diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index aa09481b..e5c62e1f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Apply version override
         if: inputs.version != ''
         run: cargo xtask version set "$PDFCRAFT_VERSION"
-      - name: Build and package (AppImage, deb, rpm, tar.gz)
+      - name: Build and package (AppImage, deb, rpm, tar.gz, CLI tar.gz)
         env:
           CRAFT_FONTS_DIR: ${{ github.workspace }}/craft-fonts
           CRAFT_FONTS_REQUIRED: "1"
@@ -223,6 +223,12 @@ jobs:
           dpkg-deb --info dist/release/*.deb
           dpkg-deb --contents dist/release/*.deb | grep -E 'usr/bin/pdfcraft$|metainfo|applications'
           ldd target/release/pdfcraft
+          # The CLI-only archive: the binary and its licences, and it runs.
+          cli="dist/release/pdfcraft-cli-$PDFCRAFT_VERSION-linux-${{ matrix.arch }}.tar.gz"
+          tar -tzf "$cli" | grep -E '/pdfcraft-cli$'
+          tar -tzf "$cli" | grep -E '/LICENSE-APACHE$'
+          mkdir -p "$RUNNER_TEMP/cli" && tar -xzf "$cli" -C "$RUNNER_TEMP/cli"
+          "$RUNNER_TEMP/cli/pdfcraft-cli-$PDFCRAFT_VERSION-linux-${{ matrix.arch }}/pdfcraft-cli" --version
           python3 -c "import yaml; m = yaml.safe_load(open('packaging/linux/flatpak/ai.storyteller.pdfcraft.yml')); assert m['id'] == 'ai.storyteller.pdfcraft'"
           for appimage in dist/release/*.AppImage; do
             chmod +x "$appimage"
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 43342478..79f0a6c0 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -451,6 +451,9 @@ Use the MSI for your architecture. Per-user installation overrides are not suppo
 | Debian/Ubuntu | `pdfcraft-<ver>-linux-x86_64.deb` | `pdfcraft-<ver>-linux-aarch64.deb` | |
 | Fedora/RHEL/openSUSE | `pdfcraft-<ver>-linux-x86_64.rpm` | `pdfcraft-<ver>-linux-aarch64.rpm` | |
 | Tarball | `pdfcraft-<ver>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz` | `pdfcraft-<ver>-linux-aarch64.tar.gz` | Unpack anywhere |
+| Command-line tool | `pdfcraft-cli-<ver>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz` | `pdfcraft-cli-<ver>-linux-aarch64.tar.gz` | `pdfcraft-cli` alone (and its opt-in MCP server), for servers, CI and agents |
+
+Every Linux build needs glibc 2.35 or newer (Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 36+, RHEL 10).
 
 ### FreeBSD
 
diff --git a/docs/releasing.md b/docs/releasing.md
index 30900549..5fb8d70c 100644
--- a/docs/releasing.md
+++ b/docs/releasing.md
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ published (`gh workflow run release.yml --ref <branch>`).
 | Windows 10+ x64 | `pdfcraft-<v>-windows-x64.msi`, `pdfcraft-<v>-windows-x64-portable.zip` | `windows-latest` |
 | Windows 10+ x86 (32-bit) | `pdfcraft-<v>-windows-x86.msi`, `pdfcraft-<v>-windows-x86-portable.zip` | `windows-latest` |
 | Windows 11 on ARM64 | `pdfcraft-<v>-windows-arm64.msi`, `pdfcraft-<v>-windows-arm64-portable.zip` | `windows-latest` (cross-compiled) |
-| Linux x86_64 | `pdfcraft-<v>-linux-x86_64.{AppImage,AppImage.zsync,deb,rpm,tar.gz}` | `ubuntu-22.04` |
-| Linux aarch64 | `pdfcraft-<v>-linux-aarch64.{AppImage,AppImage.zsync,deb,rpm,tar.gz}` | `ubuntu-22.04-arm` |
+| Linux x86_64 | `pdfcraft-<v>-linux-x86_64.{AppImage,AppImage.zsync,deb,rpm,tar.gz}`, `pdfcraft-cli-<v>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz` | `ubuntu-22.04` |
+| Linux aarch64 | `pdfcraft-<v>-linux-aarch64.{AppImage,AppImage.zsync,deb,rpm,tar.gz}`, `pdfcraft-cli-<v>-linux-aarch64.tar.gz` | `ubuntu-22.04-arm` |
 | Flatpak x86_64 | `pdfcraft-<v>-linux-x86_64.flatpak` | `ubuntu-24.04` (repackages the Linux tarball) |
 | Flatpak aarch64 | `pdfcraft-<v>-linux-aarch64.flatpak` | `ubuntu-24.04-arm` (repackages the Linux tarball) |
 | FreeBSD 14 x86_64 | `pdfcraft-<v>-freebsd-x86_64.tar.gz` | FreeBSD VM on `ubuntu-latest` |
@@ -131,7 +131,9 @@ Locally: `dotnet tool install -g wix --version 5.0.2`, then `pwsh packaging/wind
 `packaging/linux/package.sh` stages one FHS tree (both binaries, the desktop entry, hicolor icons,
 AppStream metainfo) and makes every format from it: an **AppImage** (any distribution, nothing to
 install), a **.deb** and an **.rpm** (built with [nfpm](https://nfpm.goreleaser.com) from
-`nfpm.yaml`; they integrate with the menu, MIME and icon caches), and a **.tar.gz**.
+`nfpm.yaml`; they integrate with the menu, MIME and icon caches), a **.tar.gz**, and a CLI-only
+**`pdfcraft-cli-<v>-linux-<arch>.tar.gz`** (the stripped `pdfcraft-cli` plus the licences and
+README, for servers, CI and agent sandboxes). `--formats` picks a subset (`appimage deb rpm tar cli`).
 
