diff --git a/ci/README.md b/ci/README.md
index 40c3d0ed344b..11b53c6095e6 100644
--- a/ci/README.md
+++ b/ci/README.md
@@ -41,3 +41,58 @@ Why not just build the tooling right from the PRs Nixpkgs version?
 - Because it improves security, since we don't have to build potentially untrusted code from PRs.
   The tool only needs a very minimal Nix evaluation at runtime, which can work with [readonly-mode](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/opt-common.html#opt-readonly-mode) and [restrict-eval](https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/command-ref/conf-file.html#conf-restrict-eval).
 
+## `get-merge-commit.sh GITHUB_REPO PR_NUMBER`
+
+Check whether a PR is mergeable and return the test merge commit as
+[computed by GitHub](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/guides/using-the-rest-api-to-interact-with-your-git-database?apiVersion=2022-11-28#checking-mergeability-of-pull-requests).
+
+Arguments:
+- `GITHUB_REPO`: The repository of the PR, e.g. `NixOS/nixpkgs`
+- `PR_NUMBER`: The PR number, e.g. `1234`
+
+Exit codes:
+- 0: The PR can be merged, the test merge commit hash is returned on stdout
+- 1: The PR cannot be merged because it's not open anymore
+- 2: The PR cannot be merged because it has a merge conflict
+- 3: The merge commit isn't being computed, GitHub is likely having internal issues, unknown if the PR is mergeable
+
+### Usage
+
+This script can be used in GitHub Actions workflows as follows:
+
+```yaml
+on: pull_request_target
+
+# We need a token to query the API, but it doesn't need any special permissions
+permissions: {}
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    name: Build
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      # Important: Because of `pull_request_target`, this doesn't check out the PR,
+      # but rather the base branch of the PR, which is needed so we don't run untrusted code
+      - uses: actions/checkout@<VERSION>
+        with:
+          path: base
+          sparse-checkout: ci
+      - name: Resolving the merge commit
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+        run: |
+          if mergedSha=$(base/ci/get-merge-commit.sh ${{ github.repository }} ${{ github.event.number }}); then
+            echo "Checking the merge commit $mergedSha"
+            echo "mergedSha=$mergedSha" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+          else
+            # Skipping so that no notifications are sent
+            echo "Skipping the rest..."
+          fi
+          rm -rf base
+      - uses: actions/checkout@<VERSION>
+        # Add this to _all_ subsequent steps to skip them
+        if: env.mergedSha
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ env.mergedSha }}
+      - ...
+```
diff --git a/ci/get-merge-commit.sh b/ci/get-merge-commit.sh
index 75fc7fcbe60f..c62bb56dd993 100755
--- a/ci/get-merge-commit.sh
+++ b/ci/get-merge-commit.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-# This checks for mergeability of a pull request as recommended in
-# https://docs.github.com/en/rest/guides/using-the-rest-api-to-interact-with-your-git-database?apiVersion=2022-11-28#checking-mergeability-of-pull-requests
+# See ./README.md for docs
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
@@ -31,14 +30,14 @@ while true; do
     state=$(jq -r .state <<< "$prInfo")
     if [[ "$state" != open ]]; then
         log "PR is not open anymore"
-        exit 2
+        exit 1
     fi
 
     mergeable=$(jq -r .mergeable <<< "$prInfo")
     if [[ "$mergeable" == "null" ]]; then
         if (( retryCount == 0 )); then
             log "Not retrying anymore. It's likely that GitHub is having internal issues: check https://www.githubstatus.com/"
-            exit 1
+            exit 3
         else
             (( retryCount -= 1 )) || true
 
@@ -59,5 +58,5 @@ if [[ "$mergeable" == "true" ]]; then
     jq -r .merge_commit_sha <<< "$prInfo"
 else
     log "The PR has a merge conflict"
-    exit 1
+    exit 2
 fi