fix(ci): skip README-regen commit when only metrics changed

[eleshar]

Bugfix Pull Request

This repository enforces changelog, release, and label automation for all PRs and issues.
See the organisation-wide Automation Governance & Release Strategy for required rules.

linked issues

Relates to #3408 (empty README-regeneration PR created by a metrics-only run).

context

• Severity/Impact: Low (CI noise: empty automated PRs)
• Affected versions/environments: documentation.yml regenerate job on pushes to develop

reproduction

• Steps: 1) Push any change to develop that touches a directory containing a README. 2) The resolver flags impacted READMEs, meta.agent.js rewrites meta-metrics.json with a fresh timestamp but changes zero content files. 3) The commit step sees a dirty tree and commits/pushes (or opens/updates the fixed-branch PR) containing only the metrics timestamp.
• Expected vs Actual: Expected no commit/PR on no-op runs; actual metrics-only commit/PR (PR chore(docs): regenerate impacted README files #3408).

root cause

• resolve-readme-files.cjs flags READMEs loosely, meta.agent.js unconditionally rewrites meta-metrics.json (fresh ts at changed: 0), and the commit step used a plain staged-diff check that counts the metrics-only tree as changes. Verified against PR chore(docs): regenerate impacted README files #3408 whose sole commit touched only meta-metrics.json.

fix summary

• Added a Check for content changes gate step that excludes .github/metrics/meta-metrics.json from the change check; the create-pull-request step now requires has_changes == true, and metrics-only runs restore the metrics file and skip.

verification

• Gate logic proven both ways in a scratch repo (metrics-only skips, real change proceeds)
• Workflow YAML parses cleanly; actionlint passes
• Old logic replayed on the no-op state to confirm it would have committed

risk & rollback

• Risk level: Low
• Rollback plan: revert this commit

changelog

Fixed

• README-Regen Noise Fixed — The documentation workflow no longer opens or updates the README-regeneration PR when a run produces no content changes; metrics-only runs are detected and skipped. (PR #3429)

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Checklist (Global DoD / PR)

• All AC met and demonstrated
• Tests added/updated (unit/E2E as appropriate)
• Accessibility checklist completed (where relevant): N/A - CI workflow change, no UI
• Docs/readme/changelog updated (if user-facing)
• Security checklist completed (where relevant): N/A - no untrusted input, secrets, or privileged actions
• Code/design reviews approved
• CI green; linked issues closed; release notes prepared (if shipping)

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 26c6d00 and 2ab9f31.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• .github/workflows/documentation.yml
• CHANGELOG.md

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[github-actions]

📋 Changelog Quality Validation

Summary

Metric	Count
✅ Passing	73
⚠️ Warnings	0
❌ Failing	1
🆕 New failures in this PR	1
📦 Pre-existing failures	0

Status

❌ Validation FAILED - This PR introduces 1 new changelog failure(s). Please fix them before merging.
Pre-existing failures (0) are reported for visibility and do not block this PR.

How to Fix

Reproduce the exact PR check locally (from the repository root):

cd .github/validation/changelog
node bin/validate.js --changelog-path ../../../CHANGELOG.md --trigger pr_submission --pr-number 3429 --branch fix/documentation-skip-metrics-only-commits --output text

Only new failures introduced by this PR block merging; pre-existing Unreleased failures do not block. See Changelog Quality Audit for the rule reference.

[github-actions]

PR Template Routing

Branch Type: fix
Scope: documentation-skip-metrics-only-commits
Template: pr_bug.md
Labels Applied: type:bug,area:documentation

This PR was automatically routed based on the branch naming strategy.