRANSCRIPTS_DIR" ]; then
+    log_error "Claude projects directory not found: $TRANSCRIPTS_DIR"
+    log_error "Has claude or claude-print been run on this machine?"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Find the most recently modified .jsonl file (recursive)
+NEWEST_JSONL=$(find "$TRANSCRIPTS_DIR" -type f -name "*.jsonl" -printf '%T@ %p\n' 2>/dev/null | sort -rn | head -1 | cut -d' ' -f2-)
+
+if [ -z "$NEWEST_JSONL" ]; then
+    log_error "No transcript JSONL files found under: $TRANSCRIPTS_DIR"
+    log_error "Run claude or claude-print first to generate a transcript."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+log_info "Inspecting most recent transcript: $NEWEST_JSONL"
+
+# Scan for the entrypoint field in the JSONL
+# We use jq if available, fallback to grep+sed
+ENTRYPOINT=
+
+if command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    # Use jq for robust JSON parsing
+    ENTRYPOINT=$(grep -m1 '"entrypoint"' "$NEWEST_JSONL" | jq -r '.entrypoint // empty' 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+else
+    # Fallback: extract with grep and sed
+    # Matches: "entrypoint": "cli" or "entrypoint":"cli"
+    ENTRYPOINT=$(grep -m1 '"entrypoint"' "$NEWEST_JSONL" | sed -n 's/.*"entrypoint"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$ENTRYPOINT" ]; then
+    log_error "No entrypoint field found in transcript: $NEWEST_JSONL"
+    log_error "The transcript may be from an incompatible Claude Code version."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Print the entrypoint value
+echo "entrypoint: $ENTRYPOINT"
+
+# Assert it equals 'cli'
+if [ "$ENTRYPOINT" = "cli" ]; then
+    log_info "Billing classification: SUBSCRIPTION (cli) - PASS"
+    exit 0
+else
+    log_error "Billing classification: AGENT SDK CREDIT POOL ($ENTRYPOINT) - FAIL"
+    log_error "Expected: cli (subscription pool)"
+    log_error "Actual: $ENTRYPOINT"
+    log_error "File inspected: $NEWEST_JSONL"
+    exit 1
+fi