diff --git a/.github/workflows/benchrunner-aws.yml b/.github/workflows/benchrunner-aws.yml
index 555fe3c171e..f24bde37814 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/benchrunner-aws.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/benchrunner-aws.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 name: Deploy benchrunner to AWS
 
 on:
-  [push]
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+  workflow_dispatch: {}
 
 jobs:
   deploy:
diff --git a/terraform/init.sh b/terraform/init.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0bb36a27881
--- /dev/null
+++ b/terraform/init.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+echo "This is a test file was created during the instance initialization." > test.txt
diff --git a/terraform/main.tf b/terraform/main.tf
index b366fd781a3..b170d9ce618 100644
--- a/terraform/main.tf
+++ b/terraform/main.tf
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ resource "aws_instance" "bench_runner" {
   key_name               = "bench-runner"
   vpc_security_group_ids = ["${aws_security_group.ingress_all.id}"]
   subnet_id              = aws_subnet.subnet1.id
+  user_data              = file("init.sh")
 
   tags = {
     Name = "BenchmarkingEC2Runner"