diff --git a/.github/CODEOWNERS b/.github/CODEOWNERS
index c6d9694eae9b6..d1dc33c9b08ed 100644
--- a/.github/CODEOWNERS
+++ b/.github/CODEOWNERS
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
 # Tooling
 /bin                                            @ntwb @nerrad @ajitbohra
-/bin/update-readmes.js                          @ntwb @nerrad @ajitbohra @nosolosw
+/bin/api-docs                                   @ntwb @nerrad @ajitbohra @nosolosw
 /docs/tool                                      @youknowriad @chrisvanpatten @ajitbohra @nosolosw
 /packages/babel-plugin-import-jsx-pragma        @gziolo @ntwb @nerrad @ajitbohra
 /packages/babel-plugin-makepot                  @ntwb @nerrad @ajitbohra
diff --git a/bin/api-docs/are-readmes-unstaged.js b/bin/api-docs/are-readmes-unstaged.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..19c7eeba8d162
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/api-docs/are-readmes-unstaged.js
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
+/**
+ * Node dependencies.
+ */
+const { join } = require( 'path' );
+const chalk = require( 'chalk' );
+const execSync = require( 'child_process' ).execSync;
+
+/**
+ * Local dependencies.
+ */
+const getPackages = require( './packages' );
+
+const getUnstagedFiles = () => execSync( 'git diff --name-only', { encoding: 'utf8' } ).split( '\n' ).filter( ( element ) => '' !== element );
+const readmeFiles = getPackages().map( ( [ packageName ] ) => join( 'packages', packageName, 'README.md' ) );
+const unstagedReadmes = getUnstagedFiles().filter( ( element ) => readmeFiles.includes( element ) );
+
+if ( unstagedReadmes.length > 0 ) {
+	process.exitCode = 1;
+	process.stdout.write( chalk.red(
+		'\n',
+		'Some API docs may be out of date:',
+		unstagedReadmes.toString(),
+		'Either stage them or continue with --no-verify.',
+		'\n'
+	) );
+}
diff --git a/bin/api-docs/packages.js b/bin/api-docs/packages.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..0fcc19400bf11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/api-docs/packages.js
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+const packages = [
+	'a11y',
+	'autop',
+	'blob',
+	'block-editor',
+	'block-library',
+	'block-serialization-default-parser',
+	'blocks',
+	'compose',
+	[ 'core-data', {
+		'Autogenerated actions': 'src/actions.js',
+		'Autogenerated selectors': 'src/selectors.js',
+	} ],
+	'data',
+	'data-controls',
+	'date',
+	'deprecated',
+	'dom',
+	'dom-ready',
+	'e2e-test-utils',
+	'edit-post',
+	'element',
+	'escape-html',
+	'html-entities',
+	'i18n',
+	'keycodes',
+	'plugins',
+	'priority-queue',
+	'redux-routine',
+	'rich-text',
+	'shortcode',
+	'url',
+	'viewport',
+	'wordcount',
+];
+
+module.exports = function() {
+	return packages.map( ( entry ) => {
+		if ( ! Array.isArray( entry ) ) {
+			entry = [ entry, { 'Autogenerated API docs': 'src/index.js' } ];
+		}
+		return entry;
+	} );
+};
diff --git a/bin/api-docs/update-readmes.js b/bin/api-docs/update-readmes.js
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000..fd66e6cbf39d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/api-docs/update-readmes.js
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/**
+ * Node dependencies.
+ */
+const { join } = require( 'path' );
+const spawnSync = require( 'child_process' ).spawnSync;
+
+/**
+ * Local dependencies.
+ */
+const getPackages = require( './packages' );
+
+getPackages().forEach( ( entry ) => {
+	const [ packageName, targetFiles ] = entry;
+
+	Object.entries( targetFiles ).forEach( ( [ token, path ] ) => {
+		// Each target operates over the same file, so it needs to be processed synchronously,
+		// as to make sure the processes don't overwrite each other.
+		const { status, stderr } = spawnSync(
+			join( __dirname, '..', '..', 'node_modules', '.bin', 'docgen' ).replace( / /g, '\\ ' ),
+			[
+				join( 'packages', packageName, path ),
+				`--output packages/${ packageName }/README.md`,
+				'--to-token',
+				`--use-token "${ token }"`,
+				'--ignore "/unstable|experimental/i"',
+			],
+			{ shell: true },
+		);
+
+		if ( status !== 0 ) {
+			process.stderr.write( `${ packageName } ${ stderr.toString() }\n` );
+			process.exit( 1 );
+		}
+	} );
+} );
diff --git a/bin/update-readmes.js b/bin/update-readmes.js
deleted file mode 100755
index 4fb85e423b556..0000000000000
--- a/bin/update-readmes.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,70 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Node dependencies.
