PRs that don't touch canvas/** paths skip the Canvas (Next.js) job via
its `if: needs.changes.outputs.canvas == 'true'` guard. GitHub reports
SKIPPED for that conclusion. Branch protection on staging requires
Canvas (Next.js) — and treats SKIPPED as not-passed, blocking merge
on every workspace-server-only or migration-only PR.
This is the design pattern documented in feedback memory
"branch_protection_check_name_parity": split into a real job + a
no-op shadow that share the same `name:`. Exactly one runs per PR;
both report the same check context, and at least one always reports
SUCCESS, satisfying the required check.
The no-op job runs in a few seconds (single `echo` step) and produces
the right check context for any PR that has changes outside canvas/**.
Concrete blocker that prompted this: PR #2314 (RFC #2312 PR-B) sat
APPROVED + CI-green + UP-TO-DATE for half an hour with mergeStateStatus
BLOCKED, traced via the GraphQL `isRequired` field to a single
SKIPPED Canvas (Next.js) check. PRs #2319 (PR-F) and the rest of the
RFC #2312 stack would have hit the same wall.
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