diff --git a/ci/test_cpp.sh b/ci/test_cpp.sh
index 653c44133a..719e26bcb9 100755
--- a/ci/test_cpp.sh
+++ b/ci/test_cpp.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2025 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# shellcheck source=ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
+source "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh"
+cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup
+
 . /opt/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
 
 rapids-logger "Configuring conda strict channel priority"
@@ -47,12 +51,36 @@ popd
 EXITCODE=0
 trap "EXITCODE=1" ERR
 set +e
-
 # Run gtests from libcuopt-tests package
 export GTEST_OUTPUT=xml:${RAPIDS_TESTS_DIR}/
 
 rapids-logger "Run gtests"
 timeout 40m ./ci/run_ctests.sh
 
+# Optional core-dump path check: no compiled binary — child bash sends itself SIGSEGV.
+# Child exits 139; || true keeps this script running so the EXIT trap can collect cores.
+# For normal CI, leave unset and set CUOPT_CI_COREDUMP_PROBE=1 only when probing artifacts.
+CUOPT_CI_COREDUMP_PROBE=1
+if [[ "${CUOPT_CI_COREDUMP_PROBE:-}" == 1 ]]; then
+  rapids-logger "CUOPT_CI_COREDUMP_PROBE: child bash SIGSEGV (core dump artifact check)"
+  # Count core files before the probe.
+  _probe_n_before="$(find "${CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR:-/dev/null}" -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d '[:space:]')"
+  bash -c 'kill -SEGV $$' || true
+  # Brief pause so the kernel can finish writing the core.
+  sleep 1
+  # Eagerly collect now so we can verify the probe worked.
+  cuopt_collect_coredumps || true
+  _probe_n_after="$(find "${CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR:-/dev/null}" -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d '[:space:]')"
+  if [[ "${_probe_n_after}" -gt "${_probe_n_before}" ]]; then
+    rapids-logger "COREDUMP_PROBE: SUCCESS — $((_probe_n_after - _probe_n_before)) core file(s) collected"
+  else
+    rapids-logger "COREDUMP_PROBE: FAILED — no core file collected for SIGSEGV probe"
+    rapids-logger "  core_pattern=$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern 2>/dev/null || echo n/a)"
+    rapids-logger "  ulimit -c=$(ulimit -c)"
+    rapids-logger "  CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR=${CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR:-unset}"
+    rapids-logger "  Hint: core_pattern may require a privileged container or --cap-add=SYS_PTRACE"
+  fi
+fi
+
 rapids-logger "Test script exiting with value: $EXITCODE"
 exit ${EXITCODE}
diff --git a/ci/test_cpp_memcheck.sh b/ci/test_cpp_memcheck.sh
index bc4bce4cbc..8b61198240 100755
--- a/ci/test_cpp_memcheck.sh
+++ b/ci/test_cpp_memcheck.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2025 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 if [[ "$(date +%A)" != "Friday" ]]; then
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ fi
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# shellcheck source=ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
+source "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh"
+cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup
+
 . /opt/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
 
 rapids-logger "Configuring conda strict channel priority"
diff --git a/ci/test_notebooks.sh b/ci/test_notebooks.sh
index 22c41af84c..54bb4d2967 100755
--- a/ci/test_notebooks.sh
+++ b/ci/test_notebooks.sh
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2025 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2023-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# shellcheck source=ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
+source "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh"
+cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup
+
 . /opt/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
 
 rapids-logger "Configuring conda strict channel priority"
diff --git a/ci/test_python.sh b/ci/test_python.sh
index 4f91c83334..831d4dc174 100755
--- a/ci/test_python.sh
+++ b/ci/test_python.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# shellcheck source=ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
+source "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh"
+cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup
+
 . /opt/conda/etc/profile.d/conda.sh
 
