diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-run.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-run.yml
index a6ed8c310..5b81dc82e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-run.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-run.yml
@@ -74,6 +74,52 @@ jobs:
                   BASE_SHA: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.base_sha }}
               run: ./scripts/ci/rust_strict_delta_gate.sh
 
+    workspace-check:
+        name: Workspace Check
+        needs: [changes]
+        if: needs.changes.outputs.rust_changed == 'true'
+        runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+        timeout-minutes: 45
+        steps:
+            - uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4
+            - name: Self-heal Rust toolchain cache
+              shell: bash
+              run: ./scripts/ci/self_heal_rust_toolchain.sh 1.92.0
+            - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@631a55b12751854ce901bb631d5902ceb48146f7 # stable
+              with:
+                  toolchain: 1.92.0
+            - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@779680da715d629ac1d338a641029a2f4372abb5 # v3
+              with:
+                  prefix-key: ci-run-workspace-check
+                  cache-bin: false
+            - name: Check workspace
+              run: cargo check --workspace --locked
+
+    package-check:
+        name: Package Check (${{ matrix.package }})
+        needs: [changes]
+        if: needs.changes.outputs.rust_changed == 'true'
+        runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+        timeout-minutes: 25
+        strategy:
+            fail-fast: false
+            matrix:
+                package: [zeroclaw-types, zeroclaw-core]
+        steps:
+            - uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4
+            - name: Self-heal Rust toolchain cache
+              shell: bash
+              run: ./scripts/ci/self_heal_rust_toolchain.sh 1.92.0
+            - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@631a55b12751854ce901bb631d5902ceb48146f7 # stable
+              with:
+                  toolchain: 1.92.0
+            - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@779680da715d629ac1d338a641029a2f4372abb5 # v3
+              with:
+                  prefix-key: ci-run-package-check
+                  cache-bin: false
+            - name: Check package
+              run: cargo check -p ${{ matrix.package }} --locked
+
     test:
         name: Test
         needs: [changes]
@@ -297,7 +343,7 @@ jobs:
     ci-required:
         name: CI Required Gate
         if: always()
-        needs: [changes, lint, test, build, docs-only, non-rust, docs-quality, lint-feedback, license-file-owner-guard]
+        needs: [changes, lint, workspace-check, package-check, test, build, docs-only, non-rust, docs-quality, lint-feedback, license-file-owner-guard]
         runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
         steps:
             - name: Enforce required status
@@ -345,10 +391,14 @@ jobs:
 
                   # --- Rust change path ---
                   lint_result="${{ needs.lint.result }}"
+                  workspace_check_result="${{ needs.workspace-check.result }}"
+                  package_check_result="${{ needs.package-check.result }}"
                   test_result="${{ needs.test.result }}"
                   build_result="${{ needs.build.result }}"
 
                   echo "lint=${lint_result}"
+                  echo "workspace-check=${workspace_check_result}"
+                  echo "package-check=${package_check_result}"
                   echo "test=${test_result}"
                   echo "build=${build_result}"
                   echo "docs=${docs_result}"
@@ -356,8 +406,8 @@ jobs:
 
                   check_pr_governance
 
-                  if [ "$lint_result" != "success" ] || [ "$test_result" != "success" ] || [ "$build_result" != "success" ]; then
-                    echo "Required CI jobs did not pass: lint=${lint_result} test=${test_result} build=${build_result}"
+                  if [ "$lint_result" != "success" ] || [ "$workspace_check_result" != "success" ] || [ "$package_check_result" != "success" ] || [ "$test_result" != "success" ] || [ "$build_result" != "success" ]; then
+                    echo "Required CI jobs did not pass: lint=${lint_result} workspace-check=${workspace_check_result} package-check=${package_check_result} test=${test_result} build=${build_result}"
                     exit 1
                   fi
 
