diff --git a/.claude/skills/evaluating-sdk-internal-updates/SKILL.md b/.claude/skills/evaluating-sdk-internal-updates/SKILL.md
index 4954514adf5..a23c3ab5b59 100644
--- a/.claude/skills/evaluating-sdk-internal-updates/SKILL.md
+++ b/.claude/skills/evaluating-sdk-internal-updates/SKILL.md
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ A hunk that only touches a macro invocation (e.g. `state_bridge! { ... }`) doesn
 
 1. Locate the local `bitwarden/sdk-internal` clone (check sibling directories to this repo). If none exists, stop and tell the user it's a required prerequisite for this skill — do not clone it yourself.
 2. `gh pr diff <PR> -R bitwarden/android | grep bitwardenSdk` → old/new `bitwardenSdk` string. Everything after the second `-` is the git ref — a commit SHA or a branch name (`.dev` SDK builds use both); resolve a branch name as `origin/<branch>` in the clone.
-3. Attempt `./gradlew <module>:compileStandardDebugKotlin` at the current checkout before crawling sdk-internal. A failure confirms a compile-time break directly, with a more precise location than any git search — note it and continue to steps 4-7 for the full commit range; do not fix it yet. A clean build only rules out compile-time breaks, not runtime ones.
+3. Attempt `./gradlew app:compileStandardDebugKotlin authenticator:compileDebugKotlin` at the current checkout before crawling sdk-internal. A failure confirms a compile-time break directly, with a more precise location than any git search — note it and continue to steps 4-7 for the full commit range; do not fix it yet. A clean build only rules out compile-time breaks, not runtime ones.
 4. `git -C <sdk-internal-path> log --oneline OLD..NEW -G'uniffi::export|derive\(uniffi|#\[uniffi' -- '*.rs'` → candidate binding-surface commits.
 5. Classify per hunk, not per commit — a commit with one additive headline change can still have a second, unrelated breaking hunk. If a hunk only touches a macro invocation, read the macro's definition before classifying. `git -C <sdk-internal-path> show <sha> -- '*.rs'`.
 6. For every distinct symbol/type touched (every hunk, not just the commit's headline change), grep the whole repo for the bare symbol name to find Android call sites — a fixed module list or a `com.bitwarden.sdk.<Symbol>` import-prefix check both miss real consumers.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/sdlc-sdk-update-evaluate.yml b/.github/workflows/sdlc-sdk-update-evaluate.yml
index 6f61c61db26..f773c50dae3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/sdlc-sdk-update-evaluate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/sdlc-sdk-update-evaluate.yml
@@ -85,13 +85,39 @@ jobs:
         if: steps.gate.outputs.skip == 'false'
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-android-build
 
-      - name: Expose GitHub Packages credential
+      - name: Pre-fetch the SDK artifact
         if: steps.gate.outputs.skip == 'false'
-        # claude-code-action's composite step shadows caller env, so GITHUB_TOKEN has to
-        # reach the Claude CLI subprocess through $GITHUB_ENV for settings.gradle.kts.
+        # claude-code-action replaces GITHUB_TOKEN in the environment it hands Claude's Bash
+        # tool, so Gradle cannot authenticate to GitHub Packages from there. Resolving the
+        # dependency here populates ~/.gradle/caches, letting Claude's own compile read the
+        # fixed SDK version straight from cache. continue-on-error keeps a genuine compile
+        # break reaching Claude, which is the evaluation this workflow exists to perform.
+        continue-on-error: true
         env:
-          GH_PACKAGES_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        run: echo "GITHUB_TOKEN=$GH_PACKAGES_TOKEN" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: ./gradlew app:compileStandardDebugKotlin authenticator:compileDebugKotlin
+
+      - name: Verify the SDK artifact reached the Gradle cache
+        if: steps.gate.outputs.skip == 'false'
+        # A cold cache reaches Claude as a dependency-resolution error it could mistake for a
+        # break the SDK bump caused, so fail here where the cause is unambiguous. Metadata
+        # alone does not let the compile run, hence the check for the .aar rather than the dir.
+        run: |
+          version=$(sed -n 's/^bitwardenSdk = "\([^"]*\)"/\1/p' gradle/libs.versions.toml)
+          if [ -z "$version" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Could not read bitwardenSdk from gradle/libs.versions.toml."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          cache_root="${GRADLE_USER_HOME:-$HOME/.gradle}/caches/modules-2/files-2.1"
+          artifact=$(find "$cache_root/com.bitwarden/sdk-android/$version" \
+            -name '*.aar' -print -quit 2>/dev/null || true)
+          if [ -z "$artifact" ]; then
+            echo "::error::sdk-android $version is absent from the Gradle cache; the pre-fetch did not resolve it."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          echo "Cached sdk-android $version at $artifact"
 
       - name: Run Claude Code
         id: claude