 rapids-logger "Configuring conda strict channel priority"
diff --git a/ci/test_self_hosted_service.sh b/ci/test_self_hosted_service.sh
index 601b45326b..ef0ab14b35 100755
--- a/ci/test_self_hosted_service.sh
+++ b/ci/test_self_hosted_service.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# shellcheck source=ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
+source "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh"
+cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup
+
 source rapids-init-pip
 
 # Download the cuopt built in the previous step
diff --git a/ci/test_skills_assets.sh b/ci/test_skills_assets.sh
index c75645cb93..583044bea0 100755
--- a/ci/test_skills_assets.sh
+++ b/ci/test_skills_assets.sh
@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# shellcheck source=ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
+source "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh"
+cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup
+
 # Use rapids-logger in CI; fall back to echo for local testing
 if command -v rapids-logger &>/dev/null; then
   log() { rapids-logger "$*"; }
diff --git a/ci/test_wheel_cuopt.sh b/ci/test_wheel_cuopt.sh
index a327082e83..2859b96fe3 100755
--- a/ci/test_wheel_cuopt.sh
+++ b/ci/test_wheel_cuopt.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
+# shellcheck source=ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
+source "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh"
+cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup
+
 # sets up a constraints file for 'pip' and puts its location in an exported variable PIP_EXPORT,
 # so those constraints will affect all future 'pip install' calls
 source rapids-init-pip
diff --git a/ci/test_wheel_cuopt_server.sh b/ci/test_wheel_cuopt_server.sh
index a76969b965..cda880765c 100755
--- a/ci/test_wheel_cuopt_server.sh
+++ b/ci/test_wheel_cuopt_server.sh
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
 
 set -eou pipefail
 
+# shellcheck source=ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
+source "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh"
+cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup
+
 source rapids-init-pip
 
 # Download the packages built in the previous step
diff --git a/ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh b/ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b0a85d5918
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,389 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+# Enable core dumps during CI test scripts and collect files into
+# ${RAPIDS_ARTIFACTS_DIR}/${CUOPT_GDB_CORE_ARTIFACT_DIR} so rapids-upload-artifacts-dir
+# uploads them to S3 as:
+#   {rapids-matrix-prefix}.{cuopt-gdb-cores_JOB_cudaVER_pyVER_arch_BUILDTYPE}
+# RAPIDS rapids-upload-to-s3 tgz-streams each directory (gzip-compressed tar); the object
+# name often has no .tar.gz suffix in listings, but downloads are still archives. Very small
+# sizes (~100 B) usually mean an almost-empty archive (no core files landed on disk). The
+# trailing segment includes a job label, resolved in order:
+#   1) CUOPT_CI_JOB_LABEL if set (workflow/setter can export the real GitHub job id).
+#   2) GITHUB_JOB if it looks like a caller job id (not generic RAPIDS callee ids such as tests/test).
+#   3) The ci/test_*.sh that sourced this file: label derived by naming rules (new drivers need
+#      no edits here — e.g. test_foo.sh → conda-foo-tests, test_wheel_bar.sh → wheel-bar-tests).
+# Then CUDA / Python / arch / build_type from RAPIDS CI env.
+#
+# Test drivers: source ci/utils/cuopt_coredumps.sh from a sibling ci/test_*.sh, then call
+# cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup (enable + EXIT trap).
+
+# Set in cuopt_enable_coredumps; collect reuses when non-empty.
+CUOPT_GDB_CORE_ARTIFACT_DIR=
+
+# Reusable RAPIDS workflows often use non-unique job ids ("tests", "test", "build", …).
+# GITHUB_JOB=test (singular) is common; treating it as meaningful produced labels like
+# "test" and hid script-based names (wheel-cuopt-tests, conda-cpp-tests).
+cuopt__github_job_is_generic() {
+  case "${1:-}" in
+    "" | test | tests | build | compute-matrix | prepare | package) return 0 ;;
+    *) return 1 ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+# test_cpp.sh → conda-cpp-tests; test_wheel_cuopt_server.sh → wheel-cuopt-server-tests; etc.
