diff --git a/.github/workflows/docker_img.yml b/.github/workflows/docker_img.yml
index 928c13769d4d699156888a04ee5cad19f0519a1b..6f4387e6e00d644e4d658ac911ffc12d3be4dab1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docker_img.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docker_img.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,13 @@
 name: '[docker image]'
 
-on: [ 'push' ]
+on:
+  push:
+    # do not rebuild if...
+    paths-ignore:
+      # changes to .openshift directory... mostly devops config
+      - '.openshift/*'
+      # docs (docs are built on readthedocs any way)
+      - 'docs/*'
 
 jobs:
   build-docker-img: