diff --git a/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml b/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..88daf2545
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# FreeBSD build, INFORMATIONAL ONLY. Builds the headless binary (the C core,
+# no embedded UI) inside a FreeBSD VM with the canonical scripts/build.sh,
+# then checks that the binary starts (--version). The UI build is not run here:
+# its npm dependency tree pulls in onnxruntime-node, which publishes no FreeBSD
+# build, so `npm ci` stops with EBADPLATFORM. The UI bundle itself is
+# platform-independent JavaScript and is built on every other leg.
+#
+# NON-GATING: workflow_dispatch only. This workflow is not part of the ci-ok
+# aggregate and is not called by release.yml or dry-run.yml, so a FreeBSD red
+# never blocks a pull request or a release. Nothing from it is uploaded or
+# published, and it runs with read-only permissions.
+name: FreeBSD build (informational)
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  build-freebsd:
+    name: build (freebsd-${{ matrix.release }}, ${{ matrix.arch }}, clang)
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        release: ['15.1', '14.4']
+        arch: ['x86_64']
+        # arch: ['x86_64', 'aarch64']
+        # aarch64 is disabled for now: it has not been proven with this
+        # workflow. Its earlier blocker was the frontend build (lightningcss
+        # publishes no freebsd-arm64 binary), which this headless job no
+        # longer runs. Re-enable after a green aarch64 proof run.
+        include:
+          - arch: x86_64
+            sync: rsync
+          # - arch: aarch64
+          #   sync: scp
+    # Must be an x86_64 host (ubuntu-latest). QEMU guest emulation on the arm
+    # runners (ubuntu-*-arm) degrades so badly that runs hit 3+ hour timeouts.
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 90
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+
+      - name: Build and run inside a FreeBSD ${{ matrix.release }} (${{ matrix.arch }}) VM
+        # https://github.com/vmactions/freebsd-vm
+        uses: vmactions/freebsd-vm@c46abacb49f09938ca4e1702d15d836285d694cc # v1.5.9
+        with:
+          release: ${{ matrix.release }}
+          arch: ${{ matrix.arch }}
+          # Sync options: rsync, sshfs, nfs, scp
+          sync: ${{ matrix.sync }}
+          # Nothing from the VM is used after the run, so skip the copy back.
+          copyback: false
+          mem: 6144
+          cpu: 4
+          prepare: |
+            pkg update -f
+            pkg install -y gmake sqlite3 pkgconf bash
+            which python3 >/dev/null 2>&1 || ln -sf $(which python3.15 python3.14 python3.13 python3.12 python3.11 python3.10 2>/dev/null | head -n 1) /usr/local/bin/python3
+          run: |
+            scripts/build.sh CC=clang CXX=clang++
+            build/c/codebase-memory-mcp --version
diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
index ad646c5de..a8035f9cd 100755
--- a/scripts/build.sh
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -193,17 +193,18 @@ else
     cbm_remove_build_dir "$ROOT" "$BUILD_DIR"
 fi
 
-# Step 2: Build (Makefile applies $ARCHFLAGS for the target arch on macOS)
+# Step 2: Build (Makefile applies $ARCHFLAGS for the target arch on macOS;
+# $MAKE comes from env.sh: gmake on FreeBSD, make elsewhere)
 if [[ "$PHASE" == vendored ]]; then
-    make -j"$NPROC" -f Makefile.cbm cbm-third-party \
+    "$MAKE" -j"$NPROC" -f Makefile.cbm cbm-third-party \
         CFLAGS_EXTRA="$CFLAGS_EXTRA" "${EXTRA_MAKE_ARGS[@]+"${EXTRA_MAKE_ARGS[@]}"}"
     echo "=== Third-party objects built in ${BUILD_DIR} (no binary) ==="
     exit 0
 elif $WITH_UI; then
-    make -j"$NPROC" -f Makefile.cbm cbm-with-ui \
+    "$MAKE" -j"$NPROC" -f Makefile.cbm cbm-with-ui \
         CFLAGS_EXTRA="$CFLAGS_EXTRA" "${EXTRA_MAKE_ARGS[@]+"${EXTRA_MAKE_ARGS[@]}"}"
 else
-    make -j"$NPROC" -f Makefile.cbm cbm "${RETRACE_ARGS[@]+"${RETRACE_ARGS[@]}"}" \
+    "$MAKE" -j"$NPROC" -f Makefile.cbm cbm "${RETRACE_ARGS[@]+"${RETRACE_ARGS[@]}"}" \
         CFLAGS_EXTRA="$CFLAGS_EXTRA" "${EXTRA_MAKE_ARGS[@]+"${EXTRA_MAKE_ARGS[@]}"}"
 fi
 
diff --git a/scripts/env.sh b/scripts/env.sh
index e23affe4c..13ece00b5 100755
--- a/scripts/env.sh
+++ b/scripts/env.sh
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@
 # Exports:
 #   ARCH        — target architecture (arm64 / x86_64)
 #   ARCHFLAGS   — "-arch <arch>" on macOS (target slice for clang/ld), empty elsewhere
+#   MAKE        — make program for Makefile.cbm (gmake on FreeBSD, make elsewhere)
 #   NPROC       — number of CPU cores
-#   OS          — darwin / linux / windows
+#   OS          — darwin / linux / windows / freebsd
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
@@ -16,10 +17,22 @@ OS="$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
 case "$OS" in
     darwin)  OS="darwin" ;;
     linux)   OS="linux" ;;
+    freebsd*) OS="freebsd" ;;
     mingw*|msys*|cygwin*) OS="windows" ;;
     *)       OS="unknown" ;;
 esac
 
+# ── Select the make program ────────────────────────────────────
+# Makefile.cbm is written in GNU make syntax. FreeBSD ships BSD make as its
+# default make, so builds there run gmake (pkg install gmake); every other
+# platform runs make. Not exported: build.sh sources this file and runs
+# $MAKE in the same shell.
+if [[ "$OS" == "freebsd" ]]; then
+    MAKE="gmake"
+else
+    MAKE="make"
+fi
+
 # ── Detect / override architecture ─────────────────────────────
 # Default: native HARDWARE architecture (not Rosetta-translated).
 # On macOS under Rosetta, uname -m returns x86_64 even on Apple Silicon.
@@ -128,5 +141,5 @@ fi
 # ── Print environment summary ──────────────────────────────────
 print_env() {
     local context="$1"
-    echo "=== $context: os=$OS arch=$ARCH cores=$NPROC cc=${CC:-default} cxx=${CXX:-default} ==="
+    echo "=== $context: os=$OS arch=$ARCH cores=$NPROC cc=${CC:-default} cxx=${CXX:-default} make=$MAKE ==="
 }