diff --git a/.github/workflows/claude-review.yaml b/.github/workflows/claude-review.yaml
index 0630d68..dbebe48 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/claude-review.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/claude-review.yaml
@@ -53,11 +53,59 @@ on:
         default: sonnet
     secrets:
       CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN:
-        description: 'Subscription token from `claude setup-token`.  Usage draws on the allowance of whoever generated it.'
-        required: true
+        description: 'Subscription token from `claude setup-token`.  Usage draws on the allowance of whoever generated it.  Not required, so that a run without it - a Dependabot or fork pull request, which GitHub gives no secrets - is skipped with a notice rather than failing.'
+        required: false
 
 jobs:
+  gate:
+    # Decides whether this run can be reviewed at all, before a runner is spent on the review.
+    # GitHub gives no secrets to a run that Dependabot or a fork pull request started, and the
+    # review action rejects a bot actor, so either would otherwise end as a red job on every
+    # such pull request.  Those are skipped by design: bot pull requests are reviewed by hand.
+    # The skip is reported as a notice rather than passed over in silence, so a missing token
+    # in a repository that should have one is visible.
+    #
+    # A fork pull request is refused even when a maintainer asks by comment, by decision: that
+    # run carries the token while the reviewed text is written by someone with no access, who
+    # could steer the verdict.  A refused request gets a reply so it does not look ignored.
+    runs-on: [ubuntu-latest]
+    name: Can this be reviewed
+    timeout-minutes: 2
+    outputs:
+      run: ${{ steps.check.outputs.run }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Check for a token, a human actor and a same-repository branch
+        id: check
+        env:
+          HAS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN != '' }}
+          ACTOR: ${{ github.actor }}
+          EVENT: ${{ github.event_name }}
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          PR: ${{ inputs.pr-number }}
+        run: |
+          # Fetched first and on its own, so a failed lookup stops the job rather than reading
+          # as "not a fork".
+          cross=$(gh pr view "$PR" --repo "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" --json isCrossRepository --jq '.isCrossRepository')
+          if [ "$cross" = true ]; then
+            echo "::notice::Review refused: pull request #$PR comes from a fork, and fork pull requests are not reviewed."
+            if [ "$EVENT" = issue_comment ]; then
+              gh pr comment "$PR" --repo "$GITHUB_REPOSITORY" \
+                --body 'Claude review: refused.  This pull request comes from a fork, and fork pull requests are not reviewed automatically, because the reviewed text is written by someone with no access while the run carries the token.'
+            fi
+            echo "run=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          elif [ "$HAS_TOKEN" != true ]; then
+            echo "::notice::Review skipped: no CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN reached this run.  GitHub withholds secrets from Dependabot and fork pull requests; elsewhere, check the secret is set and passed by the caller."
+            echo "run=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          elif [[ "$ACTOR" == *'[bot]' ]]; then
+            echo "::notice::Review skipped: $ACTOR is a bot, and bot pull requests are reviewed by hand."
+            echo "run=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "run=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          fi
+
   review:
+    needs: gate
+    if: needs.gate.outputs.run == 'true'
     runs-on: [ubuntu-latest]
     name: Review
     # A backstop against a runaway session only.  Coverage is deliberately not capped with
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 13785ab..b42fd20 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -70,6 +70,12 @@ inputs are at the top of `.github/workflows/claude-review.yaml`.
   and the range it covers starts at the last commit a posted review recorded, so commits the
   older one would have reviewed are not skipped.  A burst of pushes during a review produces one
   delta review of all of them.
+- **Bot and fork pull requests are skipped.**  GitHub gives no secrets to a run started by
+  Dependabot or by a fork pull request, and bot pull requests are reviewed by hand, so a gate job
+  skips those runs with a notice instead of failing.  A fork pull request is refused even when a
+  maintainer asks by comment, because that run carries the token over text written by someone
+  with no access; the request gets a reply saying so.  A notice saying no token arrived, on a
+  pull request that is neither, means the secret is missing or not passed.
 - **The caller needs** `contents: read` and `pull-requests: write`, and must pass the secret
   explicitly.