[jdsika]

Throwaway. Settles whether a matrix job skipped by a job-level if still emits one check per matrix cell, or none at all. job-level-skip gates at the job level; step-level-skip always expands and gates the step instead. Comparing which check names appear decides the fix for #23. Closed unmerged.

[jdsika]

Result — the job-level skip is not safe for a matrix job:

gating	checks emitted
job-level if	one check, named literally probe joblevel \${{ matrix.py }}\ - \${{ matrix.os }}\\ — the matrix never expanded
step-level if	probe steplevel 3.11 - ubuntu-latest and probe steplevel 3.12 - ubuntu-latest, both reported, both with the work skipped

GitHub evaluates the job-level if before matrix expansion, so a skipped matrix job emits a single unexpanded context instead of one per cell. The six required install.yml contexts would therefore never report, and branch protection would hold every documentation-only PR at Expected forever.

This confirms the blocking finding on #23 and settles its fix: keep if: always() at the job level so the matrix expands, and apply the fail-safe predicate to the steps. Closing.