diff --git a/.github/workflows/i18n-translate.yml b/.github/workflows/i18n-translate.yml
index 3f52b57..3faed1b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/i18n-translate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/i18n-translate.yml
@@ -269,7 +269,10 @@ jobs:
           git config user.name "desirecore-bot"
           git config user.email "bot@desirecore.net"
           git add -A
-          git commit -m "chore(i18n): auto-translate skills [skip ci]" \
+          # No [skip ci] on purpose: required checks (validate/translate) must
+          # re-run and report on the translated commit, or the PR becomes
+          # unmergeable. Loop prevention is the job-level bot-actor guard.
+          git commit -m "chore(i18n): auto-translate skills" \
                      -m "Generated by scripts/i18n/translate.py via i18n-translate workflow." \
                      -m "Backend: ${TRANSLATE_BACKEND}  Model: ${TRANSLATE_MODEL}"
           if ! git push prhead HEAD:"refs/heads/${HEAD_REF}"; then
@@ -283,7 +286,7 @@ jobs:
           git config user.name "desirecore-bot"
           git config user.email "bot@desirecore.net"
           git add -A
-          git commit -m "chore(i18n): auto-translate skills [skip ci]" \
+          git commit -m "chore(i18n): auto-translate skills" \
                      -m "Generated by scripts/i18n/translate.py via i18n-translate workflow." \
                      -m "Backend: ${TRANSLATE_BACKEND:-github}  Model: ${TRANSLATE_MODEL:-openai/gpt-5-mini}"
           git push