 The binaries are built on Ubuntu 22.04, the oldest GitHub-hosted image, so they need only
 **glibc ≥ 2.35**: Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 36+, RHEL 10. Windowing (X11, Wayland,
diff --git a/packaging/env.sh b/packaging/env.sh
index d4023a1a..a903be9c 100644
--- a/packaging/env.sh
+++ b/packaging/env.sh
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ warn() {
 # Copy licence and readme files that exist into a package directory.
 copy_docs() {
   local dest="$1" f
-  for f in README.md LICENSE LICENSE-MIT LICENSE-APACHE COPYRIGHT; do
+  for f in README.md LICENSE LICENSE-MIT LICENSE-APACHE COPYRIGHT NOTICE; do
     if [ -f "$ROOT/$f" ]; then cp "$ROOT/$f" "$dest/"; fi
   done
   copy_font_licences "$dest"
diff --git a/packaging/linux/package.sh b/packaging/linux/package.sh
index ae0166e2..06b04a9e 100755
--- a/packaging/linux/package.sh
+++ b/packaging/linux/package.sh
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@
 #   $DIST/pdfcraft-<version>-linux-<arch>.deb       Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, Pop!_OS, ...
 #   $DIST/pdfcraft-<version>-linux-<arch>.rpm       Fedora, openSUSE, RHEL, ...
 #   $DIST/pdfcraft-<version>-linux-<arch>.tar.gz    plain FHS-style tree (bin/, share/)
+#   $DIST/pdfcraft-cli-<version>-linux-<arch>.tar.gz  the headless CLI alone (servers, CI, agents)
 #
-# Usage: packaging/linux/package.sh [--skip-build] [--formats "appimage deb rpm tar"]
+# Usage: packaging/linux/package.sh [--skip-build] [--formats "appimage deb rpm tar cli"]
 #
 # Needs: cargo; nfpm for deb/rpm (https://nfpm.goreleaser.com); appimagetool for the AppImage
 # (downloaded into $CARGO_TARGET_DIR if missing). Build on an old distro (CI: Ubuntu 22.04,
@@ -20,12 +21,12 @@ HERE="$ROOT/packaging/linux"
 APP_ID=ai.storyteller.pdfcraft
 
 SKIP_BUILD=0
-FORMATS="appimage deb rpm tar"
+FORMATS="appimage deb rpm tar cli"
 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   case "$1" in
     --skip-build) SKIP_BUILD=1; shift ;;
     --formats) FORMATS="$2"; shift 2 ;;
-    -h | --help) sed -n '2,15p' "$0"; exit 0 ;;
+    -h | --help) sed -n '2,16p' "$0"; exit 0 ;;
     *) echo "unknown argument: $1" >&2; exit 2 ;;
   esac
 done
@@ -80,6 +81,19 @@ if has tar; then
   echo "wrote $DIST/$BASENAME.tar.gz"
 fi
 
+# ---- CLI-only .tar.gz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# The stripped pdfcraft-cli (and its opt-in MCP server) with the licences, for machines that never
+# open a window. Like the other formats it needs glibc >= the build host's.
+if has cli; then
+  CLI_NAME="pdfcraft-cli-$VERSION-linux-$ARCH"
+  CLI_DIR="$WORK/cli/$CLI_NAME"
+  mkdir -p "$CLI_DIR"
+  cp "$STAGE/usr/bin/pdfcraft-cli" "$CLI_DIR/"
+  copy_docs "$CLI_DIR"
+  tar -C "$WORK/cli" -czf "$DIST/$CLI_NAME.tar.gz" "$CLI_NAME"
+  echo "wrote $DIST/$CLI_NAME.tar.gz"
+fi
+
 # ---- .deb / .rpm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 if has deb || has rpm; then
   command -v nfpm >/dev/null || { echo "error: nfpm not found (https://nfpm.goreleaser.com/install/)" >&2; exit 1; }