diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 4d76dd6..1020535 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -18,11 +18,12 @@ jobs:
     name: Quality
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v6
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
         with:
           python-version: "3.11"
           enable-cache: true
+          cache-suffix: quality
       - run: uv sync --extra dev
       - run: uv run ruff check src tests examples
       - run: uv run mypy src
@@ -35,11 +36,12 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         python-version: ["3.11", "3.12", "3.13", "3.14"]
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v6
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
           enable-cache: true
+          cache-suffix: core-${{ matrix.python-version }}
       - run: uv sync --extra dev
       - run: uv run pytest -q
       - run: uv run python -m compileall -q src tests examples
@@ -48,11 +50,12 @@ jobs:
     name: Tiny reference lifecycle / CPU
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v6
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
         with:
           python-version: "3.11"
           enable-cache: true
+          cache-suffix: reference-cpu
       - run: uv venv --python 3.11
       - name: Install CPU-only PyTorch
         run: uv pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
@@ -66,14 +69,15 @@ jobs:
     name: Build distributions
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v6
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
+      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
         with:
           python-version: "3.11"
           enable-cache: true
+          cache-suffix: build
       - run: uv build
       - run: uvx twine check dist/*
-      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
         with:
           name: distributions
           path: dist/*
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 8c71f3e..7105e33 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -72,6 +72,13 @@ pytest -q
 The reference result explicitly labels itself a mathematical/orchestration smoke test. It is not evidence for
 quality, distributed correctness, throughput, mixed precision, or CUDA-kernel compatibility.
 
+Plans for every backend can also be generated and inspected without installing an NVIDIA package:
+
+```bash
+llm-lifecycle demo --backend automodel --output runs/automodel-plan
+llm-lifecycle demo --backend megatron_bridge --output runs/bridge-plan
+```
+
 ## NeMo AutoModel
 
 ```python
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c023dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+from llm_lifecycle.cli import main
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("backend", "expected_executors"),
+    [
+        ("reference", ["reference"]),
+        ("automodel", ["nemo-automodel", "nemo-automodel", "nemo-rl"]),
+        ("megatron_bridge", ["megatron-bridge", "megatron-bridge", "nemo-rl"]),
+    ],
+)
+def test_demo_materializes_each_backend_without_optional_packages(
+    tmp_path: Path,
+    capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str],
+    backend: str,
+    expected_executors: list[str],
+) -> None:
+    output = tmp_path / backend
+
+    assert main(["demo", "--backend", backend, "--output", str(output)]) == 0
+
+    document = json.loads((output / "manifest.json").read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
+    assert document["manifest"]["model"]["backend"] == backend
+    assert [stage["executor"] for stage in document["stages"]] == expected_executors
+    assert len(list(output.glob("stage-*-*.*"))) == len(expected_executors)
+    assert capsys.readouterr().out.strip() == str(output.resolve())