ci: base full CI on changed paths

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -20,11 +20,11 @@ jobs:
     permissions:
       pull-requests: read
     outputs:
-      full_ci: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' || (!startsWith(github.event.pull_request.title, 'docs') && steps.filter.outputs.full_ci == 'true') }}
+      full_ci: ${{ github.event_name != 'pull_request' || steps.filter.outputs.full_ci == 'true' }}
     steps:
       - name: Detect non-documentation changes
         id: filter
-        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request' && !startsWith(github.event.pull_request.title, 'docs')
+        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
         uses: dorny/paths-filter@v4
         with:
           predicate-quantifier: every

tests/test_ci_workflow.py

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+"""Regression checks for the primary CI workflow."""
+
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Any
+
+import yaml
+
+
+def test_full_ci_depends_on_changed_paths_not_pr_title() -> None:
+    """Ensure a docs-prefixed title cannot bypass substantive CI jobs."""
+    workflow_path = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / ".github" / "workflows" / "ci.yml"
+    workflow: dict[str, Any] = yaml.load(workflow_path.read_text(), Loader=yaml.BaseLoader)
+    changes = workflow["jobs"]["changes"]
+
+    full_ci = changes["outputs"]["full_ci"]
+    assert "pull_request.title" not in full_ci
+
+    filter_step = next(step for step in changes["steps"] if step.get("id") == "filter")
+    assert "pull_request.title" not in filter_step["if"]
+    assert filter_step["if"] == "github.event_name == 'pull_request'"