diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index f4445af8a..6ea6a89e1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -34,52 +34,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check code style/formatting
         run: make check-format
 
-  docs:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - name: Check out mitiq
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: Set up Python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
-        with:
-          python-version: "3.12"
-
-      - name: Install Python dependencies
-        run: |
-          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-          make install requirements
-
-      - name: Run the quilc & qvm Docker images
-        run: |
-          docker run --rm -idt -p 5000:5000 rigetti/qvm -S
-          docker run --rm -idt -p 5555:5555 rigetti/quilc -R
-
-      - name: Generate hash from all files excluding example notebooks
-        id: gen_hash
-        run: |
-          HASH=$(find . -type f -not -path './docs/source/examples/*' | sort | xargs cat | sha256sum | awk '{print $1}')
-          echo "hash=$HASH" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-
-      - name: Fetch Jupyter cache
-        uses: actions/cache@v4
-        with:
-          path: ./docs/build/.jupyter_cache
-          key: jupyter-cache-${{ steps.gen_hash.outputs.hash }}
-
-      - name: Build and test Sphinx docs
-        run: |
-          export BQSKIT_DOC_CHECK_OVERRIDE=1
-          export PYDEVD_DISABLE_FILE_VALIDATION=1
-          make docs
-
-      - name: Run linkcheck on 'release' PRs
-        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
-        run: |
-          pr_title_lower=$(echo "${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
-          if [[ "$pr_title_lower" == *"release"* ]]; then
-            make linkcheck
-          fi
 
   # This is to make sure Mitiq works without optional 3rd party packages like Qiskit, pyQuil, etc.
   # E.g., if we accidentally `import qiskit` in Mitiq where we shouldn't, this test will catch that.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs_build.yml b/.github/workflows/docs_build.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dbd824ad6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs_build.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+name: docs_build
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    types:
+      - opened
+      - reopened
+      - synchronize
+      - ready_for_review
+    branches:
+      - main
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+
+jobs:
+
+  docs:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out mitiq
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.12"
+
+      - name: Install Python dependencies
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+          make install requirements
+
+      - name: Run the quilc & qvm Docker images
+        run: |
+          docker run --rm -idt -p 5000:5000 rigetti/qvm -S
+          docker run --rm -idt -p 5555:5555 rigetti/quilc -R
+
+      - name: Generate hash from all files excluding example notebooks
+        id: gen_hash
+        run: |
+          HASH=$(find . -type f -not -path './docs/source/examples/*' | sort | xargs cat | sha256sum | awk '{print $1}')
+          echo "hash=$HASH" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: Fetch Jupyter cache
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: ./docs/build/.jupyter_cache
+          key: jupyter-cache-${{ steps.gen_hash.outputs.hash }}
+
+      - name: Build and test Sphinx docs
+        run: |
+          export BQSKIT_DOC_CHECK_OVERRIDE=1
+          export PYDEVD_DISABLE_FILE_VALIDATION=1
+          make docs
+
+      - name: Run linkcheck on 'release' PRs
+        if: github.event_name == 'pull_request'
+        run: |
+          pr_title_lower=$(echo "${{ github.event.pull_request.title }}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
+          if [[ "$pr_title_lower" == *"release"* ]]; then
+            make linkcheck
+          fi