[harshalsp07]

Skip heavy CI jobs for pull requests that change only documentation (docs/** or **/*.md).

A reusable workflow detects non-documentation changes for the test, lint, build, and generation workflows. Required Go test and lint gates stay green when those jobs are intentionally skipped, and fail if change detection or module discovery fails. Push and tag builds still run the jobs.

Fixes #7007.

Testing:

• actionlint (only finding: the pre-existing ubuntu-26.04 runner label).
• Verified on a docs-only PR in my fork: Go, web, integration, Helm, and chart jobs skipped; required Go test and lint gates passed. The generation workflow only runs on master, so it was not exercised in the demo.

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[Copilot]

🟡 Changes recommended

Path-filter failures can incorrectly allow the required Go test and lint gates to succeed without running their workloads.

2 open findings

• Path detection failure can bypass Go linting · New
• Path detection failure can bypass Go tests · New

What changed in this PR

Adds docs-only PR detection to reduce unnecessary CI work while preserving required status checks.

Changes:

• Adds SHA-pinned path filtering across four CI workflows.
• Skips heavy build, test, lint, and generation jobs for documentation-only PRs.
• Updates lint completion gates to tolerate intentionally skipped jobs.

File	Description
.github/​workflows/​test.yaml	Conditionally skips Go, web, and integration tests.
.github/​workflows/​lint.yaml	Conditionally skips linting and vulnerability checks; updates gates.
.github/​workflows/​gen.yaml	Skips code generation validation for docs-only PRs.
.github/​workflows/​build.yaml	Conditionally skips Go, plugin, web, and chart builds.

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[armistcxy]

@harshalsp07, please keep the PR description concise. I suggest stating the intent clearly first, then summarizing the changes

[armistcxy]

A small trick: you can make a temporary PR including documentation changes (in various places), so that we can verify the new workflow actually skips jobs related to code changes

[harshalsp07]

Trimmed the description — intent first, then the changes. I'll also open a docs-only PR on top of this branch to verify the heavy jobs actually skip.

[armistcxy]

I dont't think adding a same job for all workflows like that is a good idea

[harshalsp07]

yeah i got your point now if i think, duplicating the same job in four workflows it would be hard to maintain .
paths-ignore would be simpler but it leaves the required go-test/go-lint completed checks stuck at "Expected" so docs-only PRs can't merge , that's why the detection is inside the workflows. I can move it into one reusable workflow (workflow_call) that all four call. should i do this or is there some other approach that we can follow ?

[harshalsp07]

Moved the detection into one reusable workflow, changes.yaml, that all four call via uses: (710a39d).

For the skip check, #7489 is a docs-only PR on top of this branch. The Go workflows still need a maintainer approval to run for first-time contributors, so approving one there will show the heavy jobs skipping while the two gates stay green.

[harshalsp07]

Tried the stacked setup in my fork so we don't need a temp branch in this repo — demo PR: harshalsp07#1, run: https://github.com/harshalsp07/pipecd/pull/1/checks

Diff there was only the docs change and it did exactly what it should: go, web, integration, helm, chart all skipped while go-test-completed and go-lint-completed stayed green. (gen didn't run in the demo since it only triggers on master, it gets exercised on the first real docs PR after this merges.)

[harshalsp07]

@armistcxy, I consolidated the branch to one commit and updated the PR description. The change-detection failure path now fails the required gates, and the docs-only behavior is verified on my fork. Could you take another look when you have a chance?