fix: save CI time and run checks conditionally

[alexmt]

PR changes CI to run backend/frontend changes only if the commit touches related files. Doc changes would skip Golang/typescript changes altogether.

[morey-tech]

I suspect this will be blocked until we figure out how to pass the required checks even when there are skipped.

GitHub docs have an example when using on.pull_request.paths to filter. You might be able to implement something similar; a workflow with the same name and job names that return true.

[morey-tech]

Something to the effect of:

# Stub for required checks that only runs for docs PRs
name: Integration tests
on: 
  push:
    branches:
      - 'master'
      - 'release-*'
      - '!release-1.4'
      - '!release-1.5'
    paths:
      - '**/*.md'
  pull_request:
    branches:
      - 'master'
      - 'release-*'
    paths:
      - '**/*.md'

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

permissions:
  contents: read

jobs:
  check-go:
    name: Ensure Go modules synchronicity
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: 'echo "No build required"'

  build-go:
    name: Build & cache Go code
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: 'echo "No build required"'

  lint-go:
    name: Lint Go code
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: 'echo "No build required"'

  test-go:
    name: Run unit tests for Go packages
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: 'echo "No build required"'

  test-go-race:
    name: Run unit tests with -race, for Go packages
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: 'echo "No build required"'

  codegen:
    name: Check changes to generated code
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: 'echo "No build required"'

  build-ui:
    name: Build, test & lint UI code
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: 'echo "No build required"'

  analyze:
    name: Process & analyze test artifacts
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: 'echo "No build required"'

  test-e2e:
    name: Run end-to-end tests
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - run: 'echo "No build required"'

[todaywasawesome]

@morey-tech do you want to add that as a suggestion on the PR?

[kencochrane]

This PR has been in draft form for over a year. Should we delete it or consider what it would take to merge it?

[blakepettersson]

This was implemented with #17180