diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index ef55957..bc2a3b8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@ on:
     branches: [main, master]
   pull_request:
   workflow_dispatch:
+  # Daily run picks up oe-core / bitbake master drift even when no
+  # change to this repo has fired CI.
+  schedule:
+    - cron: '23 5 * * *'
 
 # Cancel superseded runs for the same ref to save CI minutes.
 concurrency:
@@ -173,6 +177,77 @@ jobs:
           source oe-init-build-env build
           bitbake -c fetch vscode
 
+  # Track oe-core / bitbake master for early warning on bitbake API
+  # drift, new QA checks, layer.conf format changes, etc. This job is
+  # informational (continue-on-error) so a hot bitbake-master breakage
+  # doesn't block merges; the value is the alert, not the gate.
+  parse-oe-core-master:
+    name: parse (oe-core master / ${{ matrix.machine }}) [informational]
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    continue-on-error: true
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        machine: [qemux86-64, qemuarm64, qemuarm]
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          path: meta-vscode
+
+      - name: Free disk space
+        run: |
+          sudo rm -rf /usr/share/dotnet /usr/local/lib/android /opt/ghc \
+                      /opt/hostedtoolcache/CodeQL /usr/local/share/boost \
+                      "$AGENT_TOOLSDIRECTORY"
+
+      - name: Clone oe-core (master)
+        run: |
+          git clone --depth 1 --branch master \
+            https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core oe-core
+
+      - name: Clone bitbake (master)
+        run: |
+          git clone --depth 1 --branch master \
+            https://git.openembedded.org/bitbake oe-core/bitbake
+
+      - name: Install Yocto host dependencies
+        run: |
+          sudo apt-get update
+          sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
+            gawk wget git diffstat unzip texinfo gcc build-essential chrpath \
+            socat cpio python3 python3-pip python3-pexpect xz-utils debianutils \
+            iputils-ping python3-git python3-jinja2 python3-subunit zstd liblz4-tool \
+            file locales libacl1
+          sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
+
+      - name: Parse the layer (MACHINE=${{ matrix.machine }})
+        env:
+          LANG: en_US.UTF-8
+          LC_ALL: en_US.UTF-8
+        run: |
+          set -eo pipefail
+          cd oe-core
+          source oe-init-build-env build
+          cat >> conf/local.conf <<EOF
+          MACHINE = "${{ matrix.machine }}"
+          BB_NUMBER_THREADS = "2"
+          PARALLEL_MAKE = "-j 2"
+          CONF_VERSION = "2"
+          EOF
+          bitbake-layers add-layer "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/meta-vscode"
+          bitbake-layers show-layers
+          bitbake -p
+
+      - name: Fetch vscode (MACHINE=${{ matrix.machine }})
+        env:
+          LANG: en_US.UTF-8
+          LC_ALL: en_US.UTF-8
+        run: |
+          set -eo pipefail
+          cd oe-core
+          source oe-init-build-env build
+          bitbake -c fetch vscode
+
   # Build vscode end-to-end on the LTS we care most about today
   # (scarthgap). This catches QA failures (libdir, file-rdeps, etc.)
   # that bitbake -p doesn't run. Single arch (x86_64) for cost; the