Add skip-auto-smoke opt-out to create-release.yml dispatch

.github/workflows/create-release.yml

@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 name: Build Installers
+# The `workflows: ["Build Installers"]` filter in test-smokes-built.yml matches the
+# `name:` above, NOT this run-name. The [skip-auto-smoke] suffix is how that workflow
+# reads this dispatch input, since the Runs API does not expose workflow_dispatch
+# inputs on a completed run. Do not reword it casually -- see D7.1 in
+# llm-docs/built-version-testing-architecture.md.
+run-name: "Build Installers${{ inputs.skip-auto-smoke && ' [skip-auto-smoke]' || '' }}"
 on:
   schedule:
     - cron: "0 4 * * *"
@@ -29,6 +35,11 @@ on:
         required: false
         type: boolean
         default: false
+      skip-auto-smoke:
+        description: "Skip the built-version smoke suite that test-smokes-built.yml normally auto-triggers via workflow_run on this run's completion. Build still runs normally."
+        required: false
+        type: boolean
+        default: false
 
 env:
   NFPM_VERSION: "2.43.1"

.github/workflows/test-smokes-built.yml

@@ -215,6 +215,10 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           RUN_ID_INPUT: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_run' && github.event.workflow_run.id || github.event.inputs.run-id }}
+          # create-release.yml encodes its skip-auto-smoke dispatch input in its run-name,
+          # which the completed workflow_run payload carries as display_title (D7.1).
+          # Deliberately false for a manual dispatch: an explicit run-id still gets tested.
+          SKIP_AUTO_SMOKE: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_run' && contains(github.event.workflow_run.display_title, '[skip-auto-smoke]') }}
         run: |
           run_id="$RUN_ID_INPUT"
           if [ -z "$run_id" ]; then
@@ -230,16 +234,24 @@ jobs:
             echo "::error::Could not resolve the head SHA for create-release run ${run_id}"
             exit 1
           fi
-          # Run only legs whose artifacts still exist.
-          names="$(gh api "repos/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/actions/runs/${run_id}/artifacts" \
-            --paginate --jq '.artifacts[] | select(.expired | not) | .name')"
-          has() { grep -Fxq "$1" <<<"$names" && echo true || echo false; }
-          has_linux="$(has 'Deb Zip')"
-          has_windows="$(has 'Windows Zip')"
-          has_mac="$(has 'Mac Zip')"
-          if [ "$has_linux" = false ] && [ "$has_windows" = false ] && [ "$has_mac" = false ]; then
-            echo "::error::run ${run_id} produced none of the expected artifacts (Deb Zip / Windows Zip / Mac Zip)"
-            exit 1
+          # A create-release dispatch that set skip-auto-smoke short-circuits every nightly leg.
+          if [ "$SKIP_AUTO_SMOKE" = true ]; then
+            echo "create-release run ${run_id} was dispatched with skip-auto-smoke; skipping all nightly legs"
+            has_linux=false
+            has_windows=false
+            has_mac=false
+          else
+            # Run only legs whose artifacts still exist.
+            names="$(gh api "repos/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/actions/runs/${run_id}/artifacts" \
+              --paginate --jq '.artifacts[] | select(.expired | not) | .name')"
+            has() { grep -Fxq "$1" <<<"$names" && echo true || echo false; }
+            has_linux="$(has 'Deb Zip')"
+            has_windows="$(has 'Windows Zip')"
+            has_mac="$(has 'Mac Zip')"
+            if [ "$has_linux" = false ] && [ "$has_windows" = false ] && [ "$has_mac" = false ]; then
+              echo "::error::run ${run_id} produced none of the expected artifacts (Deb Zip / Windows Zip / Mac Zip)"
+              exit 1
+            fi
           fi
           echo "Using create-release run ${run_id} at commit ${sha} (linux=${has_linux} windows=${has_windows} mac=${has_mac})"
           echo "run-id=$run_id" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"

llm-docs/built-version-testing-architecture.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
-main_commit: e5850df75
-analyzed_date: 2026-09-10
+main_commit: 76d3a1e5f
+analyzed_date: 2026-09-18
 key_files:
   - tests/quarto-cmd.ts
   - tests/test.ts
@@ -214,6 +214,8 @@ The release pipeline is not modified for testing purposes.
 **Known weaknesses:** the trigger depends on the workflow display name (`workflows: ["Build Installers"]`), so renaming the workflow stops the trigger. GitHub does not report a missing trigger as a failure.
 The trigger fires after every completed create-release run, including manual and partial builds. Each OS leg therefore checks that its artifact exists.
 
+A dispatch can opt out per-run via `skip-auto-smoke` (see D7.1) when it does not need the downstream suite.
+
 **Revisit when:** maintainers want a single nightly build-and-test status and are willing to couple the workflows.
 
