diff --git a/.github/workflows/smoke-test-desktop.yml b/.github/workflows/smoke-test-desktop.yml
index c00616a26..5e1d7325c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/smoke-test-desktop.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/smoke-test-desktop.yml
@@ -1,20 +1,11 @@
-# ⚠️  WARNING: Before merging, change the trigger back to workflow_dispatch only.
-# The pull_request trigger is temporary so we can validate this workflow on the PR
-# and attach run results as proof-of-work. Production trigger should be:
-#
-#   on:
-#     workflow_dispatch:
-#     pull_request:
-#       paths:
-#         - 'desktopApp/build.gradle.kts'
-#         - 'desktopApp/compose-rules.pro'
-#         - '.github/workflows/smoke-test-desktop.yml'
-#
 name: Desktop Smoke Test
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
   pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - 'desktopApp/**'
+      - '.github/workflows/smoke-test-desktop.yml'
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
diff --git a/desktopApp/compose-rules.pro b/desktopApp/compose-rules.pro
index 8241422ed..5b0df2a51 100644
--- a/desktopApp/compose-rules.pro
+++ b/desktopApp/compose-rules.pro
@@ -121,9 +121,14 @@
 #         Reason:   Type 'okio/BufferedSource' is not assignable to
 #                   'okio/RealBufferedSource'.
 #
-# Disabling just this sub-pass keeps merging, inlining, peephole and
+# Disabling just these sub-passes keeps merging, inlining, peephole and
 # dead-code optimizations on. Everything else in `optimize` stays.
--optimizations !method/specialization/returntype
+#
+# `method/marking/static` converts instance methods to static when they
+# don't reference `this`. kmp-tor's `AsyncFs.of()` is called via
+# invokevirtual; after ProGuard marks it static the JVM throws
+# IncompatibleClassChangeError at launch (discovered by CI smoke test).
+-optimizations !method/specialization/returntype,!method/marking/static
 
 # ============================================================================
 # Desktop-only: Jackson — mobile module does not ship Jackson on Android