diff --git a/.github/workflows/backend-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/backend-tests.yml
index 6e0a6db6d..ec8a2e7f6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/backend-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/backend-tests.yml
@@ -10,10 +10,30 @@ concurrency:
   cancel-in-progress: true
 
 jobs:
+  changes:
+    name: Changes
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      backend: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.backend }}
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - name: Check changed files
+        id: filter
+        uses: dorny/paths-filter@v4
+        with:
+          filters: |
+            backend:
+              - 'surfsense_backend/**'
+              - '.github/workflows/backend-tests.yml'
+
   unit-tests:
     name: Unit Tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: github.event.pull_request.draft == false
+    needs: changes
+    if: ${{ github.event.pull_request.draft == false && needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }}
     env:
       EMBEDDING_MODEL: sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2
 
@@ -21,26 +41,15 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
-      - name: Check if backend files changed
-        id: backend-changes
-        uses: dorny/paths-filter@v3
-        with:
-          filters: |
-            backend:
-              - 'surfsense_backend/**'
-
       - name: Set up Python
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
           python-version: '3.12'
 
       - name: Install UV
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
-        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
+        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v8.1.0
 
       - name: Cache dependencies
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         uses: actions/cache@v5
         with:
           path: |
@@ -51,26 +60,24 @@ jobs:
             python-deps-
 
       - name: Cache HuggingFace models
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         uses: actions/cache@v5
         with:
           path: ~/.cache/huggingface
           key: hf-models-${{ env.EMBEDDING_MODEL }}
 
       - name: Install dependencies
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         working-directory: surfsense_backend
         run: uv sync
 
       - name: Run unit tests
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         working-directory: surfsense_backend
         run: uv run pytest -m unit
 
   integration-tests:
     name: Integration Tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: github.event.pull_request.draft == false
+    needs: changes
+    if: ${{ github.event.pull_request.draft == false && needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }}
     env:
       EMBEDDING_MODEL: sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2
 
@@ -93,26 +100,15 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
-      - name: Check if backend files changed
-        id: backend-changes
-        uses: dorny/paths-filter@v3
-        with:
-          filters: |
-            backend:
-              - 'surfsense_backend/**'
-
       - name: Set up Python
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
           python-version: '3.12'
 
       - name: Install UV
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
-        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
+        uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v8.1.0
 
       - name: Cache dependencies
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         uses: actions/cache@v5
         with:
           path: |
@@ -123,19 +119,16 @@ jobs:
             python-deps-
 
       - name: Cache HuggingFace models
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         uses: actions/cache@v5
         with:
           path: ~/.cache/huggingface
           key: hf-models-${{ env.EMBEDDING_MODEL }}
 
       - name: Install dependencies
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         working-directory: surfsense_backend
         run: uv sync
 
       - name: Run integration tests
-        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         working-directory: surfsense_backend
         env:
           TEST_DATABASE_URL: postgresql+asyncpg://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/surfsense_test
@@ -146,14 +139,29 @@ jobs:
   test-gate:
     name: Test Gate
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [unit-tests, integration-tests]
+    needs: [changes, unit-tests, integration-tests]
     if: always()
 
     steps:
       - name: Check all test jobs
         run: |
-          if [[ "${{ needs.unit-tests.result }}" == "failure" ||
-                "${{ needs.integration-tests.result }}" == "failure" ]]; then
+          if [[ "${{ needs.changes.result }}" == "failure" || "${{ needs.changes.result }}" == "cancelled" ]]; then
+            echo "Backend change detection failed"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if [[ "${{ github.event.pull_request.draft }}" == "true" ]]; then
+            echo "Draft PR; backend tests skipped"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          if [[ "${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend }}" != "true" ]]; then
+            echo "No backend changes detected; backend tests skipped"
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          if [[ "${{ needs.unit-tests.result }}" != "success" ||
+                "${{ needs.integration-tests.result }}" != "success" ]]; then
             echo "Backend tests failed"
             exit 1
           else