diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-publish-mcr.yml b/.github/workflows/build-publish-mcr.yml
index 4f7b93bf6..7fa571b27 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-publish-mcr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-publish-mcr.yml
@@ -3,47 +3,24 @@
 
 name: Build and publish to MCR
 on:
-  workflow_dispatch:
-    inputs:
-      releaseTag:
-        description: 'Release tag to publish, defaults to the latest one'
-        type: string
+  push:
+    # Only release on supported semantic version tagging e.g. v0.0.1-rc.0
+    tags:
+      - 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+'
+      - 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+-rc.[0-9]+'
+      - 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+-alpha.[0-9]+'
+      - 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+-beta.[0-9]+'
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
 
 jobs:
-  prepare-variables:
-    runs-on:
-      labels: [self-hosted, "1ES.Pool=${{ vars.RELEASE_1ES_POOL }}"]
-    outputs:
-      release_tag: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.release_tag }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Harden Runner
-        uses: step-security/harden-runner@17d0e2bd7d51742c71671bd19fa12bdc9d40a3d6 # v2.8.1
-        with:
-          egress-policy: audit
-
-      - uses: actions/checkout@a5ac7e51b41094c92402da3b24376905380afc29 # v4.1.6
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: 'Set output variables'
-        id: vars
-        run: |
-          RELEASE_TAG=${{ inputs.releaseTag }}
-          if [ -z "$RELEASE_TAG" ]; then
-            RELEASE_TAG="$(git describe --tags "$(git rev-list --tags --max-count=1)")"
-            echo "The user input release tag is empty, will use the latest tag $RELEASE_TAG."
-          fi
-          echo "release_tag=$RELEASE_TAG" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
   publish-images:
     permissions:
       contents: read
       id-token: write # This is required for requesting the JWT
     runs-on:
       labels: [self-hosted, "1ES.Pool=${{ vars.RELEASE_1ES_POOL }}"]
-    needs: prepare-variables
     steps:
     - name: Harden Runner
       uses: step-security/harden-runner@17d0e2bd7d51742c71671bd19fa12bdc9d40a3d6 # v2.8.1
@@ -52,7 +29,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - uses: actions/checkout@a5ac7e51b41094c92402da3b24376905380afc29 # v4.1.6
       with:
-        ref: ${{ needs.prepare-variables.outputs.release_tag }}
+        fetch-depth: 0
         
     - uses: ./.github/actions/install-deps