Heavy PR checks run on every PR because the workflows deliberately avoid
`on.paths` filters — a path-gated workflow leaves its required check pending
forever when no matching file changes, blocking merge. So a docs-only PR
still spins up the TypeScript matrix, the full Python suite, and ruff/ty.
Keep every workflow triggering on every PR (checks always report) but gate
the expensive *steps* on what the PR touches. Skipping a step (not the job)
leaves the job green, so required checks never hang — the same idiom already
proven in contributor-check.yml.
A classifier (scripts/ci/classify_changes.py) maps the PR diff to three
lanes — python, frontend, site — surfaced as step outputs by a composite
action (.github/actions/detect-changes). Fail-open: an empty diff or any
.github/ change runs everything; python is a denylist (skipped only when
every file is provably prose or a frontend-only package); skills/**/SKILL.md
counts as python-relevant since the skill-doc tests read that tree. Non-PR
events always run the full pipeline.
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