diff --git a/docs/CONFIG.example.json b/docs/CONFIG.example.json
index 0eb1a80..4556397 100644
--- a/docs/CONFIG.example.json
+++ b/docs/CONFIG.example.json
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
   "models": {
     "providers": {
       "openai": {
-        "apiKey": "sk-xxxx",
+        "apiKey": "<AUTH_TOKEN_OR_PLACEHOLDER>",
         "baseURL": "http://127.0.0.1:8787/v1"
       }
     }
diff --git a/docs/VERIFY.md b/docs/VERIFY.md
index 6375c48..52ea5d3 100644
--- a/docs/VERIFY.md
+++ b/docs/VERIFY.md
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 
 ```bash
 cd no-reply-api
+# optional: enforce bearer token checks
+# export AUTH_TOKEN='replace-with-strong-token'
 npm start
 ```
 
@@ -16,6 +18,14 @@ curl -sS -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8787/v1/chat/completions \
   -d '{"model":"whispergate-no-reply-v1","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hi"}]}'
 ```
 
+Or run bundled smoke check:
+
+```bash
+./scripts/smoke-no-reply-api.sh
+# with auth:
+# AUTH_TOKEN='replace-with-strong-token' ./scripts/smoke-no-reply-api.sh
+```
+
 Expected assistant text: `NO_REPLY`
 
 ## 3) Enable plugin
diff --git a/scripts/smoke-no-reply-api.sh b/scripts/smoke-no-reply-api.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..87a5ac9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/smoke-no-reply-api.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+BASE_URL="${BASE_URL:-http://127.0.0.1:8787}"
+AUTH_TOKEN="${AUTH_TOKEN:-}"
+
+AUTH_HEADER=()
+if [[ -n "$AUTH_TOKEN" ]]; then
+  AUTH_HEADER=(-H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}")
+fi
+
+echo "[1] health"
+curl -sS "${BASE_URL}/health" | sed -n '1,3p'
+
+echo "[2] models"
+curl -sS "${BASE_URL}/v1/models" "${AUTH_HEADER[@]}" | sed -n '1,8p'
+
+echo "[3] chat/completions"
+curl -sS -X POST "${BASE_URL}/v1/chat/completions" \
+  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+  "${AUTH_HEADER[@]}" \
+  -d '{"model":"whispergate-no-reply-v1","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"hello"}]}' \
+  | sed -n '1,20p'
+
+echo "[4] responses"
+curl -sS -X POST "${BASE_URL}/v1/responses" \
+  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
+  "${AUTH_HEADER[@]}" \
+  -d '{"model":"whispergate-no-reply-v1","input":"hello"}' \
+  | sed -n '1,20p'
+
+echo "smoke ok"