- */
-const { join } = require( 'path' );
-const spawnSync = require( 'child_process' ).spawnSync;
-
-const packages = [
-	'a11y',
-	'autop',
-	'blob',
-	'block-editor',
-	'block-library',
-	'block-serialization-default-parser',
-	'blocks',
-	'compose',
-	[ 'core-data', {
-		'Autogenerated actions': 'src/actions.js',
-		'Autogenerated selectors': 'src/selectors.js',
-	} ],
-	'data',
-	'data-controls',
-	'date',
-	'deprecated',
-	'dom',
-	'dom-ready',
-	'e2e-test-utils',
-	'edit-post',
-	'element',
-	'escape-html',
-	'html-entities',
-	'i18n',
-	'keycodes',
-	'plugins',
-	'priority-queue',
-	'redux-routine',
-	'rich-text',
-	'shortcode',
-	'url',
-	'viewport',
-	'wordcount',
-];
-
-packages.forEach( ( entry ) => {
-	if ( ! Array.isArray( entry ) ) {
-		entry = [ entry, { 'Autogenerated API docs': 'src/index.js' } ];
-	}
-
-	const [ packageName, targets ] = entry;
-
-	Object.entries( targets ).forEach( ( [ token, path ] ) => {
-		// Each target operates over the same file, so it needs to be processed synchronously,
-		// as to make sure the processes don't overwrite each other.
-		const { status, stderr } = spawnSync(
-			join( __dirname, '..', 'node_modules', '.bin', 'docgen' ).replace( / /g, '\\ ' ),
-			[
-				join( 'packages', packageName, path ),
-				`--output packages/${ packageName }/README.md`,
-				'--to-token',
-				`--use-token "${ token }"`,
-				'--ignore "/unstable|experimental/i"',
-			],
-			{ shell: true },
-		);
-
-		if ( status !== 0 ) {
-			process.stderr.write( `${ packageName } ${ stderr.toString() }\n` );
-			process.exit( 1 );
-		}
-	} );
-} );
diff --git a/docs/tool/are-data-files-unstaged.js b/docs/tool/are-data-files-unstaged.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..5591de0ae6d62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/tool/are-data-files-unstaged.js
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
+/**
+ * Node dependencies.
+ */
+const chalk = require( 'chalk' );
+const execSync = require( 'child_process' ).execSync;
+
+/**
+ * Local dependencies.
+ */
+const getPackages = require( './packages' );
+
+const getUnstagedFiles = () => execSync( 'git diff --name-only', { encoding: 'utf8' } ).split( '\n' ).filter( ( element ) => '' !== element );
+const readmeFiles = getPackages().map( ( [ packageName ] ) => `docs/designers-developers/developers/data/data-${ packageName.replace( '/', '-' ) }.md` );
+const unstagedReadmes = getUnstagedFiles().filter( ( element ) => readmeFiles.includes( element ) );
+
+if ( unstagedReadmes.length > 0 ) {
+	process.exitCode = 1;
+	process.stdout.write( chalk.red(
+		'\n',
+		'Some API docs may be out of date:',
+		unstagedReadmes.toString(),
+		'Either stage them or continue with --no-verify.',
+		'\n'
+	) );
+}
diff --git a/docs/tool/packages.js b/docs/tool/packages.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..5caf4d258e156
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/tool/packages.js
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+const packages = [
+	[ 'core', {
+		'Autogenerated actions': 'packages/core-data/src/actions.js',
+		'Autogenerated selectors': 'packages/core-data/src/selectors.js',
+	} ],
+	'core/annotations',
+	'core/blocks',
+	'core/block-editor',
+	'core/editor',
+	'core/edit-post',
+	'core/notices',
+	'core/nux',
+	'core/viewport',
+];
+
+module.exports = function() {
+	return packages.map( ( entry ) => {
+		if ( ! Array.isArray( entry ) ) {
+			entry = [ entry, {
+				'Autogenerated actions': `packages/${ entry.replace( 'core/', '' ) }/src/store/actions.js`,
+				'Autogenerated selectors': `packages/${ entry.replace( 'core/', '' ) }/src/store/selectors.js`,
+			} ];
+		}
+		return entry;
+	} );
+};
diff --git a/docs/tool/update-data.js b/docs/tool/update-data.js
index 46263e788dfe0..4a5d231e3c601 100644
--- a/docs/tool/update-data.js
+++ b/docs/tool/update-data.js
@@ -4,31 +4,15 @@
 const { join } = require( 'path' );
 const spawnSync = require( 'child_process' ).spawnSync;
 
-const modules = [
-	[ 'core', {
-		'Autogenerated actions': 'packages/core-data/src/actions.js',
-		'Autogenerated selectors': 'packages/core-data/src/selectors.js',
-	} ],
-	'core/annotations',
-	'core/blocks',
-	'core/block-editor',
-	'core/editor',
-	'core/edit-post',
-	'core/notices',
-	'core/nux',
-	'core/viewport',
-];
+/**
+ * Local dependencies.
