diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 617e8f86903..60bc584d393 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -1,24 +1,63 @@
 name: Release packages (Work in Progress, a dry run only)
+run-name: "Create ${{ inputs.type }} release from ${{ inputs.release_ref }} by ${{ github.actor }}"
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
+      release_ref:
+        description: Upstream git ref to create the release from
+        required: true
+        type: string
+      type:
+        description: Release type
+        required: true
+        type: choice
+        options:
+        - snapshot
+        - official
       workspaces:
         description: A comma-separated list of workspaces to release
         required: false
         type: string
+      dry_run:
+        description: Dry run (do not publish the packages)
+        required: true
+        type: boolean
 
 #permissions:
 #  id-token: write # Required for OIDC
 #  contents: read
 
 jobs:
-  checks:
-    name: Checks
+  lint_and_unit_tests:
+    name: Run lint and unit tests
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ inputs.release_ref }}
+          persist-credentials: false
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
+        with:
+          node-version-file: .nvmrc
+          cache: yarn
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: yarn install --immutable
+      - name: Build local packages
+        run: yarn workspaces foreach --all --parallel --topological-dev --exclude @elastic/eui-website --exclude @elastic/eui-monorepo --exclude @elastic/eui-docgen run build
+      # TODO: Uncomment when code formatting is fixed in eui-theme-common and eui-theme-borealis
+      # This is prepared in the upstream/build/gh-release-action branch
+      # - name: Lint
+      #   run: yarn workspaces foreach --all --parallel --topological-dev --exclude @elastic/eui-website --exclude @elastic/eui-monorepo --exclude @elastic/eui-docgen run lint
+      - name: Unit tests
+        run: yarn workspaces foreach --all --parallel --topological-dev --exclude @elastic/eui-website --exclude @elastic/eui-monorepo --exclude @elastic/eui-docgen run test-unit
+  cypress_tests:
+    name: Run cypress tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
+          ref: ${{ inputs.release_ref }}
           persist-credentials: false
       - uses: actions/setup-node@v6
         with:
@@ -26,5 +65,7 @@ jobs:
           cache: yarn
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: yarn install --immutable
-      - name: Run tests
-        run: yarn workspaces foreach -A run test-ci
+      - name: Build local packages
+        run: yarn workspaces foreach --all --parallel --topological-dev --exclude @elastic/eui-website --exclude @elastic/eui-monorepo --exclude @elastic/eui-docgen run build
+      - name: Cypress tests
+        run: yarn workspaces foreach --all --parallel --topological-dev --exclude @elastic/eui-website --exclude @elastic/eui-monorepo --exclude @elastic/eui-docgen run test-cypress
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 724a725a0e9..b19900d7b99 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@
   },
   "scripts": {
     "pre-push": "yarn --cwd packages/eui pre-push",
-    "preinstall": "printf $'\\x1b[K\\x1b[37;41mWarning: EUI has recently migrated to a monorepo structure. Please run EUI scripts like \\x1b[1;4myarn start\\x1b[0m\\x1b[37;41m or \\x1b[1;4myarn build\\x1b[0m\\x1b[37;41m from the \\x1b[1;4mpackages/eui\\x1b[0m\\x1b[37;41m directory instead!\\n\\nIf this is the first time you\\'re running EUI after the monorepo migration, please run this first from the root repository\\'s directory to clean up your local environment:\\n  \\x1b[1;4mrm -rf node_modules .cache-loader dist es lib optimize test-env types .eslintcache .loki reports docs .nyc_output eui.d.ts && yarn\\x1b[0m\\x1b[37;41m\\n\\nInstall process will continue in 10 seconds...\\x1b[0m'; sleep 10",
     "start": "printf $'\\x1b[K\\x1b[37;41mPlease run this script from the \\x1b[1;4mpackages/eui\\x1b[0m\\x1b[37;41m directory instead\\x1b[0m\\n'; exit 1",
     "build": "printf $'\\x1b[K\\x1b[37;41mPlease run this script from the \\x1b[1;4mpackages/eui\\x1b[0m\\x1b[37;41m directory instead\\x1b[0m\\n'; exit 1",
     "release": "node scripts/release",
diff --git a/packages/eslint-plugin/package.json b/packages/eslint-plugin/package.json
index 9d2ad5044ea..19540988127 100644
--- a/packages/eslint-plugin/package.json
+++ b/packages/eslint-plugin/package.json
@@ -43,7 +43,8 @@
     "typescript": "^5.8.3"
   },
   "scripts": {
-    "test": "jest src",
+    "test": "yarn test-unit",
+    "test-unit": "jest src",
     "build": "yarn build:clean && yarn build:compile && yarn build:compile:esm && yarn build:types",
     "build:clean": "rimraf lib/",
     "build:compile:esm": "tsc --project ./tsconfig.esm.json",
diff --git a/packages/eui-theme-borealis/package.json b/packages/eui-theme-borealis/package.json
index da94c535cbe..f4278139e82 100644
--- a/packages/eui-theme-borealis/package.json
+++ b/packages/eui-theme-borealis/package.json
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
     "lint": "yarn tsc --noEmit && yarn lint-es && yarn lint-sass",
     "lint-es": "eslint --cache src/**/*.ts --max-warnings 0",
     "lint-sass": "yarn stylelint \"**/*.scss\" --quiet-deprecation-warnings",
-    "test": "jest ./src",
+    "test": "yarn test-unit",
+    "test-unit": "jest ./src --passWithNoTests",
     "pre-push": "yarn build:workspaces && yarn lint && yarn test"
   },
   "repository": {
diff --git a/packages/eui-theme-common/package.json b/packages/eui-theme-common/package.json
index d34dfc6f158..3b9469682f2 100644
--- a/packages/eui-theme-common/package.json
+++ b/packages/eui-theme-common/package.json
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
     "lint": "yarn tsc --noEmit && yarn lint-es && yarn lint-sass",
     "lint-es": "eslint --cache src/**/*.ts --max-warnings 0",
     "lint-sass": "yarn stylelint \"**/*.scss\" --quiet-deprecation-warnings",
-    "test": "jest ./src",
+    "test": "yarn test-unit",
+    "test-unit": "jest ./src --passWithNoTests",
     "pre-push": "yarn lint && yarn test"
   },
   "repository": {
diff --git a/packages/release-cli/package.json b/packages/release-cli/package.json
index fb9fcbf2199..7b1d0149881 100644
--- a/packages/release-cli/package.json
+++ b/packages/release-cli/package.json
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
   "description": "",
   "main": "dist/index.js",
   "scripts": {
-    "test": "echo \"Error: no test specified\" && exit 1",
     "build": "tsc"
   },
   "repository": {