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index ba77ba558..9065e6115 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -427,6 +427,19 @@ version = "1.1.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "1505bd5d3d116872e7271a6d4e16d81d0c8570876c8de68093a09ac269d8aac0"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "auto_encoder"
+version = "0.1.10"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3f6364e11e0270035ec392151a54f1476e6b3612ef9f4fe09d35e72a8cebcb65"
+dependencies = [
+ "chardetng",
+ "encoding_rs",
+ "percent-encoding",
+ "phf 0.11.3",
+ "phf_codegen 0.11.3",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "autocfg"
 version = "1.5.0"
@@ -768,7 +781,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "cap-primitives",
  "cap-std",
  "io-lifetimes",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -797,7 +810,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "maybe-owned",
  "rustix 1.1.4",
  "rustix-linux-procfs",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
  "winx",
 ]
 
@@ -917,6 +930,17 @@ dependencies = [
  "zeroize",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "chardetng"
+version = "0.1.17"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "14b8f0b65b7b08ae3c8187e8d77174de20cb6777864c6b832d8ad365999cf1ea"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "encoding_rs",
+ "memchr",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "chrono"
 version = "0.4.44"
@@ -1468,6 +1492,29 @@ dependencies = [
  "typenum",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "cssparser"
+version = "0.36.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "dae61cf9c0abb83bd659dab65b7e4e38d8236824c85f0f804f173567bda257d2"
+dependencies = [
+ "cssparser-macros",
+ "dtoa-short",
+ "itoa",
+ "phf 0.13.1",
+ "smallvec",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "cssparser-macros"
+version = "0.6.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "13b588ba4ac1a99f7f2964d24b3d896ddc6bf847ee3855dbd4366f058cfcd331"
+dependencies = [
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "csv"
 version = "1.4.0"
@@ -1845,6 +1892,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "litrs",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "dtoa"
+version = "1.0.11"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4c3cf4824e2d5f025c7b531afcb2325364084a16806f6d47fbc1f5fbd9960590"
+
+[[package]]
+name = "dtoa-short"
+version = "0.3.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cd1511a7b6a56299bd043a9c167a6d2bfb37bf84a6dfceaba651168adfb43c87"
+dependencies = [
+ "dtoa",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "dunce"
 version = "1.0.5"
@@ -2005,7 +2067,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "39cab71617ae0d63f51a36d69f866391735b51691dbda63cf6f96d042b63efeb"
 dependencies = [
  "libc",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.61.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2170,6 +2232,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "webdriver",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "fast_html2md"
+version = "0.0.58"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "af3a0122fee1bcf6bb9f3d73782e911cce69d95b76a5e29e930af92cd4a8e4e3"
+dependencies = [
+ "auto_encoder",
+ "futures-util",
+ "lazy_static",
+ "lol_html",
+ "percent-encoding",
+ "regex",
+ "url",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "fastrand"
 version = "2.3.0"
@@ -2184,7 +2261,7 @@ checksum = "0ce92ff622d6dadf7349484f42c93271a0d49b7cc4d466a936405bacbe10aa78"
 dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
  "rustix 1.1.4",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2243,6 +2320,12 @@ version = "0.1.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "d9c4f5dac5e15c24eb999c26181a6ca40b39fe946cbe4c263c7209467bc83af2"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "foldhash"
+version = "0.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "77ce24cb58228fbb8aa041425bb1050850ac19177686ea6e0f41a70416f56fdb"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "form_urlencoded"
 version = "1.2.2"
@@ -2260,7 +2343,7 @@ checksum = "94e7099f6313ecacbe1256e8ff9d617b75d1bcb16a6fddef94866d225a01a14a"
 dependencies = [
  "io-lifetimes",
  "rustix 1.1.4",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2562,7 +2645,7 @@ version = "0.15.5"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "9229cfe53dfd69f0609a49f65461bd93001ea1ef889cd5529dd176593f5338a1"
 dependencies = [
- "foldhash",
+ "foldhash 0.1.5",
  "serde",
 ]
 
