diff --git a/cmd/gasm/main.go b/cmd/gasm/main.go
index 4f3cd1a..43b7066 100644
--- a/cmd/gasm/main.go
+++ b/cmd/gasm/main.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
@@ -29,7 +30,7 @@ import (
 
 // version is the release version, stamped at build time via
 // -ldflags "-X main.version=…" (defaulting to the current release).
-var version = "0.24.0"
+var version = "0.25.0"
 
 func main() {
 	if len(os.Args) < 2 {
@@ -490,6 +491,7 @@ With -profile, the static basic-block structure is listed for each function.
 	smoke := fs.Bool("smoke", false, "call each NOSPLIT function with zeroed args")
 	abi := fs.Bool("abi", false, "run ABI-checking calls (sentinel registers + red zone)")
 	profile := fs.Bool("profile", false, "list basic-block structure per function")
+	groundTruth := fs.Bool("ground-truth", false, "compare machine code byte-for-byte against go tool asm")
 	fs.Parse(args)
 	if fs.NArg() != 1 {
 		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, "usage: gasm verify [-smoke] [-abi] [-profile] <file.s>")
@@ -511,6 +513,61 @@ With -profile, the static basic-block structure is listed for each function.
 	names := k.FuncNames()
 	fmt.Printf("%s: %d functions JIT-loaded\n", path, len(names))
 	rc := 0
+
+	// Ground-truth comparison: assemble with go tool asm and compare bytes.
+	if *groundTruth {
+		gt, err := verify.GroundTruth(path)
+		if err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "gasm verify: ground truth: %v\n", err)
+			return 1
+		}
+		matched, total := 0, 0
+		for _, name := range names {
+			fl, _ := k.Func(name)
+			gasmCode := k.Image().Code[fl.Offset : fl.Offset+fl.Size]
+			goCode, ok := gt[name]
+			if !ok {
+				fmt.Printf("  %s: SKIP (not in go tool asm output)\n", name)
+				continue
+			}
+			total++
+			// Compare, masking relocation sites (disp32 fields that the
+			// Go linker fills at link time — gasm resolves them internally).
+			gasmCmp := make([]byte, len(gasmCode))
+			goCmp := make([]byte, len(goCode))
+			copy(gasmCmp, gasmCode)
+			copy(goCmp, goCode)
+			for _, r := range fl.Relocs {
+				for j := r.Off; j < r.Off+4 && j < len(gasmCmp); j++ {
+					gasmCmp[j] = 0
+				}
+				for j := r.Off; j < r.Off+4 && j < len(goCmp); j++ {
+					goCmp[j] = 0
+				}
+			}
+			if bytes.Equal(gasmCmp, goCmp) {
+				matched++
+				if len(fl.Relocs) > 0 {
+					fmt.Printf("  %s: MATCH (%d bytes, %d relocs masked)\n", name, fl.Size, len(fl.Relocs))
+				} else {
+					fmt.Printf("  %s: MATCH (%d bytes)\n", name, fl.Size)
+				}
+			} else {
+				fmt.Printf("  %s: MISMATCH (gasm %d bytes, go %d bytes)\n", name, fl.Size, len(goCode))
+				for i := 0; i < len(gasmCmp) && i < len(goCmp); i++ {
+					if gasmCmp[i] != goCmp[i] {
+						fmt.Printf("    first diff at byte %d: gasm=%02x go=%02x\n", i, gasmCmp[i], goCmp[i])
+						break
+					}
+				}
+				rc = 1
+			}
+		}
+		fmt.Printf("ground truth: %d/%d functions byte-identical\n", matched, total)
+		if matched < total {
+			rc = 1
+		}
+	}
 	for _, name := range names {
 		fl, _ := k.Func(name)
 		flags := ""
diff --git a/justfile b/justfile
index 4f44be8..3fd789e 100644
--- a/justfile
+++ b/justfile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 # gasm-devkit — developer tooling for Go's Plan 9 assembler (GAsm).
 
-version := "0.24.0"
+version := "0.25.0"
 
 default:
     @just --list
diff --git a/verify/groundtruth.go b/verify/groundtruth.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a157f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/verify/groundtruth.go
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 Petr Balvín <opensource@petrbalvin.org> (https://petrbalvin.org)
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+
+package verify
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// GroundTruth assembles the given .s file with the Go toolchain's own
+// assembler and returns the machine code bytes for each TEXT function,
+// keyed by the function's short name (the part after the middle dot).
