diff --git a/internals/checks/e2e-attestations/cc-nice-lovelace-7db4qt.json b/internals/checks/e2e-attestations/cc-nice-lovelace-7db4qt.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..308f687ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internals/checks/e2e-attestations/cc-nice-lovelace-7db4qt.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "command": "uv run python -m pytest tests/e2e -x -q",
+  "ran_at": 1787257108,
+  "exit_code": 0,
+  "commit": "047bd55743d01b021d0913aa52fa4824ea40c4a0",
+  "branch": "cc/nice-lovelace-7db4qt"
+}
diff --git a/internals/checks/src/checks/changelog_gate/decide.py b/internals/checks/src/checks/changelog_gate/decide.py
index 0bee15539..daaa15967 100644
--- a/internals/checks/src/checks/changelog_gate/decide.py
+++ b/internals/checks/src/checks/changelog_gate/decide.py
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ def _is_exempt(path: str, pkg: str) -> bool:
     The package ``CHANGELOG.md`` / ``MIGRATIONS.md`` are pointer stubs; the
     ``changelog.d/`` / ``migrations.d/`` folders are the entries themselves;
     the ``e2e-attestations/`` folder holds CI freshness receipts, not source;
+    a package-root ``testing-conventions.toml`` is gate config that ships in no
+    published artifact, so nothing user-facing can follow from editing one;
     dirsql colocates Python unit tests as ``*_test.py`` and TS as ``*.test.*``
     / ``*.spec.*``; and anything under a ``tests/`` directory is a test tier.
     """
@@ -63,6 +65,7 @@ def _is_exempt(path: str, pkg: str) -> bool:
         re.fullmatch(rf"{p}/(CHANGELOG|MIGRATIONS)\.md", path)
         or re.match(rf"{p}/(changelog|migrations)\.d/", path)
         or re.match(rf"{p}/e2e-attestations/", path)
+        or re.fullmatch(rf"{p}/testing-conventions\.toml", path)
         or re.fullmatch(rf"{p}/.*_test\.py", path)
         or re.fullmatch(rf"{p}/.*\.(test|spec)\.(ts|tsx|js|mjs|cjs)", path)
         or re.match(rf"{p}/tests?/", path)
diff --git a/internals/checks/src/checks/changelog_gate/decide_test.py b/internals/checks/src/checks/changelog_gate/decide_test.py
index eabcb26f0..02635ee19 100644
--- a/internals/checks/src/checks/changelog_gate/decide_test.py
+++ b/internals/checks/src/checks/changelog_gate/decide_test.py
@@ -156,6 +156,22 @@ def true_for_a_dir_that_merely_prefixes_e2e_attestations():
             ["packages/python/e2e-attestationsX/foo.py"], "packages/python"
         )
 
+    def false_for_the_package_root_gate_config():
+        assert not code_touched(
+            ["packages/python/testing-conventions.toml"], "packages/python"
+        )
+        assert not code_touched(["packages/ts/testing-conventions.toml"], "packages/ts")
+        assert not code_touched(
+            ["plugins/dirsql-plugin-embeddings/testing-conventions.toml"],
+            "plugins/dirsql-plugin-embeddings",
+        )
+
+    def true_for_a_gate_config_that_is_not_at_the_package_root():
+        assert code_touched(
+            ["packages/python/dirsql/testing-conventions.toml"], "packages/python"
+        )
+        assert code_touched(["packages/ts/my-testing-conventions.toml"], "packages/ts")
+
     def ignores_other_packages():
         assert not code_touched(["packages/ts/src/bar.ts"], "packages/python")
 
diff --git a/internals/checks/tests/e2e/changelog_gate_test.py b/internals/checks/tests/e2e/changelog_gate_test.py
index 5248c029c..cdfb4b94d 100644
--- a/internals/checks/tests/e2e/changelog_gate_test.py
+++ b/internals/checks/tests/e2e/changelog_gate_test.py
@@ -117,6 +117,17 @@ def it_exits_zero_when_a_colocated_plugin_fragment_is_added(repo):
         proc = _gate(tmp_path, base_sha, head_sha)
         assert proc.returncode == 0, f"stdout={proc.stdout!r} stderr={proc.stderr!r}"
 
+    def it_exits_zero_when_only_the_package_gate_config_changes(repo):
+        tmp_path, base_sha = repo
+        _write(
+            tmp_path / "packages" / "python" / "testing-conventions.toml",
+            "[python.coverage]\nfail_under = 100\n",
+        )
+        head_sha = _commit(tmp_path, "narrow the python coverage config")
+
+        proc = _gate(tmp_path, base_sha, head_sha)
+        assert proc.returncode == 0, f"stdout={proc.stdout!r} stderr={proc.stderr!r}"
+
     def it_exits_zero_via_the_skip_changelog_line(repo):
         tmp_path, base_sha = repo
         _write(tmp_path / "packages" / "rust" / "src" / "lib.rs")
diff --git a/internals/checks/tests/integration/changelog_gate_test.py b/internals/checks/tests/integration/changelog_gate_test.py
index ce4287dc0..ef77df17f 100644
--- a/internals/checks/tests/integration/changelog_gate_test.py
+++ b/internals/checks/tests/integration/changelog_gate_test.py
@@ -168,6 +168,16 @@ def it_passes_via_the_skip_changelog_line(repo, capsys):
         assert run(base_sha, head_sha) == 0
         assert "bypassing changelog enforcement" in capsys.readouterr().out
 
+    def it_passes_when_only_the_package_gate_config_changes(repo, capsys):
+        tmp_path, base_sha = repo
+        _write(
+            tmp_path / "packages" / "python" / "testing-conventions.toml",
+            "[python.coverage]\nfail_under = 100\n",
+        )
+        head_sha = _commit("narrow the python coverage config")
+
+        assert run(base_sha, head_sha) == 0
+
     def it_passes_when_no_package_source_changed(repo, capsys):
         tmp_path, base_sha = repo
         (tmp_path / "README.md").write_text("hello again\n")