Skipped E2E tests on CI-only changes

[rob-ghost]

Problem

E2E tests run on every push regardless of what changed. A workflow-only or docs-only PR waits ~40 minutes for 8 E2E shards that can't possibly find regressions because no application code changed. This wastes CI minutes and slows down merges for infrastructure work.

Proposal

Add a new app-code path filter to job_setup that matches actual application code:

• ghost/**, apps/**, e2e/**, package.json, yarn.lock

Gate job_e2e_tests on this filter. When no app code changes, e2e tests are skipped. The required check gate (All required tests passed or skipped) already handles skipped jobs — it only fails on failure or cancelled, not skipped.

Not Doing

• Skipping other test jobs (unit, integration, lint) — those are already path-filtered via shared + package-specific filters.
• Skipping job_build_artifacts — that always runs (needed for Docker image builds on main).
• Changing the shared anchor that includes .github/** — other test jobs correctly re-run when workflows change since those changes could affect how tests execute.

Trade-offs

• If a workflow change somehow breaks e2e tests (e.g., changing the e2e job's Docker image, environment variables, or sharding), it won't be caught until a subsequent PR that touches app code. This is a narrow window — the next app code PR will catch it.
• The app-code filter is deliberately broad (ghost/**, apps/**). A tighter filter could skip more, but the risk of missing real regressions increases.

Rollback

• Easy: Revert the one-line if: condition change on job_e2e_tests. No data migration, no downstream impact.

Blast Radius

• CI only. No production impact.
• PRs that only touch .github/, docs/, scripts/, or other non-app paths will merge faster.
• PRs that touch any file under ghost/, apps/, e2e/, or dependency files (package.json, yarn.lock) are unaffected — e2e runs as before.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Path: .coderabbit.yaml

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 5fbb7f8f-249e-44cc-bd2e-0920389efbfa

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 8f2a678 and 63e74da.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• .github/workflows/ci.yml

---

Walkthrough

The CI workflow configuration has been updated to include a new file-change filter in the job_setup job that monitors specific application directories and files (ghost/**, apps/**, e2e/**, package.json, yarn.lock). This filter's result is exposed as a new output called changed_app_code. The job_e2e_tests job condition has been modified to require both a non-tag push event and a positive result from the changed_app_code output before execution.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'Skipped E2E tests on CI-only changes' clearly and concisely summarizes the main change: adding a path filter to skip E2E tests when only CI/workflow changes are made, not application code.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description thoroughly explains the problem, proposed solution, trade-offs, and rollback strategy. It directly relates to the changeset and provides comprehensive context for the PR's intent.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch chore/skip-e2e-on-ci-only-changes

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[sonarqubecloud]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
0.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube Cloud

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 73.25%. Comparing base (5beca11) to head (63e74da).
⚠️ Report is 18 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main   #27055      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   73.26%   73.25%   -0.02%     
==========================================
  Files        1530     1530              
  Lines      121767   121704      -63     
  Branches    14710    14704       -6     
==========================================
- Hits        89218    89152      -66     
- Misses      31555    31558       +3     
  Partials      994      994              

Flag	Coverage Δ
admin-tests	54.41% <ø> (ø)
e2e-tests	73.25% <ø> (-0.02%)	⬇️

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