diff --git a/.github/workflows/server-image.yml b/.github/workflows/server-image.yml
index b02b69b2..fcef121c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/server-image.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/server-image.yml
@@ -114,8 +114,7 @@ jobs:
   publish:
     if: >-
       github.repository == 'ajisaacs/OpenNest' &&
-      ((github.event_name == 'release' && github.event.release.prerelease == false) ||
-       (github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'))
+      github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 40
     permissions:
diff --git a/docs/releasing.md b/docs/releasing.md
index 25f43418..190a18ba 100644
--- a/docs/releasing.md
+++ b/docs/releasing.md
@@ -72,16 +72,13 @@ or attestations (`--provenance=false --sbom=false`), and runs the real-client
 container persistence/backup/restore smoke. A Windows `v*` tag build alone never
 publishes a server image.
 
-Publication requires owner-approved release intent: a **published, non-prerelease GitHub Release**
-or an explicit `Server image` dispatch **from `master`**, naming an existing strict
-`vX.Y.Z` tag (no prerelease suffix, leading zero, or extra suffix). GitHub pre-releases
-publish only the Windows assets; they skip the server image publish and verification
-jobs. Changing a pre-release to a full release later is a separate publication
-decision. The tag must resolve to
-a full commit already on `master`. For a published Release, that peeled commit
-must also equal the event's full `GITHUB_SHA`; a retargeted tag is refused. Manual
-dispatch intentionally resolves the approved existing tag, not the workflow's
-`master` SHA. The job checks out that exact source, reruns all
+Publication requires an explicit, owner-approved `Server image` dispatch **from
+`master`**, naming an existing strict `vX.Y.Z` tag (no prerelease suffix, leading
+zero, or extra suffix). Publishing a GitHub Release, stable or pre-release, only
+validates the image; it never publishes it, so a desktop release and a server image
+release are separate decisions. The tag must resolve to a full commit already on
+`master`. The dispatch intentionally resolves the approved existing tag, not the
+workflow's `master` SHA. The job checks out that exact source, reruns all
 server/image gates, and pushes the *same smoked image* to
 `ghcr.io/ajisaacs/opennest-server:X.Y.Z` and `:sha-<full-commit>` only. Both tags must
 be absent; retries after even a partial upload stop instead of overwriting. There
diff --git a/scripts/test_server_image_release.py b/scripts/test_server_image_release.py
index 72e18c02..30536cf7 100644
--- a/scripts/test_server_image_release.py
+++ b/scripts/test_server_image_release.py
@@ -698,11 +698,12 @@ class ImmutableTagCollisions(unittest.TestCase):
 
 
 class WorkflowBehavior(unittest.TestCase):
-    def test_prerelease_skips_ghcr_publish_but_stable_release_and_manual_dispatch_remain(self):
+    def test_only_a_manual_dispatch_from_master_publishes_to_ghcr(self):
         workflow = pathlib.Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1] / ".github/workflows/server-image.yml"
         publish = workflow.read_text().split("\n  publish:\n", 1)[1].split("\n  verify-published:\n", 1)[0]
         condition = publish.split("    if: >-\n", 1)[1].split("    runs-on:", 1)[0]
-        self.assertIn("github.event_name == 'release' && github.event.release.prerelease == false", condition)
+        # Publishing a GitHub Release, stable or pre-release, never publishes the image.
+        self.assertNotIn("'release'", condition)
         self.assertIn("github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'", condition)
 
     def test_build_log_pipeline_preserves_docker_failure(self):