diff --git a/.github/workflows/nodejs.yml b/.github/workflows/nodejs.yml
index 5fc2ff0d02f..f270d80dfe1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nodejs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nodejs.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,18 @@ on:
       - main
       - next
 
+# A new commit supersedes the previous one's jobs, so stop paying for them
+# across the whole matrix below. Only pull request runs share a group; every
+# other run gets a group of its own (`github.run_id`), because a group holds
+# at most one pending run and a later push would otherwise evict the one
+# waiting — `cancel-in-progress` protects the running run, not the queued one.
+# Runs for the branches this also builds on push publish the coverage later
+# comparisons are measured against, and losing one would also hide a breakage
+# that is already on the branch.
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.ref || github.run_id }}
+  cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request' }}
+
 permissions:
   contents: read
 
@@ -19,10 +31,6 @@ jobs:
 
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
 
-    concurrency:
-      group: lint-${{ github.ref }}
-      cancel-in-progress: true
-
     strategy:
       matrix:
         os: [ubuntu-latest]
@@ -53,10 +61,6 @@ jobs:
 
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
 
-    concurrency:
-      group: test-${{ matrix.os }}-v${{ matrix.node-version }}-${{ matrix.webpack-version }}-${{ matrix.dev-server-version }}-${{ github.ref }}
-      cancel-in-progress: true
-
     strategy:
       fail-fast: true
       matrix:
@@ -109,10 +113,6 @@ jobs:
 
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
 
-    concurrency:
-      group: smoketests-${{ github.ref }}
-      cancel-in-progress: true
-
     strategy:
       matrix:
         os: [ubuntu-latest]