+cuopt__job_label_from_entry_script_basename() {
+  local b="$1"
+  b="${b%.sh}"
+  case "$b" in
+    test_wheel_*)
+      b="${b#test_wheel_}"
+      echo "wheel-${b//_/-}-tests"
+      ;;
+    test_self_hosted_*)
+      b="${b#test_self_hosted_}"
+      echo "self-hosted-${b//_/-}-tests"
+      ;;
+    test_skills_*)
+      b="${b#test_skills_}"
+      echo "conda-skills-${b//_/-}"
+      ;;
+    test_*memcheck)
+      b="${b#test_}"
+      echo "conda-${b//_/-}"
+      ;;
+    test_*)
+      b="${b#test_}"
+      echo "conda-${b//_/-}-tests"
+      ;;
+    *)
+      echo "unknown-job"
+      ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+cuopt__find_ci_entry_test_script_basename() {
+  local i f base
+  for ((i = 0; i < ${#BASH_SOURCE[@]}; i++)); do
+    f="${BASH_SOURCE[$i]}"
+    base="$(basename "${f}")"
+    [[ "${base}" == "cuopt_coredumps.sh" ]] && continue
+    case "${base}" in
+      test_*.sh) echo "${base}"; return ;;
+    esac
+  done
+  echo ""
+}
+
+cuopt__infer_ci_job_label_from_call_stack() {
+  local nb
+  nb="$(cuopt__find_ci_entry_test_script_basename)"
+  if [[ -n "${nb}" ]]; then
+    cuopt__job_label_from_entry_script_basename "${nb}"
+    return
+  fi
+  echo "unknown-job"
+}
+
+cuopt__resolve_ci_job_label() {
+  if [[ -n "${CUOPT_CI_JOB_LABEL:-}" ]]; then
+    echo "${CUOPT_CI_JOB_LABEL}"
+    return
+  fi
+  if [[ -n "${GITHUB_JOB:-}" ]] && ! cuopt__github_job_is_generic "${GITHUB_JOB}"; then
+    echo "${GITHUB_JOB}"
+    return
+  fi
+  cuopt__infer_ci_job_label_from_call_stack
+}
+
+cuopt__gdb_core_artifact_basename() {
+  local job cuda_ver py_ver arch_ bt
+  job="$(cuopt__resolve_ci_job_label)"
+  job="${job//[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]/_}"
+  cuda_ver="${RAPIDS_CUDA_VERSION:-unknown}"
+  cuda_ver="${cuda_ver//[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]/_}"
+  py_ver="${RAPIDS_PY_VERSION:-na}"
+  py_ver="${py_ver//[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]/_}"
+  arch_="$(arch 2>/dev/null || true)"
+  [[ -z "${arch_}" ]] && arch_="$(uname -m)"
+  arch_="${arch_//[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]/_}"
+  bt="${RAPIDS_BUILD_TYPE:-na}"
+  bt="${bt//[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]/_}"
+  echo "cuopt-gdb-cores_${job}_cuda${cuda_ver}_py${py_ver}_${arch_}_${bt}"
+}
+
+cuopt__log() {
+  if declare -F rapids-logger &>/dev/null; then
+    rapids-logger "$1"
+  else
+    echo "$1"
+  fi
+}
+
+# When core_pattern pipes to a handler (apport/systemd-coredump), replace the handler
+# binary with a forwarder script that reads the core from stdin and writes it to disk.
+# The kernel invokes: |/path/to/handler -p%p -s%s ... -- %E
+# Our replacement reads stdin (the raw core) and writes it using the -p (PID) argument.
+cuopt__hijack_pipe_handler() {
+  local pattern="$1" dest="$2"
+  # Extract the handler binary path (first token after the leading '|').
+  local handler
+  handler="$(echo "${pattern}" | sed 's/^|//; s/ .*//')"
+  [[ -n "${handler}" && -f "${handler}" ]] || return 0
+
+  # Back up the original handler (only once).
+  local backup="${handler}.cuopt_orig"
+  if [[ ! -f "${backup}" ]]; then
+    cp -a "${handler}" "${backup}" 2>/dev/null || {
+      cuopt__log "WARNING: cannot back up ${handler} — hijack skipped (read-only?)"
+      return 0
+    }
+  fi
+
+  # Write a forwarder script that saves stdin (core dump) to the artifact dir.
+  # The kernel passes flags like -p PID; we parse -p to name the file.
+  cat > "${handler}" <<'FORWARDER_EOF'
+#!/bin/sh
+# cuOpt core-dump forwarder — replaces apport/systemd-coredump handler.
