diff --git a/decorate-pr/action.yml b/decorate-pr/action.yml
index 193ef99..b8253c0 100644
--- a/decorate-pr/action.yml
+++ b/decorate-pr/action.yml
@@ -31,6 +31,42 @@ inputs:
       workflow token.
     required: false
     default: ''
+  enable-changelog-gate:
+    description: >
+      Enable changelog gate validation. Validates that qualifying changes
+      include entries in the Unreleased section of CHANGELOG.
+    required: false
+    default: 'false'
+  changelog-gate-mode:
+    description: >
+      Gate mode: 'strict' fails the job if validation fails; 'soft' warns
+      via PR comment only.
+    required: false
+    default: 'soft'
+  changelog-gate-required-for:
+    description: >
+      Comma-separated types of changes that require changelog entries.
+      Valid: code, behavior, security, workflow, tooling.
+    required: false
+    default: 'code,behavior,security,workflow,tooling'
+  changelog-gate-allow-docs-only:
+    description: >
+      Allow PRs that only modify documentation files to skip changelog
+      requirement.
+    required: false
+    default: 'true'
+  changelog-gate-docs-globs:
+    description: >
+      Comma-separated glob patterns for files that are considered
+      documentation (case-insensitive).
+    required: false
+    default: 'docs/**,**.md,**.txt,**.rst'
+  changelog-gate-skip-labels:
+    description: >
+      Comma-separated PR labels that exempt a PR from changelog requirement.
+      Example: skip-changelog.
+    required: false
+    default: ''
 
 outputs:
   comment-id:
@@ -39,6 +75,25 @@ outputs:
   comment-url:
     description: URL to the posted or updated PR comment.
     value: ${{ steps.post-comment.outputs.comment_url }}
+  gate-passed:
+    description: >
+      Whether changelog gate validation passed (true/false). Only set when
+      gate is enabled.
+    value: ${{ steps.changelog-gate.outputs.gate_passed }}
+  docs-only:
+    description: >
+      Whether PR is docs-only (true/false). Only set when gate is enabled.
+    value: ${{ steps.changelog-gate.outputs.docs_only }}
+  unreleased-additions-count:
+    description: >
+      Number of lines added to Unreleased section in this PR. Only set when
+      gate is enabled.
+    value: ${{ steps.changelog-gate.outputs.unreleased_additions_count }}
+  gate-failure-reason:
+    description: >
+      Human-readable reason for gate failure, if applicable. Only set when
+      gate is enabled and failed.
+    value: ${{ steps.changelog-gate.outputs.failure_reason }}
 
 runs:
   using: composite
@@ -124,6 +179,187 @@ runs:
         
         rm -f "$tmp_file"
 
+    - name: Validate changelog gate
+      id: changelog-gate
+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        ENABLE_GATE: ${{ inputs.enable-changelog-gate }}
+        GATE_MODE: ${{ inputs.changelog-gate-mode }}
+        REQUIRED_FOR: ${{ inputs.changelog-gate-required-for }}
+        ALLOW_DOCS_ONLY: ${{ inputs.changelog-gate-allow-docs-only }}
+        DOCS_GLOBS: ${{ inputs.changelog-gate-docs-globs }}
+        SKIP_LABELS: ${{ inputs.changelog-gate-skip-labels }}
+        CHANGELOG: ${{ inputs.changelog }}
+        PR_NUMBER: ${{ steps.validate.outputs.pr_number }}
+        SERVER_URL: ${{ github.server_url }}
+        REPOSITORY: ${{ github.repository }}
+        AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ inputs.token != '' && inputs.token || github.token }}
+      run: |
+        set -euo pipefail
+
+        # If gate is disabled, skip
+        if [[ "$ENABLE_GATE" != "true" ]]; then
+          echo "gate_enabled=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          exit 0
+        fi
+
+        api_url="${SERVER_URL}/api/v1"
+        if [[ "$SERVER_URL" == *"github.com"* ]]; then
+          api_url="https://api.github.com"
+        fi
+
+        # Get PR labels
+        pr_url="${api_url}/repos/${REPOSITORY}/pulls/${PR_NUMBER}"
+        pr_data=$(curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" "$pr_url")
+        pr_labels=$(printf '%s' "$pr_data" | jq -r '.labels[].name' 2>/dev/null | tr '\n' ',' || echo "")
+
+        # Check skip labels
+        if [[ -n "$SKIP_LABELS" ]]; then
+          IFS=',' read -ra skip_array <<< "$SKIP_LABELS"
+          for skip_label in "${skip_array[@]}"; do
+            skip_label="${skip_label// /}"
+            if [[ ",$pr_labels," == *",$skip_label,"* ]]; then
+              printf 'gate_passed=true\n' >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+              printf 'docs_only=false\n' >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+              printf 'unreleased_additions_count=0\n' >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+              printf 'skip_reason=skip_label_detected\n' >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+              exit 0
+            fi
+          done
+        fi
+
+        # Get PR diff
+        diff_url="${api_url}/repos/${REPOSITORY}/pulls/${PR_NUMBER}/files"
+        diff_data=$(curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" "$diff_url")
+
+        # Determine if PR only modifies docs
+        total_files=$(printf '%s' "$diff_data" | jq 'length' 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+        docs_only_true=true
+        has_qualifying_changes=false
+
+        if [[ "$total_files" -gt 0 ]]; then
+          printf '%s' "$diff_data" | jq -r '.[].filename' 2>/dev/null | while read -r filename; do
+            # Check if file matches docs globs
+            is_doc=false
+            IFS=',' read -ra glob_array <<< "$DOCS_GLOBS"
+            for glob in "${glob_array[@]}"; do
+              glob="${glob// /}"
+              # Simple glob matching (case-insensitive)
+              if [[ "${filename,,}" == ${glob,,} ]] || [[ "${filename,,}" == *"/${glob,,}" ]]; then
+                is_doc=true
+                break
+              fi
+            done
+
+            # .md files are always docs unless they're actual code docs with changes
+            if [[ "$filename" == *.md ]]; then
+              is_doc=true
+            fi
+
+            if [[ "$is_doc" != "true" ]]; then
+              docs_only_true=false
+            fi
+          done
+        fi
+
+        # Get changeset for changelog file
+        changelog_diff=""
+        if [[ -f "$CHANGELOG" ]]; then
+          changelog_diff=$(printf '%s' "$diff_data" | jq -r ".[] | select(.filename == \"$CHANGELOG\") | .patch" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+        fi
+
+        # Count additions to Unreleased section in changelog diff
+        unreleased_additions=0
+        if [[ -n "$changelog_diff" ]]; then
+          # Find lines added within Unreleased section
+          in_unreleased=false
+          while IFS= read -r line; do
+            # Skip processing metadata lines
+            [[ "$line" =~ ^(\+\+\+|---|@@) ]] && continue
+
+            # Check if entering Unreleased section
+            if [[ "$line" == "+## [Unreleased]"* ]] || [[ "$line" == " ## [Unreleased]"* ]]; then
+              in_unreleased=true
+              continue
+            fi
+
+            # Check if exiting Unreleased section
+            if [[ "$line" == "+## ["* ]] || [[ "$line" == " ## ["* ]]; then
+              if [[ "$line" != "+## [Unreleased]"* ]] && [[ "$line" != " ## [Unreleased]"* ]]; then
+                in_unreleased=false
+              fi
+              continue
+            fi
+
+            # Count non-empty additions in Unreleased
+            if $in_unreleased && [[ "$line" == "+"* ]] && [[ ! "$line" =~ ^(\+\+\+|---|@@) ]]; then
+              content="${line:1}"  # Remove the '+' prefix
+              if [[ -n "${content// /}" ]]; then  # Check if not just whitespace
+                unreleased_additions=$((unreleased_additions + 1))
+              fi
+            fi
+          done <<< "$changelog_diff"
+        fi
+
+        # Evaluate gate
+        gate_passed=true
+        failure_reason=""
+
+        if [[ "$docs_only_true" == "true" ]] && [[ "$ALLOW_DOCS_ONLY" == "true" ]]; then
+          gate_passed=true
+          docs_only=true
+        else
+          docs_only=false
+          # Check if code requires changelog entry
+          if [[ "$total_files" -gt 0 ]] && [[ "$unreleased_additions" -eq 0 ]]; then
+            gate_passed=false
+            failure_reason="Code changes detected but no entries added to Unreleased section of CHANGELOG.md"
+          fi
+        fi
+
+        printf 'gate_enabled=true\n' >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        printf 'gate_passed=%s\n' "$gate_passed" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        printf 'docs_only=%s\n' "$docs_only" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        printf 'unreleased_additions_count=%s\n' "$unreleased_additions" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        printf 'failure_reason=%s\n' "$failure_reason" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+        # Fail job if strict mode and gate failed
+        if [[ "$GATE_MODE" == "strict" ]] && [[ "$gate_passed" != "true" ]]; then
+          echo "$failure_reason" >&2
+          exit 1
+        fi
+    - name: Extract changelog unreleased entries
+      id: extract-changelog
+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        CHANGELOG: ${{ inputs.changelog }}
+      run: |
+        set -euo pipefail
+
+        if [[ ! -f "$CHANGELOG" ]]; then
+          printf 'unreleased_entries=%s\n' "" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          exit 0
+        fi
+
+        # Extract everything between [Unreleased] header and the next [X.Y.Z] header
+        unreleased="$(awk '
+          /^## \[Unreleased\]/ { in_unreleased=1; next }
+          /^## \[[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\]/ { if (in_unreleased) exit }
+          in_unreleased && NF { print }
+        ' "$CHANGELOG")"
+
+        # Use a temporary file to handle multiline content
+        tmp_file=$(mktemp)
+        printf '%s' "$unreleased" > "$tmp_file"
+        
+        # Read it back and set as output
+        delimiter="EOF_CHANGELOG"
+        printf '%s<<%s\n' "unreleased_entries<<$delimiter" "$delimiter" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        cat "$tmp_file" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        printf '%s\n' "$delimiter" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        
+        rm -f "$tmp_file"
+
     - name: Build PR comment markdown
       id: build-comment
       shell: bash
@@ -132,6 +368,12 @@ runs:
         COVERAGE_PCT: ${{ inputs.coverage-percentage }}
         BADGE_URL: ${{ inputs.badge-url }}
         UNRELEASED: ${{ steps.extract-changelog.outputs.unreleased_entries }}
+        GATE_ENABLED: ${{ steps.changelog-gate.outputs.gate_enabled }}
+        GATE_PASSED: ${{ steps.changelog-gate.outputs.gate_passed }}
+        GATE_MODE: ${{ inputs.changelog-gate-mode }}
+        DOCS_ONLY: ${{ steps.changelog-gate.outputs.docs_only }}
+        ADDITIONS_COUNT: ${{ steps.changelog-gate.outputs.unreleased_additions_count }}
+        FAILURE_REASON: ${{ steps.changelog-gate.outputs.gate_failure_reason }}
       run: |
         set -euo pipefail
 
