diff --git a/.github/workflows/apk.yml b/.github/workflows/apk.yml
index 46e3623c..f8f17b15 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/apk.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/apk.yml
@@ -11,8 +11,19 @@ on:
       # someone remembering to dispatch the workflow by hand.
       - feat/disaggregated
       - codex/fix-github-ci
+    # A docs-only push builds nothing this workflow tests (231 emulator legs per run). The Test
+    # workflow keeps running for docs: it hosts the doc citation lint.
+    paths-ignore:
+      - 'docs/**'
+      - '**/*.md'
   workflow_dispatch:
 
+# ONE LIVE RUN PER BRANCH, as in test.yml: a superseded push is cancelled rather than left queued
+# behind its successor; a manual dispatch gets a group of its own; dev queues rather than cancels.
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && github.run_id || github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref != 'refs/heads/dev' }}
+
 jobs:
   build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index fa4f37e8..758e9b77 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,15 @@ on:
         required: false
         default: "087685d1"
 
+# ONE LIVE RUN PER BRANCH. The disaggregation branch pushes (often docs-only) commits minutes apart
+# and each push fans out to ~330 retrace legs here and ~275 jobs in apk.yml; with no group, runs
+# sat queued for 10+ hours behind their own successors. A manual dispatch gets a group of its own,
+# so a push never cancels a hand-started baseline (monolith-symbol-report) run; dev queues rather
+# than cancels. No paths-ignore here, unlike apk.yml: this workflow hosts the doc citation lint.
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && github.run_id || github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref != 'refs/heads/dev' }}
+
 jobs:
   build-linux:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest