diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs-deploy.yaml b/.github/workflows/docs-deploy.yaml
index 842dcc73..82792a34 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs-deploy.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs-deploy.yaml
@@ -1,19 +1,15 @@
 name: Deploy docs
 
-# Publishes the Starlight docs site to GitHub Pages on every push to main that
-# touches the docs source or this workflow. Pull requests build the site without
-# deploying, so broken docs are caught before they merge.
+# Builds and deploys the Starlight docs site to GitHub Pages on every push to
+# main that touches the docs source or this workflow. PR-time build validation
+# lives in the PR Validation workflow's gate, so a broken docs build blocks the
+# merge there; this workflow only builds and deploys on push to main.
 on:
   push:
     branches: [main]
     paths:
       - 'docs/**'
       - '.github/workflows/docs-deploy.yaml'
-  pull_request:
-    branches: [main]
-    paths:
-      - 'docs/**'
-      - '.github/workflows/docs-deploy.yaml'
 
 # Least-privilege: read the repo, mint an OIDC token for Pages, write the Pages
 # deployment. No other scopes.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr.yaml b/.github/workflows/pr.yaml
index adc86c5e..9a3e991e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr.yaml
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
 #
 # This workflow triggers on every PR to main so the PR Gate job always
 # reports a status. The expensive jobs (Unit Tests, Lint) are gated on a
-# path filter and skip when only docs / non-code files changed. The PR Gate
+# path filter and skip when only docs / non-code files changed. The Docs
+# Build job is gated on a docs path filter and builds the Astro docs site so
+# a broken build blocks the merge; it skips when no docs changed. The PR Gate
 # job aggregates their results and is the single check to require in branch
 # protection: it passes when each gated job succeeds or is skipped, and
 # fails when any gated job fails or is cancelled.
@@ -26,6 +28,7 @@ jobs:
       pull-requests: read
     outputs:
       code: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.code }}
+      docs: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.docs }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0 # v7.0.0
 
@@ -42,6 +45,8 @@ jobs:
               - '!.gitattributes'
               - '!.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/**'
               - '!.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md'
+            docs:
+              - 'docs/**'
 
   unit-tests:
     name: Unit Tests
@@ -187,9 +192,31 @@ jobs:
           fi
           exit "$CODE"
 
+  docs-build:
+    name: Docs Build
+    needs: changes
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.docs == 'true'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        working-directory: docs
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@9c091bb21b7c1c1d1991bb908d89e4e9dddfe3e0 # v7.0.0
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
+        with:
+          node-version: "22"
+          cache: npm
+          cache-dependency-path: docs/package-lock.json
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: npm ci
+      - name: Build site
+        run: npm run build
+
   pr-gate:
     name: PR Gate
-    needs: [unit-tests, lint, workflow-drift]
+    needs: [unit-tests, lint, workflow-drift, docs-build]
     if: ${{ always() }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
@@ -200,9 +227,11 @@ jobs:
             echo "  unit-tests:     ${{ needs.unit-tests.result }}"
             echo "  lint:           ${{ needs.lint.result }}"
             echo "  workflow-drift: ${{ needs.workflow-drift.result }}"
+            echo "  docs-build:     ${{ needs.docs-build.result }}"
             exit 1
           fi
           echo "PR Gate passed (jobs succeeded or were skipped)."
           echo "  unit-tests:     ${{ needs.unit-tests.result }}"
           echo "  lint:           ${{ needs.lint.result }}"
           echo "  workflow-drift: ${{ needs.workflow-drift.result }}"
+          echo "  docs-build:     ${{ needs.docs-build.result }}"