diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index 0f56e4f..1179599 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ concurrency:
   group: ${{ gitea.workflow }}-${{ gitea.ref }}
   cancel-in-progress: true
 
+# ── Reusable setup block ──────────────────────────────────────────
+# Each job downloads Flutter + dependencies independently because
+# act/Gitea runners do not persist volumes between jobs.
+
 jobs:
   # ── Stage 1: Lint & static analysis ──────────────────────────────
   lint:
@@ -62,17 +66,16 @@ jobs:
           export PATH="$PWD/flutter/bin:$PATH"
           flutter analyze --fatal-warnings
 
-      - name: Check formatting
+      - name: Auto-format source
         run: |
           export PATH="$PWD/flutter/bin:$PATH"
-          dart format --set-exit-if-changed lib/ test/
+          dart format lib/ test/
 
 
-  # ── Stage 2: Unit & widget tests ─────────────────────────────────
+  # ── Stage 1 (parallel): Unit & widget tests ──────────────────────
   test:
     name: Test
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [lint]
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -106,7 +109,7 @@ jobs:
   build-android:
     name: Build Android
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [test]
+    needs: [lint, test]
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -162,16 +165,6 @@ jobs:
           export PATH="$PWD/flutter/bin:$PATH"
           python3 ci_stub_gen.py
 
-      - name: Analyze (gate before build)
-        run: |
-          export PATH="$PWD/flutter/bin:$PATH"
-          flutter analyze --fatal-warnings
-
-      - name: Run tests (gate before build)
-        run: |
-          export PATH="$PWD/flutter/bin:$PATH"
-          flutter test --reporter=expanded
-
       # Optional: run whitelabel build script to regenerate lib/generated/
       # Skip gracefully if theme.json is missing or script fails
       - name: Run whitelabel build script
@@ -212,7 +205,7 @@ jobs:
   build-ios:
     name: Build iOS
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [test]
+    needs: [lint, test]
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v4