diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 463f87e..7e36a00 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -1,37 +1,44 @@
-## A basic GitHub Actions workflow for your Quarkus application.
+## Library CI: build + test on every push/PR; publish to Maven Central only on
+## a merge to main. Other branches / pull requests build only (no publish).
 
 name: CI
 
 on:
-  pull_request_target:
+  push:
+    branches: [ main ]
+  pull_request:
     branches: [ main ]
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 env:
-  QUARKUS_CONTAINER_IMAGE_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_LOGIN }}
-  QUARKUS_CONTAINER_IMAGE_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_HUB_PWD }}
   MVN_SETTINGS: ${{ secrets.MVN_SETTINGS }}
   GPG_KEY: ${{ secrets.GPG_KEY }}
 
-
 jobs:
   build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Checkout gh-repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Set up JDK 17
-        uses: actions/setup-java@v3
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
         with:
           java-version: 17
           distribution: temurin
           cache: maven
-        
-      - name: Build
+
+      - name: Build (no publish)
+        run: |
+          echo "${MVN_SETTINGS}" > /tmp/settings.xml
+          mvn -B -ntp verify -Dgpg.skip=true -s /tmp/settings.xml
+          rm -f /tmp/settings.xml
+
+      - name: Publish to Maven Central
+        if: github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
         run: |
-          echo ${MVN_SETTINGS} > /tmp/settings.xml
+          echo "${MVN_SETTINGS}" > /tmp/settings.xml
           echo -n "$GPG_KEY" | base64 --decode | gpg --import
-          mvn deploy -s /tmp/settings.xml
+          mvn -B -ntp deploy -DskipTests -s /tmp/settings.xml
           rm -f /tmp/settings.xml
           rm -rf /home/runner/.gpg
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index aa43666..6e4574b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,7 +1,4 @@
-/target/
-bin/
-
-#Maven
+# Maven
 target/
 pom.xml.tag
 pom.xml.releaseBackup
@@ -9,25 +6,29 @@ pom.xml.versionsBackup
 release.properties
 .flattened-pom.xml
 
+# Compiled output / vendored jars
+bin/
+lib/
+*.class
+
 # Eclipse
 .project
 .classpath
 .settings/
-/bin/
-/lib/
+.factorypath
+.apt_generated/
 
-# IntelliJ
-.idea
-*.ipr
+# IntelliJ IDEA
+.idea/
 *.iml
+*.ipr
 *.iws
 
 # NetBeans
 nb-configuration.xml
 
-# Visual Studio Code
-.vscode
-.factorypath
+# VS Code
+.vscode/
 
 # OSX
 .DS_Store
@@ -36,10 +37,6 @@ nb-configuration.xml
 *.swp
 *.swo
 
-# patch
+# Patch / merge leftovers
 *.orig
 *.rej
-
-# Local environment
-.env
-/test