diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md
index 993574f345a..4bcb0932d64 100644
--- a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md
+++ b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md
@@ -2,3 +2,6 @@ Please don't open issues for questions, but ask in our Discussions forum at http
 
 Mill installations via `coursier` or `cs` are unsupported.
 
+Please open all PRs as drafts to avoid being bottlenecked by Mill CI, and only
+convert to ready for review once CI on your own fork is green. There will be a 
+PR status check linking your fork's commit/CI history for convenient viewing 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/draft-ci.yml b/.github/workflows/draft-ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a9b9fcee385
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/draft-ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+name: Draft CI
+
+permissions: write-all
+on:
+  pull_request_target:
+    types:
+      - opened
+      - reopened
+      - synchronize
+      - ready_for_review
+
+jobs:
+  run:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions: write-all
+    steps:
+      - name: Debug Echos
+        run: |
+          echo ${{ github.event.action }}
+          echo ${{ github.event.action == 'ready_for_review' }}
+          echo "${{ github.event.pull_request.head.repo.html_url }}/commits/${{github.event.pull_request.head.ref}}"
+      - name: Create status
+        run: |
+          curl --request POST \
+          --url ${{ github.event.pull_request.statuses_url }} \
+          --header 'authorization: Bearer ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}' \
+          --header 'content-type: application/json' \
+          --data '{
+            "state": "${{(github.event.action != 'ready_for_review' && github.event.pull_request.draft) && 'pending' || 'success'}}",
+            "context": "Draft CI / link",
+            "target_url": ${{(github.event.action != 'ready_for_review' && github.event.pull_request.draft) && format('"{0}/commits/{1}"', github.event.pull_request.head.repo.html_url, github.event.pull_request.head.ref) || 'null'}},
+            "description": "${{(github.event.action != 'ready_for_review' && github.event.pull_request.draft) && 'use CI on your repo fork (link on right) until this PR is ready for review' || 'PR is ready for review, running CI in Mill repo'}}"
+            }' \
+          --fail-with-body
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-artifacts.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-artifacts.yml
index 07452b5516a..f0a48a7a29f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-artifacts.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-artifacts.yml
@@ -14,12 +14,6 @@ on:
       - '**'
   workflow_dispatch:
 
-# cancel older runs of a pull request;
-# this will not cancel anything for normal git pushes
-concurrency:
-  group: cancel-old-pr-runs-${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.head_ref || github.run_id }}
-  cancel-in-progress: true
-
 jobs:
   build-artifacts:
     # when in master repo, publish all tags and manual runs on main
diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml
index febe40cd5c8..1c4a69e8e71 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml
@@ -32,28 +32,36 @@ name: Run Tests
 on:
   push:
   pull_request:
+    types:
+      - opened
+      - reopened
+      - synchronize
+      - ready_for_review
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 # cancel older runs of a pull request;
 # this will not cancel anything for normal git pushes
 concurrency:
-  group: cancel-old-pr-runs-${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.head_ref || github.run_id }}
+  group: cancel-old-pr-runs-${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref_name }}
   cancel-in-progress: true
 
 jobs:
   # Jobs are listed in rough order of priority: if multiple jobs fail, the first job
   # in the list should be the one that's most worth looking into
   build-linux:
+    if: (github.event.action == 'ready_for_review') || (github.event.pull_request.draft == false)
     uses: ./.github/workflows/pre-build.yml
     with:
       os: ubuntu-latest
 
   build-windows:
+    if: (github.event.action == 'ready_for_review') || (github.event.pull_request.draft == false)
     uses: ./.github/workflows/pre-build.yml
     with:
       os: windows-latest
 
   test-docs:
+    if: (github.event.action == 'ready_for_review') || (github.event.pull_request.draft == false)
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -62,6 +70,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: ./mill -i docs.githubPages + docs.checkBrokenLinks
 
   mac:
+    if: (github.event.action == 'ready_for_review') || (github.event.pull_request.draft == false)
     runs-on: macos-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4