diff --git a/.changeset/quiet-starter-proof.md b/.changeset/quiet-starter-proof.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3773ce808
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/quiet-starter-proof.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@rawsql-ts/ztd-cli": patch
+---
+
+Tighten the starter first-run experience by keeping the generated smoke QuerySpec typecheckable, wrapping aggregate Postgres connection failures with concise recovery steps, and extending publish artifact verification to run starter typecheck, DB-free smoke tests, and ztd-config before release.
diff --git a/packages/ztd-cli/templates/src/features/smoke/queries/smoke/boundary.ts b/packages/ztd-cli/templates/src/features/smoke/queries/smoke/boundary.ts
index da6043731..5c37104f8 100644
--- a/packages/ztd-cli/templates/src/features/smoke/queries/smoke/boundary.ts
+++ b/packages/ztd-cli/templates/src/features/smoke/queries/smoke/boundary.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import { loadSqlResource } from '#features/_shared/loadSqlResource.js';
 
 const smokeSqlResource = loadSqlResource(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), 'smoke.sql');
 
-export interface SmokeQueryParams {
+export interface SmokeQueryParams extends Record<string, unknown> {
   user_id: number;
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/ztd-cli/templates/tests/support/ztd/verifier.ts b/packages/ztd-cli/templates/tests/support/ztd/verifier.ts
index 05e918f6e..c0e3705d7 100644
--- a/packages/ztd-cli/templates/tests/support/ztd/verifier.ts
+++ b/packages/ztd-cli/templates/tests/support/ztd/verifier.ts
@@ -111,8 +111,8 @@ export async function verifyQuerySpecZtdCase<BeforeDb extends FixtureTree, Input
       }
     });
 
-    const result = execute(createQuerySpecExecutor(testkitClient, trace), querySpecCase.input);
-    await expect(result).resolves.toEqual(querySpecCase.output);
+    const result = await execute(createQuerySpecExecutor(testkitClient, trace), querySpecCase.input);
+    expect(result).toEqual(querySpecCase.output);
     if (trace.length === 0) {
       throw new Error(
         `ZTD verifier did not execute any SQL for case "${querySpecCase.name}". Check the query boundary and fixture setup before accepting the case.`
@@ -165,8 +165,8 @@ export async function verifyQuerySpecTraditionalCase<BeforeDb extends FixtureTre
 
   try {
     client = await createPhysicalQuerySpecExecutor(pool, defaults, querySpecCase.beforeDb, trace);
-    const result = execute(client, querySpecCase.input);
-    await expect(result).resolves.toEqual(querySpecCase.output);
+    const result = await execute(client, querySpecCase.input);
+    expect(result).toEqual(querySpecCase.output);
     if (querySpecCase.afterDb) {
       await client.assertAfterDb(querySpecCase.afterDb);
     }
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ function wrapStarterDbFailureIfHelpful(error: unknown, context: string, connecti
     return error;
   }
 
-  const originalMessage = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
+  const originalMessage = describeStarterDbOriginalError(error);
   const wrapped = new Error(
     [
       `The starter Postgres database was not reachable while running ${context}.`,
@@ -234,21 +234,55 @@ function wrapStarterDbFailureIfHelpful(error: unknown, context: string, connecti
       '',
       'Next steps:',
       '1. Start the bundled database with `docker compose up -d`.',
-      '2. If port 5432 is already in use, set another `ZTD_DB_PORT` in `.env` and rerun `docker compose up -d`.',
+      '2. If the configured host port is already in use, set another `ZTD_DB_PORT` in `.env` and rerun `docker compose up -d`.',
       '3. Wait until Postgres is ready, then rerun `npx vitest run`.',
       '',
       'If Docker reports `all predefined address pools have been fully subnetted`, fix Docker networking first; changing `ZTD_DB_PORT` alone will not recover that error.'
     ].join('\n')
   );
-  (wrapped as Error & { cause?: unknown }).cause = error;
   return wrapped;
 }
 
