diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index 192450e3..29ce8e26 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -51,30 +51,34 @@ jobs:
   integration-tests:
     name: Integration Tests
     needs: parse
-    if: ${{ !contains(github.event.release.body, 'skip-integration-tests') }}
     runs-on: ${{ contains(github.server_url, 'github.com') && 'ubuntu-latest' || fromJSON('["self-hosted"]') }}
     permissions:
       contents: read
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout release branch
+        if: ${{ !contains(github.event.release.body, 'skip-integration-tests') }}
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           ref: ${{ needs.parse.outputs.branch }}
           fetch-depth: 0
 
       - name: Set up Python
+        if: ${{ !contains(github.event.release.body, 'skip-integration-tests') }}
         uses: actions/setup-python@v6
         with:
           python-version: "3.11"
 
       - name: Install uv
+        if: ${{ !contains(github.event.release.body, 'skip-integration-tests') }}
         uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v3
 
       - name: Install dependencies
+        if: ${{ !contains(github.event.release.body, 'skip-integration-tests') }}
         run: uv sync --dev
 
       - name: Set up integration test environment
+        if: ${{ !contains(github.event.release.body, 'skip-integration-tests') }}
         env:
           AICORE_CLIENT_ID: ${{ secrets.AICORE_CLIENT_ID }}
           AICORE_CLIENT_SECRET: ${{ secrets.AICORE_CLIENT_SECRET }}
@@ -115,29 +119,19 @@ jobs:
           echo "Integration test environment set up."
 
       - name: Run integration tests
+        if: ${{ !contains(github.event.release.body, 'skip-integration-tests') }}
         run: uv run pytest tests/*/integration/ -v --tb=short
 
-  # ── 3. Gate (absorbs skipped integration-tests so publish is never auto-skipped) ──
-  gate:
-    name: Gate
-    needs: [parse, integration-tests]
-    if: always() && needs.parse.result == 'success' && (needs.integration-tests.result == 'success' || needs.integration-tests.result == 'skipped')
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - run: echo "Gate passed"
-
-  # ── 4. Publish ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+  # ── 3. Publish ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
   publish:
     name: Publish
-    needs: [parse, gate]
-    if: needs.gate.result == 'success'
+    needs: [parse, integration-tests]
+    if: always() && needs.parse.result == 'success' && needs.integration-tests.result == 'success'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     environment: 'pypi:sap-cloud-sdk'
     permissions:
       contents: write
       id-token: write
-    outputs:
-      release_url: ${{ steps.gh_release.outputs.release_url }}
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout release branch
@@ -190,11 +184,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Publish to PyPI
         uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@v1.14.2
 
-  # ── 5. Notify on failure ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
+  # ── 4. Notify on failure ──────────────────────────────────────────────────
   notify-failure:
     name: Notify Failure
-    needs: [parse, gate, publish]
-    if: always() && (needs.parse.result == 'failure' || needs.gate.result == 'failure' || needs.publish.result == 'failure')
+    needs: [parse, integration-tests, publish]
+    if: always() && (needs.parse.result == 'failure' || needs.integration-tests.result == 'failure' || needs.publish.result == 'failure')
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     permissions:
       contents: write