diff --git a/.github/workflows/validate.yml b/.github/workflows/validate.yml
index d3fbddf6..ad11cd62 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/validate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/validate.yml
@@ -231,7 +231,14 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
+      # docs/ is gitignored, and the tests that read the rendered pages fail
+      # in CI without it. The suite runs whatever this step returned, so a
+      # generator that stops still leaves every other test reporting.
+      - name: Generate the site
+        run: python scripts/generate_site.py
+
       - name: Run test suite
+        if: ${{ !cancelled() }}
         # No test downloads a release asset: 252 MB files fetched into the
         # shared cache filled the runner's disk and changed what later tests
         # resolved. The download tests mock the network and clear it.
@@ -246,7 +253,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build the site
         if: ${{ !cancelled() }}
         run: |
-          python scripts/generate_site.py
           mkdocs build --strict
           python scripts/validate_site.py
 
diff --git a/tests/test_audit_regressions.py b/tests/test_audit_regressions.py
index 30635ba9..6e8e98e2 100644
--- a/tests/test_audit_regressions.py
+++ b/tests/test_audit_regressions.py
@@ -4866,6 +4866,8 @@ class NullReadsAsNone(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_the_rendered_site_has_no_python_none(self):
         docs = ROOT / "docs"
         if not docs.is_dir():
+            if os.environ.get("CI"):
+                self.fail("CI generates docs/ before the suite")
             self.skipTest("docs/ not generated")
         pattern = re.compile(r"\| None \||: None$|: None \|", re.M)
         from scripts.generate_site import LOCAL_NOTE_DIRS
diff --git a/tests/test_prose_style.py b/tests/test_prose_style.py
index 6893f5fb..902d0568 100644
--- a/tests/test_prose_style.py
+++ b/tests/test_prose_style.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ place one comes back.
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import io
+import os
 import re
 import subprocess
 import tokenize
@@ -317,6 +318,8 @@ class GeneratedSiteProse(unittest.TestCase):
             and "specs" not in p.parts
         ] if docs.is_dir() else []
         if not pages:
+            if os.environ.get("CI"):
+                self.fail("CI generates docs/ before the suite")
             self.skipTest("docs/ not generated (python scripts/generate_site.py)")
         offenders = []
         for page in pages:
diff --git a/tests/test_site_validation.py b/tests/test_site_validation.py
index 75472aad..7ebe6ca5 100644
--- a/tests/test_site_validation.py
+++ b/tests/test_site_validation.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import json
+import os
 import re
 import sys
 import tempfile
@@ -216,8 +217,10 @@ class EveryTestDependencyIsInstalledInCi(unittest.TestCase):
         }
         workflow = (root / ".github" / "workflows" / "validate.yml").read_text()
         job = workflow[workflow.index("run-tests:"):]
+        # The suite runs on the default python: a line that installs into
+        # another interpreter (python3.9 -m pip) does not count.
         install_line = next(
-            line for line in job.splitlines() if "pip install" in line
+            line for line in job.splitlines() if "run: pip install" in line
         )
         missing = sorted(
             m for m in third_party if self.PACKAGES.get(m, m) not in install_line
@@ -289,6 +292,8 @@ class PlatformPagesPrintTheDeclaredCrc32(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_the_rendered_page(self):
         page = ROOT / "docs" / "platforms" / "retroarch.md"
         if not page.is_file():
+            if os.environ.get("CI"):
+                self.fail("CI generates docs/ before the suite")
             self.skipTest("site not generated")
         self.assertIn("CRC32: `91e93107`", page.read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
 
diff --git a/tests/test_workflow_paths.py b/tests/test_workflow_paths.py
index a2aba810..88636e12 100644
--- a/tests/test_workflow_paths.py
+++ b/tests/test_workflow_paths.py
@@ -133,6 +133,18 @@ class ThePullRequestBuildsTheSite(unittest.TestCase):
             with self.subTest(package=package):
                 self.assertIn(package, runs)
 
+    def test_the_pages_exist_before_the_suite_reads_them(self):
+        """docs/ is gitignored. Built after the suite, the tests that read
+        the rendered pages found none and skipped on every CI run."""
+        steps = self._workflow("validate.yml")["jobs"]["run-tests"]["steps"]
+        runs = [str(step.get("run", "")) for step in steps]
+        generate = next(
+            i for i, run in enumerate(runs) if "scripts/generate_site.py" in run
+        )
+        suite = next(i for i, run in enumerate(runs) if "unittest discover" in run)
+        self.assertLess(generate, suite)
+        self.assertEqual(steps[suite].get("if"), "${{ !cancelled() }}")
+
     def test_every_site_input_triggers_validation(self):
         deploy = self._workflow("deploy-site.yml")
         validate = self._workflow("validate.yml")