diff --git a/docs/pipeline-design.md b/docs/pipeline-design.md
index 4afd6ff..0b7c40c 100644
--- a/docs/pipeline-design.md
+++ b/docs/pipeline-design.md
@@ -458,6 +458,40 @@ answer for almost every stage, a widened stage names the one scope it needs, and
 the rendered orchestrator says which stage holds what — so the grant is
 reviewable in the diff rather than implied by a template.
 
+### Independent stages
+
+Ordering is fixed, but *dependency* is a claim about the repository, and a
+repository can be right that it does not have one.
+
+```yaml
+pipeline:
+  ci:
+    stages: [preflight, build, test, end2end]
+    # end2end rebuilds the daemon from source inside Docker and consumes
+    # nothing build produces.
+    independent_stages: [end2end]
+```
+
+A stage named here drops its sibling dependencies and depends on preflight
+alone. That is the only thing it can do: it cannot add a dependency, invent an
+edge, or change the order stages render in. The fixed graph survives, because
+removing an edge you do not have is not rearranging the pipeline.
+
+The dependency on preflight is never removed. preflight produces no artefact —
+it is the gate deciding whether a stage runs at all, and the rendered `if:`
+reads its outputs, so dropping it from `needs:` would leave a condition that is
+never true. `preflight` itself cannot be declared independent; it has no
+sibling dependency to drop.
+
+Detaching a stage does **not** remove it from `ci-gate`. A failing end2end
+still blocks the merge; only its start time moves.
+
+wardnet is the case this was added for. Its end2end suite rebuilds the daemon
+from source, so it consumes nothing the build stage produces, and its previous
+hand-rolled pipeline ran the two concurrently. Serialising them added about
+eleven minutes to every daemon pull request — 24 minutes to 35 — to prove an
+edge that does not exist.
+
 ## Migration
 
 Per repo: move build and test jobs out of the existing `ci.yml` into
diff --git a/internal/repogov/pipeline.go b/internal/repogov/pipeline.go
index 50041a3..024ad3c 100644
--- a/internal/repogov/pipeline.go
+++ b/internal/repogov/pipeline.go
@@ -120,12 +120,16 @@ var cdWiring = map[string]stageWiring{
 // decided whether it needs to run at all.
 func buildStages(
 	enabled []string, order []string, wiring map[string]stageWiring, root, guard string,
-	baseline map[string]string, grants repospec.StagePermissions,
+	baseline map[string]string, grants repospec.StagePermissions, independent []string,
 ) ([]stageJob, error) {
 	present := map[string]bool{}
 	for _, s := range enabled {
 		present[s] = true
 	}
+	detached := map[string]bool{}
+	for _, s := range independent {
+		detached[s] = true
+	}
 
 	hasPreflight := present["preflight"]
 	jobs := make([]stageJob, 0, len(enabled))
@@ -143,9 +147,17 @@ func buildStages(
 
 		needs := []string{root}
 		for _, dep := range w.after {
-			if present[dep] {
-				needs = append(needs, dep)
+			if !present[dep] {
+				continue
+			}
+			// A stage declared independent consumes no sibling's output, so
+			// only preflight survives — it produces no artefact, and the
+			// gating `if:` below reads its outputs, which requires it in
+			// `needs:`.
+			if detached[name] && dep != repospec.StagePreflight {
+				continue
 			}
+			needs = append(needs, dep)
 		}
 
 		var conds []string
@@ -343,7 +355,8 @@ const checkoutRef = "actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 #
 func buildCIData(in Input, shared templateData) (ciData, error) {
 	stages, err := buildStages(
 		in.Spec.Pipeline.CI.Stages, repospec.CIStages, ciWiring, "attest", attestGuard,
-		ciBaselinePermissions, in.Spec.Pipeline.CI.StagePermissions)
+		ciBaselinePermissions, in.Spec.Pipeline.CI.StagePermissions,
+		in.Spec.Pipeline.CI.IndependentStages)
 	if err != nil {
 		return ciData{}, err
 	}
@@ -388,7 +401,8 @@ func buildCDData(in Input, shared templateData) (cdData, error) {
 	const root = "verify-attestation"
 	stages, err := buildStages(
 		in.Spec.Pipeline.CD.Stages, repospec.CDStages, cdWiring, root, "",
-		cdBaselinePermissions, in.Spec.Pipeline.CD.StagePermissions)
+		cdBaselinePermissions, in.Spec.Pipeline.CD.StagePermissions,
+		in.Spec.Pipeline.CD.IndependentStages)
 	if err != nil {
 		return cdData{}, err
 	}
diff --git a/internal/repospec/spec.go b/internal/repospec/spec.go
index eb4daa0..21ab796 100644
--- a/internal/repospec/spec.go
+++ b/internal/repospec/spec.go
@@ -160,6 +160,9 @@ type PipelineCI struct {
 	// StagePermissions grants a named stage scopes beyond the CI baseline.
 	// See StagePermissions for why this exists and what it cannot do.
 	StagePermissions StagePermissions `yaml:"stage_permissions,omitempty" json:"stage_permissions,omitempty"`
+	// IndependentStages names stages that consume no sibling stage's output.
+	// See the type for what it can and cannot express.
+	IndependentStages []string `yaml:"independent_stages,omitempty" json:"independent_stages,omitempty"`
 }
 
 type PipelineCD struct {
@@ -171,6 +174,8 @@ type PipelineCD struct {
 	Tags []string `yaml:"tags" json:"tags"`
 	// StagePermissions grants a named stage scopes beyond the CD baseline.
 	StagePermissions StagePermissions `yaml:"stage_permissions,omitempty" json:"stage_permissions,omitempty"`
+	// IndependentStages names stages that consume no sibling stage's output.
+	IndependentStages []string `yaml:"independent_stages,omitempty" json:"independent_stages,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // StagePermissions maps a stage name to the scopes its orchestrator job is
@@ -188,6 +193,26 @@ type PipelineCD struct {
 // so the grant is reviewable in the diff rather than implied by a template.
 type StagePermissions map[string]map[string]string
 
+// IndependentStages, in a pipeline spec, is the set of stages that consume no
+// sibling stage's output and so need not wait for one.
+//
+// This is a statement about the repository, not a reordering knob. The stage
+// graph stays fixed: nothing here can add a dependency, invent an edge, or
+// change the order stages render in. The only thing it can do is remove a
+// dependency the repository does not actually have, dropping that stage back
+// to depending on preflight alone.
+//
+// The dependency on preflight is never removed, because preflight produces no
+// artefact — it is the gate deciding whether a stage runs at all, and the
+// rendered `if:` reads its outputs.
+//
+// wardnet is the case this was added for. Its end2end suite rebuilds the
+// daemon from source inside Docker, so it consumes nothing the build stage
+// produces, and under its previous hand-rolled pipeline the two ran
+// concurrently. Making it wait for build added about eleven minutes to every
+// daemon pull request while proving nothing — a real cost paid for an edge
+// that does not exist.
+
 type ConventionalCommits struct {
 	Enabled bool     `yaml:"enabled" json:"enabled"`
 	Scope   string   `yaml:"scope" json:"scope"`
@@ -275,10 +300,15 @@ const (
 // CIStages and CDStages are the stage vocabularies, in the order the
 // orchestrators wire them.
 var (
-	CIStages = []string{"preflight", "build", "test", "end2end"}
-	CDStages = []string{"preflight", "publish", "deploy", "verify"}
+	CIStages = []string{StagePreflight, "build", "test", "end2end"}
+	CDStages = []string{StagePreflight, "publish", "deploy", "verify"}
 )
 
+// StagePreflight is the gate every other stage reads its run-<stage> output
+// from. It is the one stage that never depends on a sibling, and the one that
+// can never be declared independent.
+const StagePreflight = "preflight"
+
 // PermissionScopes is the GITHUB_TOKEN scope vocabulary, and PermissionLevels
 // the values each may take.
 //
@@ -583,6 +613,16 @@ func validatePipeline(p Pipeline) error {
 	); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	if err := validateIndependentStages(
+		"pipeline.ci.independent_stages", p.CI.Enabled, p.CI.IndependentStages, p.CI.Stages,
+	); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if err := validateIndependentStages(
+		"pipeline.cd.independent_stages", p.CD.Enabled, p.CD.IndependentStages, p.CD.Stages,
+	); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	if p.CD.Enabled && len(p.CD.Tags) == 0 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("pipeline.cd.tags cannot be empty when CD is enabled; nothing would ever trigger it")
 	}
@@ -649,6 +689,36 @@ func validateStagePermissions(
 	return nil
 }
 
+// validateIndependentStages rejects a declaration that cannot mean anything:
+// one naming a stage the pipeline does not run, a duplicate, or `preflight`,
+// which has no sibling dependency to drop in the first place.
+func validateIndependentStages(field string, enabled bool, got, stages []string) error {
+	if len(got) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	if !enabled {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%s: cannot name stages while the pipeline is disabled", field)
+	}
+	seen := map[string]bool{}
+	for i, stage := range got {
+		if !contains(stages, stage) {
+			return fmt.Errorf(
+				"%s[%d]: stage %q is not enabled (enabled: %s)",
+				field, i, stage, strings.Join(stages, ", "))
+		}
+		if seen[stage] {
+			return fmt.Errorf("%s[%d]: duplicate stage %q", field, i, stage)
+		}
+		if stage == StagePreflight {
+			return fmt.Errorf(
+				"%s[%d]: %q has no stage dependency to drop; remove it",
+				field, i, stage)
+		}
+		seen[stage] = true
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func validateSettings(s Settings) error {
 	m := s.Merge
 	if !m.Squash && !m.MergeCommit && !m.Rebase {
diff --git a/tests/repogov_pipeline_test.go b/tests/repogov_pipeline_test.go
index 89ac0f2..d2df3d9 100644
--- a/tests/repogov_pipeline_test.go
+++ b/tests/repogov_pipeline_test.go
@@ -313,6 +313,20 @@ func TestPipelineValidation(t *testing.T) {
 				"build": {"security-events": "write"},
 			}
 		}, "pipeline is disabled"},
+		{"independent stage that is not enabled", func(s *repospec.Spec) {
+			s.Pipeline.CI.Stages = []string{"preflight", "build"}
+			s.Pipeline.CI.IndependentStages = []string{"end2end"}
+		}, "is not enabled"},
+		{"independent preflight", func(s *repospec.Spec) {
+			s.Pipeline.CI.IndependentStages = []string{"preflight"}
+		}, "no stage dependency to drop"},
+		{"duplicate independent stage", func(s *repospec.Spec) {
+			s.Pipeline.CI.IndependentStages = []string{"end2end", "end2end"}
+		}, "duplicate stage"},
+		{"independent stages while ci is disabled", func(s *repospec.Spec) {
+			s.Pipeline.CI.Enabled = false
+			s.Pipeline.CI.IndependentStages = []string{"end2end"}
+		}, "pipeline is disabled"},
 	}
 	for _, tc := range tests {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
@@ -860,3 +874,81 @@ func TestStagePermissionsRenderDeterministically(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// The reason this exists: wardnet's end2end suite rebuilds the daemon from
+// source and consumes nothing build produces, so waiting on build added ~11
+// minutes to every daemon PR to prove an edge that does not exist.
+func TestIndependentStageDropsSiblingDependenciesButNotPreflight(t *testing.T) {
+	spec := repospec.Default()
+	spec.Pipeline.CI.IndependentStages = []string{"end2end"}
+
+	jobs := workflowJobs(t, pipelineFiles(t, spec)[".github/workflows/ci-orchestration.yml"])
+
+	e2e, ok := jobs["end2end"]
+	if !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("no end2end job; jobs = %v", jobs)
+	}
+	want := []string{"attest", "preflight"}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(e2e.Needs, want) {
+		t.Errorf("end2end needs = %v, want %v", e2e.Needs, want)
+	}
+
+	// preflight must survive, or the gating condition references the outputs
+	// of a job this one does not wait for and is never true.
+	if !strings.Contains(e2e.If, "needs.preflight.outputs.run-end2end") {
+		t.Errorf("end2end lost its preflight gate; if = %q", e2e.If)
+	}
+
+	// Independence is per-stage: test still consumes build's artefacts.
+	if test, ok := jobs["test"]; !ok {
+		t.Error("no test job")
+	} else if !contains(test.Needs, "build") {
+		t.Errorf("test needs = %v, want it to still wait on build", test.Needs)
+	}
+}
+
+// Detaching a stage must not drop it from the gate. If it did, a failing
+// end2end would stop blocking the merge — the exact defect branch protection
+// exists to prevent, arriving as a side effect of a performance tweak.
+func TestIndependentStageIsStillGated(t *testing.T) {
+	spec := repospec.Default()
+	spec.Pipeline.CI.IndependentStages = []string{"end2end"}
+
+	jobs := workflowJobs(t, pipelineFiles(t, spec)[".github/workflows/ci-orchestration.yml"])
+	gate, ok := jobs[repospec.GateCheckJob]
+	if !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("no %s job", repospec.GateCheckJob)
+	}
+	if !contains(gate.Needs, "end2end") {
+		t.Errorf("%s needs = %v, want end2end among them", repospec.GateCheckJob, gate.Needs)
+	}
+}
+
+// Declaring nothing must render exactly what it rendered before, so this
+// cannot quietly reshape the seventeen repos that do not use it.
+func TestStagesKeepTheirDependenciesByDefault(t *testing.T) {
+	jobs := workflowJobs(t, pipelineFiles(t, repospec.Default())[".github/workflows/ci-orchestration.yml"])
+
+	for _, tc := range []struct{ stage, dep string }{
+		{"test", "build"},
+		{"end2end", "build"},
+		{"build", "preflight"},
+	} {
+		j, ok := jobs[tc.stage]
+		if !ok {
+			t.Fatalf("no %s job", tc.stage)
+		}
+		if !contains(j.Needs, tc.dep) {
+			t.Errorf("%s needs = %v, want %q among them", tc.stage, j.Needs, tc.dep)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func contains(haystack []string, needle string) bool {
+	for _, h := range haystack {
+		if h == needle {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}