diff --git a/.github/workflows/pre-commit.yml b/.github/workflows/pre-commit.yml
index a8e3ba313..7e174a247 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pre-commit.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pre-commit.yml
@@ -103,11 +103,54 @@ jobs:
         # CI, so skip it — the hook still runs locally on `git commit` /
         # `prek run`, where there is no separate matrix.
         #
-        # `--verbose`: without it prek renders a progress UI that a
-        # non-TTY CI log buffers and only flushes at the end, so a long
-        # run shows nothing while it works. Verbose prints each hook's
-        # result and output as it completes, giving live progress in the
-        # Actions log.
+        # `--skip identity`: the `identity` meta-hook echoes every file
+        # passed to the static checks. That is a useful local
+        # troubleshooting aid, but on `--all-files` it prints the whole
+        # repository into the CI log ahead of any actual result, burying
+        # the failure a reader came for. It stays enabled locally.
+        #
+        # No `--verbose`. It was added believing it bought live progress in
+        # a non-TTY log. It does not — measured on this repo, first output
+        # and total runtime coincide with the flag and without it: prek
+        # emits nothing until the run finishes either way. prek streams
+        # only when stdout is a TTY, where it draws an in-place progress UI
+        # (spinner, cursor-control escapes, redrawn lines); with stdout a
+        # pipe it suppresses that renderer and prints the whole result
+        # block at the end. `--no-progress` behaves identically, and `-q`
+        # prints nothing at all on success.
+        #
+        # So the flag's only effect in CI is to add every *passing* hook's
+        # stdout to that final block — several hundred lines around the one
+        # thing worth reading. Failures still print their output, and
+        # `--show-diff-on-failure` still shows what a fixer hook changed.
+        #
+        # No `--verbose`, and no pty. Live progress is not achievable here;
+        # this was measured on the runner rather than assumed. Three
+        # configurations, all with every hook-result line landing in the
+        # same one-second timestamp ~106s into the step:
+        #
+        #   plain pipe                       one block at the end
+        #   pty (`script -qec`)              one block at the end
+        #   pty + `--no-progress`            one block at the end
+        #
+        # Locally, a pty does make prek stream (spinner, in-place redraws),
+        # so the renderer works — but that output does not survive to the
+        # Actions log, which shows only the final state. `--verbose` never
+        # helped either: with stdout a pipe, first output and total runtime
+        # coincide with the flag and without it.
+        #
+        # So the plain form is kept: same information, no `script`
+        # dependency, and no `-e` exit-status footgun (without `-e`,
+        # `script` returns its own status and a failing prek reports as a
+        # passing step). `--verbose` is dropped because its only remaining
+        # effect was to add every passing hook's stdout to that final
+        # block. Failures still print their output, and
+        # `--show-diff-on-failure` still shows what a fixer hook changed.
+        #
+        # Note the repeated flag: `--skip a,b` is NOT a list — prek takes a
+        # single HOOK|PROJECT per occurrence, and a comma-joined value
+        # matches no hook at all. It warns rather than failing, so the
+        # comma form looks like it worked while skipping nothing.
         run: >-
           prek run --show-diff-on-failure --color=always --all-files
-          --verbose --skip workspace-pytest
+          --skip workspace-pytest --skip identity