diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-pull-requests.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-pull-requests.yml
index 877c65b18e5..6a810d2753e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-pull-requests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-pull-requests.yml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ jobs:
       workflows: ${{ fromJSON(steps.ci-filter.outputs.results).workflows == true }}
       workflow_scripts: ${{ fromJSON(steps.ci-filter.outputs.results)['workflow-scripts'] == true }}
       db: ${{ fromJSON(steps.ci-filter.outputs.results).db == true }}
+      db_migrations: ${{ fromJSON(steps.ci-filter.outputs.results)['db-migrations'] == true }}
       e2e_performance: ${{ fromJSON(steps.ci-filter.outputs.results)['e2e-performance'] == true }}
       instance_ai_workflow_eval: ${{ fromJSON(steps.ci-filter.outputs.results)['instance-ai-workflow-eval'] == true }}
       commit_sha: ${{ steps.commit-sha.outputs.sha }}
@@ -163,6 +164,23 @@ jobs:
               docs/generated/**
               .tbls.sqlite.yml
               .tbls.postgres.yml
+            # Sub-filter of db. Lists the paths that can change a migration
+            # test result. Gates the migration step inside each DB matrix leg.
+            db-migrations:
+              packages/@n8n/db/**
+              packages/@n8n/backend-test-utils/**
+              packages/cli/test/migration/**
+              packages/cli/test/shared/db/**
+              packages/cli/test/setup-testcontainers.js
+              packages/cli/test/teardown-testcontainers.js
+              packages/cli/vitest.config.base.ts
+              packages/cli/vitest.config.migration.ts
+              packages/cli/vitest.config.migration.testcontainers.ts
+              packages/testing/containers/services/postgres.ts
+              packages/testing/containers/postgres-versions.json
+              packages/testing/containers/test-containers.ts
+              .github/workflows/test-db-reusable.yml
+              .github/scripts/db-test-matrix.mjs
 
       - name: Setup and Build
         if: fromJSON(steps.ci-filter.outputs.results).ci || fromJSON(steps.ci-filter.outputs.results).e2e
@@ -327,6 +345,7 @@ jobs:
     with:
       ref: ${{ needs.install-and-build.outputs.commit_sha }}
       matrix: ${{ needs.install-and-build.outputs.db_test_matrix }}
+      run-migrations: ${{ needs.install-and-build.outputs.db_migrations == 'true' }}
 
   e2e-performance:
     name: E2E Performance
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-db-reusable.yml b/.github/workflows/test-db-reusable.yml
index 767caf3371e..9b74e7e2d04 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-db-reusable.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-db-reusable.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ on:
         description: 'Job matrix JSON, from .github/scripts/db-test-matrix.mjs.'
         required: true
         type: string
+      run-migrations:
+        description: 'Run the migration test step in each leg. The caller turns this off when no migration-relevant path changed.'
+        required: false
+        type: boolean
+        default: true
 
 env:
   NODE_OPTIONS: '--max-old-space-size=6144'
@@ -43,7 +48,7 @@ jobs:
         run: ${{ matrix.test-cmd }}
 
       - name: Run Migration Tests
-        if: matrix.migration-cmd != ''
+        if: matrix.migration-cmd != '' && inputs.run-migrations
         working-directory: packages/cli
         run: ${{ matrix.migration-cmd }}