diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-loader.yml b/.github/workflows/build-loader.yml
index 95d2f34..85f65ce 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-loader.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-loader.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,19 @@ name: Build Loader
 on:
   push:
     branches: [master]
+    # Only build when something that actually affects the output changed.
+    # README / docs / issue templates / .gitignore / .claude/ get to skip.
+    # Use workflow_dispatch (below) to force a run for anything else.
+    paths:
+      - 'src/**'
+      - 'native/**'
+      - 'build.gradle'
+      - 'settings.gradle'
+      - 'gradle.properties'
+      - 'gradle/wrapper/**'
+      - 'gradlew'
+      - 'gradlew.bat'
+      - '.github/workflows/build-loader.yml'
   workflow_dispatch: {}
 
 # contents: write so the [Release] commit-marker path can create a
@@ -17,6 +30,12 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: windows-2022
     timeout-minutes: 180
 
+    # Honour a [SKIP CI] marker (case-insensitive — GitHub's contains() is
+    # case-insensitive for string operands) anywhere in the head commit
+    # message. workflow_dispatch always runs since head_commit is null
+    # there and the !contains() short-circuits to true.
+    if: ${{ github.event_name != 'push' || !contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[SKIP CI]') }}
+
     env:
       # NOTE: do not declare VCPKG_ROOT here. The windows-2022 runner
       # ships VS Enterprise which pre-sets a system-wide VCPKG_ROOT
@@ -176,7 +195,9 @@ jobs:
         shell: pwsh
         run: |
           $msg = (git log -1 --pretty=%B HEAD | Out-String)
-          $isRelease = $msg.Contains("[Release]")
+          # Case-insensitive match so [release], [Release], [RELEASE] all
+          # qualify; .Contains in .NET is case-sensitive by default.
+          $isRelease = $msg.IndexOf("[Release]", [System.StringComparison]::OrdinalIgnoreCase) -ge 0
           "is_release=$($isRelease.ToString().ToLower())" |
               Out-File -FilePath $env:GITHUB_OUTPUT -Encoding utf8 -Append
           Write-Host "HEAD commit message:"