diff --git a/bin/customize.sh b/bin/customize.sh
index d167523..23e2aa7 100755
--- a/bin/customize.sh
+++ b/bin/customize.sh
@@ -139,6 +139,15 @@ done
 
 echo "==> Checking for stale 'placeholder' references"
 STALE="$(grep -rn 'placeholder' "$PACKAGE" pyproject.toml .releaserc.yaml || true)"
+# The author/email and description options are intentionally optional. When a
+# caller omits one of them, the corresponding template default remains until
+# the generated plugin is edited; those expected defaults are not stale paths.
+if [[ -z "$AUTHOR" || -z "$EMAIL" ]]; then
+  STALE="$(printf '%s\n' "$STALE" | grep -vE 'pyproject\.toml:[0-9]+:authors =' || true)"
+fi
+if [[ -z "$DESCRIPTION" ]]; then
+  STALE="$(printf '%s\n' "$STALE" | grep -vE 'pyproject\.toml:[0-9]+:description =' || true)"
+fi
 if [[ -n "$STALE" ]]; then
   echo "Error: stale 'placeholder' references found in customized files:" >&2
   printf '%s\n' "$STALE" >&2
diff --git a/tests/test_customize_script.py b/tests/test_customize_script.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8286945
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_customize_script.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+"""End-to-end tests for the template customization script."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+REPO_ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+
+
+def _make_scaffold(tmp_path: Path, extra_pyproject: str = "") -> Path:
+    root = tmp_path / "scaffold"
+    (root / "bin").mkdir(parents=True)
+    (root / "placeholder").mkdir()
+    (root / "placeholder" / "module.py").write_text(
+        "from placeholder.feature_groups import manifest\n", encoding="utf-8"
+    )
+    shutil.copy2(REPO_ROOT / "bin" / "customize.sh", root / "bin" / "customize.sh")
+    shutil.copy2(REPO_ROOT / "pyproject.toml", root / "pyproject.toml")
+    shutil.copy2(REPO_ROOT / ".releaserc.yaml", root / ".releaserc.yaml")
+    if extra_pyproject:
+        pyproject = root / "pyproject.toml"
+        pyproject.write_text(
+            pyproject.read_text(encoding="utf-8") + extra_pyproject,
+            encoding="utf-8",
+        )
+    return root
+
+
+def _run_customize(root: Path, *args: str) -> subprocess.CompletedProcess[str]:
+    return subprocess.run(
+        ["bash", "bin/customize.sh", *args],
+        cwd=root,
+        capture_output=True,
+        check=False,
+        text=True,
+    )
+
+
+def test_optional_fields_can_be_left_for_manual_editing(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    """Omitting optional flags does not make the scaffold command fail."""
+    root = _make_scaffold(tmp_path)
+
+    result = _run_customize(root, "acme")
+
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stdout + result.stderr
+    assert (root / "acme").is_dir()
+
+
+def test_unexpected_entry_point_placeholder_still_fails(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    """The stale-reference check still rejects a missed entry-point rename."""
+    root = _make_scaffold(
+        tmp_path,
+        '\n[project.entry-points."mloda.feature_groups.extra"]\nleftover = "placeholder.unrelated:FEATURE_GROUPS"\n',
+    )
+
+    result = _run_customize(root, "acme")
+
+    assert result.returncode == 1
+    assert "stale 'placeholder' references" in result.stderr