diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-hf-xet.yml b/.github/workflows/build-hf-xet.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6f949c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-hf-xet.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 The RISE Project
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+name: Build hf-xet wheels (riscv64)
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        description: 'hf-xet version to build (git tag without leading v, e.g. 1.6.0)'
+        required: true
+        default: '1.6.0'
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - '.github/workflows/build-hf-xet.yml'
+      - '.github/workflows/test-hf-xet.yml'
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ inputs.version || '1.6.0' }}-${{ github.head_ref || github.run_id }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read  # to fetch code (actions/checkout)
+
+env:
+  HFXET_VERSION: ${{ inputs.version || '1.6.0' }}
+
+jobs:
+  # The 3.14 wheel is abi3 compatible, so a separate build is only needed for
+  # 3.14t (free-threaded CPython has no stable ABI to target yet).
+  build_wheels:
+    name: Build hf-xet ${{ inputs.version || '1.6.0' }} ${{ matrix.python-version }}-riscv64
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-riscv
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        platform:
+          - target: riscv64gc-unknown-linux-gnu
+            arch: riscv64
+            manylinux: 2_39
+        python-version:
+          - '3.14'
+          - '3.14t'
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout hf-xet v${{ env.HFXET_VERSION }}
+        uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0  # v7.0.0
+        with:
+          repository: huggingface/xet-core
+          ref: v${{ env.HFXET_VERSION }}
+          persist-credentials: false
+
+      - name: Install Python
+        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@fac544c07dec837d0ccb6301d7b5580bf5edae39  # v8.2.0
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          activate-environment: true
+          enable-cache: false
+
+      - name: Install wheel tooling
+        run: |
+          uv pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install wheel
+
+      - uses: ./.github/actions/set-build-profile
+        with:
+          tag: v${{ env.HFXET_VERSION }}
+
+      - name: Build wheels
+        uses: PyO3/maturin-action@e83996d129638aa358a18fbd1dfb82f0b0fb5d3b  # v1.51.0
+        with:
+          target: ${{ matrix.platform.target }}
+          args: --profile ${{ env.BUILD_PROFILE }} -i ${{ matrix.python-version }} --out dist
+          sccache: 'true'
+          manylinux: ${{ matrix.platform.manylinux }}
+          working-directory: hf_xet
+          before-script-linux: |
+            if command -v apt-get &> /dev/null; then
+                apt-get update && apt-get install libatomic-ops-dev -y
+            elif command -v yum &> /dev/null; then
+                yum install libatomic_ops-devel perl-IPC-Cmd -y
+            else
+                echo "Neither apt-get nor yum is installed. Please install a package manager."
+                exit 1
+            fi
+            git config --global --add safe.directory "*"
+
+      - name: Strip debug symbols into a separate file
+        if: env.IS_RELEASE == 'true'
+        run: |
+          mkdir hf_xet/dbg
+          mkdir dist
+          pushd dist
+          cp ../hf_xet/dist/* .
+          LATEST_WHEEL=$(ls -tr1 *.whl | tail -n 1)
+          WHEEL_NAME=$(basename $LATEST_WHEEL .whl)
+          WHEEL_VERSION=$(echo $LATEST_WHEEL | cut -d '-' -f 2)
+          SYMBOL_FILE=${WHEEL_NAME}.so.dbg
+          wheel unpack $LATEST_WHEEL
+          rm *.whl
+          objcopy --only-keep-debug hf_xet-${WHEEL_VERSION}/hf_xet/hf_xet.*.so hf_xet-${WHEEL_VERSION}/hf_xet/${SYMBOL_FILE}
+          objcopy --strip-debug hf_xet-${WHEEL_VERSION}/hf_xet/hf_xet.*.so
+          objcopy --add-gnu-debuglink=hf_xet-${WHEEL_VERSION}/hf_xet/${SYMBOL_FILE} hf_xet-${WHEEL_VERSION}/hf_xet/hf_xet.*.so
+          mv hf_xet-${WHEEL_VERSION}/hf_xet/${SYMBOL_FILE} ../hf_xet/dbg/${SYMBOL_FILE}
+          wheel pack hf_xet-${WHEEL_VERSION}
+          rm -rf hf_xet-${WHEEL_VERSION}
+
+      - name: Copy unstripped wheels to upload directory
+        if: env.IS_RELEASE != 'true'
+        run: |
+          mkdir dist
+          cp hf_xet/dist/* dist/
+
+      - name: Upload debug symbols
+        if: env.IS_RELEASE == 'true'
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a  # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          name: hf-xet-${{ env.HFXET_VERSION }}-${{ matrix.python-version }}-riscv64-dbg
+          path: hf_xet/dbg
+
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a  # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          name: hf-xet-${{ env.HFXET_VERSION }}-${{ matrix.python-version }}-riscv64
+          path: dist/*.whl
+          if-no-files-found: error
+
+  publish:
+    name: Publish hf-xet ${{ inputs.version || '1.6.0' }} to GitLab
+    needs: [build_wheels]
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: write
