diff --git a/tests/test_packaging.py b/tests/test_packaging.py
index a476ccc..21fbf3d 100644
--- a/tests/test_packaging.py
+++ b/tests/test_packaging.py
@@ -66,6 +66,21 @@ class TestArchPackaging(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertIn("--cleanbuild", script)
 
 
+def _git_worktree_dirty() -> int:
+    """Mirror the dirty computation in release-artifacts.sh so the assertion
+    holds whether the tree is clean (work committed) or dirty (mid-change)."""
+    def q(*args: str) -> subprocess.CompletedProcess:
+        return subprocess.run(["git", *args], cwd=ROOT,
+                              capture_output=True, text=True)
+    if q("diff", "--quiet").returncode != 0:
+        return 1
+    if q("diff", "--cached", "--quiet").returncode != 0:
+        return 1
+    if q("ls-files", "--others", "--exclude-standard").stdout.strip():
+        return 1
+    return 0
+
+
 class TestReleaseArtifacts(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_release_script_generates_checksummed_artifacts(self):
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d:
@@ -99,7 +114,7 @@ class TestReleaseArtifacts(unittest.TestCase):
             data = json.loads(manifest.read_text())
             self.assertEqual(data["project"], "enodia-sentinel")
             self.assertEqual(data["version"], version)
-            self.assertEqual(data["dirty"], 1)
+            self.assertEqual(data["dirty"], _git_worktree_dirty())
             self.assertIn(archive.name, data["artifacts"])
             self.assertIn("SHA256SUMS", data["artifacts"])