+// This is the universal oracle: any file that `go tool asm` accepts can
+// be verified, with no hand-written reference.
+func GroundTruth(path string) (map[string][]byte, error) {
+	goroot := runtime.GOROOT()
+	asmBin := filepath.Join(goroot, "pkg", "tool", runtime.GOOS+"_"+runtime.GOARCH, "asm")
+	if _, err := os.Stat(asmBin); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("verify: go tool asm not found at %s: %w", asmBin, err)
+	}
+	includeDir := filepath.Join(goroot, "pkg", "include")
+
+	// Create a temp file for the object output.
+	tmpDir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "gasm-verify-*")
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("verify: tempdir: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer os.RemoveAll(tmpDir)
+	objPath := filepath.Join(tmpDir, "out.o")
+
+	// Derive a package name from the file name (the assembler needs -p).
+	base := filepath.Base(path)
+	pkg := strings.TrimSuffix(base, ".s")
+	pkg = strings.TrimSuffix(pkg, "_amd64")
+
+	cmd := exec.Command(asmBin, "-I", includeDir, "-p", pkg, "-o", objPath, path)
+	if out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput(); err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("verify: go tool asm: %w\n%s", err, out)
+	}
+
+	objData, err := os.ReadFile(objPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("verify: read object: %w", err)
+	}
+	return extractGOOBJCode(objData)
+}
+
+// GOOBJ block indices (cmd/internal/goobj).
+const (
+	blkAutolib = iota
+	blkPkgIdx
+	blkFile
+	blkSymdef
+	blkHashed64def
+	blkHasheddef
+	blkNonpkgdef
+	blkNonpkgref
+	blkRefFlags
+	blkHash64
+	blkHash
+	blkRelocIdx
+	blkAuxIdx
+	blkDataIdx
+	blkReloc
+	blkAux
+	blkData
+	blkRefName
+	blkEnd
+)
+
+const goobjMagic = "\x00go120ld"
+
+// extractGOOBJCode parses a GOOBJ payload and returns the code bytes for
+// each non-package STEXT symbol (the functions).
+func extractGOOBJCode(data []byte) (map[string][]byte, error) {
+	// Find the GOOBJ header (after the "go object ..." preamble).
+	i := bytes.Index(data, []byte(goobjMagic))
+	if i < 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("verify: no GOOBJ magic in object file")
+	}
+	b := data[i:]
+	le := binary.LittleEndian
+
+	// Read block offsets (20 bytes into the header: 4 magic + 8 go version
+	// + 8 experiment = 20, then blkEnd+1 uint32 offsets).
+	var offs [blkEnd + 1]uint32
+	for j := 0; j <= blkEnd; j++ {
+		offs[j] = le.Uint32(b[20+4*j:])
+	}
+	blk := func(idx int) []byte { return b[offs[idx]:offs[idx+1]] }
+
+	// Parse non-package symbol definitions (blkNonpkgdef): each entry is
+	// 21 bytes: [nameLen:4][nameOff:4][abi:2][type:1][flag:1][flag2:1][size:4][align:4].
+	const symSize = 21
+	nonpkg := blk(blkNonpkgdef)
+	nSyms := len(nonpkg) / symSize
+
+	// Data index (blkDataIdx): one uint32 per defined symbol across ALL
+	// definition blocks (blkSymdef + blkHashed64def + blkHasheddef +
+	// blkNonpkgdef), in that order.  We need the offset for the nonpkg
+	// symbols, which come last.
+	dataIdx := blk(blkDataIdx)
+	dataBlk := blk(blkData)
+
+	// Count symbols in the preceding definition blocks.
+	preceding := 0
+	for _, bi := range []int{blkSymdef, blkHashed64def, blkHasheddef} {
+		preceding += len(blk(bi)) / symSize
+	}
+
+	// Symbol name offsets in the GOOBJ symbol table are absolute byte
+	// offsets from the start of the GOOBJ payload (the magic).