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Publish wheels and open docs PR
+        uses: riseproject-dev/python-wheels/actions/publish-wheels@main
+        with:
+          artifact-pattern: hf-xet-${{ env.HFXET_VERSION }}-*-riscv64
+          gitlab-username: ${{ vars.GITLAB_DEPLOY_USER }}
+          gitlab-token: ${{ secrets.GITLAB_DEPLOY_TOKEN }}
+          gitlab-project-id: ${{ vars.GITLAB_PROJECT_ID }}
+          gh-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-hf-xet.yml b/.github/workflows/test-hf-xet.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6145f14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-hf-xet.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 The RISE Project
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+name: Test hf-xet (riscv64)
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        description: 'hf-xet version to test (git tag without leading v, e.g. 1.6.0)'
+        required: true
+        default: '1.6.0'
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - '.github/workflows/test-hf-xet.yml'
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ inputs.version || '1.6.0' }}-${{ github.head_ref || github.run_id }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+env:
+  HFXET_VERSION: ${{ inputs.version || '1.6.0' }}
+
+jobs:
+  # Mirrors ci.yml's build_and_test-linux job: build the extension and run
+  # hf_xet's own pytest suite against it. Builds a wheel and installs it
+  # rather than using upstream's `maturin develop` - see the comment on the
+  # Build wheel step below. hf-xet-tests.yml (huggingface_hub's xet
+  # integration tests) and the workspace-wide `cargo test` in ci.yml are
+  # dropped - the former always installs the released PyPI wheel rather than
+  # what's built here, and the latter exercises git_xet/xet_client code
+  # outside the Python package.
+  test:
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    name: "Test hf-xet ${{ inputs.version || '1.6.0' }} — Python 3.12 on riscv64"
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-riscv
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout hf-xet v${{ env.HFXET_VERSION }}
+        uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0  # v7.0.0
+        with:
+          repository: huggingface/xet-core
+          ref: v${{ env.HFXET_VERSION }}
+          persist-credentials: false
+
+      - name: Install Python
+        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@fac544c07dec837d0ccb6301d7b5580bf5edae39  # v8.2.0
+        with:
+          python-version: '3.12'
+          activate-environment: true
+          enable-cache: false
+
+      - name: Install libpython for pyo3 linking
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          py_ver=$(python3 -c 'import sys; print(f"{sys.version_info.major}.{sys.version_info.minor}")')
+          sudo apt-get update
+          if ! apt-cache show "libpython${py_ver}-dev" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            sudo apt-get install -y software-properties-common
+            sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
+            sudo apt-get update
+          fi
+          sudo apt-get install -y "libpython${py_ver}-dev"
+
+      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@3c5f7ea28cd621ae0bf5283f0e981fb97b8a7af9  # master
+        with:
+          toolchain: 1.94.1
+
+      - name: Build and Test hf_xet
+        run: cd hf_xet && cargo test --verbose --no-fail-fast
+
+      # `command: develop` in PyO3/maturin-action is hard-restricted to its
+      # non-container `hostBuild` path (innerMain() only ever sets useDocker
+      # for 'build'/'publish'), which downloads its maturin binary via a
+      # native-arch check that only recognizes 'arm64' vs. everything else as
+      # 'x86_64' - it fetches an x86_64 binary and fails to execute it here.
+      # `build` isn't restricted that way and reuses the same riscv64
+      # manylinux container as build-hf-xet.yml, so build a wheel and install
+      # it instead of using `develop` directly.
+      - name: Build wheel
+        uses: PyO3/maturin-action@e83996d129638aa358a18fbd1dfb82f0b0fb5d3b  # v1.51.0
+        with:
+          command: build
+          target: riscv64gc-unknown-linux-gnu
+          args: -i 3.12 --out dist
+          sccache: 'true'
+          manylinux: '2_39'
+          working-directory: hf_xet
+          before-script-linux: |
+            if command -v apt-get &> /dev/null; then
+                apt-get update && apt-get install libatomic-ops-dev -y
+            elif command -v yum &> /dev/null; then
+                yum install libatomic_ops-devel perl-IPC-Cmd -y
+            else
+                echo "Neither apt-get nor yum is installed. Please install a package manager."
+                exit 1
+            fi
+            git config --global --add safe.directory "*"
+
+      - name: Install built wheel
+        run: uv pip install hf_xet/dist/*.whl
+
+      - name: Python integration tests (hf_xet)
+        run: |
+          uv pip install pytest
+          pytest hf_xet/tests/ -v