diff --git a/.github/scripts/ci-gate.mjs b/.github/scripts/ci-gate.mjs
index c44ea58798..3938e6c273 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/ci-gate.mjs
+++ b/.github/scripts/ci-gate.mjs
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ export function gateFailures(needs, mode) {
   const routedJobs = { frontend: "frontend", packages: "packages", "github-scripts": "github_scripts",
     "windows-standard-check": "windows_win7_bundle", "windows-win7-bundle": "windows_win7_bundle",
     "duckdb-windows-driver": "duckdb_windows", jdbc: "jdbc", "offline-jdbc-release": "offline_jdbc", "nix-packaging": "nix" };
+  // Draft PRs intentionally skip the heavy validation jobs; the gate may only
+  // demand them once ready_for_review re-triggers the workflow without draft.
+  const draft = needs.changes.outputs.draft === "true";
+  const draftSkippable = new Set(["rust-test", "frontend-test", "agent-java", "agent-go", "agent-rust", "agent-integration",
+    "packages", "windows-standard-check", "windows-win7-bundle", "duckdb-windows-driver", "jdbc", "offline-jdbc-release", "nix-packaging"]);
   if (mode === "all" && !Object.values(routedJobs).every((output) => ["true", "false"].includes(needs.changes.outputs[output]))) {
     return ["missing or invalid job selection outputs"];
   }
@@ -18,18 +23,18 @@ export function gateFailures(needs, mode) {
     return ["missing or invalid frontend selection output"];
   }
   const expected = mode === "rust" ? {
-    "fast-checks": plan.fast, "rust-fmt-clippy": plan.rust, "rust-test": plan.rust,
+    "fast-checks": plan.fast, "rust-fmt-clippy": plan.rust, "rust-test": plan.rust && !draft,
   } : mode === "agents" ? {
-    "fast-checks": plan.fast, "agent-checks": plan.agents, "agent-java": plan.agent_java, "agent-go": plan.agent_go_changed,
-    "agent-rust": plan.agent_rust_changed, "agent-integration": plan.agent_integration_changed,
+    "fast-checks": plan.fast, "agent-checks": plan.agents, "agent-java": plan.agent_java && !draft, "agent-go": plan.agent_go_changed && !draft,
+    "agent-rust": plan.agent_rust_changed && !draft, "agent-integration": plan.agent_integration_changed && !draft,
   } : mode === "frontend" ? {
     "frontend-checks": needs.changes.outputs.frontend === "true",
     "frontend-typecheck": needs.changes.outputs.frontend === "true",
-    "frontend-test": needs.changes.outputs.frontend === "true",
+    "frontend-test": needs.changes.outputs.frontend === "true" && !draft,
   } : mode === "all" ? {
     rust: true, agents: true, "fast-checks": plan.fast,
     ...Object.fromEntries(Object.entries(routedJobs)
-      .map(([job, output]) => [job, needs.changes.outputs[output] === "true"])),
+      .map(([job, output]) => [job, needs.changes.outputs[output] === "true" && !(draft && draftSkippable.has(job))])),
   } : null;
   if (!expected) return [`unknown gate: ${mode}`];
   return Object.entries(expected).flatMap(([job, required]) => {
@@ -43,5 +48,5 @@ if (process.argv[1] && import.meta.url === pathToFileURL(path.resolve(process.ar
   if (failures.length) {
     console.error(failures.join("\n"));
     process.exitCode = 1;
-  } else console.log("All selected CI jobs succeeded; only unselected jobs may be skipped.");
+  } else console.log("All selected CI jobs succeeded; only unselected or draft-skipped jobs may be skipped.");
 }
diff --git a/.github/scripts/ci-plan.test.mjs b/.github/scripts/ci-plan.test.mjs
index 87d5a963a3..76907a172c 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/ci-plan.test.mjs
+++ b/.github/scripts/ci-plan.test.mjs
@@ -338,6 +338,30 @@ test("the frontend gate checks every selected frontend job", () => {
   assert.deepEqual(gateFailures(needs, "frontend"), []);
 });
 
