diff --git a/examples/read_hn.py b/examples/read_hn.py
index e3dff0b..7b61ff4 100644
--- a/examples/read_hn.py
+++ b/examples/read_hn.py
@@ -9,10 +9,9 @@
 
 import httpx
 from prefect.artifacts import create_markdown_artifact
-from prefect.blocks.system import Secret
 from prefect.docker import DockerImage
 from prefect.runner.storage import GitCredentials, GitRepository
-from pydantic import AnyHttpUrl, Field
+from pydantic import AnyHttpUrl, Field, TypeAdapter
 
 import controlflow as cf
 
@@ -41,7 +40,7 @@ def summarize_article_briefs(
 
 
 @cf.flow(retries=2)
-def analyze_hn_articles(n: int = 5):
+def analyze_hn_articles(n: int = 5) -> list[HNArticleSummary]:
     top_article_ids = httpx.get(
         "https://hacker-news.firebaseio.com/v0/topstories.json"
     ).json()[:n]
@@ -49,7 +48,9 @@ def analyze_hn_articles(n: int = 5):
     create_markdown_artifact(
         key="hn-article-exec-summary",
         markdown=summarize_article_briefs(briefs),
+        description="executive summary of all extracted article briefs",
     )
+    return briefs
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
@@ -96,4 +97,5 @@ def analyze_hn_articles(n: int = 5):
         )
     else:
         print(f"just running the code\n\n\n\n\n\n")
-        analyze_hn_articles(5)
+        briefs = analyze_hn_articles(5)  # type: ignore
+        TypeAdapter(list[HNArticleSummary]).validate_python(briefs)