diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 6149841aeb..65604838da 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ The [developer guide](https://docs.px4.io/main/en/development/development.html)
 
 ### Coding standards
 
-All C/C++ code must follow the [PX4 coding style](https://docs.px4.io/main/en/contribute/code.html). Formatting is enforced by [astyle](http://astyle.sourceforge.net/) in CI (`make check_format`). Code quality checks run via [clang-tidy](https://clang.llvm.org/extra/clang-tidy/). Pull requests that fail either check will not be merged.
+All C/C++ code must follow the [PX4 coding style](https://docs.px4.io/main/en/contribute/code.html). Formatting is enforced by [astyle](http://astyle.sourceforge.net/) in CI (`make check_format`, ``make format`, `make format_changed`). Code quality checks run via [clang-tidy](https://clang.llvm.org/extra/clang-tidy/). Pull requests that fail either check will not be merged.
 
 Python code is checked with [mypy](https://mypy-lang.org/) and [flake8](https://flake8.pycqa.org/).
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 7c57f15727..7ccdbc2b33 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ px4_metadata: parameters_metadata airframe_metadata module_documentation extract
 
 # Style
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
-.PHONY: check_format format check_newlines
+.PHONY: check_format format format_changed check_newlines
 
 check_format:
 	$(call colorecho,'Checking formatting with astyle')
@@ -415,6 +415,10 @@ format:
 	$(call colorecho,'Formatting with astyle')
 	@"$(SRC_DIR)"/Tools/astyle/check_code_style_all.sh --fix
 
+format_changed:
+	$(call colorecho,'Formatting changed files with astyle')
+	@"$(SRC_DIR)"/Tools/astyle/check_code_style_all.sh --fix --diff-only
+
 check_newlines:
 	$(call colorecho,'Checking for missing or duplicate newlines at the end of files')
 	@"$(SRC_DIR)"/Tools/astyle/check_newlines.sh
diff --git a/Tools/astyle/check_code_style.sh b/Tools/astyle/check_code_style.sh
index c68b32a9a2..a25fe62e8b 100755
--- a/Tools/astyle/check_code_style.sh
+++ b/Tools/astyle/check_code_style.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ if [ -n "$CHECK_FAILED" ]; then
 	if [[ $PX4_ASTYLE_FIX -eq 1 ]]; then
 		${DIR}/fix_code_style.sh $FILE
 	else
-		echo 'to fix automatically run "make format" or "./Tools/astyle/fix_code_style.sh' $FILE'"'
+		echo 'to fix automatically run "make format", "make format_changed" or "./Tools/astyle/fix_code_style.sh' $FILE'"'
 		exit 1
 	fi
 fi
diff --git a/Tools/astyle/check_code_style_all.sh b/Tools/astyle/check_code_style_all.sh
index 462a1358e3..871ab62256 100755
--- a/Tools/astyle/check_code_style_all.sh
+++ b/Tools/astyle/check_code_style_all.sh
@@ -36,9 +36,13 @@ fi
 CI="${CI:-false}"
 DIR=$(cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd)
 
-if [[ "$@" == "--fix" ]]; then
-    export PX4_ASTYLE_FIX=1
-fi
+DIFF_ONLY=false
+for arg in "$@"; do
+    case "$arg" in
+        --fix) export PX4_ASTYLE_FIX=1 ;;
+        --diff-only) DIFF_ONLY=true ;;
+    esac
+done
 
 
 # install git pre-commit hook
@@ -59,7 +63,24 @@ if [[ ! -f "$HOOK_FILE" && "$CI" != "true" && $- == *i* ]]; then
 	fi
 fi
 
-${DIR}/files_to_check_code_style.sh | xargs -P 8 -I % ${DIR}/check_code_style.sh %
+FILE_LIST=$(${DIR}/files_to_check_code_style.sh)
+
+if [ "$DIFF_ONLY" = true ]; then
+    # --diff-filter=d: do not list deleted files (no need to format)
+    CHANGED=$(git -C "$DIR/../.." diff --name-only --diff-filter=d HEAD -- '*.c' '*.h' '*.cpp' '*.hpp')
+    if [ -z "$CHANGED" ]; then
+        FILE_LIST=""
+    else
+        FILE_LIST=$(echo "$FILE_LIST" | grep -Fx -f <(echo "$CHANGED") || true)
+    fi
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$FILE_LIST" ]; then
+    echo "No files to check"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+echo "$FILE_LIST" | xargs -P 8 -I % ${DIR}/check_code_style.sh %
 
 if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
     echo "Format checks passed"