diff --git a/.github/workflows/native-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/native-smoke.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7f7fac3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/native-smoke.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+name: Native Image Smoke Test
+
+# Builds the observability-kit-starter test application as a GraalVM native
+# image and runs the existing BootMetricsIT browser test against the native
+# server. This verifies the starter survives AOT / closed-world compilation:
+# the ServiceLoader-discovered MetricsServiceInitListener must still be
+# instantiated and the vaadin.* meters must still reach the Prometheus endpoint.
+#
+# Native builds are slow (~10-20 min) and need GraalVM, so this does not run on
+# every push. It runs nightly, on demand, and on PRs that touch the kit sources
+# or the native build wiring.
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  schedule:
+    # 03:17 UTC nightly — off the top of the hour to avoid scheduler congestion.
+    - cron: '17 3 * * *'
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - 'observability-kit-micrometer/src/**'
+      - 'observability-kit-spring/src/**'
+      - 'observability-kit-starter/src/**'
+      - 'observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter/**'
+      - '.github/workflows/native-smoke.yml'
+
+concurrency:
+  group: native-smoke-${{ github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+jobs:
+  native-smoke:
+    name: Build native image and verify metrics
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Check secrets
+        if: ${{ !github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork }}
+        run: |
+          [ -z "${{secrets.VAADIN_PRO_KEY}}" ] \
+            && echo "🚫 **VAADIN_PRO_KEY** is not defined, check that **${{github.repository}}** repo has a valid secret" \
+            | tee -a $GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY && exit 1 || exit 0
+
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up GraalVM 25
+        uses: graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1
+        with:
+          distribution: graalvm
+          java-version: '25'
+          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          cache: maven
+
+      - name: Set TB License
+        run: |
+          TB_LICENSE=${{secrets.VAADIN_PRO_KEY}}
+          mkdir -p ~/.vaadin/
+          echo '{"username":"'$(echo $TB_LICENSE | cut -d / -f1)'","proKey":"'$(echo $TB_LICENSE | cut -d / -f2)'"}' > ~/.vaadin/proKey
+
+      # Install the kit modules (micrometer, spring, starter) to the local repo.
+      # skipITs keeps the observability-kit-tests reactor out of this build.
+      - name: Install kit modules
+        run: mvn -B -ntp -DskipTests -DskipITs install -pl observability-kit-starter -am
+
+      # Build the test app as a native image (production frontend + Spring AOT +
+      # native-image). `package` stops before the integration-test phase, so the
+      # JVM start/stop executions do not fire here.
+      - name: Build native image
+        run: >
+          mvn -B -ntp -Pproduction,native -DskipTests package
+          -pl observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-common,observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter
+
+      - name: Start native server
+        working-directory: observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter
+        run: |
+          ./target/observability-kit-tests-starter \
+            -Dvaadin.productionMode=true --server.port=8080 \
+            > native-server.log 2>&1 &
+          echo "NATIVE_PID=$!" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+
+      - name: Wait for server
+        run: |
+          for i in $(seq 1 60); do
+            if curl -sf http://localhost:8080/actuator/prometheus > /dev/null; then
+              echo "Native server is up after ${i}s"
+              exit 0
+            fi
+            sleep 1
+          done
+          echo "🚫 Native server did not become ready within 60s"
+          exit 1
+
+      # Run the existing browser IT against the native server. Failsafe is
+      # invoked directly so it uses the already-running native binary instead of
+      # booting the JVM app via the start/stop executions.
+      - name: Run smoke test against native server
+        run: >
+          mvn -B -ntp -pl observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter
+          failsafe:integration-test failsafe:verify -DserverPort=8080
+
+      - name: Stop native server
+        if: always()
+        run: '[ -n "$NATIVE_PID" ] && kill "$NATIVE_PID" || true'
+
+      - name: Upload native server log
+        if: always()
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: native-server-log
+          path: observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter/native-server.log
+          if-no-files-found: ignore
diff --git a/observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter/pom.xml b/observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter/pom.xml
index 3d00266..8655346 100644
--- a/observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter/pom.xml
+++ b/observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter/pom.xml
@@ -38,22 +38,13 @@
       <version>${flow.version}</version>
     </dependency>
 
-    <!-- Spring Boot web (Jetty, not Tomcat) -->
+    <!-- Spring Boot web (Tomcat) -->
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
       <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-webmvc</artifactId>
-      <exclusions>
-        <exclusion>
-          <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
-          <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-tomcat</artifactId>
-        </exclusion>
-      </exclusions>
-    </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
-      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-jetty</artifactId>
-    </dependency>
 
+    </dependency>
+    
     <!-- Actuator + Prometheus registry -->
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
@@ -160,4 +151,91 @@
     </plugins>
   </build>
 
+  <profiles>
+    <!--
+      Native-image smoke test. Builds this Spring Boot + Vaadin app as a GraalVM
+      native image so we can verify the starter survives AOT: the
+      ServiceLoader-discovered MetricsServiceInitListener must still be
+      instantiated, the auto-configuration must still wire the binders, and the
+      vaadin.* meters must still reach the Prometheus endpoint in a closed-world
+      image.
+
+      This profile only produces the native executable (bound to `package`); it
+      deliberately does NOT run the browser ITs, because those run in a normal
+      JVM against the *already-running* native server. The native-smoke CI
+      workflow builds the image, starts it, then runs BootMetricsIT against it.
+
+      Build the production frontend bundle alongside, so the image boots in
+      production mode (no dev server, which native cannot provide):
+
+        mvn -Pproduction,native -DskipTests package \
+          -pl observability-kit-tests/observability-kit-tests-starter -am
+
+      Requires a GraalVM JDK with native-image on the PATH.
+    -->
+    <profile>
+      <id>native</id>
+      <properties>
+        <native-maven-plugin.version>0.10.6</native-maven-plugin.version>
+      </properties>
+      <build>
+        <plugins>
+          <!-- Force a production frontend build so the native image does not
+               try to start a dev server at runtime. -->
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>com.vaadin</groupId>
+            <artifactId>flow-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <configuration>
+              <productionMode>true</productionMode>
+            </configuration>
+          </plugin>
+          <!-- Spring AOT: generate the closed-world bean definitions and
+               runtime hints consumed by native-image. -->
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
+            <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <executions>
+              <execution>
+                <id>process-aot</id>
+                <goals>
+                  <goal>process-aot</goal>
+                </goals>
+              </execution>
+            </executions>
+          </plugin>
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.graalvm.buildtools</groupId>
+            <artifactId>native-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <version>${native-maven-plugin.version}</version>
+            <configuration>
+              <classesDirectory>${project.build.outputDirectory}</classesDirectory>
+              <imageName>observability-kit-tests-starter</imageName>
+              <mainClass>com.vaadin.observability.tests.starter.Application</mainClass>
+              <!-- Pull in upstream (Spring, Jetty, Micrometer, ...) reachability
+                   metadata so we only have to worry about the kit's own code. -->
+              <metadataRepository>
+                <enabled>true</enabled>
+              </metadataRepository>
+            </configuration>
+            <executions>
+              <execution>
+                <id>add-reachability-metadata</id>
+                <goals>
+                  <goal>add-reachability-metadata</goal>
+                </goals>
+              </execution>
+              <execution>
+                <id>build-native-image</id>
+                <phase>package</phase>
+                <goals>
+                  <goal>compile-no-fork</goal>
+                </goals>
+              </execution>
+            </executions>
+          </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+      </build>
+    </profile>
+  </profiles>
+
 </project>