+test("draft runs may skip heavy validation jobs without failing gates", () => {
+  const needs = results(["Cargo.lock"]);
+  needs.changes.outputs.draft = "true";
+  for (const job of ["rust-test", "agent-java", "agent-go", "agent-rust", "agent-integration"]) {
+    needs[job] = { result: "skipped" };
+  }
+  assert.deepEqual(gateFailures(needs, "rust"), []);
+  assert.deepEqual(gateFailures(needs, "agents"), []);
+  needs.changes.outputs.frontend = "true";
+  needs["frontend-checks"] = { result: "success" };
+  needs["frontend-typecheck"] = { result: "success" };
+  needs["frontend-test"] = { result: "skipped" };
+  assert.deepEqual(gateFailures(needs, "frontend"), []);
+  // Draft only relaxes the skippable set: a real failure is still a failure,
+  // and jobs the draft policy keeps (clippy, fast-checks) stay required.
+  needs["frontend-test"].result = "failure";
+  assert.ok(gateFailures(needs, "frontend").length);
+  needs["rust-fmt-clippy"].result = "skipped";
+  assert.ok(gateFailures(needs, "rust").length);
+  // Without the draft output the heavy jobs are required again.
+  delete needs.changes.outputs.draft;
+  assert.ok(gateFailures(needs, "rust").length);
+});
+
 test("git diff routing includes both sides of renames, deleted files, and unusual filenames", () => {
   const directory = mkdtempSync(path.join(tmpdir(), "dbx-ci-plan-"));
   const git = (...args) => execFileSync("git", args, { cwd: directory, encoding: "utf8", stdio: "pipe" }).trim();
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 974a21e97f..a12874d411 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ on:
     branches: [ main ]
   pull_request:
     branches: [ main ]
+    # ready_for_review is required: heavy jobs are skipped while a PR is a
+    # draft, so flipping to ready must re-trigger the full CI.
+    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened, ready_for_review]
 
 concurrency:
   group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
@@ -92,7 +95,7 @@ jobs:
 
   frontend-test:
     needs: changes
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.frontend == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.frontend == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     env:
       NPM_CONFIG_LOGLEVEL: error
@@ -164,7 +167,7 @@ jobs:
 
   packages:
     needs: changes
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.packages == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.packages == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     env:
       # Unsupported-platform package warnings are expected while validating cross-platform package metadata.
@@ -287,7 +290,7 @@ jobs:
 
   windows-standard-check:
     needs: changes
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.windows_win7_bundle == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.windows_win7_bundle == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: windows-2022
     timeout-minutes: 45
     env:
@@ -316,7 +319,7 @@ jobs:
 
   windows-win7-bundle:
     needs: changes
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.windows_win7_bundle == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.windows_win7_bundle == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: windows-2022
     timeout-minutes: 120
     env:
@@ -706,7 +709,7 @@ jobs:
 
   duckdb-windows-driver:
     needs: changes
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.duckdb_windows == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.duckdb_windows == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: windows-2022
     timeout-minutes: 60
     env:
@@ -855,7 +858,7 @@ jobs:
     needs:
       - changes
       - fast-checks
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.rust == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.rust == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     env:
       # sccache cannot reuse Cargo incremental artifacts, so avoid generating them in CI.
@@ -994,7 +997,7 @@ jobs:
 
   jdbc:
     needs: changes
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.jdbc == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.jdbc == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
@@ -1022,7 +1025,7 @@ jobs:
 
   offline-jdbc-release:
     needs: changes
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.offline_jdbc == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.offline_jdbc == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
@@ -1062,7 +1065,7 @@ jobs:
 
   nix-packaging:
     needs: changes
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.nix == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.nix == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     continue-on-error: true
     steps:
@@ -1102,6 +1105,9 @@ jobs:
       agent_rust_changed: ${{ steps.plan.outputs.agent_rust_changed }}
       agent_integration_changed: ${{ steps.plan.outputs.agent_integration_changed }}
       plan: ${{ steps.plan.outputs.plan }}
+      # True only for pull_request events on draft PRs; heavy jobs skip and
+      # ci-gate.mjs must not demand them until ready_for_review re-triggers.
+      draft: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.event.pull_request.draft == true }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
         with:
@@ -1332,7 +1338,7 @@ jobs:
         run: python3 scripts/validate_agents.py
   agent-java:
     needs: [changes, fast-checks, agent-checks]
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.agent_java == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.agent_java == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     defaults:
       run:
@@ -1360,7 +1366,7 @@ jobs:
         run: python3 scripts/validate_agent_jars.py
   agent-rust:
     needs: [changes, fast-checks, agent-checks]
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.agent_rust_changed == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.agent_rust_changed == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     env:
       # sccache cannot reuse Cargo incremental artifacts, so avoid generating them in CI.
@@ -1472,7 +1478,7 @@ jobs:
       matrix: ${{ fromJSON(needs.changes.outputs.agent_rust) }}
   agent-go:
     needs: [changes, fast-checks, agent-checks]
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.agent_go_changed == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.agent_go_changed == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     defaults:
       run:
@@ -1496,7 +1502,7 @@ jobs:
       matrix: ${{ fromJSON(needs.changes.outputs.agent_go) }}
   agent-integration:
     needs: [changes, fast-checks, agent-checks]
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.agent_integration_changed == 'true'
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.agent_integration_changed == 'true' && needs.changes.outputs.draft != 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     defaults:
       run: