diff --git a/.config/nextest.toml b/.config/nextest.toml
index c1c8c4fa14c1f..1557b3a41246b 100644
--- a/.config/nextest.toml
+++ b/.config/nextest.toml
@@ -46,6 +46,12 @@ slow-timeout = { period = "60s", terminate-after = 3 }
 filter = "test(/fork_chains::/)"
 success-output = "final"
 
+# The network read tests report an unreachable endpoint or an unusable block by skipping instead
+# of failing, so keep their output on success to show which networks a run actually exercised.
+[[profile.flaky.overrides]]
+filter = "test(/read_networks::/)"
+success-output = "final"
+
 # Profile for the on-chain deploy+verify tests (used by the nightly test-deploy-verify workflow).
 # Requires <NETWORK>_RPC_URL plus TESTNET_DEPLOYER_PRIVATE_KEY to do anything.
 # Run with: cargo nextest run --profile deploy-verify
diff --git a/crates/cast/tests/cli/main.rs b/crates/cast/tests/cli/main.rs
index 6483f1564c929..e7481f495ccc1 100644
--- a/crates/cast/tests/cli/main.rs
+++ b/crates/cast/tests/cli/main.rs
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ extern crate foundry_test_utils;
 
 mod erc20;
 mod keychain;
+mod read_networks;
 mod remote_trace;
 mod selectors;
 mod tempo;
diff --git a/crates/cast/tests/cli/read_networks.rs b/crates/cast/tests/cli/read_networks.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..a8bee5d420844
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/cast/tests/cli/read_networks.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,257 @@
+//! Read-path `cast` coverage across public networks.
+//!
+//! The read commands are the ones every other workflow is built on, and each of them decodes a
+//! chain's responses through Foundry's network types. A chain that serves a shape those types do
+//! not model breaks the command for that whole chain rather than for one transaction, which is
+//! the class of breakage this module is here to catch.
+//!
+//! Every test is named `flaky_` so the default nextest profile skips it and the nightly `flaky`
+//! profile runs it with retries. These endpoints are free, unauthenticated and rate limited, so
+//! an outage must not fail a normal CI run.
+
+use foundry_test_utils::TestCommand;
+
+/// How far behind the tip to start looking.
+///
+/// The newest block is not always fully served yet, and a chain that reorgs its tip would leave
+/// the transaction unfetchable.
+const TIP_CONFIRMATIONS: u64 = 3;
+
+/// How many blocks back to look for one holding a usable transaction.
+///
+/// Chains with sub-second blocks routinely produce empty blocks, and Tempo produces long runs of
+/// them, so a single block is not enough to test against.
+const BLOCK_SCAN_DEPTH: u64 = 24;
+
+/// A public endpoint to exercise the read commands against.
+struct Network {
+    name: &'static str,
+    rpc_url: &'static str,
+    /// Pinned so that an endpoint quietly repointed at another chain fails instead of passing.
+    chain_id: u64,
+}
+
+/// Runs the read commands against `network` and cross-checks what they return.
+///
+/// Returns without asserting when the endpoint is unreachable, so an endpoint having a bad day
+/// reports a skip rather than a failure. Once a response has been served, failing to decode it is
+/// a failure: that is the case being guarded.
+#[expect(clippy::disallowed_macros, reason = "skips have to be visible in the nightly test log")]
+fn assert_read_commands_work(cmd: &mut TestCommand, network: &Network) {
+    let Some(chain_id) = decimal_output(cmd, &["chain-id", "--rpc-url", network.rpc_url]) else {
+        eprintln!("skipping {}: endpoint unreachable", network.name);
+        return;
+    };
+    assert_eq!(
+        chain_id, network.chain_id,
+        "{}: endpoint served chain id {chain_id}, expected {}",
+        network.name, network.chain_id
+    );
+
+    let block_number = decimal_output(cmd, &["block-number", "--rpc-url", network.rpc_url])
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("{}: `cast block-number` returned no number", network.name));
+
+    // Both of these are chain-wide decode canaries: `--full` decodes every transaction body in
+    // the block, which is where an unmodelled envelope takes out the command for the whole chain.
+    let scan_from = block_number.saturating_sub(TIP_CONFIRMATIONS);
+    let header = block(cmd, network, scan_from, false)
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("{}: could not decode block {scan_from}", network.name));
+    assert_eq!(
+        hex_field(&header, "number"),
+        Some(scan_from),
+        "{}: block {scan_from} reports a different number",
+        network.name
+    );
+    block(cmd, network, scan_from, true).unwrap_or_else(|| {
+        panic!("{}: could not decode block {scan_from} with full transactions", network.name)
+    });
+
+    for command in [["gas-price"], ["base-fee"]] {
+        assert!(
+            decimal_output(cmd, &[command[0], "--rpc-url", network.rpc_url]).is_some(),
+            "{}: `cast {}` returned no number",
+            network.name,
+            command[0]
+        );
+    }
+
+    let found = find_transaction(cmd, network, scan_from).unwrap_or_else(|err| panic!("{err}"));
+    let Some((tx_block, tx_hash)) = found else {
+        eprintln!(
+            "skipping {} transaction checks: no transaction in the {BLOCK_SCAN_DEPTH} blocks \
+             before {scan_from}",
+            network.name
+        );
+        return;
+    };
+
+    let tx = json_output(cmd, &["tx", &tx_hash, "--rpc-url", network.rpc_url])
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("{}: could not decode transaction {tx_hash}", network.name));
+    assert_eq!(
+        tx.get("hash").and_then(|hash| hash.as_str()),
+        Some(tx_hash.as_str()),
+        "{}: `cast tx` returned a different transaction",
+        network.name
+    );
+
+    // The receipt decodes through a separate path from the transaction, so agreeing on the block
+    // is a real cross-check rather than a restatement.
+    let receipt = json_output(cmd, &["receipt", &tx_hash, "--rpc-url", network.rpc_url])
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("{}: could not decode the receipt for {tx_hash}", network.name));
+    assert_eq!(
+        hex_field(&receipt, "blockNumber"),
+        Some(tx_block),
+        "{}: receipt for {tx_hash} disagrees with the block it was found in",
+        network.name
+    );
+
+    // The sender is present for calls and contract creations alike, so the account reads below
+    // stay unconditional; `to` is null for a creation and would skip them.
+    let account = tx
+        .get("from")
+        .and_then(|from| from.as_str())
+        .unwrap_or_else(|| panic!("{}: transaction {tx_hash} has no sender", network.name));
+
+    // State reads at the block the transaction landed in, which is also an archive-depth probe:
+    // an endpoint that ignores the block tag still answers, so this asserts shape, not history.
+    let at_block = tx_block.to_string();
+    for command in ["balance", "nonce"] {
+        // Not parsed as a `u64`: balances routinely exceed it, and Monad's system account holds
+        // more than 1e28 wei.
+        let output = cmd
+            .cast_fuse()
+            .args([command, account, "--block", &at_block, "--rpc-url", network.rpc_url])
+            .execute();
+        let value = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout);
+        let value = value.trim();
+        assert!(
+            output.status.success()
+                && !value.is_empty()
+                && value.bytes().all(|b| b.is_ascii_digit()),
+            "{}: `cast {command}` returned no number for {account}: {value:?}",
+            network.name
+        );
+    }
+    for args in [
+        vec!["code", account, "--block", &at_block, "--rpc-url", network.rpc_url],
+        vec!["storage", account, "0", "--block", &at_block, "--rpc-url", network.rpc_url],
+    ] {
+        let output = cmd.cast_fuse().args(&args).execute();
+        assert!(
+            output.status.success(),
+            "{}: `cast {}` failed for {account}",
+            network.name,
+            args[0]
+        );
+        assert!(
+            String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).trim().starts_with("0x"),
+            "{}: `cast {}` returned no hex for {account}",
+            network.name,
+            args[0]
+        );
+    }
+}
+
+/// Fetches a block, optionally with full transaction bodies.
+fn block(
+    cmd: &mut TestCommand,
+    network: &Network,
+    number: u64,
+    full: bool,
+) -> Option<serde_json::Value> {
+    let number = number.to_string();
+    let mut args = vec!["block", &number];
+    if full {
+        args.push("--full");
+    }
+    args.extend(["--rpc-url", network.rpc_url]);
+    json_output(cmd, &args)
+}
+
+/// Walks back from `latest` looking for a block holding a transaction, returning its block number
+/// and hash.
