diff --git a/config/unidesk-host-k8s.yaml b/config/unidesk-host-k8s.yaml
index 0e20c7b0..2d9a28ea 100644
--- a/config/unidesk-host-k8s.yaml
+++ b/config/unidesk-host-k8s.yaml
@@ -23,12 +23,20 @@ delivery:
   changeDetection:
     runtimePaths:
       - .tekton/unidesk-host-pac.yaml
+      - config/hwlab-node-lanes.yaml
       - config/platform-infra/pipelines-as-code.yaml
       - config/unidesk-host-k8s.yaml
       - scripts/native/cicd/build-unidesk-host-image.sh
       - scripts/native/cicd/prepare-unidesk-host-release.mjs
       - scripts/native/cicd/publish-unidesk-host-gitops.mjs
       - scripts/native/deploy/render-unidesk-host-service.mjs
+      - scripts/native/hwlab/runtime-gitops-observability.mjs
+      - scripts/native/hwlab/runtime-gitops-postprocess.mjs
+      - scripts/native/hwlab/runtime-gitops-scripts-configmap.mjs
+      - scripts/native/hwlab/runtime-gitops-verify.mjs
+      - scripts/src/config.ts
+      - scripts/src/hwlab-node-lanes.ts
+      - scripts/src/yaml-composition.ts
       - src/components/microservices/todo-note/Dockerfile
       - src/components/microservices/todo-note/bun.lock
       - src/components/microservices/todo-note/package.json
diff --git a/scripts/native/cicd/publish-unidesk-host-gitops.mjs b/scripts/native/cicd/publish-unidesk-host-gitops.mjs
index 7a9d6fce..acb100b7 100755
--- a/scripts/native/cicd/publish-unidesk-host-gitops.mjs
+++ b/scripts/native/cicd/publish-unidesk-host-gitops.mjs
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ const writeUrl = required(gitops.writeUrl, "delivery.gitops.writeUrl");
 const branch = required(gitops.branch, "delivery.gitops.branch");
 const manifestPath = safeManifestPath(gitops.manifestPath);
 const releaseStatePath = safeReleaseStatePath(gitops.releaseStatePath);
-const gitopsResources = renderGitOpsResources(gitops, sourceRoot);
+const gitopsResources = action === "skip" ? [] : renderGitOpsResources(gitops, sourceRoot);
 let digest = null;
 let digestRef = null;
 let manifest = null;
@@ -190,6 +190,26 @@ if (action === "skip") {
   digest = existingState.digest;
   digestRef = existingState.digestRef;
   runtimeSourceCommit = existingState.sourceCommit;
+  const gitopsCommit = run("git", ["rev-parse", "HEAD"], worktree).stdout.trim();
+  process.stdout.write(`${JSON.stringify({
+    ok: true,
+    phase: "gitops-publish",
+    action,
+    reason,
+    status: "skipped",
+    imageStatus: "skipped",
+    sourceCommit,
+    baselineSourceCommit,
+    runtimeSourceCommit,
+    digest,
+    digestRef,
+    gitopsCommit,
+    resources: [],
+    changed: false,
+    pushAttempts: 0,
+    valuesPrinted: false,
+  })}\n`);
+  return;
 } else if (action === "build" && manifest !== null) {
   mkdirSync(dirname(targetPath), { recursive: true });
   writeFileSync(targetPath, manifest, "utf8");
diff --git a/scripts/native/cicd/publish-unidesk-host-gitops.test.ts b/scripts/native/cicd/publish-unidesk-host-gitops.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..98c66a9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/native/cicd/publish-unidesk-host-gitops.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import { spawnSync } from "node:child_process";
+import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { dirname, join } from "node:path";
+
+import { rootPath } from "../../src/config";
+
+const temporaryRoots: string[] = [];
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  for (const root of temporaryRoots.splice(0)) rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true });
+});
+
+describe("UniDesk Host GitOps publisher", () => {
+  test("skip preserves the GitOps branch and every managed resource", () => {
+    const root = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "unidesk-host-gitops-skip-"));
+    temporaryRoots.push(root);
+    const seed = join(root, "seed");
+    const bare = join(root, "gitops.git");
+    const releaseDir = join(root, "release");
+    const publisherWorktree = join(root, "publisher");
+    const configPath = join(root, "config.yaml");
+    const statePath = "deploy/gitops-state/unidesk-host/todo-note.json";
+    const resourcePath = "deploy/gitops/unidesk-host/hwlab-runtime-gitops-scripts.yaml";
+    const runtimeSourceCommit = "a".repeat(40);
+    const sourceCommit = "b".repeat(40);
+    const digest = `sha256:${"c".repeat(64)}`;
+
+    mkdirSync(seed);
+    git(["init", "-b", "unidesk-host-gitops"], seed);
+    identity(seed);
+    write(seed, "deploy/gitops/unidesk-host/todo-note.yaml", "existing service manifest\n");
+    write(seed, resourcePath, "stale configmap must remain unchanged\n");
+    write(seed, statePath, `${JSON.stringify({
+      version: 1,
+      kind: "UniDeskHostReleaseState",
+      serviceRef: "services.todoNote",
