diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 766dfb9dcb70b9de8d7083fd1c6423c44731706a..be25c7c81dceaa2ac71401d25c7980681e64e914 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ variables:
     SPACK_ENV: test
     RELEASE_NAME: EBRAINS-test
   rules:
-    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH && $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE =~ /platform\/esd/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule"
+    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH && $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE =~ /platform\/esd/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push"
 
 # deploy the experimental release of tools once a week from latest working version of int release 
 .deploy-exp-release:
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ build-spack-env-on-runner:
     when: always
   timeout: 2 days
   rules:
-    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule" && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "merge_request_event"
+    - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push"
 
 # this one fills the spack caches and updates the ESD (ebrainslab-variant) images on harbor
 sync-esd-image:
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ sync-esd-image:
   resource_group: registry-esd-master-image
   rules:
     # branches that update the gitlab-runner upstream (read-only) installation and the spack OCI caches
-    - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "experimental_rel" || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^ebrains/) && $CI_PROJECT_PATH =~ /platform\/esd\/ebrains-spack-builds/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule"
+    - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "experimental_rel" || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^ebrains/) && $CI_PROJECT_PATH =~ /platform\/esd\/ebrains-spack-builds/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push"
       when: manual
 
 # update gitlab-runner upstream (read-only) installation
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ sync-gitlab-spack-instance:
     when: always
   rules:
     # branches that update the gitlab-runner upstream (read-only) installation
-    - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "experimental_rel" || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^ebrains/) && $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE =~ /platform\/esd/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE != "schedule"
+    - if: ($CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "experimental_rel" || $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH =~ /^ebrains/) && $CI_PROJECT_NAMESPACE =~ /platform\/esd/ && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push"
       when: manual
 
 # run (scheduled) standalone tests for environment