+///
+/// Reachability is already established by the time this runs, so a block that will not decode is
+/// the breakage this module guards and is reported as an error. `Ok(None)` is reserved for blocks
+/// that decoded and genuinely held no transactions.
+fn find_transaction(
+    cmd: &mut TestCommand,
+    network: &Network,
+    latest: u64,
+) -> Result<Option<(u64, String)>, String> {
+    for number in (latest.saturating_sub(BLOCK_SCAN_DEPTH)..=latest).rev() {
+        let Some(block) = block(cmd, network, number, false) else {
+            return Err(format!("{}: could not decode block {number}", network.name));
+        };
+        let transactions = block
+            .get("transactions")
+            .and_then(|txs| txs.as_array())
+            .ok_or_else(|| format!("{}: block {number} has no transaction array", network.name))?;
+        let Some(first) = transactions.first() else { continue };
+        let hash = first.as_str().ok_or_else(|| {
+            format!("{}: block {number} lists a transaction that is not a hash", network.name)
+        })?;
+        return Ok(Some((number, hash.to_string())));
+    }
+    Ok(None)
+}
+
+/// Runs a `cast` subcommand with `--json` and parses its output, returning `None` on any failure.
+///
+/// `--json` wraps some results in the shell's envelope, so the payload is unwrapped from `data`.
+fn json_output(cmd: &mut TestCommand, args: &[&str]) -> Option<serde_json::Value> {
+    let output = cmd.cast_fuse().args(args).arg("--json").execute();
+    if !output.status.success() {
+        return None;
+    }
+    let mut value: serde_json::Value = serde_json::from_slice(&output.stdout).ok()?;
+    if let Some(data) = value.get_mut("data") {
+        value = data.take();
+    }
+    Some(value)
+}
+
+/// Runs a `cast` subcommand that prints a single decimal number small enough to be a `u64`.
+fn decimal_output(cmd: &mut TestCommand, args: &[&str]) -> Option<u64> {
+    let output = cmd.cast_fuse().args(args).execute();
+    if !output.status.success() {
+        return None;
+    }
+    String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).trim().parse().ok()
+}
+
+/// Reads a hex-quantity field out of a JSON-RPC response.
+fn hex_field(value: &serde_json::Value, field: &str) -> Option<u64> {
+    let raw = value.get(field)?.as_str()?;
+    u64::from_str_radix(raw.strip_prefix("0x").unwrap_or(raw), 16).ok()
+}
+
+macro_rules! network_read_tests {
+    ($($test:ident => ($name:literal, $rpc_url:literal, $chain_id:literal),)*) => {
+        $(
+            casttest!($test, |_prj, cmd| {
+                assert_read_commands_work(
+                    &mut cmd,
+                    &Network { name: $name, rpc_url: $rpc_url, chain_id: $chain_id },
+                );
+            });
+        )*
+    };
+}
+
+network_read_tests! {
+    flaky_read_ethereum => ("ethereum", "https://ethereum-rpc.publicnode.com", 1),
+    flaky_read_base => ("base", "https://mainnet.base.org", 8453),
+    flaky_read_polygon => ("polygon", "https://polygon-bor-rpc.publicnode.com", 137),
+    flaky_read_bsc => ("bsc", "https://bsc-dataseed.bnbchain.org", 56),
+
+    // Every block opens with an internal transaction (`0x6a`) that the strict Ethereum envelope
+    // cannot decode, so `block --full` is the assertion that matters on the Nitro chains.
+    flaky_read_arbitrum => ("arbitrum", "https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc", 42161),
+    flaky_read_robinhood => ("robinhood", "https://rpc.mainnet.chain.robinhood.com", 4663),
+
+    flaky_read_monad => ("monad", "https://rpc.monad.xyz", 143),
+
+    // Produces long runs of empty blocks, which is what the block scan is sized for.
+    flaky_read_tempo => ("tempo", "https://rpc.mpp.tempo.xyz", 4217),
+}