diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 7b36f99..4b02e93 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,21 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - name: Install system libraries and Node.js (required by actions/checkout)
         run: |
+          # Switch apt to HTTPS mirrors. Measured from this runner on
+          # 2026-08-04: the SAME index file takes 20.1s over http:// and 3.1s
+          # over https://. apt fetches many indexes serially, so http:// does
+          # not read as "slow" -- it reads as a hang (zero bytes in
+          # /var/cache/apt/archives after 3+ minutes, apt's http workers parked
+          # in S state). rocker/r-ver:4.4 already ships ca-certificates and
+          # apt 2.8.3 has the https method built in, so nothing needs to be
+          # installed over http first to bootstrap this.
+          # `|| true` because the step runs under `sh -e`: on an image whose
+          # sources live in the other location, the missing-file sed must not
+          # kill the job.
+          sed -i -E 's#http://(archive|security)\.ubuntu\.com#https://\1.ubuntu.com#g' \
+            /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources 2>/dev/null || true
+          sed -i -E 's#http://(archive|security)\.ubuntu\.com#https://\1.ubuntu.com#g' \
+            /etc/apt/sources.list 2>/dev/null || true
           apt-get update -qq
           apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
             nodejs git \
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-manifest.R b/tests/testthat/test-manifest.R
index 318f5a3..31c9462 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-manifest.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-manifest.R
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ test_that("cog_manifest returns the active session's parsed manifest", {
   })
 })
 
-test_that(".validate_schema accepts schema_version 4, 5 and 6, rejects others", {
+test_that(".validate_schema accepts schema_version 4 through 7, rejects others", {
   expect_silent(uscogdata:::.validate_schema(list(schema_version = 4L)))
   expect_silent(uscogdata:::.validate_schema(list(schema_version = 5L)))
   # v6 = FIPS geography harmonization (2026-07-22): _code -> _asof rename +
@@ -119,12 +119,22 @@ test_that(".validate_schema accepts schema_version 4, 5 and 6, rejects others",
   # renamed columns and its geography comes from the xwalk, so v6 is accepted
   # without behavioural change -- see .validate_schema()'s note.
   expect_silent(uscogdata:::.validate_schema(list(schema_version = 6L)))
+  # v7 = `data_year` APPENDED as column 29 (cog_pipeline #80, 2026-08-03), the
+  # most recent fiscal year contributing to a collapsed key. Appended, never
+  # inserted: canonical_govid stays at position 26, so nothing this package
+  # reads shifts. Verified against the real v7 corpus before widening the
+  # allow-list -- cog_spending()/cog_balances() return correctly for FY2024 AND
+  # for FY2012, so the new column is inert here.
+  expect_silent(uscogdata:::.validate_schema(list(schema_version = 7L)))
   expect_error(
     uscogdata:::.validate_schema(list(schema_version = 3L)),
     "schema_version"
   )
+  # The upper bound still has to be ENFORCED, not just moved. Without this the
+  # test would no longer prove that an unknown future schema is refused, and a
+  # v8 corpus with a genuinely breaking change would sail through.
   expect_error(
-    uscogdata:::.validate_schema(list(schema_version = 7L)),
+    uscogdata:::.validate_schema(list(schema_version = 8L)),
     "schema_version"
   )
 })