diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index dfc2564a59..a0b3360db3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -111,10 +111,24 @@ jobs:
           save-if: ${{ github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' }}
           cache-on-failure: true
 
+      # The cheap checks run first: a format, lint, layering or stale-scorecard failure is red
+      # after a few minutes instead of after the test passes (#6119). Clippy restores main's cache.
       - name: Format
         if: runner.os == 'Linux'
         run: cargo fmt --all -- --check
 
+      - name: Clippy
+        run: cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --locked --features heif -- -D warnings
+
+      - name: Dependency layering
+        run: cargo xtask layers
+
+      # docs/scorecard.md must match its sources (checklists, budgets, baseline, corpus floors,
+      # prefs audit). Static: it reads committed files only, no benchmarks run here.
+      - name: Scorecard up to date
+        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
+        run: cargo xtask scorecard --check
+
       # `--features heif`: official builds open HEIC photos via the optional photocraft-heif crate.
       - name: Test
         run: cargo test --workspace --locked --features heif
@@ -145,18 +159,6 @@ jobs:
           CRAFT_FONTS_REQUIRED: "1"
         run: cargo test --workspace --locked --features heif
 
-      - name: Clippy
-        run: cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --locked --features heif -- -D warnings
-
-      - name: Dependency layering
-        run: cargo xtask layers
-
-      # docs/scorecard.md must match its sources (checklists, budgets, baseline, corpus floors,
-      # prefs audit). Static: it reads committed files only, no benchmarks run here.
-      - name: Scorecard up to date
-        if: runner.os == 'Linux'
-        run: cargo xtask scorecard --check
-
   corpus:
     # Real-file corpus tests (cargo feature `corpus`), on every PR and on main. The corpora are
     # pinned in xtask/src/corpus_pins.rs and sha256-verified (xtask/*.sha256) after both a cache