diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/build-release.yml b/.gitea/workflows/build-release.yml
index 03c3408..1e743fb 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/build-release.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/build-release.yml
@@ -96,6 +96,44 @@ jobs:
 
           ls -la dist/wraith.exe
 
+      # ---------------------------------------------------------------
+      # FreeRDP3 DLLs — runtime dependency for the real RDP backend
+      # ---------------------------------------------------------------
+      - name: Download FreeRDP3 DLLs
+        run: |
+          echo "=== Downloading FreeRDP3 pre-built DLLs for Windows amd64 ==="
+          FREERDP_VERSION="3.12.0"
+
+          # FreeRDP releases pre-built Windows binaries on GitHub.
+          # We need: libfreerdp3.dll, libwinpr3.dll, libfreerdp-client3.dll
+          #
+          # Option 1: Download from FreeRDP GitHub releases
+          # curl -sSL -o /tmp/freerdp.zip \
+          #   "https://github.com/FreeRDP/FreeRDP/releases/download/${FREERDP_VERSION}/FreeRDP-${FREERDP_VERSION}-win64.zip"
+          # unzip /tmp/freerdp.zip -d /tmp/freerdp
+          # cp /tmp/freerdp/bin/libfreerdp3.dll dist/
+          # cp /tmp/freerdp/bin/libwinpr3.dll dist/
+          # cp /tmp/freerdp/bin/libfreerdp-client3.dll dist/
+          #
+          # Option 2: Build from source with cmake + MSVC cross-compiler
+
+          # For the initial CI run, the app will fall back to MockBackend
+          # until the DLLs are provided alongside wraith.exe.
+          echo "FreeRDP3 DLLs not yet configured — app will use mock RDP backend"
+          echo "To enable real RDP: place libfreerdp3.dll, libwinpr3.dll, libfreerdp-client3.dll alongside wraith.exe"
+
+          # When DLLs are available, sign them alongside wraith.exe:
+          # for dll in dist/lib*.dll; do
+          #   java -jar /usr/local/bin/jsign.jar \
+          #     --storetype AZUREKEYVAULT \
+          #     --keystore "${{ secrets.AZURE_KEY_VAULT_URL }}" \
+          #     --storepass "${{ steps.azure-token.outputs.token }}" \
+          #     --alias "${{ secrets.AZURE_CERT_NAME }}" \
+          #     --tsaurl http://timestamp.digicert.com \
+          #     --tsmode RFC3161 \
+          #     "$dll"
+          # done
+
       # ---------------------------------------------------------------
       # Code signing — jsign + Azure Key Vault
       # ---------------------------------------------------------------