diff --git a/.github/workflows/check_amalgamation.yml b/.github/workflows/check_amalgamation.yml
index 60a3f8240..3ba8ba4be 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check_amalgamation.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check_amalgamation.yml
@@ -67,8 +67,18 @@ jobs:
           ${{ github.workspace }}/venv/bin/astyle --project=tools/astyle/.astylerc --suffix=none --quiet \
             $INCLUDE_DIR/json.hpp $INCLUDE_DIR/json_fwd.hpp
 
+          # fail loudly if a directory is renamed or removed: find would only warn
+          # about the missing path and silently drop its files from the check
+          SOURCE_DIRS="docs/mkdocs/docs/examples include tests"
+          for DIR in $SOURCE_DIRS; do
+            if [ ! -d "$DIR" ]; then
+              echo "::error::source directory '$DIR' does not exist"
+              exit 1
+            fi
+          done
+
           ${{ github.workspace }}/venv/bin/astyle --project=tools/astyle/.astylerc --suffix=none --quiet \
-            $(find docs/examples include tests -type f \( -name '*.hpp' -o -name '*.cpp' -o -name '*.cu' \) -not -path 'tests/thirdparty/*' -not -path 'tests/abi/include/nlohmann/*' | sort)
+            $(find $SOURCE_DIRS -type f \( -name '*.hpp' -o -name '*.cpp' -o -name '*.cu' \) -not -path 'tests/thirdparty/*' -not -path 'tests/abi/include/nlohmann/*' | sort)
 
       - name: Build patch and check for differences
         id: diff
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish_documentation.yml b/.github/workflows/publish_documentation.yml
index d0066885e..b67a3a851 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish_documentation.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish_documentation.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ on:
       - develop
     paths:
       - docs/mkdocs/**
-      - docs/examples/**
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 # we don't want to have concurrent jobs, and we don't want to cancel running jobs to avoid broken publications
diff --git a/cmake/ci.cmake b/cmake/ci.cmake
index 9cc850564..6b1d325d8 100644
--- a/cmake/ci.cmake
+++ b/cmake/ci.cmake
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ file(GLOB_RECURSE INDENT_FILES
         ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/tests/src/*.cpp
         ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/tests/src/*.hpp
         ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/tests/benchmarks/src/benchmarks.cpp
-    ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/docs/examples/*.cpp
+    ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/docs/mkdocs/docs/examples/*.cpp
 )
 
 set(include_dir ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/single_include/nlohmann)