+# Reads raw core dump from stdin, writes to CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR.
+PID="unknown"
+EXE="unknown"
+while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
+  case "$1" in
+    -p) shift; PID="$1" ;;
+    -p*) PID="${1#-p}" ;;
+    --) shift; EXE="$(echo "$*" | tr '/' '_')" ; break ;;
+  esac
+  shift
+done
+FORWARDER_EOF
+  # Append the dest directory (expanded now, not at runtime).
+  cat >> "${handler}" <<FORWARDER_DEST
+DEST="${dest}"
+FORWARDER_DEST
+  cat >> "${handler}" <<'FORWARDER_BODY'
+mkdir -p "${DEST}" 2>/dev/null
+CORE_FILE="${DEST}/core.${EXE}.${PID}"
+cat > "${CORE_FILE}"
+if [ -s "${CORE_FILE}" ]; then
+  echo "cuopt-forwarder: saved core for PID ${PID} (${EXE}) → ${CORE_FILE}" >&2
+else
+  rm -f "${CORE_FILE}" 2>/dev/null
+fi
+FORWARDER_BODY
+  chmod +x "${handler}" 2>/dev/null || true
+  cuopt__log "Hijacked pipe handler ${handler} → core forwarder (dest=${dest})"
+}
+
+cuopt_enable_coredumps() {
+  local ws base pattern
+  ws="${GITHUB_WORKSPACE:-${PWD}}"
+  base="${RAPIDS_ARTIFACTS_DIR:-${ws}/artifacts}"
+  CUOPT_CI_JOB_LABEL="$(cuopt__resolve_ci_job_label)"
+  export CUOPT_CI_JOB_LABEL
+  CUOPT_GDB_CORE_ARTIFACT_DIR="$(cuopt__gdb_core_artifact_basename)"
+  export CUOPT_GDB_CORE_ARTIFACT_DIR
+  export CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR="${base}/${CUOPT_GDB_CORE_ARTIFACT_DIR}"
+  # Record startup time so coredumpctl collection can filter to this session only.
+  export CUOPT_COREDUMP_SINCE
+  CUOPT_COREDUMP_SINCE="$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S' 2>/dev/null || echo '')"
+  mkdir -p "${CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR}"
+
+  local pattern_target="${CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR}/core.%e.%p.%t"
+
+  # Raise soft limit to match hard limit when possible (some shells default to 0).
+  ulimit -c unlimited 2>/dev/null || true
+  ulimit -H -c unlimited 2>/dev/null || true
+
+  # Write the coredump filter to the kernel's per-process file (env var alone has no effect).
+  # 0xff = dump all memory segments (shared, private, huge, DAX — Linux 4.6+).
+  local filter="${COREDUMP_FILTER:-0xff}"
+  if [[ -w /proc/self/coredump_filter ]]; then
+    echo "${filter}" >/proc/self/coredump_filter 2>/dev/null || true
+  fi
+
+  # Prefer writing cores as files under CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR (often fails in unprivileged Docker).
+  if [[ -w /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern ]]; then
+    echo "${pattern_target}" >/proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern 2>/dev/null || true
+  fi
+  if command -v sysctl >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    sysctl -q -w "kernel.core_pattern=${pattern_target}" 2>/dev/null || true
+  fi
+
+  pattern="$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern 2>/dev/null || echo n/a)"
+
+  # Track whether core_pattern points to our directory (file-based) or a pipe/collector.
+  export CUOPT_COREDUMP_PATTERN_IS_PIPE=0
+  if [[ "${pattern}" == \|* ]]; then
+    CUOPT_COREDUMP_PATTERN_IS_PIPE=1
+    # Attempt to hijack the pipe handler (e.g. apport) with a forwarder that saves cores
+    # as files. The kernel pipes the core dump on stdin to the handler binary; if we replace
+    # it with our own script, the core lands in CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR.