+function describeStarterDbOriginalError(error: unknown): string {
+  if (
+    typeof error === 'object' &&
+    error !== null &&
+    'errors' in error &&
+    Array.isArray((error as { errors?: unknown }).errors)
+  ) {
+    const messages = (error as { errors: unknown[] }).errors
+      .map((innerError) => (innerError instanceof Error ? innerError.message : String(innerError)))
+      .filter((message) => message.trim().length > 0);
+
+    if (messages.length > 0) {
+      return messages.join('; ');
+    }
+  }
+
+  if (error instanceof Error && error.message.trim().length > 0) {
+    return error.message;
+  }
+
+  return String(error);
+}
+
 function isStarterDbConnectionFailure(error: unknown): boolean {
   if (typeof error !== 'object' || error === null) {
     return false;
   }
 
+  if (
+    'errors' in error &&
+    Array.isArray((error as { errors?: unknown }).errors) &&
+    (error as { errors: unknown[] }).errors.some((innerError) => isStarterDbConnectionFailure(innerError))
+  ) {
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  if ('cause' in error && isStarterDbConnectionFailure((error as { cause?: unknown }).cause)) {
+    return true;
+  }
+
   const code = 'code' in error ? String((error as { code?: unknown }).code) : '';
   if (['ECONNREFUSED', 'ENOTFOUND', 'ETIMEDOUT', 'ECONNRESET', 'EAI_AGAIN', '28P01', '3D000'].includes(code)) {
     return true;
diff --git a/packages/ztd-cli/tests/init.command.test.ts b/packages/ztd-cli/tests/init.command.test.ts
index 0d8a7ee33..cf0941e8a 100644
--- a/packages/ztd-cli/tests/init.command.test.ts
+++ b/packages/ztd-cli/tests/init.command.test.ts
@@ -264,6 +264,9 @@ test('init starter bootstraps compose, starter DDL, and smoke tests without visi
   expect(readNormalizedFile(path.join(workspace, 'src', 'features', 'smoke', 'queries', 'smoke', 'smoke.sql'))).toContain('where user_id = :user_id::integer');
   expect(readNormalizedFile(path.join(workspace, 'src', 'features', 'smoke', 'boundary.ts'))).toContain('executeSmokeQuerySpec');
   expect(readNormalizedFile(path.join(workspace, 'src', 'features', 'smoke', 'queries', 'smoke', 'boundary.ts'))).toContain('loadSqlResource');
+  expect(readNormalizedFile(path.join(workspace, 'src', 'features', 'smoke', 'queries', 'smoke', 'boundary.ts'))).toContain(
+    'export interface SmokeQueryParams extends Record<string, unknown>'
+  );
   expect(readNormalizedFile(path.join(workspace, '.ztd', 'support', 'setup-env.ts'))).toContain('ZTD_DB_PORT');
   expect(readNormalizedFile(path.join(workspace, '.ztd', 'support', 'setup-env.ts'))).toContain('ZTD_DB_URL');
   expect(readNormalizedFile(path.join(workspace, '.ztd', 'support', 'postgres-testkit.ts'))).toContain('createPostgresTestkitClient');
diff --git a/packages/ztd-cli/tests/publishWorkflow.unit.test.ts b/packages/ztd-cli/tests/publishWorkflow.unit.test.ts
index e2ef902de..4c9e8f767 100644
--- a/packages/ztd-cli/tests/publishWorkflow.unit.test.ts
+++ b/packages/ztd-cli/tests/publishWorkflow.unit.test.ts
@@ -57,7 +57,11 @@ test('standalone pnpm proof apps use the installed ztd bin helper instead of pnp
     publishedPackageModeScript.indexOf('function verifyPnpmAdapterInstall(packages) {'),
   );
   expect(starterSection).toContain('runInstalledZtdCli(appDir,');
-  expect(starterSection).not.toContain('"exec"');
+  expect(starterSection).not.toContain('"exec",\n    "ztd"');
+  expect(starterSection).toContain('"tsc", "--noEmit", "-p", "tsconfig.json"');
+  expect(starterSection).toContain('"src/features/smoke/tests/smoke.boundary.test.ts"');
+  expect(starterSection).toContain('"src/features/smoke/tests/smoke.validation.test.ts"');
+  expect(starterSection).toContain('runInstalledZtdCli(appDir, ["ztd-config"])');
 