 ### D2. Version marker: semver *build metadata* (`X.Y.Z+test.YYYYMMDD`)
@@ -253,6 +255,22 @@ For a branch build, dispatch create-release with `publish-release=false` and `sm
 The configure job rejects this mode when publishing is enabled, and partial builds use a per-run concurrency group.
 The daily path still uses the full build because the Mac zip provides macOS smoke coverage.
 
+### D7.1 `skip-auto-smoke` opts a dispatch out of the auto-triggered suite
+
+`create-release.yml`'s `workflow_dispatch` has a `skip-auto-smoke` boolean input (default `false`). The Runs API does not expose `workflow_dispatch` inputs on a completed run (verified live via `gh api repos/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/actions/runs/RUNID` — no `inputs` field), so `test-smokes-built.yml`'s `resolve-nightly` job cannot read the flag off `github.event.workflow_run` directly.
+
+**Mechanism: the run title.** `create-release.yml` sets `run-name: "Build Installers${{ inputs.skip-auto-smoke && ' [skip-auto-smoke]' || '' }}"`. GitHub evaluates `run-name` from the dispatch inputs when the run is created, and the `completed` `workflow_run` payload carries the result as `github.event.workflow_run.display_title`. `resolve-nightly` reads it through a `SKIP_AUTO_SMOKE` env expression — no extra API call — and forces `has-linux`/`has-windows`/`has-mac` to `false`. Every nightly leg (smoke, Playwright, ff-matrix, all OSes) then no-ops through its existing `has-* == 'true'` gate, without an error. The build itself is unaffected: this only silences the downstream test fan-out, unlike `smoke-artifacts-only` (D7), which trims what gets built.
+
+Use `inputs.skip-auto-smoke`, not `github.event.inputs.skip-auto-smoke` — the latter yields the string `"false"`, which is truthy. For `schedule` runs `inputs` is empty, so the expression renders the plain `Build Installers` title, byte-identical to the pre-change default.
+
+**Why not a marker artifact.** Uploading an empty `skip-smoke` artifact also works and was implemented first, but it costs an upload step on every skipped build and leaves a stray artifact for the full retention period — which would also suppress a later *manual* `source=nightly` dispatch aimed at that run id, silently. The title is metadata-to-metadata and scoped to the event.
+
+**Scope: only the automatic path.** `SKIP_AUTO_SMOKE` is gated on `github.event_name == 'workflow_run'`, so a manual `test-smokes-built.yml` dispatch with `source=nightly` and an explicit `run-id` still tests that build. An explicit request to test a run outranks the upstream dispatcher's "do not auto-test me".
+
+**Why this does not break the `workflow_run` trigger.** The `workflows: ["Build Installers"]` filter matches the workflow's `name:`, not its `run-name`; the two are separate objects in the payload (`workflow.name` vs `workflow_run.name`). Verified against the reproduction repo for actions/runner#4141, where a workflow carrying a custom `run-name` still fires its `workflow_run` listener on both `requested` and `completed`. Related open bug worth knowing: actions/runner#4141 reports that on `completed`, `workflow_run.name` is *also* overwritten with the run-name. We key on `display_title`, which is the field GitHub documents for this purpose and which the proposed fix preserves. Note also that at `types: [requested]` the payload's `display_title` is the workflow name, not the run-name — harmless here because this trigger uses `types: [completed]`, and the check fails open (tests run) if that ever changes.
+
+Independent of a separately-tracked `branches:[main]` filter on the same `workflow_run` trigger: that gate narrows by branch, this narrows by explicit per-dispatch choice, regardless of branch.
+
 ### D8. macOS runners: scheduled/built runs only, never per-commit
 
 `test-smokes-parallel.yml` (per-commit) must stay fast, so it never passes `runners` and keeps the `ubuntu-latest`/`windows-latest` default.
@@ -270,7 +288,7 @@ The julia-engine subtree tests are temporarily dev-only. Their direct Quarto sub
 Remaining built-mode gaps are preview and serve paths, publishing, installer behavior, Linux arm64, and Playwright visual snapshots.
 Windows browser behavior and macOS feature-format coverage are also excluded as described in "Built-mode test legs".
 Dev schedules remain because they test source behavior, while built schedules test packaged behavior.
-All built legs currently run after every completed `create-release` run. If CI cost becomes excessive, gate heavy legs on scheduled runs.
+All built legs currently run after every completed `create-release` run, unless the triggering dispatch set `skip-auto-smoke` (D7.1). If CI cost becomes excessive, gate heavy legs on scheduled runs.
 
 ### D10. Release mode only works for post-harness tags