@@ -2571,6 +2654,11 @@ name = "hashbrown"
 version = "0.16.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "841d1cc9bed7f9236f321df977030373f4a4163ae1a7dbfe1a51a2c1a51d9100"
+dependencies = [
+ "allocator-api2",
+ "equivalent",
+ "foldhash 0.2.0",
+]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "hashify"
@@ -3184,7 +3272,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "2285ddfe3054097ef4b2fe909ef8c3bcd1ea52a8f0d274416caebeef39f04a65"
 dependencies = [
  "io-lifetimes",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -3471,6 +3559,25 @@ version = "0.4.29"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "5e5032e24019045c762d3c0f28f5b6b8bbf38563a65908389bf7978758920897"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "lol_html"
+version = "2.7.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5ff94cb6aef6ee52afd2c69331e9109906d855e82bd241f3110dfdf6185899ab"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags 2.11.0",
+ "cfg-if",
+ "cssparser",
+ "encoding_rs",
+ "foldhash 0.2.0",
+ "hashbrown 0.16.1",
+ "memchr",
+ "mime",
+ "precomputed-hash",
+ "selectors",
+ "thiserror 2.0.18",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "lopdf"
 version = "0.38.0"
@@ -4592,6 +4699,7 @@ version = "0.11.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "1fd6780a80ae0c52cc120a26a1a42c1ae51b247a253e4e06113d23d2c2edd078"
 dependencies = [
+ "phf_macros 0.11.3",
  "phf_shared 0.11.3",
 ]
 
@@ -4610,6 +4718,7 @@ version = "0.13.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c1562dc717473dbaa4c1f85a36410e03c047b2e7df7f45ee938fbef64ae7fadf"
 dependencies = [
+ "phf_macros 0.13.1",
  "phf_shared 0.13.1",
  "serde",
 ]
@@ -4654,6 +4763,32 @@ dependencies = [
  "phf_shared 0.13.1",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "phf_macros"
+version = "0.11.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "f84ac04429c13a7ff43785d75ad27569f2951ce0ffd30a3321230db2fc727216"
+dependencies = [
+ "phf_generator 0.11.3",
+ "phf_shared 0.11.3",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "phf_macros"
+version = "0.13.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "812f032b54b1e759ccd5f8b6677695d5268c588701effba24601f6932f8269ef"
+dependencies = [
+ "phf_generator 0.13.1",
+ "phf_shared 0.13.1",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "phf_shared"
 version = "0.11.3"
@@ -5051,7 +5186,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "343d3bd7056eda839b03204e68deff7d1b13aba7af2b2fd16890697274262ee7"
 dependencies = [
  "heck",
- "itertools 0.10.5",
+ "itertools 0.14.0",
  "log",
  "multimap",
  "petgraph",
@@ -5068,7 +5203,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "8a56d757972c98b346a9b766e3f02746cde6dd1cd1d1d563472929fdd74bec4d"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
- "itertools 0.10.5",
+ "itertools 0.14.0",
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
  "syn 2.0.117",
@@ -5081,7 +5216,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "27c6023962132f4b30eb4c172c91ce92d933da334c59c23cddee82358ddafb0b"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
- "itertools 0.10.5",
+ "itertools 0.14.0",
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
  "syn 2.0.117",
@@ -5246,7 +5381,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "once_cell",
  "socket2",
  "tracing",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.60.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -5830,7 +5965,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "errno",
  "libc",
  "linux-raw-sys 0.4.15",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -5843,7 +5978,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "errno",
  "libc",
  "linux-raw-sys 0.12.1",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.61.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -6079,6 +6214,25 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "selectors"
+version = "0.33.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "feef350c36147532e1b79ea5c1f3791373e61cbd9a6a2615413b3807bb164fb7"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags 2.11.0",
+ "cssparser",
+ "derive_more 2.1.1",
+ "log",
+ "new_debug_unreachable",
+ "phf 0.13.1",
+ "phf_codegen 0.13.1",
+ "precomputed-hash",
+ "rustc-hash",
+ "servo_arc",
+ "smallvec",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "self_cell"
 version = "1.2.2"
@@ -6279,6 +6433,15 @@ dependencies = [
  "winapi",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "servo_arc"
+version = "0.4.3"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "170fb83ab34de17dc69aa7c67482b22218ddb85da56546f9bd6b929e32a05930"
+dependencies = [
+ "stable_deref_trait",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "sha1"
 version = "0.10.6"
@@ -6425,7 +6588,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "cfg-if",
  "libc",
  "psm",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
  "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
 
@@ -6574,7 +6736,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "fd-lock",
  "io-lifetimes",
  "rustix 0.38.44",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
  "winx",
 ]
 