+      sourceCommit: runtimeSourceCommit,
+      digest,
+      digestRef: `registry.example/todo-note@${digest}`,
+    }, null, 2)}\n`);
+    git(["add", "."], seed);
+    git(["commit", "-m", "seed gitops"], seed);
+    const originalHead = git(["rev-parse", "HEAD"], seed).stdout.trim();
+    git(["init", "--bare", bare], root);
+    git(["remote", "add", "origin", `file://${bare}`], seed);
+    git(["push", "origin", "unidesk-host-gitops"], seed);
+
+    mkdirSync(releaseDir);
+    writeFileSync(join(releaseDir, "action"), "skip\n");
+    writeFileSync(join(releaseDir, "reason"), "runtime-inputs-unchanged\n");
+    writeFileSync(join(releaseDir, "baseline-source-commit"), `${runtimeSourceCommit}\n`);
+    writeFileSync(configPath, Bun.YAML.stringify({
+      delivery: {
+        enabled: true,
+        serviceRef: "services.todoNote",
+        image: { repository: "registry.example/todo-note" },
+        gitops: {
+          readUrl: `file://${bare}`,
+          writeUrl: `file://${bare}`,
+          branch: "unidesk-host-gitops",
+          manifestPath: "deploy/gitops/unidesk-host/todo-note.yaml",
+          releaseStatePath: statePath,
+          resources: [{
+            id: "hwlab-runtime-gitops-scripts",
+            renderer: "hwlab-runtime-gitops-scripts",
+            configRef: "config/hwlab-node-lanes.yaml#lanes.v03.targets.NC01",
+            manifestPath: resourcePath,
+            namespace: "hwlab-ci",
+          }],
+          author: { name: "UniDesk Test", email: "unidesk-test@example.invalid" },
+        },
+      },
+    }));
+
+    const result = spawnSync("bun", [
+      "scripts/native/cicd/publish-unidesk-host-gitops.mjs",
+      "--config", configPath,
+      "--source-root", rootPath(),
+      "--metadata", join(root, "unused-metadata.json"),
+      "--release-dir", releaseDir,
+      "--source-commit", sourceCommit,
+      "--worktree", publisherWorktree,
+    ], { cwd: rootPath(), encoding: "utf8", timeout: 30_000 });
+    expect(result.status, result.stderr).toBe(0);
+    const output = JSON.parse(result.stdout) as Record<string, any>;
+    expect(output).toMatchObject({ action: "skip", status: "skipped", changed: false, pushAttempts: 0, resources: [] });
+    expect(output.gitopsCommit).toBe(originalHead);
+    expect(git(["rev-parse", "refs/heads/unidesk-host-gitops"], bare).stdout.trim()).toBe(originalHead);
+    expect(show(bare, resourcePath)).toBe("stale configmap must remain unchanged\n");
+    expect(JSON.parse(show(bare, statePath)).sourceCommit).toBe(runtimeSourceCommit);
+  });
+});
+
+function write(root: string, relativePath: string, content: string) {
+  const path = join(root, relativePath);
+  mkdirSync(dirname(path), { recursive: true });
+  writeFileSync(path, content);
+}
+
+function identity(root: string) {
+  git(["config", "user.name", "UniDesk Test"], root);
+  git(["config", "user.email", "unidesk-test@example.invalid"], root);
+}
+
+function show(bare: string, relativePath: string): string {
+  return git(["show", `refs/heads/unidesk-host-gitops:${relativePath}`], bare).stdout;
+}
+
+function git(args: string[], cwd: string) {
+  const result = spawnSync("git", args, { cwd, encoding: "utf8" });
+  if (result.status !== 0) throw new Error(`git ${args.join(" ")} failed: ${result.stderr || result.stdout}`);
+  return result;
+}
diff --git a/scripts/src/platform-infra-pipelines-as-code-source-artifact.test.ts b/scripts/src/platform-infra-pipelines-as-code-source-artifact.test.ts
index 5992a1f6..e4cc2814 100644
--- a/scripts/src/platform-infra-pipelines-as-code-source-artifact.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/platform-infra-pipelines-as-code-source-artifact.test.ts
@@ -316,6 +316,17 @@ describe("HWLAB YAML-owned Pipeline provenance", () => {
         "runtime-gitops-verify.mjs",
       ]);
       const hostConfig = Bun.YAML.parse(readFileSync(rootPath("config", "unidesk-host-k8s.yaml"), "utf8")) as Record<string, any>;
+      const runtimePaths = new Set(hostConfig.delivery.changeDetection.runtimePaths as string[]);
+      for (const inputPath of [
+        "config/hwlab-node-lanes.yaml",
+        "scripts/native/hwlab/runtime-gitops-observability.mjs",
+        "scripts/native/hwlab/runtime-gitops-postprocess.mjs",
+        "scripts/native/hwlab/runtime-gitops-scripts-configmap.mjs",
+        "scripts/native/hwlab/runtime-gitops-verify.mjs",
+        "scripts/src/config.ts",
+        "scripts/src/hwlab-node-lanes.ts",
+        "scripts/src/yaml-composition.ts",
+      ]) expect(runtimePaths.has(inputPath), inputPath).toBe(true);
       expect(hostConfig.delivery.gitops.resources).toContainEqual({
         id: "hwlab-nc01-v03-runtime-gitops-scripts",
         renderer: "hwlab-runtime-gitops-scripts",