diff --git a/.github/workflows/contributor-build.yml b/.github/workflows/contributor-build.yml
index b293b047d07f..84f37b491bae 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/contributor-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/contributor-build.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,67 @@ concurrency:
   cancel-in-progress: ${{ github.event_name == 'pull_request_target' || github.repository != 'hibernate/hibernate-orm' }}
 
 jobs:
+  # Pre-requisite step that only runs format checks
+  format_checks:
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    name: Java 17
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out commit already pushed to branch
+        if: "! github.event.pull_request.number"
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+      - name: Check out PR head
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        if: github.event.pull_request.number
+        with:
+          ref: "refs/pull/${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}/head"
+          persist-credentials: false
+      - name: Reclaim Disk Space
+        run: .github/ci-prerequisites.sh
+      - name: Set up Java 17
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
+        with:
+          distribution: 'temurin'
+          java-version: '17'
+      - name: Get year/month for cache key
+        id: get-date
+        run: echo "yearmonth=$(/bin/date -u "+%Y-%m")" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+        shell: bash
+      - name: Cache Maven local repository
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        id: cache-maven
+        with:
+          path: |
+            ~/.m2/repository
+            ~/.gradle/caches/
+            ~/.gradle/wrapper/
+          # refresh cache every month to avoid unlimited growth
+          key: maven-localrepo-${{ steps.get-date.outputs.yearmonth }}
+      - name: Run format checks
+        env:
+          # Don't populate Develocity cache in pull requests as that's potentially dangerous
+          POPULATE_REMOTE_GRADLE_CACHE: "${{ github.event_name == 'push' }}"
+          # WARNING: exposes secrets, so must only be passed to a step that doesn't run unapproved code.
+          DEVELOCITY_ACCESS_KEY: "${{ github.event_name == 'push' && secrets.GRADLE_ENTERPRISE_ACCESS_KEY || '' }}"
+        run: |
+          ./gradlew formatChecks
+      - name: Upload test reports (if Gradle failed)
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        if: failure()
+        with:
+          name: test-reports-java11-${{ matrix.rdbms }}
+          path: |
+            ./**/target/reports/tests/
+      - name: Omit produced artifacts from build cache
+        run: ./ci/before-cache.sh
+  # Actual build that executes tests
   build:
+    needs: format_checks
     permissions:
       contents: read
     name: Java 17
diff --git a/ci/build.sh b/ci/build.sh
index e1ae09d2f865..2e54c3a7604f 100755
--- a/ci/build.sh
+++ b/ci/build.sh
@@ -81,4 +81,4 @@ function logAndExec() {
   exec "${@}"
 }
 
-logAndExec ./gradlew check ${goal} "${@}" -Plog-test-progress=true --stacktrace
+logAndExec ./gradlew ciCheck ${goal} "${@}" -Plog-test-progress=true --stacktrace
diff --git a/gradle/java-module.gradle b/gradle/java-module.gradle
index 3cb648efaf17..9acd0a479901 100644
--- a/gradle/java-module.gradle
+++ b/gradle/java-module.gradle
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@ tasks.copyResourcesToIntelliJOutFolder.mustRunAfter processTestResources
 // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 // Report configs
 
-task enforceRules {
+tasks.register('enforceRules') {
 	doLast {
 		def illegalImport = ~/^import (sun|java.awt|org.slf4j)/
 		def missingNewline = ~/^\s*}\s*(else|catch|finally)/
@@ -477,23 +477,23 @@ task enforceRules {
 				}
 				if (!line.startsWith("//")) { //ignore commented-out code
 					if (line =~ equals) {
-						equalsMinusHashcode ++
+						equalsMinusHashcode++
 					}
 					if (line =~ hashCode) {
-						equalsMinusHashcode --
+						equalsMinusHashcode--
 					}
 				}
 			}
-			if (equalsMinusHashcode>0) {
+			if (equalsMinusHashcode > 0) {
 				errors++
 				logger.error("Equals with missing hash code in ${shortName}")
 			}
-			if (equalsMinusHashcode<0) {
+			if (equalsMinusHashcode < 0) {
 				errors++
 				logger.error("Hash code with missing equals in ${shortName}")
 			}
 		}
-		if ( errors>0 ) {
+		if (errors > 0) {
 			throw new GradleException("Code rules were violated ($errors problems)")
 		}
 	}
@@ -514,6 +514,26 @@ spotless {
 
 tasks.spotlessApply.dependsOn enforceRules
 
+tasks.register( "ciCheck" ) {
+	group "verification"
+	description "Checks for CI environments"
+	dependsOn tasks.check
+
+	spotlessApply {
+		enabled = false
+	}
+	spotlessJavaApply {
+		enabled = false
+	}
+}
+
+tasks.register( "formatChecks" ) {
+	group "verification"
+	description "Code style and formatting checks"
+
+	dependsOn tasks.spotlessCheck
+	dependsOn tasks.enforceRules
+}
 
 class CompilerStubsArgumentProvider implements CommandLineArgumentProvider {