@@ -6606,7 +6768,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "getrandom 0.4.1",
  "once_cell",
  "rustix 1.1.4",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.61.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -8528,7 +8690,7 @@ version = "0.1.11"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "c2a7b1c03c876122aa43f3020e6c3c3ee5c05081c9a00739faf7503aeba10d22"
 dependencies = [
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.61.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -8812,7 +8974,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "3f3fd376f71958b862e7afb20cfe5a22830e1963462f3a17f49d82a6c1d1f42d"
 dependencies = [
  "bitflags 2.11.0",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.59.0",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -9075,6 +9237,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "dialoguer",
  "directories",
  "fantoccini",
+ "fast_html2md",
  "futures-util",
  "glob",
  "hex",
@@ -9150,6 +9313,13 @@ dependencies = [
  "zip",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "zeroclaw-core"
+version = "0.1.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "zeroclaw-types",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zeroclaw-robot-kit"
 version = "0.1.0"
@@ -9171,6 +9341,10 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "zeroclaw-types"
+version = "0.1.0"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "zerocopy"
 version = "0.8.40"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 20cee6612..32db32918 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 [workspace]
-members = [".", "crates/robot-kit"]
+members = [
+    ".",
+    "crates/robot-kit",
+    "crates/zeroclaw-types",
+    "crates/zeroclaw-core",
+]
 resolver = "2"
 
 [package]
@@ -58,8 +63,9 @@ image = { version = "0.25", default-features = false, features = ["jpeg", "png"]
 # URL encoding for web search
 urlencoding = "2.1"
 
-# HTML to plain text conversion (web_fetch tool)
+# HTML to plain text / markdown conversion (web_fetch tool)
 nanohtml2text = "0.2"
+html2md = { package = "fast_html2md", version = "0.0.58", optional = true }
 
 # Zip archive extraction
 zip = { version = "8.1", default-features = false, features = ["deflate"] }
@@ -240,7 +246,7 @@ whatsapp-web = ["dep:wa-rs", "dep:wa-rs-core", "dep:wa-rs-binary", "dep:wa-rs-pr
 # Optional provider feature flags used by cfg(feature = "...") guards.
 # Keep disabled by default to preserve current runtime behavior.
 firecrawl = []
-web-fetch-html2md = []
+web-fetch-html2md = ["dep:html2md"]
 
 [profile.release]
 opt-level = "z"      # Optimize for size
diff --git a/crates/zeroclaw-core/Cargo.toml b/crates/zeroclaw-core/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..47e1f1315
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/zeroclaw-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[package]
+name = "zeroclaw-core"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+license = "MIT OR Apache-2.0"
+description = "Core contracts and boundaries for staged multi-crate extraction."
+
+[lib]
+path = "src/lib.rs"
+
+[dependencies]
+zeroclaw-types = { path = "../zeroclaw-types" }
diff --git a/crates/zeroclaw-core/src/lib.rs b/crates/zeroclaw-core/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9040040b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/zeroclaw-core/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#![forbid(unsafe_code)]
+
+//! Core contracts for the staged workspace split.
+//!
+//! This crate is intentionally minimal in PR-1 (scaffolding only).
+
+/// Marker constant proving dependency linkage to `zeroclaw-types`.
+pub const CORE_CRATE_ID: &str = zeroclaw_types::CRATE_ID;
diff --git a/crates/zeroclaw-types/Cargo.toml b/crates/zeroclaw-types/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2b3ff2eb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/zeroclaw-types/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+[package]
+name = "zeroclaw-types"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+license = "MIT OR Apache-2.0"
+description = "Foundational shared types for staged multi-crate extraction."
+
+[lib]
+path = "src/lib.rs"
diff --git a/crates/zeroclaw-types/src/lib.rs b/crates/zeroclaw-types/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..95c3cf66a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/zeroclaw-types/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#![forbid(unsafe_code)]
+
+//! Shared foundational types for the staged workspace split.
+//!
+//! This crate is intentionally minimal in PR-1 (scaffolding only).
+
+/// Marker constant proving the crate is linked in workspace checks.
+pub const CRATE_ID: &str = "zeroclaw-types";