diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-colab-notebooks.yml b/.github/workflows/check-colab-notebooks.yml
index 5d3a06af..dcda2ce2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check-colab-notebooks.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-colab-notebooks.yml
@@ -30,18 +30,26 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: uv sync --all-packages --group notebooks --group docs
 
+      - name: Get changed notebook sources
+        id: changed
+        run: |
+          FILES=$(git diff --name-only ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha || 'HEAD~1' }} -- docs/notebook_source/*.py | xargs -I{} basename {} || true)
+          echo "files=$FILES" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
       - name: Generate Colab notebooks
         run: |
-          make generate-colab-notebooks
+          if [ -n "${{ steps.changed.outputs.files }}" ]; then
+            make generate-colab-notebooks FILES="${{ steps.changed.outputs.files }}"
+          else
+            make generate-colab-notebooks
+          fi
 
       - name: Check for differences
         run: |
-          # Get the diff, filtering out cell ID changes (which are randomly generated)
-          # Filter out: file markers (--- and +++), and "id" lines
-          MEANINGFUL_DIFF=$(git diff docs/colab_notebooks/ | grep -E '^[+-]' | grep -v '^---' | grep -v '^+++' | grep -vE '^[+-]\s*"id": "[0-9a-fA-F]+",?$' || true)
+          MEANINGFUL_DIFF=$(git diff docs/colab_notebooks/ || true)
 
           if [ -z "$MEANINGFUL_DIFF" ]; then
-            echo "✅ Colab notebooks are up-to-date (ignoring cell ID changes)"
+            echo "✅ Colab notebooks are up-to-date"
           else
             echo "❌ Colab notebooks are out of sync with source files"
             echo ""
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c4b86798..062ecfc9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -478,7 +478,11 @@ endif
 
 generate-colab-notebooks:
 	@echo "📓 Generating Colab-compatible notebooks..."
+ifdef FILES
+	uv run --group docs python docs/scripts/generate_colab_notebooks.py --files $(FILES)
+else
 	uv run --group docs python docs/scripts/generate_colab_notebooks.py
+endif
 	@echo "✅ Colab notebooks created in docs/colab_notebooks/"
 
 # ==============================================================================