diff --git a/.github/workflows/pathogen-repo-ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/pathogen-repo-ci.yaml
index 849c056..406c753 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pathogen-repo-ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pathogen-repo-ci.yaml
@@ -255,6 +255,7 @@ jobs:
           runtime: ${{ matrix.runtime }}
 
       - name: Run ingest
+        id: ingest
         uses: ./.git/nextstrain/.github/actions/run-nextstrain-ci-build
         with:
           directory: ingest
@@ -262,6 +263,7 @@ jobs:
           artifact-name: ${{ inputs.artifact-name }}
 
       - name: Run phylogenetic
+        id: phylogenetic
         uses: ./.git/nextstrain/.github/actions/run-nextstrain-ci-build
         with:
           directory: phylogenetic
@@ -269,8 +271,20 @@ jobs:
           artifact-name: ${{ inputs.artifact-name }}
 
       - name: Run nextclade
+        id: nextclade
         uses: ./.git/nextstrain/.github/actions/run-nextstrain-ci-build
         with:
           directory: nextclade
           runtime: ${{ matrix.runtime }}
           artifact-name: ${{ inputs.artifact-name }}
+
+      - name: Verify a workflow ran
+        continue-on-error: false
+        run: |
+          # shellcheck disable=SC2242
+
+          # if we see at least one success, we're good
+          echo "INGEST ATTEMPTED=${{ steps.ingest.outputs.run-attempted }}"
+          echo "PHYLOGENETIC ATTEMPTED=${{ steps.phylogenetic.outputs.run-attempted }}"
+          echo "NEXTCLADE ATTEMPTED=${{ steps.nextclade.outputs.run-attempted }}"
+          exit ${{ contains(steps.*.outputs.run-attempted, 'true') && '0' || '1' }}
diff --git a/actions/run-nextstrain-ci-build/action.yaml b/actions/run-nextstrain-ci-build/action.yaml
index ecb8c73..2f4a1bb 100644
--- a/actions/run-nextstrain-ci-build/action.yaml
+++ b/actions/run-nextstrain-ci-build/action.yaml
@@ -26,6 +26,15 @@ inputs:
     type: string
     required: true
 
+outputs:
+  run-attempted:
+    description: >-
+      Boolean indicating if the build step was _attempted_.
+
+      N.b., this does not indicate if the build step *succeeded*, only
+      that the requirements were met to attempt to run it.
+    value: ${{ steps.run-build.outputs.run-attempted }}
+
 runs:
   using: "composite"
   steps:
@@ -34,9 +43,13 @@ runs:
         DIR: ${{ inputs.directory }}
       run: |
         if [[ -f "$DIR"/Snakefile && -f "$DIR"/build-configs/ci/config.yaml ]]; then
+          echo "run-attempted=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
           nextstrain check-setup ${{ inputs.runtime }} --set-default
           nextstrain build "$DIR" --configfile build-configs/ci/config.yaml
         else
+          echo "run-attempted=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
           echo "Skipping $DIR build due to one or more missing files."
           for i in "$DIR"/Snakefile "$DIR"/build-configs/ci/config.yaml; do
             [[ -f $i ]] || echo missing "$i"