diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml b/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml
index 12b1ac98ac871..a4005d5b8dfa6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml
@@ -931,7 +931,12 @@ jobs:
           docker compose -f ./docker-compose/docker-compose.yml down
 
   promote-images:
-    needs: [ check-permissions, tag, test-images, vm-compute-node-image ]
+    needs: >
+      ${{ fromJson(
+        (github.ref_name == 'main' || github.ref_name == 'release' || github.ref_name == 'release-proxy' || github.ref_name == 'release-compute' || github.ref_name == 'jcgruenhage/promote-images-while-test-images')
+          && '[ check-permissions, tag, test-images, vm-compute-node-image ]'
+          || '[ check-permissions, tag, vm-compute-node-image ]'
+      ) }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
 
     permissions: