diff --git a/.github/actions/validate-requirements/action.yml b/.github/actions/validate-requirements/action.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..37c2ee4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/validate-requirements/action.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+name: "Validate requirements"
+
+description: |
+  Reject direct edits to `requirements.txt` by humans: the action fails if
+  any commit touching the file in the compare range appears to be authored by a
+  human or otherwise not from an allowed bot (unless the commit message exactly
+  matches the canonical bot commit message).
+
+inputs:
+  allowed_bots:
+    description: "Comma-separated list of allowed bot author names"
+    required: false
+    default: "github-actions[bot],dependabot[bot]"
+  commit_message_file:
+    description: "Path to file that contains canonical commit message (exact match)"
+    required: false
+    default: ".github/commit-messages/requirements_update.txt"
+
+runs:
+  using: "composite"
+  steps:
+    - name: Checkout repository
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      with:
+        fetch-depth: 0
+
+    - name: Run requirements check
+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        ALLOWED_BOTS: ${{ inputs.allowed_bots }}
+        COMMIT_MSG_FILE: ${{ inputs.commit_message_file }}
+      run: |
+        bash ./.github/actions/validate-requirements/check.sh
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/actions/validate-requirements/check.sh b/.github/actions/validate-requirements/check.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ac5dabcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/validate-requirements/check.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+IFS=$'\n\t'
+
+# Mode: "validate" (default, exits non-zero on human edit) or "detect" (outputs to GITHUB_OUTPUT)
+MODE="${MODE:-validate}"
+ALLOWED_BOTS="${ALLOWED_BOTS:-github-actions[bot],dependabot[bot]}"
+
+# Determine the comparison range
+is_pr=""
+if [ "${GITHUB_EVENT_NAME:-}" = "pull_request" ]; then
+  is_pr=1
+fi
+has_base_ref=""
+if [ -n "${GITHUB_BASE_REF:-}" ]; then
+  has_base_ref=1
+fi
+origin_base_ref_exists=""
+if [ -n "${GITHUB_BASE_REF:-}" ] && git rev-parse --verify "origin/${GITHUB_BASE_REF}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  origin_base_ref_exists=1
+fi
+if [ -n "$is_pr" ] && [ -n "$has_base_ref" ] && [ -n "$origin_base_ref_exists" ]; then
+  BASE_REF="$(git rev-parse "origin/${GITHUB_BASE_REF}")"
+  COMPARE_RANGE="$BASE_REF...HEAD"
+else
+  COMPARE_RANGE="HEAD~1..HEAD"
+fi
+
+# Check if requirements.txt changed
+if ! git diff --name-only $COMPARE_RANGE | grep -q "^requirements.txt$"; then
+  echo "'requirements.txt' unchanged"
+  if [ "$MODE" = "detect" ]; then
+    echo "is_human_edit=false" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/stdout}"
+  fi
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+# Check if requirements.txt differs from base (net change across all commits in range)
+if [ -n "$is_pr" ] && [ -n "$has_base_ref" ] && [ -n "$origin_base_ref_exists" ]; then
+  BASE_REF_PARSED="origin/${GITHUB_BASE_REF}"
+  if git diff --quiet "$BASE_REF_PARSED" HEAD -- requirements.txt; then
+    echo "requirements.txt touched but matches base branch (likely reverted): OK"
+    if [ "$MODE" = "detect" ]; then
+      echo "is_human_edit=false" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/stdout}"
+    fi
+    exit 0
+  fi
+fi
+
+# Get latest commit that touched requirements.txt
+latest_sha=$(git log -1 --pretty=format:'%H' $COMPARE_RANGE -- requirements.txt || true)
+
+if [ -z "$latest_sha" ]; then
+  echo "::error::No commits found touching requirements.txt in range $COMPARE_RANGE"
+  if [ "$MODE" = "detect" ]; then
+    echo "is_human_edit=false" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/stdout}"
+  fi
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+latest_author=$(git show -s --format='%an' "$latest_sha")
+latest_committer=$(git show -s --format='%cn' "$latest_sha")
+latest_message=$(git show -s --format='%B' "$latest_sha")
+latest_subject=$(echo "$latest_message" | head -n1 | sed -e 's/[[:space:]]*$//')
+
+# Build a grep-friendly regex from comma-separated allowed bots
+allowed_regex=$(echo "$ALLOWED_BOTS" | sed 's/,/\\|/g')
+
+# Check 1: author or committer is allowed bot
+if echo "$latest_author" | grep -qE "^($allowed_regex)$" || echo "$latest_committer" | grep -qE "^($allowed_regex)$"; then
+  echo "Latest change by allowed bot: OK"
+  if [ "$MODE" = "detect" ]; then
+    echo "is_human_edit=false" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/stdout}"
+  fi
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+# Check 2: commit message exactly matches canonical message
+if [ -n "${COMMIT_MSG_FILE:-}" ] && [ -f "$COMMIT_MSG_FILE" ]; then
+  canonical_msg=$(sed -n '1p' "$COMMIT_MSG_FILE" | tr -d '\r')
+  if [ "$latest_subject" = "$canonical_msg" ]; then
+    echo "Latest commit message exactly matches canonical bot message: OK"
+    if [ "$MODE" = "detect" ]; then
+      echo "is_human_edit=false" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/stdout}"
+    fi
+    exit 0
+  fi
+fi
+
+# Human edit detected
+if [ "$MODE" = "detect" ]; then
+  echo "is_human_edit=true" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/stdout}"
+  echo "offender_author=$latest_author" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/stdout}"
+  echo "offender_subject=$latest_subject" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/stdout}"
+  echo "Human edit detected"
+  exit 0
+else
+  echo "::error::You may NOT edit 'requirements.txt'"
+  echo "::warning::Undo your changes to requirements.txt, so robot can maintain it."
+  echo "::notice::To pin dependencies, use 'poetry add <package-name>'."
+  echo "Latest commit: $latest_sha"
+  echo "Latest author: $latest_author"
+  echo "Latest committer: $latest_committer"
+  echo "Latest message: \"$latest_subject\""
+  exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/.github/commit-messages/requirements_update.txt b/.github/commit-messages/requirements_update.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..322db8b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/commit-messages/requirements_update.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+chore: auto-update requirements.txt [bot]
diff --git a/.github/workflows/requirements-validate.yml b/.github/workflows/requirements-validate.yml
index de140da0..3f62791d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/requirements-validate.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/requirements-validate.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ on:
 jobs:
   reject-requirements-drift:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    env:
+      COMMIT_MSG_FILE: .github/commit-messages/requirements_update.txt
 
     # Skip if the last commit was from the bot (prevent unnecessary check)
     if: github.event.head_commit.author.name != 'github-actions[bot]'
@@ -19,23 +21,9 @@ jobs:
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0  # full history
 
-      - name: Check if requirements.txt was modified unexpectedly
-        run: |
-          # For PRs, check against base branch
-          # For pushes, check last commit
-          if [ "${{ github.event_name }}" = "pull_request" ]; then
-            BASE_REF="${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}"
-            COMPARE_RANGE="$BASE_REF...HEAD"
-          else
-            COMPARE_RANGE="HEAD~1..HEAD"
-          fi
-
-          # If requirements.txt modified in that range
-          if git diff --name-only $COMPARE_RANGE | grep -q "^requirements.txt$"; then
-            echo "::error::You may NOT edit 'requirements.txt'"
-            echo "::warning::Undo your changes to requirements.txt, so robot can maintain it."
-            echo "::notice::To pin dependencies, use 'poetry add <package-name>'."
-            exit 1
-          fi
+      - name: Validate requirements
+        uses: ./.github/actions/validate-requirements
+        with:
+          allowed_bots: 'github-actions[bot],dependabot[bot]'
+          commit_message_file: ${{ env.COMMIT_MSG_FILE }}
 
-          echo "'requirements.txt' unchanged (or only changed by bot)"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/requirments-sync.yml b/.github/workflows/requirments-sync.yml
index e9cab15a..58d1401c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/requirments-sync.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/requirments-sync.yml
@@ -49,10 +49,37 @@ jobs:
             echo "has_change=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           fi
 
