diff --git a/.github/workflows/check.yaml b/.github/workflows/check.yaml
index bb1194f..95234b6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check.yaml
@@ -3,8 +3,20 @@ on: [push, pull_request]
 name: check
 
 jobs:
-  check:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+  R-CMD-check:
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.config.os }}
+
+    name: ${{ matrix.config.os }} (${{ matrix.config.r }})
+
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        config:
+          - {os: macos-latest,   r: 'release'}
+          - {os: windows-latest, r: 'release'}
+          - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'devel', http-user-agent: 'release'}
+          - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'release'}
+          - {os: ubuntu-latest,   r: 'oldrel-1'}
 
     env:
       GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
@@ -17,6 +29,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v2
         with:
+          r-version: ${{ matrix.config.r }}
+          http-user-agent: ${{ matrix.config.http-user-agent }}
           use-public-rspm: true
 
       - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r-dependencies@v2
@@ -24,11 +38,7 @@ jobs:
           extra-packages: any::rcmdcheck
           needs: check
 
-      - name: Git config
-        run: |
-          git config --global user.email "actions@github.com"
-          git config --global user.name "GitHub Actions"
-
       - uses: r-lib/actions/check-r-package@v2
         with:
           upload-snapshots: true
+          build_args: 'c("--no-manual","--compact-vignettes=gs+qpdf")'
diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index be3b84d..35efac7 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Package: r.releases.utils
 Title: Utilities for An R Universe of Package Releases
 Description: Utilities for an R universe of package releases.
-Version: 0.0.4
+Version: 0.0.5
 License: MIT + file LICENSE
 URL:
   https://r-releases.github.io/r.releases.utils/,
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 433cd35..f3f949c 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+# r.releases.utils 0.0.5
+
+* Write pretty JSON to `packages.json` (@llrs, https://github.com/r-releases/help/issues/4).
+
 # r.releases.utils 0.0.4
 
 * Relax some assertions so `build_universe()` can run on reasonable cases.
diff --git a/R/build_universe.R b/R/build_universe.R
index ca6c044..49656ed 100644
--- a/R/build_universe.R
+++ b/R/build_universe.R
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ build_universe <- function(input = getwd(), output = "packages.json") {
     dir.create(dirname(output))
   }
   message("Writing packages.json.")
-  jsonlite::write_json(x = aggregated, path = output)
+  jsonlite::write_json(x = aggregated, path = output, pretty = TRUE)
   invisible()
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/test-build_universe.R b/tests/test-build_universe.R
index add3c01..5789835 100644
--- a/tests/test-build_universe.R
+++ b/tests/test-build_universe.R
@@ -129,7 +129,14 @@ out <- try(
 stopifnot(inherits(out, "try-error"))
 stopifnot(
   grepl(
-    pattern = "JSON entry for package 'paws.analytics' must have fields",
+    pattern = "JSON entry for package",
+    x = r.releases.utils::try_message(out),
+    fixed = TRUE
+  )
+)
+stopifnot(
+  grepl(
+    pattern = "must have fields",
     x = r.releases.utils::try_message(out),
     fixed = TRUE
   )