diff --git a/.woodpecker/deploy.yml b/.woodpecker/deploy.yml
index 0214ee5..80368b4 100644
--- a/.woodpecker/deploy.yml
+++ b/.woodpecker/deploy.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 when:
-  - event: manual
+  - event: [manual, push]
 
 steps:
+  - name: check-vars
+    image: alpine
+    commands:
+      - "[ -n \"$IMAGE_TAG\" ] || (echo 'IMAGE_TAG not set, skipping deploy'; exit 78)"
+
   - name: deploy
     image: bitnami/kubectl:1.32
     commands: