diff --git a/pkg/cli/codemod_pull_request_target_checkout_false.go b/pkg/cli/codemod_pull_request_target_checkout_false.go
index 6975a76b142..331da6551aa 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/codemod_pull_request_target_checkout_false.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/codemod_pull_request_target_checkout_false.go
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ func getPullRequestTargetCheckoutFalseCodemod() Codemod {
 				return content, false, nil
 			}
 
+			if isCheckoutMapping(frontmatter) {
+				pullRequestTargetCheckoutFalseCodemodLog.Print("Skipping pull_request_target checkout codemod: checkout is already a mapping with sub-keys")
+				return content, false, nil
+			}
+
 			if hasExplicitCheckoutCommands(content) {
 				pullRequestTargetCheckoutFalseCodemodLog.Print("Skipping pull_request_target checkout codemod: explicit checkout command detected")
 				return content, false, nil
@@ -81,6 +86,19 @@ func isPullRequestTargetCheckoutDisabled(frontmatter map[string]any) bool {
 	return ok && !checkoutDisabled
 }
 
+// isCheckoutMapping returns true when the frontmatter "checkout" key is a YAML
+// mapping (e.g. sparse-checkout:, fetch-depth:) rather than a scalar or absent.
+// Overwriting a mapping with a scalar would orphan the child keys and produce
+// invalid YAML, so callers should skip the codemod in this case.
+func isCheckoutMapping(frontmatter map[string]any) bool {
+	checkoutAny, hasCheckout := frontmatter["checkout"]
+	if !hasCheckout {
+		return false
+	}
+	_, isMap := checkoutAny.(map[string]any)
+	return isMap
+}
+
 func hasExplicitCheckoutCommands(content string) bool {
 	lowerContent := strings.ToLower(content)
 
@@ -113,6 +131,22 @@ func ensureCheckoutFalseForPullRequestTarget(lines []string) ([]string, bool) {
 		}
 
 		if strings.HasPrefix(trimmed, "checkout:") {
+			// If the checkout line has no inline value, the next indented line
+			// would make this a YAML mapping block.  Replacing it with a scalar
+			// would orphan those child keys and produce invalid YAML.
+			inlineValue := strings.TrimSpace(strings.TrimPrefix(trimmed, "checkout:"))
+			if inlineValue == "" {
+				for j := i + 1; j < len(lines); j++ {
+					next := lines[j]
+					if strings.TrimSpace(next) == "" {
+						continue
+					}
+					if len(next) > 0 && (next[0] == ' ' || next[0] == '\t') {
+						return lines, false
+					}
+					break
+				}
+			}
 			checkoutLine, modified := normalizeCheckoutFalseLine(line)
 			if !modified {
 				return lines, false
diff --git a/pkg/cli/codemod_pull_request_target_checkout_false_test.go b/pkg/cli/codemod_pull_request_target_checkout_false_test.go
index 804cf68cc01..c904d1e5726 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/codemod_pull_request_target_checkout_false_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/codemod_pull_request_target_checkout_false_test.go
@@ -167,4 +167,30 @@ strict: false
 		assert.False(t, applied, "codemod should not apply when strict is false")
 		assert.Equal(t, content, result, "content should remain unchanged")
 	})
+
+	t.Run("does not modify when checkout is a mapping with sub-keys", func(t *testing.T) {
+		content := `---
+description: "Review Azure SDK management-plane PRs"
+on:
+  pull_request_target:
+checkout:
+  sparse-checkout: |
+    .github
+inlined-imports: true
+---
+`
+		frontmatter := map[string]any{
+			"on": map[string]any{
+				"pull_request_target": map[string]any{},
+			},
+			"checkout": map[string]any{
+				"sparse-checkout": ".github\n",
+			},
+		}
+
+		result, applied, err := codemod.Apply(content, frontmatter)
+		require.NoError(t, err, "codemod should not return an error")
+		assert.False(t, applied, "codemod should not apply when checkout is a mapping")
+		assert.Equal(t, content, result, "content should remain unchanged and not corrupt the mapping")
+	})
 }