diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs.yml b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
index f1709a440..f7be7c9bf 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs.yml
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           python ./dev/run_doc_benchmarks.py --spark-version 4.0.0
 
+      - name: Set mtime to git-time for doc files
+        run: |
+          python ./dev/restore_mtime.py
+
       - name: Build with Laika
         run: |
           ./build/sbt -Dspark.version=4.0.0 -Ddocs.mode=production "docs/laikaHTML"
diff --git a/dev/restore_mtime.py b/dev/restore_mtime.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7096aeaaa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/restore_mtime.py
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+#
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one or more
+# contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file distributed with
+# this work for additional information regarding copyright ownership.
+# The ASF licenses this file to You under the Apache License, Version 2.0
+# (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with
+# the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+
+
+"""Restore mtime of markdown files to their last git commit time."""
+
+import subprocess
+from pathlib import Path
+
+
+def get_git_mtime(filepath: str) -> str | None:
+    """Get the last commit time for a file in ISO format."""
+    try:
+        result = subprocess.run(
+            ["git", "log", "-1", "--format=%cI", "--", filepath],
+            capture_output=True,
+            text=True,
+            check=True,
+        )
+        return result.stdout.strip() or None
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+        return None
+
+
+def set_mtime(filepath: str, timestamp: str) -> bool:
+    """Set file mtime using touch -d."""
+    try:
+        _ = subprocess.run(
+            ["touch", "-d", timestamp, filepath],
+            check=True,
+        )
+        return True
+    except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+        return False
+
+
+def main():
+    repo_root = Path(__file__).resolve().parent.parent
+    docs_dir = (repo_root / "docs" / "src").resolve()
+
+    if not docs_dir.exists():
+        print(f"❌ Directory {docs_dir} does not exist")
+        return 1
+
+    md_files = list(docs_dir.rglob("*.md"))
+    print(f"📁 Found {len(md_files)} markdown files in {docs_dir}")
+
+    success_count = 0
+    error_count = 0
+
+    for filepath in sorted(md_files):
+        rel_path = filepath.as_posix()
+
+        git_time = get_git_mtime(rel_path)
+        if not git_time:
+            print(f"⚠️  {rel_path}: no git history found, skipping")
+            error_count += 1
+            continue
+
+        if set_mtime(rel_path, git_time):
+            print(f"✅ {rel_path}: mtime set to {git_time}")
+            success_count += 1
+        else:
+            print(f"❌ {rel_path}: failed to set mtime")
+            error_count += 1
+
+    print(f"\n📊 Done: {success_count} updated, {error_count} errors/skipped")
+    return 0 if error_count == 0 else 1
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    raise SystemExit(main())