diff --git a/.gitlab/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 5aa10064b..a1eecb8e9 100644
--- a/.gitlab/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,16 @@ include:
   - template: Security/License-Scanning.gitlab-ci.yml
   - template: Security/Dependency-Scanning.gitlab-ci.yml
 
+.idk_changed:
+  rules:
+    - if: '$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web"'
+      changes:
+        compare_to: refs/heads/master
+        paths:
+          - idk/**
+          - client/**
+          - batch/**
+
 gosec-sast:
   allow_failure: false
   before_script:
@@ -189,19 +199,6 @@ run jest tests:
     paths:
       - lattice/coverage/lcov.info
 
-run go tests:
-  stage: test
-  image: golang:$GOVERSION
-  extends: .go-cache
-  rules:
-    - if: '$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web"'
-  retry: 1
-  script:
-    - echo "Running featurebase unit tests..."
-    - go test -v -timeout=10m $(go list ./... | grep -Ev 'batch|idk')
-  tags:
-    - aws
-
 run go tests race:
   stage: nonblocking # don't let this job block any other jobs because it takes much longer than the other tests.
   image: golang:$GOVERSION
@@ -216,22 +213,10 @@ run go tests race:
   tags:
     - aws
 
-run go tests shardwidth22:
-  stage: test
-  image: golang:$GOVERSION
-  extends: .go-cache
-  rules:
-    - if: '$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web"'
-  script:
-    - echo "Running featurebase shardwidth22 tests..."
-    - go test -timeout=10m -tags=shardwidth22 -v $(go list ./... | grep -Ev 'batch|idk')
-  tags:
-    - aws
-
-# we do coverage reporting from the future tests because the json
-# output is very difficult to human-read. The alternative would be to
-# run the regular tests twice and also run the future tests.
-run go tests future:
+# we dump output in json mode because we're sending the test report data to sonarcloud. it's
+# harder to read but easier to use, and running it an extra time without json, when we expect
+# tests to succeed, makes CI slow
+run go tests:
   stage: test
   image: golang:$GOFUTURE
   extends: .go-cache
@@ -241,7 +226,7 @@ run go tests future:
   script:
     - echo "Running featurebase unit tests..."
     - PKG_LIST=$(go list ./... | grep -Ev 'internal/clustertests|simulacraData' | grep -Ev 'batch|idk' | paste -s -d, -)
-    - go test -timeout=10m -json -coverprofile=coverage.out -covermode=atomic -coverpkg=${PKG_LIST} $(go list ./... | grep -Ev 'batch|idk') | tee test-report.out
+    - go test -timeout=10m -json -tags=shardwidth22 -coverprofile=coverage.out -covermode=atomic -coverpkg=${PKG_LIST} $(go list ./... | grep -Ev 'batch|idk') | tee test-report.out
   artifacts:
     paths:
       - coverage.out
@@ -249,7 +234,8 @@ run go tests future:
   tags:
     - aws
 
-run go tests future plg:
+# json mode because test report data goes to sonarcloud
+run go tests plg:
   stage: test
   image: golang:$GOFUTURE
   extends: .go-cache
@@ -274,13 +260,10 @@ run go tests idk race:
   variables:
     USERNAME: fb-idk-access
     PROJECT: race_${CI_CONCURRENT_ID}
-  stage: test
+  stage: nonblocking
   retry: 1
   rules:
-    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_TAG == null && ($CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web")'
-      changes:
-        - idk/**/*
-        - client/**/*
+    - !reference [.idk_changed, rules]
   script:
     - echo "Running test-all-race"
     - cd ./idk/
@@ -309,13 +292,10 @@ run go tests idk shard transactional:
     IDK_DEFAULT_SHARD_TRANSACTIONAL: 1
     USERNAME: fb-idk-access
     PROJECT: shardttrans_${CI_CONCURRENT_ID}
-  stage: test
+  stage: nonblocking
   retry: 1
   rules:
-    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_TAG == null && ($CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web")'
-      changes:
-        - idk/**/*
-        - client/**/*
+    - !reference [.idk_changed, rules]
   script:
     - echo "Running shard transactional tests"
     - cd ./idk/
@@ -344,7 +324,7 @@ run go tests idk 533:
   variables:
     USERNAME: fb-idk-access
     PROJECT: test533_${CI_CONCURRENT_ID}
-  stage: test
+  stage: nonblocking
   retry: 1
   script:
     - echo "Running confluent 5.3.3 test-all"
@@ -357,10 +337,7 @@ run go tests idk 533:
     - make save-pilosa-logs
     - make shutdown
   rules:
-    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_TAG == null && ($CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web")'
-      changes:
-        - idk/**/*
-        - client/**/*
+    - !reference [.idk_changed, rules]
   tags:
     - shell
     - aws
@@ -377,7 +354,7 @@ run go tests idk sasl:
   variables:
     USERNAME: fb-idk-access
     PROJECT: sasl_${CI_CONCURRENT_ID}
-  stage: test
+  stage: nonblocking
   retry: 1
   script:
     - echo "Running test-all-kafka-sasl"
@@ -390,10 +367,7 @@ run go tests idk sasl:
     - make save-pilosa-logs
     - make shutdown
   rules:
-    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_TAG == null && ($CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule" || $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "web")'
-      changes:
-        - idk/**/*
-        - client/**/*
+    - !reference [.idk_changed, rules]
   tags:
     - shell
     - aws
@@ -406,7 +380,7 @@ run go tests idk sasl:
 
 
 upload to sonarcloud:
-  stage: integration
+  stage: nonblocking
   image: sonarsource/sonar-scanner-cli:4.6
   variables:
     SONAR_TOKEN: $SONAR_TOKEN
@@ -415,8 +389,8 @@ upload to sonarcloud:
   script:
     - sonar-scanner -Dsonar.projectKey=molecula_featurebase -Dsonar.organization=molecula -Dsonar.sources=. -Dsonar.host.url=https://sonarcloud.io -Dsonar.go.coverage.reportPaths=coverage*.out,results/coverage*out,idk/testdata/*coverage.out,batch/testdata/*coverage.out -Dsonar.go.tests.reportPaths=test-report*.out,idk/testdata/*report.out,batch/testdata/*report.out -Dsonar.javascript.lcov.reportPaths=lattice/coverage/lcov.info
   needs:
-    - job: run go tests future plg
-    - job: run go tests future
+    - job: run go tests
+    - job: run go tests plg
     - job: run jest tests
     - job: external lookup tests
     - job: run go tests idk race
diff --git a/.gitlab/batch-ci.yml b/.gitlab/batch-ci.yml
index 7bdd628f8..7b3e47bc3 100644
--- a/.gitlab/batch-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/batch-ci.yml
@@ -5,7 +5,11 @@ run go tests batch:
     USERNAME: fb-idk-access
     PROJECT: batch_${CI_CONCURRENT_ID}
     GIT_STRATEGY: clone
-  stage: test
+  # this test relies on stuff that happens after build-lattice, which
+  # makes it pause the entire CI run waiting for this. we accept the
+  # small risk of wasting a build against the near certainty of spending
+  # five minutes running only one job.
+  stage: nonblocking
   retry: 1
   script:
     - echo "Running test-all"