@@ -154,6 +396,56 @@ EOF
 
 EOF
         
+        # Changelog gate section (if enabled)
+        if [[ "$GATE_ENABLED" == "true" ]]; then
+          gate_status="✓ Pass"
+          if [[ "$GATE_PASSED" != "true" ]]; then
+            if [[ "$GATE_MODE" == "strict" ]]; then
+              gate_status="✗ Fail"
+            else
+              gate_status="⚠ Warning"
+            fi
+          fi
+
+          cat >> "$tmp_file" << EOF
+
+### Changelog Gate
+**Status:** $gate_status
+
+EOF
+          
+          if [[ "$DOCS_ONLY" == "true" ]]; then
+            cat >> "$tmp_file" << 'EOF'
+This PR only modifies documentation—changelog entry not required.
+
+EOF
+          elif [[ "$GATE_PASSED" == "true" ]]; then
+            cat >> "$tmp_file" << EOF
+Found $ADDITIONS_COUNT line(s) added to Unreleased section ✓
+
+EOF
+          else
+            cat >> "$tmp_file" << EOF
+**Issue:** $FAILURE_REASON
+
+**How to fix:** Add an entry under the appropriate subsection in the \`## [Unreleased]\` section of \`CHANGELOG.md\`. Use one of:
+- \`### Breaking\` for backwards-incompatible changes
+- \`### Added\` for new features
+- \`### Changed\` for behavior changes
+- \`### Removed\` for deprecated removals
+- \`### Fixed\` for bug fixes
+
+Example:
+\`\`\`markdown
+## [Unreleased]
+### Added
+- New changelog gate validation for PR decoration.
+\`\`\`
+
+EOF
+          fi
+        fi
+        
         # Changelog section
         if [[ -n "$UNRELEASED" ]]; then
           cat >> "$tmp_file" << 'EOF'