+    cuopt__hijack_pipe_handler "${pattern}" "${CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR}"
+  fi
+
+  local coredump_filter_val="n/a"
+  if [[ -r /proc/self/coredump_filter ]]; then
+    coredump_filter_val="$(cat /proc/self/coredump_filter 2>/dev/null || echo n/a)"
+  fi
+
+  cuopt__log "Core dumps: dir=${CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR} ulimit=$(ulimit -c) core_pattern=${pattern} coredump_filter=${coredump_filter_val}"
+
+  if [[ "${CUOPT_COREDUMP_PATTERN_IS_PIPE}" == 1 ]]; then
+    local _pipe_msg="core_pattern pipes to a collector."
+    if [[ -f "$(echo "${pattern}" | sed 's/^|//; s/ .*//' ).cuopt_orig" ]]; then
+      _pipe_msg+=" Handler hijacked with core forwarder — cores should land in ${CUOPT_COREDUMP_DIR}."
+    else
+      _pipe_msg+=" Handler hijack failed. Fallback: coredumpctl / /var/crash at collection time."
+      if command -v coredumpctl &>/dev/null; then
+        _pipe_msg+=" coredumpctl is available."
+      else
+        _pipe_msg+=" coredumpctl NOT found; cores may be lost."
+      fi
+    fi
+    cuopt__log "${_pipe_msg}"
+  fi
+}
+
+# Copy a single core file into the artifact directory with a sanitized name.
+cuopt__copy_core_to_dest() {
+  local f="$1" dest="$2" label="${3:-}"
+  [[ -f "${f}" && -s "${f}" ]] || return 0
+  local base_name
+  base_name="$(basename "${f}")"
+  if [[ -n "${label}" ]]; then
+    base_name="${label}_${base_name}"
+  fi
+  base_name="${base_name//\//_}"
+  local dest_path="${dest}/${base_name}"
+  if [[ -e "${dest_path}" ]]; then
+    dest_path="${dest}/${base_name}.${RANDOM}"
+  fi
+  cp -a "${f}" "${dest_path}" 2>/dev/null || true
+}
+
+# Collect cores written as files (core_pattern was file-based or we got lucky).
+cuopt__collect_core_files() {
+  local dest="$1"
+  shift
+  local search_dirs=("$@")
+  local f
+  for dir in "${search_dirs[@]}"; do
+    [[ -d "${dir}" ]] || continue
+    while IFS= read -r -d '' f; do
+      [[ -f "${f}" ]] || continue
+      # Skip files already in dest.
+      case "${f}" in
+        "${dest}/"*) continue ;;
+      esac
+      cuopt__copy_core_to_dest "${f}" "${dest}" ""
+    done < <(
+      find "${dir}" \
+        \( -path '*/.git/*' -o -path '*/opt/conda/*' -o -path '*/conda_pkgs/*' -o -path "${dest}/*" \) -prune -o \
+        \( -name 'core' -o -name 'core.*' \) -type f -print0 2>/dev/null
+    )
+  done
+}
+
+# Fallback: extract cores via coredumpctl (systemd-coredump handler).
+cuopt__collect_via_coredumpctl() {
+  local dest="$1"
+  command -v coredumpctl &>/dev/null || return 0
+
+  cuopt__log "Attempting coredumpctl extraction (core_pattern is piped to systemd-coredump)"
+
+  # Build the coredumpctl list command — scope to this session if we have a start time.
+  local -a list_cmd=(coredumpctl list --no-pager --no-legend)
+  if [[ -n "${CUOPT_COREDUMP_SINCE:-}" ]]; then
+    list_cmd+=(--since "${CUOPT_COREDUMP_SINCE}")
+    cuopt__log "  Filtering coredumpctl to cores since ${CUOPT_COREDUMP_SINCE}"
+  fi
+
+  local line pid exe core_path
+  # --no-legend output format: DAY DATE TIME TZ PID UID GID SIG COREFILE EXE...
+  while IFS= read -r line; do
+    # Skip header / empty lines.
+    [[ "${line}" =~ ^[[:space:]]*[A-Z] ]] && continue
+    [[ -z "${line}" ]] && continue
+    # Parse PID (5th field) and EXE (last field).
