diff --git a/.buildkite/pipeline.sh b/.buildkite/pipeline.sh
index 10b5c4872a..6e68512bec 100755
--- a/.buildkite/pipeline.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/pipeline.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,30 @@
 #!/bin/bash -e
 
+# Native jobs take ~2.5h on a single agent, so skip them when the change cannot affect them.
+# Anything unexpected (diff failed, empty diff, any other path touched) runs the full matrix.
+# Master has no PR base: compare with the previous commit and skip only if that commit is green,
+# so a skipped (green) build never hides a red or cancelled predecessor.
+SKIP_PATHS='^(docs/|website/|\.github/|\.claude/|.*\.md$|LICENSE$)'
+prev_ok=1
+
+if [ -n "$BUILDKITE_PULL_REQUEST_BASE_BRANCH" ]; then
+  changed=$(git diff --name-only "origin/$BUILDKITE_PULL_REQUEST_BASE_BRANCH...HEAD" 2>/dev/null) || changed=""
+else
+  changed=$(git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD 2>/dev/null) || changed=""
+  prev_status=$(curl -fsS --max-time 10 "https://api.github.com/repos/wix/react-native-navigation/commits/$(git rev-parse HEAD~1)/status" 2>/dev/null | sed -n 's/^  "state": "\([a-z]*\)".*/\1/p' | head -1)
+  [ "$prev_status" = "success" ] || prev_ok=0
+fi
+
 echo "steps:"
 
+if [ "$prev_ok" = 1 ] && [ -n "$changed" ] && ! echo "$changed" | grep -qvE "$SKIP_PATHS"; then
+  cat <<'YAML'
+  - label: ":fast_forward: Native CI skipped (docs/website/workflows only)"
+    command: "echo 'Only non-native paths changed, see .buildkite/pipeline.sh'"
+YAML
+  exit 0
+fi
+
 cat .buildkite/jobs/pipeline.android_rn_78.yml
 cat .buildkite/jobs/pipeline.android_rn_84.yml
 cat .buildkite/jobs/pipeline.android_rn_85.yml