docs: add README release metadata strip

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -101,6 +101,8 @@ the API stability policy and migration guide before upgrading from `0.3.x`.
 
 - Reclassify the project as Beta in package metadata to reflect its documented
   API stability policy, compatibility suite, and production-adoption guidance.
+- Add a version, license, install, and release-notes strip to the README and
+  validate it against the repository version contract.
 
 ### Planned
 

README.md

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # `base-cli`
 
+| Version | License | Install | Release notes |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| `0.4.0` | [Apache-2.0](LICENSE) | `python -m pip install base-cli` | [v0.4.0](https://github.com/basefoundry/base-cli/releases/tag/v0.4.0) |
+
 `base-cli` is the PyPI distribution; import it in Python as `base_cli`.
 
 Install it with:

tests/validate.sh

@@ -42,4 +42,10 @@ for file in "${required_files[@]}"; do
   }
 done
 
+version="$(head -n 1 VERSION | tr -d '\r')"
+if ! sed -n '1,12p' README.md | tr -d '\r' | grep -F "| \`$version\` | [Apache-2.0](LICENSE) | \`python -m pip install base-cli\` | [v$version](https://github.com/basefoundry/base-cli/releases/tag/v$version) |" >/dev/null; then
+  printf 'README.md release strip does not match VERSION (%s), license, install command, and release link.\n' "$version" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 printf 'Repository baseline is present.\n'