+    pid="$(echo "${line}" | awk '{print $5}')"
+    exe="$(echo "${line}" | awk '{print $NF}')"
+    [[ -n "${pid}" ]] || continue
+    local exe_base
+    exe_base="$(basename "${exe:-unknown}")"
+    core_path="${dest}/coredumpctl_${pid}_${exe_base}.core"
+    # Skip if this PID was already extracted (e.g. by a prior probe collection).
+    if [[ -e "${core_path}" ]]; then
+      cuopt__log "  Skipping PID ${pid} (${exe_base}) — already extracted"
+      continue
+    fi
+    coredumpctl dump "${pid}" -o "${core_path}" 2>/dev/null || true
+    if [[ -s "${core_path}" ]]; then
+      cuopt__log "Extracted core for PID ${pid} (${exe}) → ${core_path} ($(du -h "${core_path}" | cut -f1))"
+    else
+      rm -f "${core_path}" 2>/dev/null || true
+    fi
+  done < <("${list_cmd[@]}" 2>/dev/null || true)
+}
+
+# Fallback: collect cores from apport crash reports (/var/crash).
+cuopt__collect_from_apport() {
+  local dest="$1"
+  local crash_dir="/var/crash"
+  [[ -d "${crash_dir}" ]] || return 0
+  local f
+  for f in "${crash_dir}"/*.crash "${crash_dir}"/core.* "${crash_dir}"/core; do
+    [[ -f "${f}" && -s "${f}" ]] || continue
+    cuopt__copy_core_to_dest "${f}" "${dest}" "apport"
+  done
+}
+
+cuopt_collect_coredumps() {
+  local ws base dest n_before n_after
+  ws="${GITHUB_WORKSPACE:-${PWD}}"
+  base="${RAPIDS_ARTIFACTS_DIR:-${ws}/artifacts}"
+  if [[ -z "${CUOPT_GDB_CORE_ARTIFACT_DIR:-}" ]]; then
+    CUOPT_GDB_CORE_ARTIFACT_DIR="$(cuopt__gdb_core_artifact_basename)"
+  fi
+  dest="${base}/${CUOPT_GDB_CORE_ARTIFACT_DIR}"
+  mkdir -p "${dest}"
+
+  n_before="$(find "${dest}" -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d '[:space:]')"
+
+  # 1) Search for core files in workspace + common system locations.
+  cuopt__collect_core_files "${dest}" \
+    "${ws}" "/tmp" "/var/lib/systemd/coredump"
+
+  # 2) If core_pattern pipes to a collector, try extracting via coredumpctl / apport.
+  if [[ "${CUOPT_COREDUMP_PATTERN_IS_PIPE:-0}" == 1 ]]; then
+    cuopt__collect_via_coredumpctl "${dest}"
+    cuopt__collect_from_apport "${dest}"
+  fi
+
+  n_after="$(find "${dest}" -type f 2>/dev/null | wc -l | tr -d '[:space:]')"
+  if [[ "${n_after}" -gt "${n_before}" ]]; then
+    cuopt__log "Collected $((n_after - n_before)) core file(s) into ${dest} (${n_after} total)"
+    ls -lh "${dest}"/ 2>/dev/null || true
+  else
+    cuopt__log "WARNING: No core files found. Cores may have been discarded by the system collector."
+    cuopt__log "  core_pattern=$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern 2>/dev/null || echo n/a)"
+    cuopt__log "  Searched: ${ws} /tmp /var/lib/systemd/coredump (+ /var/crash if piped)"
+    if [[ "${CUOPT_COREDUMP_PATTERN_IS_PIPE:-0}" == 1 ]]; then
+      if command -v coredumpctl &>/dev/null; then
+        cuopt__log "  coredumpctl list output:"
+        coredumpctl list --no-pager 2>/dev/null || true
+      else
+        cuopt__log "  coredumpctl not available; cannot extract from systemd-coredump"
+      fi
+    fi
+  fi
+}
+
+# Standard CI wiring for ci/test_*.sh: call once after sourcing this file.
+cuopt_coredumps_ci_setup() {
+  cuopt_enable_coredumps
+  trap 'cuopt_collect_coredumps || true' EXIT
+}