diff --git a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
index 9d12583a..dca586ef 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
+++ b/.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
@@ -71,5 +71,5 @@
   "initializeCommand": "sh .devcontainer/initialize-command.sh",
   "onCreateCommand": "sh .devcontainer/on-create-command.sh",
   "postStartCommand": "sh .devcontainer/post-start-command.sh"
-  // Devcontainer context hash (do not manually edit this, it's managed by a pre-commit hook): e3cf4594 # spellchecker:disable-line
+  // Devcontainer context hash (do not manually edit this, it's managed by a pre-commit hook): d487598c # spellchecker:disable-line
 }
diff --git a/.devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py b/.devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py
index 30e47f60..23c5bc44 100644
--- a/.devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py
+++ b/.devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py
@@ -50,6 +50,27 @@
     type=str,
     help="What version to install.",
 )
+_ = parser.add_argument(
+    "--install-pre-commit-tooling",
+    default=False,
+    action="store_true",
+    help="Install pre-commit, identify and prek in CI. Outside CI, this script always installs them.",
+)
+_ = parser.add_argument(
+    "--install-copier",
+    default=False,
+    action="store_true",
+    help="Install copier in CI. Outside CI, this script always installs it.",
+)
+
+
+def should_install(*, requested: bool) -> bool:
+    if requested:
+        return True
+    # GitHub Actions always sets CI, so its absence means a developer's machine or devcontainer, which gets every tool
+    if "CI" not in os.environ:
+        return True
+    return False
 
 
 def run_with_retries(
@@ -176,40 +197,42 @@ def main():
     _ = subprocess.run(["pnpm -v"], shell=True, check=True)  # noqa: S602,S607 # we need shell=True for pnpm commands, and this is all our own input
     install_uv(uv_path=uv_path, uv_env=uv_env)
     if not args.no_python:
-        run_with_retries(
-            [
-                uv_path,
-                "tool",
-                "install",
-                f"copier{COPIER_VERSION}",
-                "--with",
-                f"copier-template-extensions{COPIER_TEMPLATE_EXTENSIONS_VERSION}",
-            ],
-            description="Installing copier",
-            env=uv_env,
-        )
-        run_with_retries(
-            [
-                uv_path,
-                "tool",
-                "install",
-                f"pre-commit{PRE_COMMIT_VERSION}",
-                "--with",
-                f"identify{IDENTIFY_VERSION}",
-            ],
-            description="Installing pre-commit",
-            env=uv_env,
-        )
-        run_with_retries(
-            [
-                uv_path,
-                "tool",
-                "install",
-                f"prek{PREK_VERSION}",
-            ],
-            description="Installing prek",
-            env=uv_env,
-        )
+        if should_install(requested=args.install_copier):
+            run_with_retries(
+                [
+                    uv_path,
+                    "tool",
+                    "install",
+                    f"copier{COPIER_VERSION}",
+                    "--with",
+                    f"copier-template-extensions{COPIER_TEMPLATE_EXTENSIONS_VERSION}",
+                ],
+                description="Installing copier",
+                env=uv_env,
+            )
+        if should_install(requested=args.install_pre_commit_tooling):
+            run_with_retries(
+                [
+                    uv_path,
+                    "tool",
+                    "install",
+                    f"pre-commit{PRE_COMMIT_VERSION}",
+                    "--with",
+                    f"identify{IDENTIFY_VERSION}",
+                ],
+                description="Installing pre-commit",
+                env=uv_env,
+            )
+            run_with_retries(
+                [
+                    uv_path,
+                    "tool",
+                    "install",
+                    f"prek{PREK_VERSION}",
+                ],
+                description="Installing prek",
+                env=uv_env,
+            )
     install_task(uv_path=uv_path, uv_env=uv_env)
     _ = subprocess.run(  # noqa: S603 # this is all our own input
         [
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index d68f7c14..ada1a75d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ jobs:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
 
       - name: Install Tooling
-        run: python .devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py
+        run: python .devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py --install-pre-commit-tooling
 
       - name: Install Dependencies
         run: |
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ jobs:
           node-version: 24.11.1
 
       - name: Install Tooling
-        run: python .devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py
+        run: python .devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py --install-copier --install-pre-commit-tooling
 
       - name: Instantiate copier template
         run: |
diff --git a/template/.devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py.jinja-base b/template/.devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py.jinja-base
index 544c4f89..26ec9d58 100644
--- a/template/.devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py.jinja-base
+++ b/template/.devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py.jinja-base
@@ -72,6 +72,27 @@ _ = parser.add_argument(
     default=False,
     help="Skip installing the SSM plugin for AWS CLI",
 )
+_ = parser.add_argument(
+    "--install-pre-commit-tooling",
+    action="store_true",
+    default=False,
+    help="Install pre-commit, identify and prek in CI. Outside CI, this script always installs them.",
+)
+_ = parser.add_argument(
+    "--install-copier",
+    action="store_true",
+    default=False,
+    help="Install copier in CI. Outside CI, this script always installs it.",
+)
+
+
+def should_install(*, requested: bool) -> bool:
+    if requested:
+        return True
+    # GitHub Actions always sets CI, so its absence means a developer's machine or devcontainer, which gets every tool
+    if "CI" not in os.environ:
+        return True
+    return False
 
