diff --git a/catalog/snippets/workflows/test-pull-request-smoke.yml b/catalog/snippets/workflows/test-pull-request-smoke.yml
index f4c8c0d0..0a5c47f1 100644
--- a/catalog/snippets/workflows/test-pull-request-smoke.yml
+++ b/catalog/snippets/workflows/test-pull-request-smoke.yml
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ jobs:
   smoke-build:
     name: Smoke build job
     needs: [changes]
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.release == 'true'
+    if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || needs.changes.outputs.release == 'true'
     uses: ptr727/ProjectTemplate/.github/workflows/build-release-task.yml@6c88850128629bb449fd73c7fbf82968c6cd1557 # 2.0.587
     permissions:
       contents: read
diff --git a/docs/reusable-workflows.md b/docs/reusable-workflows.md
index b2b37669..9b7dab5a 100644
--- a/docs/reusable-workflows.md
+++ b/docs/reusable-workflows.md
@@ -355,7 +355,7 @@ jobs:
   smoke-build:
     name: Smoke build job
     needs: [changes]
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.release == 'true'
+    if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || needs.changes.outputs.release == 'true'
     uses: ptr727/ProjectTemplate/.github/workflows/build-release-task.yml@6c88850128629bb449fd73c7fbf82968c6cd1557 # 2.0.587
     permissions:
       contents: read
diff --git a/tests/test_release_guards.py b/tests/test_release_guards.py
index fc66f118..79c30d7c 100755
--- a/tests/test_release_guards.py
+++ b/tests/test_release_guards.py
@@ -722,6 +722,10 @@ def test_smoke_caller_stub_is_its_snippet_byte_for_byte(self) -> None:
         blocks = yaml_blocks((REPO / "docs/reusable-workflows.md").read_text(encoding="utf-8"))
         self.assertIn(stub, blocks)
         self.assertIn("smoke: true", stub)
+        self.assertIn(
+            "    if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || needs.changes.outputs.release == 'true'\n",
+            stub,
+        )
 
     def test_release_asset_hook_upload_stays_with_the_task(self) -> None:
         workflow = (REPO / ".github/workflows/build-release-task.yml").read_text(encoding="utf-8")