diff --git a/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/main/resources/examples/rest-api/rest-api.camel.yaml b/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/main/resources/examples/rest-api/rest-api.camel.yaml
index d070e85497275..65232bd3ca634 100644
--- a/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/main/resources/examples/rest-api/rest-api.camel.yaml
+++ b/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/main/resources/examples/rest-api/rest-api.camel.yaml
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 - rest:
     path: /api
-    steps:
-      - get:
-          path: /hello
-      - get:
-          path: "/hello/{name}"
+    get:
+      - path: /hello
+        to:
+          uri: direct:hello
+      - path: "/hello/{name}"
+        to:
+          uri: direct:hello-name
 - route:
     id: hello
     from:
diff --git a/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/test/java/camel/example/Greeter.java b/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/test/java/camel/example/Greeter.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..ae48efcb5fd7c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/test/java/camel/example/Greeter.java
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package camel.example;
+
+import org.apache.camel.Exchange;
+import org.apache.camel.Processor;
+
+/**
+ * Test fixture mirroring {@code src/main/resources/examples/routes/Greeter.java}, which the CLI compiles at runtime. A
+ * compiled copy is needed on the test classpath so that {@code examples/routes/beans.yaml} can instantiate its
+ * {@code greeter} bean while {@link org.apache.camel.dsl.jbang.core.common.ExampleRoutesLoadTest} pre-parses it.
+ *
+ * Keep this in sync with the example source. Only the type and its {@code message} property are load-bearing for the
+ * test: a missing property fails bean binding loudly, whereas the {@link #process} behavior is never exercised (the
+ * test does not start the context), so behavioral drift would go unnoticed.
+ */
+public class Greeter implements Processor {
+
+    private String message;
+
+    public void setMessage(String message) {
+        this.message = message;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void process(Exchange exchange) throws Exception {
+        String body = exchange.getIn().getBody(String.class);
+        exchange.getIn().setBody(message + " " + body);
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/dsl/jbang/core/common/ExampleRoutesLoadTest.java b/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/dsl/jbang/core/common/ExampleRoutesLoadTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..abaa20f65836d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dsl/camel-jbang/camel-jbang-core/src/test/java/org/apache/camel/dsl/jbang/core/common/ExampleRoutesLoadTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+ * contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+ * The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+ * (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+ * the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.camel.dsl.jbang.core.common;
+
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
+
+import org.apache.camel.impl.DefaultCamelContext;
+import org.apache.camel.model.Model;
+import org.apache.camel.spi.Resource;
+import org.apache.camel.support.PluginHelper;
+import org.apache.camel.support.ResourceHelper;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Named;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.Arguments;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.MethodSource;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertDoesNotThrow;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
+
+/**
+ * Verifies that every bundled example route resource loads and parses through the Camel routes loader without error.
+ *
+ * The example files ship as run-ready resources for {@code camel run --example=...}. A malformed file (for instance a
+ * misplaced YAML key that the DSL cannot construct) is only discovered when the loader builds the route model, so this
+ * test loads each one through the same loader the CLI uses. The context is intentionally not started, but note this is
+ * still a parse-time test: example beans are instantiated while the loader pre-parses (which is why the {@code Greeter}
+ * fixture and the example's {@code application.properties} are required), whereas endpoints and their producers and
+ * consumers are only created at start. Not starting therefore avoids opening external endpoints (JMS, Kafka, SQL, ...)
+ * but also means endpoint wiring is not exercised.
+ */
+class ExampleRoutesLoadTest {
+
+    static Stream<Arguments> exampleRouteFiles() throws Exception {
+        // resolve the examples from the classpath (target/classes/examples) so the test does not depend on the working
+        // directory being the module base, which differs between Maven Surefire and IDE run configurations
+        URL examplesUrl = ExampleRoutesLoadTest.class.getClassLoader().getResource("examples");
+        assertNotNull(examplesUrl, "examples resources not found on the test classpath");
+        Path examplesDir = Path.of(examplesUrl.toURI());
+
+        try (Stream<Path> files = Files.walk(examplesDir)) {
+            return files.filter(Files::isRegularFile)
+                    .filter(p -> {
+                        String name = p.getFileName().toString();
+                        return name.endsWith(".yaml") || name.endsWith(".yml");
+                    })
+                    .sorted()
+                    // use the path relative to the examples root as a stable, readable test display name
+                    .map(p -> Arguments.of(Named.of(examplesDir.relativize(p).toString(), p)))
+                    .toList()
+                    .stream();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest(name = "{0}")
+    @MethodSource("exampleRouteFiles")
+    void shouldLoadAndParseExample(Path file) throws Exception {
+        try (DefaultCamelContext context = new DefaultCamelContext()) {
+            // make the example's own application.properties available so that property placeholders bound eagerly while
+            // the loader pre-parses (e.g. bean properties in beans.yaml) can be resolved; this reproduces the effect of
+            // the CLI loading the example properties, through setInitialProperties rather than the CLI's
+            // properties-location mechanism
+            loadExampleProperties(context, file);
+
+            Resource resource = ResourceHelper.resolveResource(context, "file:" + file);
+
+            assertDoesNotThrow(() -> PluginHelper.getRoutesLoader(context).loadRoutes(resource),
+                    "Failed to load and parse example: " + file);
+
+            // a parsed example must contribute something the loader understood: a route, a REST definition, a route
+            // template or a bean. An otherwise-empty model means the loader silently accepted content it did not
+            // understand, so inspect the parsed model rather than the raw text (which would pass on a tolerated-but-
+            // empty file that merely contains a recognised keyword)
+            Model model = context.getCamelContextExtension().getContextPlugin(Model.class);
+            int modelElements = model.getRouteDefinitions().size()
+                                + model.getRestDefinitions().size()
+                                + model.getRouteTemplateDefinitions().size()
+                                + model.getCustomBeans().size();
+            assertTrue(modelElements > 0,
+                    "Example parsed to an empty model (no routes, rests, templates or beans): " + file);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static void loadExampleProperties(DefaultCamelContext context, Path file) throws Exception {
+        Path properties = file.resolveSibling("application.properties");
+        if (!Files.exists(properties)) {
+            return;
+        }
+        Properties props = new Properties();
+        try (InputStream is = Files.newInputStream(properties)) {
+            props.load(is);
+        }
+        context.getPropertiesComponent().setInitialProperties(props);
+    }
+}