 
 def pwsh_cmd(cmd: str) -> list[str]:
@@ -352,40 +373,42 @@ def main():
         uv_path = "uv"
     install_uv(uv_path=uv_path, uv_env=uv_env, is_windows=is_windows)
     if not args.no_python:
-        run_with_retries(
-            [
-                uv_path,
-                "tool",
-                "install",
-                f"copier{COPIER_VERSION}",
-                "--with",
-                f"copier-template-extensions{COPIER_TEMPLATE_EXTENSIONS_VERSION}",
-            ],
-            description="Installing copier",
-            env=uv_env,
-        )
-        run_with_retries(
-            [
-                uv_path,
-                "tool",
-                "install",
-                f"pre-commit{PRE_COMMIT_VERSION}",
-                "--with",
-                f"identify{IDENTIFY_VERSION}",
-            ],
-            description="Installing pre-commit",
-            env=uv_env,
-        )
-        run_with_retries(
-            [
-                uv_path,
-                "tool",
-                "install",
-                f"prek{PREK_VERSION}",
-            ],
-            description="Installing prek",
-            env=uv_env,
-        )
+        if should_install(requested=args.install_copier):
+            run_with_retries(
+                [
+                    uv_path,
+                    "tool",
+                    "install",
+                    f"copier{COPIER_VERSION}",
+                    "--with",
+                    f"copier-template-extensions{COPIER_TEMPLATE_EXTENSIONS_VERSION}",
+                ],
+                description="Installing copier",
+                env=uv_env,
+            )
+        if should_install(requested=args.install_pre_commit_tooling):
+            run_with_retries(
+                [
+                    uv_path,
+                    "tool",
+                    "install",
+                    f"pre-commit{PRE_COMMIT_VERSION}",
+                    "--with",
+                    f"identify{IDENTIFY_VERSION}",
+                ],
+                description="Installing pre-commit",
+                env=uv_env,
+            )
+            run_with_retries(
+                [
+                    uv_path,
+                    "tool",
+                    "install",
+                    f"prek{PREK_VERSION}",
+                ],
+                description="Installing prek",
+                env=uv_env,
+            )
     if not args.no_node:
         install_pnpm(is_windows=is_windows)
     # Task is installed outside the --no-node branch because CI always passes --no-node (pnpm/setup handles pnpm there), and every job still needs the task runner
diff --git a/template/.github/actions/install_deps/action.yml.jinja-base b/template/.github/actions/install_deps/action.yml.jinja-base
index 7529c662..bbf89560 100644
--- a/template/.github/actions/install_deps/action.yml.jinja-base
+++ b/template/.github/actions/install_deps/action.yml.jinja-base
@@ -21,6 +21,14 @@ inputs:
     required: false
     default: false
     description: Whether to explicitly skip installing the SSM Plugin manager when setting up basic CI tooling
+  install-pre-commit-tooling:
+    required: false
+    default: false
+    description: Whether to install the tooling the pre-commit hooks need (pre-commit, identify and prek), for jobs that run pre-commit
+  install-copier:
+    required: false
+    default: false
+    description: Whether to install copier, for jobs that instantiate a copier template
   project-dir:
     description: What's the relative path to the project?
     required: false
@@ -95,7 +103,7 @@ runs:
     - name: Install tooling
       # the funky syntax is github action ternary
       # --no-node is always passed because the only node tooling this script installs is pnpm, which pnpm/setup above already installed
-      run: python .devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py ${{ inputs.python-version == 'notUsing' && '--no-python' || '' }} --no-node ${{ inputs.skip-installing-ssm-plugin-manager == 'true' && '--skip-installing-ssm-plugin' || '' }}
+      run: python .devcontainer/install-ci-tooling.py ${{ inputs.python-version == 'notUsing' && '--no-python' || '' }} --no-node ${{ inputs.skip-installing-ssm-plugin-manager == 'true' && '--skip-installing-ssm-plugin' || '' }} ${{ inputs.install-pre-commit-tooling == 'true' && '--install-pre-commit-tooling' || '' }} ${{ inputs.install-copier == 'true' && '--install-copier' || '' }}
       shell: pwsh
 
     - name: OIDC Auth for CodeArtifact
diff --git a/template/.github/workflows/ci.yaml.jinja-base b/template/.github/workflows/ci.yaml.jinja-base
index b58e7357..a9c0b2f4 100644
--- a/template/.github/workflows/ci.yaml.jinja-base
+++ b/template/.github/workflows/ci.yaml.jinja-base
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ jobs:
           python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}{% endraw %}{% if template_uses_typescript is defined and template_uses_typescript is sameas(true) %}{% raw %}
           node-version: {% endraw %}{{ default_node_version }}{% raw %}{% endraw %}{% endif %}{% raw %}
           install-deps: false
+          install-copier: true
+          install-pre-commit-tooling: true
 
       - name: Instantiate copier template
         run: |
diff --git a/template/.github/workflows/pre-commit.yaml.jinja-base b/template/.github/workflows/pre-commit.yaml.jinja-base
index 3283cc7e..26e3450c 100644
--- a/template/.github/workflows/pre-commit.yaml.jinja-base
+++ b/template/.github/workflows/pre-commit.yaml.jinja-base
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ jobs:
           node-version: ${{ inputs.node-version }}
           skip-installing-ssm-plugin-manager: true
           skip-installing-pulumi-cli: true
+          install-pre-commit-tooling: true
 
       - name: Compute Pre-commit cache key # must run after checkout, since hashFiles needs the file on disk
         run: |