-  commit-requirements-delta:
+  prevent-bot-commit-if-human-edit:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: detect-requirements-delta
     if: needs.detect-requirements-delta.outputs.has_change == 'true'
+    outputs:
+      is_human_edit: ${{ steps.check.outputs.is_human_edit }}
+      offender_author: ${{ steps.check.outputs.offender_author }}
+      offender_subject: ${{ steps.check.outputs.offender_subject }}
+    env:
+      ALLOWED_BOTS: 'github-actions[bot],dependabot[bot]'
+      COMMIT_MSG_FILE: .github/commit-messages/requirements_update.txt
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ github.head_ref || github.ref_name }}
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Check for human edits
+        id: check
+        env:
+          MODE: detect
+        run: bash ./.github/actions/validate-requirements/check.sh
+
+  commit-requirements-delta:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [detect-requirements-delta, prevent-bot-commit-if-human-edit]
+    if: needs.detect-requirements-delta.outputs.has_change == 'true' && needs.prevent-bot-commit-if-human-edit.outputs.is_human_edit == 'false'
+    env:
+      COMMIT_MSG_FILE: .github/commit-messages/requirements_update.txt
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
@@ -83,6 +110,11 @@ jobs:
           if git diff --staged --quiet; then
             echo "No changes to requirements.txt"
           else
-            git commit -m "chore: auto-update requirements.txt [bot]"
+            commit_msg=$(sed -n '1p' "$COMMIT_MSG_FILE" 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\r')
+            if [ -z "$commit_msg" ]; then
+              echo "::error::Missing or empty canonical commit message file: $COMMIT_MSG_FILE"
+              exit 1
+            fi
+            git commit -m "$commit_msg"
             git push
           fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/validate-requirements.yml b/.github/workflows/validate-requirements.yml
index 420c6133..3c43dc16 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/validate-requirements.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/validate-requirements.yml
@@ -7,26 +7,18 @@ on:
 jobs:
   check-requirements:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    env:
+      COMMIT_MSG_FILE: .github/commit-messages/requirements_update.txt
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
-          fetch-depth: 2
+          fetch-depth: 0
 
-      - name: Check if requirements.txt was modified unexpectedly
-        run: |
-          # Get author of last commit
-          AUTHOR=$(git log -1 --pretty=format:'%an')
-
-          # Check if requirements.txt was modified in last commit
-          if git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD | grep -q "^requirements.txt$"; then
-            if [ "$AUTHOR" != "github-actions[bot]" ]; then
-              echo "❌ ERROR: You may NOT edit `requirements.txt`"
-              echo "To pin dependencies, use `poetry add <package-name>`."
-              echo "Please remove your changes to requirements.txt, so the robot can maintain it."
-              exit 1
-            fi
-          fi
+      - name: Validate requirements
+        uses: ./.github/actions/validate-requirements
+        with:
+          allowed_bots: 'github-actions[bot],dependabot[bot]'
+          commit_message_file: ${{ env.COMMIT_MSG_FILE }}
 
-          echo "✅ SUCCESS: `requirements.txt` not modified unexpectedly"
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index 3d87dd73..4e744a0b 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 2.2.1 and should not be changed by hand.
 
+
 [[package]]
 name = "babel"
 version = "2.17.0"
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index df45f168..9bb7d560 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -115,9 +115,9 @@ mkdocs-exclude-search==0.6.6 ; python_version >= "3.10" and python_version < "3.
 mkdocs-include-markdown-plugin==5.1.0 ; python_version >= "3.10" and python_version < "3.13" \
     --hash=sha256:4a1b8d79a0e1b6fd357ca8013a6d1701c755ada4acb74ee97b0642d1afe6756e \
     --hash=sha256:e9ca188ab1d86f5fc4a6b96ce8c85acf6e25f114897868041056ec7945f29f65
-mkdocs-tacc==1.0.0 ; python_version >= "3.10" and python_version < "3.13" \
-    --hash=sha256:5d9f1d4a4b871526f74e92bda8eb52584ece817d1eef5d4064ef40fe6adcf99d \
-    --hash=sha256:cbd107eab1ff1659bc164c84f17055f367097a0b3dfe2ec3b41ef34850f7181c
+mkdocs-tacc==1.0.1 ; python_version >= "3.10" and python_version < "3.13" \
+    --hash=sha256:08b8e0b1ab5bdcdfea493c2f18077723b36569afdd71a23a5d097fb7942799ea \
+    --hash=sha256:f14ac8d3833bb43447cdb91210f6179e85fe5bef92f7d948ac9c50e41ec8e6c0
 mkdocs==1.4.3 ; python_version >= "3.10" and python_version < "3.13" \
     --hash=sha256:5955093bbd4dd2e9403c5afaf57324ad8b04f16886512a3ee6ef828956481c57 \
     --hash=sha256:6ee46d309bda331aac915cd24aab882c179a933bd9e77b80ce7d2eaaa3f689dd