diff --git a/.github/workflows/code-quality.yml b/.github/workflows/code-quality.yml
index 6eeeb32..28221de 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/code-quality.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/code-quality.yml
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ jobs:
         node-version: '24'
 
     - name: Install jscpd
-      run: npm install -g jscpd
+      run: npm install -g jscpd@4.0.0
 
     - name: Check for duplicate code
-      run: jscpd . --ignore "**/*.json,**/*.md,**/*.yaml,**/*.yml,**/package-lock.json,**/node_modules/**,**/venv/**,**/.venv/**" --threshold 5
+      run: jscpd . --ignore "**/*.json,**/*.md,**/*.yaml,**/*.yml,**/package-lock.json,**/node_modules/**,**/venv/**,**/.venv/**,**/dist/**,**/build/**" --threshold 5
diff --git a/CYCLE_8_REPORT.md b/CYCLE_8_REPORT.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0c8d2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CYCLE_8_REPORT.md
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# Cycle 8 Report
+
+## Repository Health Report
+- **Strengths:** Strong validation suite with automated PR quality gates already in place (via `.github/workflows/code-quality.yml`).
+- **Weaknesses:** The CI pipeline used a floating version of `jscpd` for duplicate code checking, causing the workflow to fail when the tool was upgraded to `jscpd` 5+, as it introduced backward-incompatible argument changes and missing architecture binaries (`cpd-linux-x64-gnu`). Build artifacts were also not being ignored.
+- **Risks:** Failing CI steps block PRs unnecessarily or report false positives for duplicate code inside build artifacts (`dist/` or `build/`), disrupting developer productivity.
+- **Opportunities:** Pinning `jscpd` to a stable major version (4.0.0) ensures deterministic behavior in CI, and ignoring generated build artifacts reduces noise in static analysis reports.
+
+## Competitor Analysis
+- **Repositories Analyzed:** Large monorepos with cross-language tools (TS/Python).
+- **Advantages Discovered:** High-performing engineering teams enforce deterministic tooling by aggressively pinning dependency versions, avoiding sudden breakages due to upstream CLI changes.
+- **Gaps Identified:** Floating NPM dependencies in CI tasks (e.g., `npm install -g jscpd`).
+- **Opportunities to Outperform:** Enforcing pinned tool versions ensures 100% stable pipelines and more reliable builds.
+
+## Priority Improvements
+1. **Fix CI Pipeline Jscpd Action:** Pin `jscpd` to `4.0.0` in `.github/workflows/code-quality.yml`.
+2. **Exclude Artifacts from Duplication Checks:** Update the `jscpd` command to ignore `**/dist/**` and `**/build/**`.
+
+## Sprint Plan
+- **Sprint Goal:** Stabilize the continuous integration duplication check by resolving version incompatibilities and reducing false positives.
+- **Tasks:**
+  1. Update `.github/workflows/code-quality.yml` to pin `jscpd` to 4.0.0.
+  2. Append `**/dist/**,**/build/**` to the jscpd `--ignore` argument.
+  3. Generate this sprint report (`CYCLE_8_REPORT.md`).
+- **Implementation Roadmap:** Update YAML -> Document Changes -> Verify locally -> Commit.
+- **Expected Outcomes:** A 100% passing CI duplication check step that reliably ignores compiled artifacts.
+
+## Technical Improvements
+- **DevOps/CI:** Re-stabilized the static analysis pipeline by pinning global CLI dependencies and improving the scoping of the code duplication scanner.
+
+## Metrics Improved
+- **Developer Productivity:** Reduced false positives and stopped CI flakiness, lowering the risk of broken PR workflows.
+- **Deployment Readiness:** Brought back CI reliability for future integration.