diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 50d563a..6d66c5f 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -33,21 +33,40 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
+      # Implements: REQ-1 (DEVX-176) — docs-only changes skip the heavy
+      # quality steps. Detection needs only git, so it runs before setup.
+      - name: Detect docs-only change
+        id: docs-only
+        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
+        run: |
+          HEAD="${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || github.sha }}"
+          DOCS_ONLY=true
+          while IFS= read -r f; do
+            case "$f" in
+              docs/*|*.md|.devin/*) ;;
+              *) DOCS_ONLY=false; break;;
+            esac
+          done < <(git diff --name-only "origin/master...$HEAD")
+          echo "docs-only=$DOCS_ONLY" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "docs-only=$DOCS_ONLY"
       - name: Set up environment
         env:
           CI_GITEA_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CI_GITEA_API_TOKEN }}
         run: make setup-image
       # --- quality steps ---
       - name: Lint all
+        if: steps.docs-only.outputs.docs-only != 'true'
         run: |
           . .venv/bin/activate 2>/dev/null || true
           export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
           make lint-all
       - name: Unit tests with 100% coverage
+        if: steps.docs-only.outputs.docs-only != 'true'
         run: |
           . .venv/bin/activate 2>/dev/null || true
           make pytest-cov
       - name: Check unit test speed
+        if: steps.docs-only.outputs.docs-only != 'true'
         run: |
           . .venv/bin/activate 2>/dev/null || true
           python3 -m devx.tools.check_test_speed --max-seconds 15 --max-single-seconds 0.5
@@ -60,10 +79,12 @@ jobs:
           export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
           make devx-docs-check
       - name: Translation completeness check
+        if: steps.docs-only.outputs.docs-only != 'true'
         run: |
           . .venv/bin/activate 2>/dev/null || true
           python3 -m devx.ci.check_translations
       - name: Dependency security scan
+        if: steps.docs-only.outputs.docs-only != 'true'
         run: |
           . .venv/bin/activate 2>/dev/null || true
           # Install pip in venv if missing (needed by pip-audit)
@@ -71,6 +92,7 @@ jobs:
           PIPAPI_PYTHON_LOCATION=$PWD/.venv/bin/python \
             pip-audit --desc --skip-editable 2>&1 || true
       - name: Workflow dry-run validation
+        if: steps.docs-only.outputs.docs-only != 'true'
         run: |
           . .venv/bin/activate 2>/dev/null || true
           export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
@@ -137,19 +159,9 @@ jobs:
           . .venv/bin/activate 2>/dev/null || true
           export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
           python3 -m devx.ci.release --dry-run
-      - name: Notify on failure
-        if: failure()
-        env:
-          CI_GITEA_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CI_GITEA_API_TOKEN }}
-        run: |
-          . .venv/bin/activate 2>/dev/null || true
-          export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
-          python3 -m devx.ci.notify_failure \
-            --repo "${{ github.repository }}" \
-            --run-id "${{ github.run_id }}" \
-            --workflow "ci/validate" \
-            --commit "${{ github.sha }}" \
-            --auto-login
+      # Implements: REQ-2 (DEVX-176) — no failure-issue step in PR CI;
+      # auto-created issues are for deploy-pipeline failures only
+      # (post-merge keeps its notification).
 
   auto-merge:
     # Auto-merge runs after validate passes. It reads the task ID
diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/post-merge.yml b/.gitea/workflows/post-merge.yml
index 8dd596d..5a8190c 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/post-merge.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/post-merge.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ on:
 
 concurrency:
   group: post-merge-${{ github.ref }}
-  cancel-in-progress: true
+  # Implements: REQ-3 (DEVX-176) — queue instead of killing an in-flight
+  # release/publish; a cancelled release can leave tag-without-publish.
+  cancel-in-progress: false
 
 env:
   PIP_BREAK_SYSTEM_PACKAGES: "1"
diff --git a/docs/specs/DEVX-176.md b/docs/specs/DEVX-176.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ced9997
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/specs/DEVX-176.md
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# DEVX-176: CI hygiene — docs fast-path, failure-notify scoping, post-merge cancel
+
+## Problem
+
+devx CI has the same inefficiencies fixed in infra (OBL-INFRA-613/615/616):
+docs-only PRs run the full quality suite (~10 min), CI failures auto-create
+issues (noise — the user decided issues are for deploy failures only), and
+post-merge `cancel-in-progress: true` can kill a release mid-publish.
+
+## Approach
+
+REQ-1: Docs-only PRs skip heavy validate steps (lint-all, unit tests,
+test-speed, translation check, security scan, workflow dry-run). Docs gate,
+spec validation, PR size, and auto-merge preconditions still run.
+Restricted to pull_request events.
+
+REQ-2: Remove the failure-issue step from `ci.yml` validate job.
+Post-merge keeps failure notification (release/publish failures are
+deploy-pipeline events).
+
+REQ-3: post-merge `cancel-in-progress: false` — a new push queues instead
+of killing an in-flight release/publish.
+
+## Test Plan
+
+- `make workflow-lint` passes.
+- Docs-only PR: quality steps skipped, docs gate + spec + size + merge run.
+- Non-docs PR: unchanged behavior.
+
+## Deploy Plan
+
+Workflow-only change; takes effect on merge. No release needed.
+
+## Rollback Plan
+
+Revert the commit.
+
+## Acceptance Criteria
+
+- [x] REQ-1 implemented — early docs-only step + step-level `if` gates
+- [x] REQ-2 implemented — notify step removed from ci.yml only
+- [x] REQ-3 implemented — post-merge concurrency flipped
+- [x] `make workflow-lint` passes