diff --git a/apps/backend/scripts/generate-docs.ts b/apps/backend/scripts/generate-docs.ts
index d10f1b210..d56722a51 100644
--- a/apps/backend/scripts/generate-docs.ts
+++ b/apps/backend/scripts/generate-docs.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 import { parseOpenAPI, parseWebhookOpenAPI } from '@/lib/openapi';
 import { isSmartRouteHandler } from '@/route-handlers/smart-route-handler';
 import { webhookEvents } from '@stackframe/stack-shared/dist/interface/webhooks';
+import { writeFileSyncIfChanged } from '@stackframe/stack-shared/dist/utils/fs';
 import { HTTP_METHODS } from '@stackframe/stack-shared/dist/utils/http';
 import { typedKeys } from '@stackframe/stack-shared/dist/utils/objects';
-import fs from 'fs';
 import { glob } from 'glob';
 import path from 'path';
 import yaml from 'yaml';
@@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ async function main() {
       }))),
       audience,
     }));
-    fs.writeFileSync(`../../docs/fern/openapi/${audience}.yaml`, openAPISchema);
+    writeFileSyncIfChanged(`../../docs/fern/openapi/${audience}.yaml`, openAPISchema);
 
     const webhookOpenAPISchema = yaml.stringify(parseWebhookOpenAPI({
       webhooks: webhookEvents,
     }));
-    fs.writeFileSync(`../../docs/fern/openapi/webhooks.yaml`, webhookOpenAPISchema);
+    writeFileSyncIfChanged(`../../docs/fern/openapi/webhooks.yaml`, webhookOpenAPISchema);
   }
   console.log("Successfully updated docs schemas");
 }
diff --git a/packages/stack-shared/src/utils/fs.tsx b/packages/stack-shared/src/utils/fs.tsx
index 09426c7bf..613c2cb1e 100644
--- a/packages/stack-shared/src/utils/fs.tsx
+++ b/packages/stack-shared/src/utils/fs.tsx
@@ -21,3 +21,13 @@ export async function listRecursively(p: string, options: { excludeDirectories?:
     }))).flat(),
   ];
 }
+
+export function writeFileSyncIfChanged(path: string, content: string): void {
+  if (stackFs.existsSync(path)) {
+    const existingContent = stackFs.readFileSync(path, "utf-8");
+    if (existingContent === content) {
+      return;
+    }
+  }
+  stackFs.writeFileSync(path, content);
+}
diff --git a/packages/template/scripts/merge-quetzal-translations.ts b/packages/template/scripts/merge-quetzal-translations.ts
index d7aacae2e..582ec30a6 100644
--- a/packages/template/scripts/merge-quetzal-translations.ts
+++ b/packages/template/scripts/merge-quetzal-translations.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { writeFileSyncIfChanged } from "@stackframe/stack-shared/dist/utils/fs";
 import { deindent, stringCompare } from "@stackframe/stack-shared/dist/utils/strings";
 import * as fs from "fs";
 import * as path from "path";
@@ -34,7 +35,7 @@ async function main() {
     }
   }
 
-  fs.writeFileSync("src/generated/quetzal-translations.ts", deindent`
+  writeFileSyncIfChanged("src/generated/quetzal-translations.ts", deindent`
     // THIS FILE IS AUTO-GENERATED BY THE \`merge-quetzal-translations.ts\` SCRIPT.
     // DO NOT EDIT IT BY HAND.
 
diff --git a/packages/template/scripts/process-css.ts b/packages/template/scripts/process-css.ts
index 4600f1e98..3d091f911 100644
--- a/packages/template/scripts/process-css.ts
+++ b/packages/template/scripts/process-css.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { writeFileSyncIfChanged } from '@stackframe/stack-shared/dist/utils/fs';
 import { replaceAll } from '@stackframe/stack-shared/dist/utils/strings';
 import autoprefixer from 'autoprefixer';
 import * as fs from 'fs';
@@ -45,12 +46,12 @@ async function main() {
   }
 
   // output css file for debugging
-  fs.writeFileSync(outputPath.replace(/\.ts$/, '.css'), content);
+  writeFileSyncIfChanged(outputPath.replace(/\.ts$/, '.css'), content);
 
   content = JSON.stringify(content);
   content = `export const globalCSS = ${content};\n`;
 
-  fs.writeFileSync(outputPath, content);
+  writeFileSyncIfChanged(outputPath, content);
 
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/generate-from-template.ts b/scripts/generate-from-template.ts
index 8cc79df78..dcf90a190 100644
--- a/scripts/generate-from-template.ts
+++ b/scripts/generate-from-template.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+// This file needs to run without any dependencies.
+
 import fs from "fs";
 import path from "path";
 
@@ -448,8 +450,6 @@ function writeFileSyncIfChanged(path: string, content: string): void {
   fs.writeFileSync(path, content);
 }
 
-
-
 // Copy package-template.json to package.json and apply macros
 const packageTemplateContent = fs.readFileSync(path.join(srcDir, 'package-template.json'), 'utf-8');
 const processedPackageJson = processMacros(packageTemplateContent, allEnvs);