diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml
index 1a9bf0b..d51db39 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ name: CI
 # Actions are pinned to node20-compatible releases. Older forgejo-runner
 # versions (e.g. v6.4.0) reject any action whose action.yml declares
 # `using: node24` — checkout v4 is the last line that runs on node20.
+#
+# The pull-request-only version-bump gate lives in its own workflow
+# (version-bump.yml) because Forgejo does not reliably skip a job on a
+# job-level `if:` and reports the skipped job as a failure instead.
 
 on:
   push:
@@ -39,64 +43,3 @@ jobs:
         # The suite only needs pytest: cadence.py imports nothing third-party
         # at module level, so no torch/whisper/ffmpeg is required here.
         run: uv run --python 3.13 --with pytest pytest -q
-
-  version-bump:
-    # Only meaningful on pull requests, where there is a base branch to diff
-    # against. On `push` there is nothing to compare, so the job is skipped.
-    if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
-    runs-on: docker
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout
-        uses: https://data.forgejo.org/actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          # Full history so the base branch is reachable for the comparison.
-          fetch-depth: 0
-
-      - name: Require a version bump
-        shell: bash
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-
-          # `github.base_ref` is the GitHub-compatible alias and is understood
-          # by Forgejo; `forgejo.base_ref` is the canonical spelling.
-          BASE="${{ github.base_ref }}"
-          if [ -z "$BASE" ]; then
-            echo "No base ref (not a pull request); skipping version check."
-            exit 0
-          fi
-
-          git fetch --no-tags origin "$BASE"
-
-          if [ ! -f cadence.py ]; then
-            echo "::error::cadence.py is missing from the change."
-            exit 1
-          fi
-
-          NEW=$(sed -n 's/^__version__[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' cadence.py | head -n1)
-          if [ -z "$NEW" ]; then
-            echo "::error::No __version__ found in cadence.py"
-            exit 1
-          fi
-
-          # The script may be introduced by this very PR: if it does not exist
-          # on the base branch there is no previous version to bump from.
-          if ! git cat-file -e "FETCH_HEAD:cadence.py" 2>/dev/null; then
-            echo "cadence.py is new to '$BASE' (no base version); version check passes."
-            exit 0
-          fi
-
-          OLD=$(git show "FETCH_HEAD:cadence.py" | sed -n 's/^__version__[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' | head -n1)
-          echo "base __version__: ${OLD:-<none>}  head __version__: $NEW"
-          if [ -z "$OLD" ]; then
-            echo "Could not read a base version; skipping."
-            exit 0
-          fi
-
-          # Require NEW to be strictly greater than OLD (version sort).
-          GREATER=$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$OLD" "$NEW" | sort -V | tail -n1)
-          if [ "$NEW" = "$GREATER" ] && [ "$OLD" != "$NEW" ]; then
-            echo "Version bumped: $OLD -> $NEW"
-          else
-            echo "::error::cadence.py __version__ must be bumped above $OLD (currently $NEW)."
-            exit 1
-          fi
diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/version-bump.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/version-bump.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca22d45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/version-bump.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+name: Version bump
+
+# Runs only on pull requests: it compares cadence.py's __version__ on the head
+# branch against the base branch and fails if the version was not increased.
+#
+# Kept as a separate workflow rather than a job-level `if:` inside ci.yml:
+# forgejo-runner does not reliably skip a job on `if:` and reports the skipped
+# job as a failure on push events.
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+
+jobs:
+  version-bump:
+    runs-on: docker
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        # v4 runs on node20 (v5+ require node24); full history so the base
+        # branch is reachable for the comparison.
+        uses: https://data.forgejo.org/actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Require a version bump
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+
+          # `github.base_ref` is the GitHub-compatible alias and is understood
+          # by Forgejo; `forgejo.base_ref` is the canonical spelling.
+          BASE="${{ github.base_ref }}"
+          if [ -z "$BASE" ]; then
+            echo "No base ref; skipping version check."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          git fetch --no-tags origin "$BASE"
+
+          if [ ! -f cadence.py ]; then
+            echo "::error::cadence.py is missing from the change."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          NEW=$(sed -n 's/^__version__[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' cadence.py | head -n1)
+          if [ -z "$NEW" ]; then
+            echo "::error::No __version__ found in cadence.py"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          # The script may be introduced by this very PR: if it does not exist
+          # on the base branch there is no previous version to bump from.
+          if ! git cat-file -e "FETCH_HEAD:cadence.py" 2>/dev/null; then
+            echo "cadence.py is new to '$BASE' (no base version); version check passes."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          OLD=$(git show "FETCH_HEAD:cadence.py" | sed -n 's/^__version__[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' | head -n1)
+          echo "base __version__: ${OLD:-<none>}  head __version__: $NEW"
+          if [ -z "$OLD" ]; then
+            echo "Could not read a base version; skipping."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          # Require NEW to be strictly greater than OLD (version sort).
+          GREATER=$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$OLD" "$NEW" | sort -V | tail -n1)
+          if [ "$NEW" = "$GREATER" ] && [ "$OLD" != "$NEW" ]; then
+            echo "Version bumped: $OLD -> $NEW"
+          else
+            echo "::error::cadence.py __version__ must be bumped above $OLD (currently $NEW)."
+            exit 1
+          fi