+ */
+const getPackages = require( './packages' );
 
-modules.forEach( ( entry ) => {
-	if ( ! Array.isArray( entry ) ) {
-		entry = [ entry, {
-			'Autogenerated actions': `packages/${ entry.replace( 'core/', '' ) }/src/store/actions.js`,
-			'Autogenerated selectors': `packages/${ entry.replace( 'core/', '' ) }/src/store/selectors.js`,
-		} ];
-	}
-	const [ namespace, targets ] = entry;
+getPackages().forEach( ( entry ) => {
+	const [ packageName, targetFiles ] = entry;
 
-	Object.entries( targets ).forEach( ( [ token, target ] ) => {
+	Object.entries( targetFiles ).forEach( ( [ token, target ] ) => {
 		// Note that this needs to be a sync process for each output file that is updated:
 		// until docgen provides a way to update many tokens at once, we need to make sure
 		// the output file is updated before starting the second pass for the next token.
@@ -36,7 +20,7 @@ modules.forEach( ( entry ) => {
 			join( __dirname, '..', '..', 'node_modules', '.bin', 'docgen' ).replace( / /g, '\\ ' ),
 			[
 				target,
-				`--output docs/designers-developers/developers/data/data-${ namespace.replace( '/', '-' ) }.md`,
+				`--output docs/designers-developers/developers/data/data-${ packageName.replace( '/', '-' ) }.md`,
 				'--to-token',
 				`--use-token "${ token }"`,
 				'--ignore "/unstable|experimental/i"',
@@ -45,7 +29,8 @@ modules.forEach( ( entry ) => {
 		);
 
 		if ( status !== 0 ) {
-			throw stderr.toString();
+			process.stderr.write( `${ packageName } ${ stderr.toString() }\n` );
+			process.exit( 1 );
 		}
 	} );
 } );
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 74ba34bb8877f..f6605e2e2b965 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@
 		"predev": "npm run check-engines",
 		"dev": "npm run build:packages && concurrently \"wp-scripts start\" \"npm run dev:packages\"",
 		"dev:packages": "node ./bin/packages/watch.js",
-		"docs:build": "node ./docs/tool/index.js && node ./bin/update-readmes.js",
+		"docs:build": "node ./docs/tool/index.js && node ./bin/api-docs/update-readmes.js",
 		"fixtures:clean": "rimraf \"packages/e2e-tests/fixtures/blocks/*.+(json|serialized.html)\"",
 		"fixtures:server-registered": "wp-scripts env docker-run php ./bin/get-server-blocks.php > test/integration/full-content/server-registered.json",
 		"fixtures:generate": "npm run fixtures:server-registered && cross-env GENERATE_MISSING_FIXTURES=y npm run test-unit",
@@ -228,10 +228,12 @@
 			"wp-scripts lint-js"
 		],
 		"{docs/{toc.json,tool/*.js},packages/{*/README.md,*/src/{actions,selectors}.js,components/src/*/**/README.md}}": [
-			"node ./docs/tool/index.js"
+			"node ./docs/tool/index.js",
+			"node ./docs/tool/are-data-files-unstaged.js"
 		],
 		"packages/**/*.js": [
-			"node ./bin/update-readmes.js"
+			"node ./bin/api-docs/update-readmes.js",
+			"node ./bin/api-docs/are-readmes-unstaged.js"
 		]
 	},
 	"wp-env": {