diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 1fbc214d7e5669ce43858500c2075f4cccdb68f7..93d9e585d373cbc94c710e7a14f729612bc7adca 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ format:
   script:
     - scripts/format-cpp.sh
     - scripts/format-cmake.sh
-    - git diff --exit-code 1
+    - git diff > format.patch
+      # Fail when the patch is not empy (note ! can't be used directly.)
+    - (! grep -q '^--- a'  format.patch)
+
   artifacts:
     when: on_failure
     paths: