diff --git a/tests/Php85SyntaxDemoTest.php b/tests/Php85SyntaxDemoTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4695e2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Php85SyntaxDemoTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<?php
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace OpenMapsight\TileProxy\Tests;
+
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+
+/**
+ * Temporary CI matrix smoke test: the pipe operator is a PHP 8.5 language feature.
+ * This file should parse and pass only on 8.5; older matrix jobs are expected to fail.
+ */
+class Php85SyntaxDemoTest extends TestCase
+{
+    public function testPipeOperatorUppercasesALabel(): void
+    {
+        $label = 'tile-proxy'
+            |> strtoupper(...)
+            |> trim(...);
+
+        $this->assertSame('TILE-PROXY', $label);
+    }
+}