ci: short-circuit heavy jobs for docs-only PRs (no branch-protection deadlock)#287
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…k semantics) Adds a `detect-changes` job that classifies PR changes via shell-based git diff against `github.base_ref`. Downstream code-quality / test / audit jobs gate every heavy step on `needs.detect-changes.outputs.code == 'true'` but still RUN as jobs — so branch protection's required-check list keeps seeing SUCCESS on docs-only PRs (e.g. #286 roadmap refresh) instead of burning ~10 min × 3 OS on cargo nextest + ~2 min on audit/deny. Why not paths-ignore? paths-ignore skips the whole workflow → required checks never report → docs-only PRs stuck `BLOCKED` (the #236 / #278 deadlock). Why not job-level `if: false` for docs? Same problem: SKIPPED ≠ SUCCESS for branch protection's required list. Why this design (step-level `if:`)? Job-level execution stays unconditional (SUCCESS reports), but the heavy steps short-circuit when `code != true`. Each job's first step prints a visible "✓ Docs-only PR — skipping ..." log line so it's obvious in the Actions UI what happened. Code-relevant path classification (positive list — anything else is treated as docs/config/license-only): crates/ Cargo.toml Cargo.lock .github/ scripts/ rust-toolchain* deny.toml clippy.toml rustfmt.toml `actionlint` keeps running unconditionally — it lints the workflow YAML itself (always present), and the ~30s cost is negligible. Push-to-main events always default to `code=true` regardless of detected paths (merge commits must get full validation).
This was referenced May 21, 2026
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Summary
Docs-only PRs (e.g. #286 roadmap refresh) currently burn ~10 min × 3 OS on `cargo nextest` + ~2 min on audit/deny even though no code changed. This PR fixes that without re-introducing the `paths-ignore` deadlock that left docs-only PRs `BLOCKED` forever (#236 / #278).
Design: step-level `if:` short-circuit instead of job-level `if: false`.
Code-relevant path list (positive — anything outside is docs/license/config-only):
```
crates/ Cargo.toml Cargo.lock .github/ scripts/ rust-toolchain*
deny.toml clippy.toml rustfmt.toml
```
No third-party action — shell regex is transparent + auditable.
Test plan