   const adapterSection = publishedPackageModeScript.slice(
     publishedPackageModeScript.indexOf('function verifyPnpmAdapterInstall(packages) {'),
diff --git a/packages/ztd-cli/tests/ztdVerifier.unit.test.ts b/packages/ztd-cli/tests/ztdVerifier.unit.test.ts
index 6f7b6956a..6a12c5ab8 100644
--- a/packages/ztd-cli/tests/ztdVerifier.unit.test.ts
+++ b/packages/ztd-cli/tests/ztdVerifier.unit.test.ts
@@ -108,6 +108,43 @@ test('verifyQuerySpecTraditionalCase adds starter recovery steps when Postgres i
   ).rejects.toThrow(/localhost:55433[\s\S]*docker compose up -d/);
 });
 
+test('verifyQuerySpecZtdCase wraps AggregateError connection failures with starter recovery steps', async () => {
+  process.env.ZTD_DB_URL = 'postgres://ztd:ztd@localhost:15432/ztd';
+  const aggregateError = new AggregateError(
+    [
+      Object.assign(new Error('connect ECONNREFUSED ::1:15432'), {
+        code: 'ECONNREFUSED',
+        address: '::1',
+        port: 15432
+      }),
+      Object.assign(new Error('connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:15432'), {
+        code: 'ECONNREFUSED',
+        address: '127.0.0.1',
+        port: 15432
+      })
+    ],
+    ''
+  );
+  createPostgresTestkitClientMock.mockReturnValue({
+    query: vi.fn().mockRejectedValue(aggregateError),
+    close: closeMock
+  });
+
+  const { verifyQuerySpecZtdCase } = await import('../templates/tests/support/ztd/verifier');
+
+  await expect(
+    verifyQuerySpecZtdCase(
+      {
+        name: 'aggregate-db-down',
+        beforeDb: {},
+        input: {},
+        output: { ok: true }
+      },
+      (client) => client.query('select 1', {})
+    )
+  ).rejects.toThrow(/localhost:15432[\s\S]*docker compose up -d[\s\S]*ZTD_DB_PORT/);
+});
+
 test('verifyQuerySpecTraditionalCase physically prepares fixtures and returns traditional evidence', async () => {
   const rootDir = mkdtempSync(path.join(tmpdir(), 'ztd-verifier-project-'));
   tempDirs.push(rootDir);
diff --git a/scripts/verify-published-package-mode.mjs b/scripts/verify-published-package-mode.mjs
index 26b33d3b1..71fc845d0 100644
--- a/scripts/verify-published-package-mode.mjs
+++ b/scripts/verify-published-package-mode.mjs
@@ -663,6 +663,15 @@ function verifyPnpmStarterPath(packages) {
   // Rebind workspace packages to the freshly packed tarballs so the scaffold install exercises the published manifests.
   fs.writeFileSync(path.join(appDir, "package.json"), `${JSON.stringify(scaffoldPackageJson, null, 2)}\n`, "utf8");
   runIn(appDir, PNPM, ["install", "--no-frozen-lockfile"]);
+  runIn(appDir, PNPM, ["exec", "tsc", "--noEmit", "-p", "tsconfig.json"]);
+  runIn(appDir, PNPM, [
+    "exec",
+    "vitest",
+    "run",
+    "src/features/smoke/tests/smoke.boundary.test.ts",
+    "src/features/smoke/tests/smoke.validation.test.ts",
+  ]);
+  runInstalledZtdCli(appDir, ["ztd-config"]);
 
   return appDir;
 }