+	readStr := func(off, ln uint32) string {
+		if int(off+ln) > len(b) {
+			return ""
+		}
+		return string(b[off : off+ln])
+	}
+
+	result := make(map[string][]byte)
+	const kindSTEXT = 1
+	for s := 0; s < nSyms; s++ {
+		x := nonpkg[s*symSize:]
+		nameLen := le.Uint32(x[0:])
+		nameOff := le.Uint32(x[4:])
+		typ := x[10]
+		size := le.Uint32(x[13:])
+
+		if typ != kindSTEXT || size == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+		name := readStr(nameOff, nameLen)
+		// Strip the package prefix (everything up to and including the
+		// last middle dot or period-dot).
+		name = stripPkg(name)
+
+		// Data offset from the index (nonpkg symbols follow the preceding blocks).
+		diIdx := preceding + s
+		if (diIdx+1)*4 > len(dataIdx) {
+			continue
+		}
+		dOff := le.Uint32(dataIdx[diIdx*4:])
+		if int(dOff+size) > len(dataBlk) {
+			continue
+		}
+		code := make([]byte, size)
+		copy(code, dataBlk[dOff:dOff+size])
+		result[name] = code
+	}
+	return result, nil
+}
+
+// stripPkg removes the package path prefix from a symbol name, leaving
+// just the function name.  "pkg/path·FuncName" → "FuncName".
+func stripPkg(name string) string {
+	if i := strings.LastIndex(name, "\u00B7"); i >= 0 {
+		return name[i+len("\u00B7"):]
+	}
+	if i := strings.LastIndex(name, "\"."); i >= 0 {
+		return name[i+2:]
+	}
+	if i := strings.LastIndex(name, "."); i >= 0 {
+		return name[i+1:]
+	}
+	return name
+}
diff --git a/verify/groundtruth_test.go b/verify/groundtruth_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7bfaf98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/verify/groundtruth_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 Petr Balvín <opensource@petrbalvin.org> (https://petrbalvin.org)
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
+
+package verify
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestGroundTruthBasic(t *testing.T) {
+	// Use the simple test kernel — it assembles with go tool asm.
+	gt, err := GroundTruth("../testdata/verify/basic_amd64.s")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("GroundTruth: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(gt) == 0 {
+		t.Fatal("no functions extracted from ground truth")
+	}
+	// The "add" function should be present and non-empty.
+	code, ok := gt["add"]
+	if !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("function 'add' not found in ground truth; got: %v", keys(gt))
+	}
+	if len(code) == 0 {
+		t.Fatal("add: zero-length code")
+	}
+	t.Logf("ground truth functions: %v", keys(gt))
+}
+
+func TestGroundTruthComparison(t *testing.T) {
+	// Assemble with gasm and compare against go tool asm.
+	k, err := Load("../testdata/verify/basic_amd64.s")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Load: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer k.Close()
+
+	gt, err := GroundTruth("../testdata/verify/basic_amd64.s")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("GroundTruth: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	for _, name := range k.FuncNames() {
+		fl, _ := k.Func(name)
+		gasmCode := k.Image().Code[fl.Offset : fl.Offset+fl.Size]
+		goCode, ok := gt[name]
+		if !ok {
+			t.Errorf("%s: not in ground truth", name)
+			continue
+		}
+		if len(gasmCode) != len(goCode) {
+			t.Errorf("%s: size mismatch: gasm=%d go=%d", name, len(gasmCode), len(goCode))
+			continue
+		}
+		for i := range gasmCode {
+			if gasmCode[i] != goCode[i] {
+				t.Errorf("%s: byte %d differs: gasm=%02x go=%02x", name, i, gasmCode[i], goCode[i])
+				break
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGroundTruthBadFile(t *testing.T) {
+	_, err := GroundTruth("/nonexistent/file_amd64.s")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected error for nonexistent file")
+	}
+}
+
+func keys(m map[string][]byte) []string {
+	out := make([]string, 0, len(m))
+	for k := range m {
+		out = append(out, k)
+	}
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/verify/verify.go b/verify/verify.go
index bf8fac0..131c92d 100644
--- a/verify/verify.go
+++ b/verify/verify.go
@@ -120,3 +120,8 @@ func (k *Kernel) Close() {
 		k.exec.Unmap()
 	}
 }
+
+// Image returns the assembled image (code + data + metadata).
+func (k *Kernel) Image() *asm.Image {
+	return k.img
+}