[MarketDataApp]

Why

The docs sync bot (marketdata-docs-sync) opens pull requests here that touch
nothing but docs/. Every one runs the full suite to test markdown. On the live
sync PR in this repo today, that is the whole matrix — and in sdk-go and
sdk-csharp it spends live API quota.

The review bot already ignores these PRs: marketdata-docs-sync[bot] is in its
default ignore_authors, and docs/** is in ignore_paths. Tests were the half
with no exemption.

The constraint, and the trap

A required status check can never be conditional — the list is static. And a
matrix job that GitHub skips does not expand its name: it reports one check with
the template unevaluated and zero per-combination contexts, so the pull request
waits forever for checks that never arrive. Measured on
MarketDataApp/sdk-php#95, where a docs-only PR reported
P${{ matrix.php }} - ${{ matrix.stability }} - ${{ matrix.os }} and no P8.x.

How

1. changes — always runs, diffs against the merge base, sets code=true or
   code=false.
2. The suite gates on it. A job that already declares needs: inherits the skip
   through its dependency instead, because a second needs: key is silently
   discarded by YAML.
3. Tests passed — a new aggregate with if: always(). This is the context
   branch protection should require.

The path list is inverted on purpose

It lists what documentation looks like (^docs/, \.md$) and runs the suite
for everything else. Enumerating code paths instead would skip the suite the first
time somebody adds a source directory nobody remembered to list.

Two classes of skip, which is the part that matters

Tests passed does not treat all skips alike:

• strict jobs apply to every change, so the only acceptable skip is the one
  this gate asked for. A failed changes job leaves CODE empty, which reads as
  a skip nobody asked for, and fails. A green over untested code is the failure
  mode being designed out.
• lenient jobs carry conditions that predate this gate — the live suite does
  not run on an ordinary push, nor for dependabot, which cannot read the token.
  Branch protection already treats those skips as passing, so this does too.

A failure never passes in either class.

Each gate reads != 'false', not == 'true', so a broken gate runs the suite.

⚠️ Do not merge before the protection change

This commit only adds a check. Branch protection on main must move to
Tests passed, or a docs-only pull request blocks. Merged with it, the existing
contexts still run and still have to pass whenever code changes — Tests passed
fails if any of them fail.

Verification

This branch touches a workflow file, which is not documentation, so its own suite
must run. A docs-only pull request on top must show the suite skipped and
Tests passed green. Both results go in this thread before merge, the way
sdk-php #94 was proven in both directions.

Version impact

none. CI configuration. No source change, no release.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (1ac2d64) to head (87c18cd).

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff            @@
##              main      #107   +/-   ##
=========================================
  Coverage   100.00%   100.00%           
=========================================
  Files           69        69           
  Lines         2187      2187           
  Branches       272       272           
=========================================
  Hits          2187      2187           

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