diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 491d7d55..eac932f8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,16 @@ on:
 
 concurrency:
   group: ci-${{ github.ref }}
-  cancel-in-progress: true
+  # ⚠️ THE CONDITION IS THE LOAD-BEARING HALF. This workflow also fires on a push to `main` and
+  # `develop`, and THAT run is the one a merge is read against. An unconditional cancel throws it
+  # away when a second push lands behind it, leaving a check that reported NOTHING -- and a
+  # cancelled check reads as noise rather than as a failure.
+  #
+  # Outside a pull request the group then only SERIALIZES: two runs stay off one ref, for free.
+  # The cancel stays where it pays -- a pull request whose later push has overtaken the run in
+  # flight, which is where GitHub's per-job minute rounding actually bills for an answer about a
+  # tree that no longer exists.
+  cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' }}
 
 jobs:
   lint:
@@ -110,4 +119,4 @@ jobs:
               | xcbeautify --renderer github-actions || exit $?
           else
             echo "::notice::No SpacemanTests scheme yet — skipping test run."
-          fi
+          fi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index c2e67752..6149a482 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,22 @@ on:
         default: true
         type: boolean
 
+concurrency:
+  # ⚠️ SERIALIZE, NEVER CANCEL -- this is a release. The run is started by a `v*` tag push or by
+  # hand, and both are deliberate acts somebody is waiting on the result of. A cancelled release
+  # run leaves a check that reported nothing, and a cancelled check reads as noise rather than
+  # as a failure, so the release ends up measured by an absence.
+  #
+  # The fleet's usual form is `cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' }}`,
+  # and it is right wherever a pull request can start the workflow. It cannot here: `on:` carries
+  # a tag push and `workflow_dispatch` only, so that expression would be false on every run this
+  # file can have -- a line that reads as a live decision and is a constant. Written as the
+  # constant it would be, which is what this repository's siblings do in the same situation.
+  #
+  # The group still earns its place: two releases must not run against one ref at once.
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: false
+
 permissions:
   contents: write
 
@@ -230,4 +246,4 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         with:
           name: sparkle-release-${{ env.RELEASE_VERSION }}
-          path: release-artifacts/
+          path: release-artifacts/
\ No newline at end of file