diff --git a/.github/workflows/no-emdash.yml b/.github/workflows/no-emdash.yml
index 8eaac45..63ed1bd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/no-emdash.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/no-emdash.yml
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 name: Em-dash gate
 
 # The brand rule (knowledgebase 06-brand/voice-and-tone.md) bans the em dash (U+2014) and the en dash
-# (U+2013) across every Cosyte surface, and names commit messages explicitly. The job scans every
-# tracked file and its name and, on a pull request, the title, the body and the commit messages. The
-# starters themselves are tested by `starters.yml`.
+# (U+2013) across every Cosyte surface, and names commit messages explicitly. The `no-emdash` job
+# scans every tracked file and its name and, on a pull request, `no-emdash-messages` scans the
+# title, the body and the commit messages. The starters themselves are tested by `starters.yml`.
 #
 # THE GATE IS NOT IN THIS REPOSITORY. It is the one implementation every Cosyte repository runs, the
 # `no-emdash` command of `@cosyte/script-utils`, run through npx at the exact version below, since
@@ -13,18 +13,22 @@ name: Em-dash gate
 #
 # WHY A SEPARATE WORKFLOW, and not a job in `starters.yml`:
 #
-#   The deciding factor is the trigger. The PR-text half below needs the `edited` activity
+#   The deciding factor is the trigger. The messages job below needs the `edited` activity
 #   type, which is not a default: without it, a title or body edited after the last push is
 #   never re-checked, and since this repo squash-merges, the PR title and body ARE the commit
 #   message that lands on main. Re-running every starter on both Node lines each time someone
 #   fixes a typo in a PR description would be a large cost for no extra safety.
 #
-#   Both halves live here rather than being split across two workflows: the file scan is a
-#   checkout, one small download and one scan, so it costs little to re-run on `edited`, and
-#   one file is one thing to read.
+#   Both jobs live here rather than in two workflows: the file scan is a checkout, one small
+#   download and one scan, so it costs little to re-run on `edited`, and one file is one thing
+#   to read.
 #
-# THE PR-TEXT HALF MUST NEVER BECOME A REQUIRED STATUS CHECK ON ITS OWN. It runs as a step of the
-# `no-emdash` job, so the job's single check covers both halves.
+# TWO JOBS, AND ONLY ONE IS REQUIRED. The `ci-required-checks` ruleset requires `no-emdash`, the
+# tracked-file job, by that name: rename it and every pull request waits on a context nothing
+# emits. `no-emdash-messages` MUST NEVER BECOME A REQUIRED CHECK: a Dependabot body quotes upstream
+# release notes, dashes included, and a required check would block the bump on text nobody here
+# wrote. It still goes red on such a body, so edit the dash out before merging: a squash merge
+# makes the body part of the commit on main.
 
 on:
   push:
@@ -34,9 +38,10 @@ on:
     # `edited` is deliberate and load-bearing. See the note above.
     types: [opened, synchronize, reopened, edited]
 
-concurrency:
-  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
-  cancel-in-progress: true
+# No concurrency group. A push and a PR edit can arrive together (Dependabot does both), and a run
+# a group cancels, even a queued one under `cancel-in-progress: false`, can count as a failed
+# `no-emdash` and block the merge until someone re-runs it. Each run takes seconds, so every one
+# finishes.
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
@@ -51,9 +56,6 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
         with:
-          # Full history: the commit-message step below reads the PR's commit range,
-          # and the default shallow clone does not contain the base commit.
-          fetch-depth: 0
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - uses: actions/setup-node@949feb2413d6458794dcd2491c4babbbce0c15c1 # v7.1.0
@@ -63,12 +65,27 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check tracked files and their names
         run: npx -y "$SCRIPT_UTILS" no-emdash
 
+  no-emdash-messages:
+    # Pull requests only: on a push to main the message is already written, and this job exists
+    # to stop one landing.
+    if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 5
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          # Full history: the step below reads the PR's commit range, and the default shallow
+          # clone does not contain the base commit.
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          persist-credentials: false
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@949feb2413d6458794dcd2491c4babbbce0c15c1 # v7.1.0
+        with:
+          node-version: "24"
+
       # The rule names commit messages explicitly, and a squash merge composes its message
       # from the PR title, the PR body, and the branch commits, so all three are checked.
-      # Pull requests only: on a push to main the message is already written, and this gate
-      # exists to stop it landing.
       - name: Check PR title, body, and commit messages
-        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
         env:
           PR_TITLE: ${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}
           PR_BODY: ${{ github.event.pull_request.body }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-title.yml b/.github/workflows/pr-title.yml
index d8c803f..e94b3ef 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-title.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-title.yml
@@ -10,9 +10,10 @@ on:
     # `edited` is load-bearing: a title changed after the last push is the title that lands.
     types: [opened, synchronize, reopened, edited]
 
-concurrency:
-  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
-  cancel-in-progress: true
+# No concurrency group. A push and a title edit can arrive together (Dependabot does both), and a
+# run a group cancels, even a queued one under `cancel-in-progress: false`, can count as a failed
+# check and block the merge until someone re-runs it. Each run takes seconds, so every one finishes
+# and the newest result stands.
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 0fffe71..f01930f 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -9,9 +9,10 @@ what CI does with the gate, the hazard, and the rules that bind here.
 
 The gate is the four steps in AGENTS.md. Step 1 is `no-emdash.yml`'s `no-emdash` check and
 `claude-card.yml`, which run `@cosyte/script-utils` through npx at one pinned version; keep no gate
-script here. On a pull request `no-emdash` also scans the title, the body, and the commit messages
-(its `--stdin` mode), since a squash merge makes them the commit on `main`, and editing the title or
-body runs it again.
+script here. On a pull request its `no-emdash-messages` job scans the title, the body, and the
+commit messages (the `--stdin` mode), since a squash merge makes them the commit on `main`, and
+editing the title or body runs it again. That job is never required: a Dependabot body quotes
+upstream release notes, dashes and all.
 Steps 2 and 3 are `starters.yml`: every starter on Node 22 and 24, and `All starters` is the one
 check that stands for the whole matrix, so a new starter folder is tested with no workflow edit.
 `starters.yml` also runs nightly on `main`, from the lockfiles. Step 4 is `actionlint.yml`;