diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-oci-codegen-cs.yaml b/.github/workflows/build-oci-codegen-cs.yaml
index 9db04d5..d0de9b4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-oci-codegen-cs.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-oci-codegen-cs.yaml
@@ -278,23 +278,36 @@ jobs:
           fi
           echo "Smoke test OK — first generated file: ${first_cs}"
 
-          if [ ! -f "${COUNTERS}" ]; then
-            echo "::error::--release-counters did not write ${COUNTERS}"
+          if [ ! -s "${COUNTERS}" ]; then
+            echo "::error::--release-counters did not write a non-empty ${COUNTERS}"
             exit 1
           fi
-          entry_count="$(jq 'length' "${COUNTERS}")"
-          if [ "${entry_count}" != "1" ]; then
-            echo "::error::expected exactly one release-counter entry, got ${entry_count}"
+          if ! jq -e 'type == "object"' "${COUNTERS}" > /dev/null; then
+            echo "::error::release-counters file is not a valid JSON object: ${COUNTERS}"
+            cat "${COUNTERS}" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          if ! jq -e '.store_version == 1' "${COUNTERS}" > /dev/null; then
+            echo "::error::expected release-counters store_version 1, got $(jq -c '.store_version' "${COUNTERS}")"
+            jq . "${COUNTERS}" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          if ! jq -e '.codegen_generations | type == "object"' "${COUNTERS}" > /dev/null; then
+            echo "::error::expected codegen_generations to be an object, got $(jq -r '.codegen_generations | type' "${COUNTERS}")"
+            jq . "${COUNTERS}" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          if ! jq -e '.codegen_generations | length == 1' "${COUNTERS}" > /dev/null; then
+            echo "::error::expected exactly one codegen-generation entry, got $(jq '.codegen_generations | length' "${COUNTERS}")"
             jq . "${COUNTERS}" >&2
             exit 1
           fi
-          revision="$(jq -r 'to_entries[0].value.revision' "${COUNTERS}")"
-          if [ "${revision}" != "0" ]; then
-            echo "::error::expected first-emission revision 0, got ${revision}"
+          if ! jq -e '.codegen_generations | to_entries[0].value == 0' "${COUNTERS}" > /dev/null; then
+            echo "::error::expected first-emission generation ordinal 0, got $(jq -c '.codegen_generations | to_entries[0].value' "${COUNTERS}")"
             jq . "${COUNTERS}" >&2
             exit 1
           fi
-          echo "Release-counter OK — first emission recorded revision 0"
+          echo "Release-counter OK — first emission recorded generation ordinal 0"
 
           csproj="$(find "${OUT}" -type f -name '*.csproj' -print -quit)"
           if [ -z "${csproj}" ]; then