diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 7326f2e..c52735b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -89,3 +89,27 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Run pytest with coverage
         run: uv run pytest --cov=src/pubsub_sdk_python --cov-branch --cov-report=term-missing --cov-fail-under=85
+
+  examples:
+    name: Check Examples
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
+
+      - name: Set up uv
+        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@20cfd1bf945f4377ade1205e4dbc17946fc9a30d # v10.0.1
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.14"
+          enable-cache: true
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          uv sync --group dev
+          uv pip install -e .
+
+      - name: Compile examples
+        run: uv run python -m compileall -q examples
+
+      - name: Run ruff check on examples
+        run: uv run ruff check examples/
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b4e61fe..47b828f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,19 +1,22 @@
 # pubsub-sdk-python
 
+[![PyPI](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/pubsub-sdk-python)](https://pypi.org/project/pubsub-sdk-python/)
+[![Python](https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/pubsub-sdk-python)](https://pypi.org/project/pubsub-sdk-python/)
+
 Python SDK for the **STACKIT PubSub Data Plane API**.
 
 This SDK covers the **data plane only** (publish, pull, ack, nack). Creating/deleting topics and subscriptions, and granting publisher/subscriber access, is done via the separate STACKIT PubSub **control plane** REST API (see `tests/integration/conftest.py` for example calls) or the STACKIT Portal.
 
 ## Install
 
-Not published to PyPI yet — every GitHub Release publishes `pubsub-sdk-python` to PyPI automatically (see `.github/workflows/release.yml`), so once a release is cut:
+The SDK is published to [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/pubsub-sdk-python/) as `pubsub-sdk-python`. Every GitHub Release publishes a new version automatically (see `.github/workflows/release.yml`); check the badge above or the [releases page](https://github.com/stackitcloud/pubsub-sdk-python/releases) for the latest version.
 
 ```bash
 pip install pubsub-sdk-python
 # or: uv add pubsub-sdk-python
 ```
 
-Until then, install from source with [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/):
+To work on the SDK itself, install from source with [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/):
 
 ```bash
 uv sync --group dev