Skip External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors in merge queue

[galvana]

Description Of Changes

Remove merge_group from the if conditions on External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors CI jobs. These external integration tests are expensive, prone to flakiness, and are already excluded from the Backend-Checks-Summary gate. Running them in the merge queue adds latency without blocking value since they aren't required for merge.

They continue to run on:

• Pushes to main/release-** — catches regressions post-merge
• PRs with the run unsafe ci checks label — on-demand when needed

Code Changes

• .github/workflows/backend_checks.yml - Remove || github.event_name == 'merge_group' from External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors job if conditions

Steps to Confirm

1. Open the workflow file and verify both jobs no longer reference merge_group
2. Verify Backend-Checks-Summary does not list either job in its needs array (already the case)
3. Confirm the jobs still trigger on push events and the run unsafe ci checks label

Pre-Merge Checklist

• Issue requirements met
• All CI pipelines succeeded
• CHANGELOG.md updated
  • Add a db-migration This indicates that a change includes a database migration label to the entry if your change includes a DB migration
  • Add a high-risk This issue suggests changes that have a high-probability of breaking existing code label to the entry if your change includes a high-risk change
  • Updates unreleased work already in Changelog, no new entry necessary
• UX feedback:
  • No UX review needed
• Followup issues:
  • No followup issues
• Database migrations:
  • No migrations
• Documentation:
  • No documentation updates required

Summary by CodeRabbit

Chores

• Updated CI workflow configuration to refine job execution logic, reducing build runs during merge queue processing.

[vercel]

The latest updates on your projects. Learn more about Vercel for GitHub.

2 Skipped Deployments

Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
fides-plus-nightly	Ignored	Preview	Mar 5, 2026 8:13pm
fides-privacy-center	Ignored		Mar 5, 2026 8:13pm

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 283a00d1-1bc0-4c83-a411-43dbc0826562

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 16bfb26 and 577b696.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• .github/workflows/backend_checks.yml
• changelog/7580.yaml

---

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR modifies CI/CD workflow configuration to exclude merge queue events from triggering External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors jobs. These resource-intensive jobs now only run on push events or when explicitly requested via labels, reducing unnecessary CI executions during merge queue operations. A changelog entry documents this change.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Workflow Configuration .github/workflows/backend_checks.yml	Removed merge_group condition from External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors job gates, restricting execution to push events and labeled PR runs.
Changelog Entry changelog/7580.yaml	Added new entry documenting Developer Experience initiative to skip External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors CI jobs in the merge queue.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~3 minutes

Poem

🐰 Queue moves swift, no more delay,
Heavy jobs skip merge's way,
Faster builds, less waiting time,
This little tweak? Quite sublime!

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately summarizes the main change: removing External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors from the merge queue workflow.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description includes all key sections: changes, code modifications, confirmation steps, and completed pre-merge checklist items with appropriate explanations.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

_{✏️ Tip: You can configure your own custom pre-merge checks in the settings.}

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch skip-external-tests-in-merge-queue

---

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands and usage tips.}

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR removes || github.event_name == 'merge_group' from the if conditions of the External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors jobs in .github/workflows/backend_checks.yml, preventing these expensive and flaky external integration tests from running in the merge queue. The rationale is sound — both jobs are already excluded from the Backend-Checks-Summary gate, so skipping them in the merge queue reduces latency without affecting merge safety.

• External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors correctly no longer reference merge_group.
• However, the sibling Pytest-Ctl-External job — also under the ## Unsafe Tests ## section and also absent from Backend-Checks-Summary — still retains merge_group in its if condition. This appears inconsistent with the stated goal of skipping expensive external tests from the merge queue.
• Changelog entry added correctly.

Confidence Score: 3/5

• Safe to merge, but the PR appears incomplete — a third external test job with identical characteristics was not updated.
• The two targeted jobs (External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors) are correctly updated and will no longer run in the merge queue, achieving the stated goal. However, Pytest-Ctl-External — an equally expensive external test in the same section and equally excluded from the merge-blocking gate — still retains the merge_group trigger. This inconsistency suggests the PR may be incomplete, though it won't cause a regression. Clarification from the author would be valuable.
• .github/workflows/backend_checks.yml — the Pytest-Ctl-External job should be reviewed for consistency with the other external test jobs.

Comments Outside Diff (1)

1. .github/workflows/backend_checks.yml, line 488 (link)

   Pytest-Ctl-External still retains || github.event_name == 'merge_group' in its if condition, while External-Datastores and External-SaaS-Connectors have had merge_group removed. All three jobs are in the ## Unsafe Tests ## section, are equally excluded from Backend-Checks-Summary, and are equally expensive external tests. The same rationale for skipping the merge queue applies here as well.

_{Last reviewed commit: 577b696}

[johnewart]

LGTM 👍🏼