diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 524bfaf69f..76366bc17d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -10,51 +10,7 @@ jobs:
   # Every test job runs unless this job succeeded and positively reported
   # code=false, so a broken detector costs time rather than coverage.
   changes:
-    name: Detect code changes
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    outputs:
-      code: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.code }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-
-      - name: Decide whether anything testable changed
-        id: filter
-        env:
-          BASE_REF: ${{ github.base_ref }}
-        run: |
-          # Conservative by construction: only a recognised documentation path
-          # votes "no code". Anything unrecognised -- and every push build, which
-          # has no base to diff against -- runs the full suite.
-          if [ -z "$BASE_REF" ]; then
-            echo "Push build: running everything."
-            echo "code=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-
-          git fetch --no-tags origin "$BASE_REF"
-          base=$(git merge-base FETCH_HEAD HEAD)
-          # --no-renames: a rename is reported as its destination alone, so moving
-          # a module under docs/ would otherwise hide the deleted code path.
-          changed=$(git diff --no-renames --name-only "$base" HEAD)
-
-          echo "Changed files:"
-          echo "$changed"
-
-          # `grep -v` exits 1 when everything was filtered out, which is exactly
-          # the documentation-only case, so it must not trip `set -e`.
-          testable=$(echo "$changed" | grep -Ev '(\.md$|^docs/|^\.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/)' || true)
-
-          if [ -z "$testable" ]; then
-            echo "Documentation only: skipping the test jobs."
-            echo "code=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-          else
-            echo "Testable changes present:"
-            echo "$testable"
-            echo "code=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-          fi
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/detect-code-changes.yml
 
   unit-tests:
     name: Unit Tests
diff --git a/.github/workflows/detect-code-changes.yml b/.github/workflows/detect-code-changes.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..29af4aadc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/detect-code-changes.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+name: Detect code changes
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+    outputs:
+      code:
+        description: '"true" when anything outside the documentation paths changed.'
+        value: ${{ jobs.filter.outputs.code }}
+
+jobs:
+  filter:
+    name: Detect code changes
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      code: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.code }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Decide whether anything testable changed
+        id: filter
+        env:
+          BASE_REF: ${{ github.base_ref }}
+        run: |
+          # Conservative by construction: only a recognised documentation path
+          # votes "no code". Anything unrecognised -- and every push build, which
+          # has no base to diff against -- runs the full suite.
+          if [ -z "$BASE_REF" ]; then
+            echo "Push build: running everything."
+            echo "code=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          git fetch --no-tags origin "$BASE_REF"
+          base=$(git merge-base FETCH_HEAD HEAD)
+          # --no-renames: a rename is reported as its destination alone, so moving
+          # a module under docs/ would otherwise hide the deleted code path.
+          changed=$(git diff --no-renames --name-only "$base" HEAD)
+
+          echo "Changed files:"
+          echo "$changed"
+
+          # `grep -v` exits 1 when everything was filtered out, which is exactly
+          # the documentation-only case, so it must not trip `set -e`.
+          testable=$(echo "$changed" | grep -Ev '(\.md$|^docs/|^\.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/)' || true)
+
+          if [ -z "$testable" ]; then
+            echo "Documentation only: skipping the test jobs."
+            echo "code=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "Testable changes present:"
+            echo "$testable"
+            echo "code=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/install.yml b/.github/workflows/install.yml
index 25bde9f831..95b9ea57d5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/install.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/install.yml
@@ -7,8 +7,18 @@ on:
     branches: [ main, '3.0' ]
 
 jobs:
+  # The matrix runs unless this job succeeded and positively reported
+  # code=false, so a broken detector costs time rather than coverage.
+  changes:
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/detect-code-changes.yml
+
   test:
     name: ${{ matrix.py }} - ${{ matrix.os }}
+    needs: changes
+    # The matrix must expand even when there is nothing to install: a job-level
+    # skip reports one unexpanded check, so the six required contexts would
+    # never appear and every documentation-only PR would hang at "Expected".
+    if: always()
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -23,23 +33,31 @@ jobs:
             py: "3.14"
 
     steps:
+      # The predicate is written once here, as a step output, rather than
+      # repeated on every step below.
+      - name: Decide whether to install
+        id: gate
+        run: echo "skip=${{ needs.changes.result == 'success' && needs.changes.outputs.code == 'false' }}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
       - name: Checkout code
+        if: steps.gate.outputs.skip != 'true'
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Setup Python
+        if: steps.gate.outputs.skip != 'true'
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.py }}
 
       - name: Free up disk space (Linux only)
-        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
+        if: runner.os == 'Linux' && steps.gate.outputs.skip != 'true'
         run: |
           sudo rm -rf /usr/share/dotnet /usr/local/lib/android /opt/ghc
           sudo apt-get clean
           sudo rm -rf ~/.cache/pip /tmp/* /var/tmp/*
 
       - name: Install pufferlib (Linux)
-        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
+        if: runner.os == 'Linux' && steps.gate.outputs.skip != 'true'
         run: |
           python -m pip install -U pip "setuptools<81" wheel numpy
           # CPU-only torch. The CUDA stack is ~3 GB of wheels and no longer
@@ -48,7 +66,7 @@ jobs:
           pip install -e . --no-build-isolation
 
       - name: Install pufferlib (macOS)
-        if: runner.os != 'Linux'
+        if: runner.os != 'Linux' && steps.gate.outputs.skip != 'true'
         run: |
           python -m pip install -U pip
           # Deliberately a plain install: macOS wheels are already CPU-only, so