diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-npm-packages.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-npm-packages.yml
index f881c99d9dc..55c69f13e2b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-npm-packages.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-npm-packages.yml
@@ -93,6 +93,15 @@ jobs:
               # On non-trunk branches, --no-push avoids pushing the version
               # bump commit back to the branch. The published packages still
               # get the version bump in their package.json on npm.
+              #
+              # NX_TUI=false disables Nx's terminal UI mode, which otherwise
+              # buffers all task output until the run ends. lerna runs the
+              # build via the prepublishOnly lifecycle script; without this,
+              # if the build crashes mid-run (e.g. an OOM kill), the entire
+              # buffer is lost and the only signal in the log is
+              # "lifecycle 'prepublishOnly' errored" with no diagnostics.
+              env:
+                  NX_TUI: 'false'
               run: >
                   lerna publish ${{ inputs.version_bump || 'patch' }}
                   --yes --no-private --loglevel=verbose
diff --git a/.github/workflows/update-changelog.yml b/.github/workflows/update-changelog.yml
index 31c49a3c32b..3cb85d8320b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/update-changelog.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/update-changelog.yml
@@ -14,19 +14,35 @@ on:
 
 jobs:
     release:
-        # Only run this workflow on the playground repo, from the trunk branch, and when triggered by a Playground maintainer
+        # Only run this workflow on the playground repo. For workflow_run triggers,
+        # require the parent workflow to have succeeded on trunk so we don't update
+        # the changelog (and cascade-trigger the GitHub Release workflow) when an
+        # npm publish actually failed or ran on a non-trunk branch. Note: for
+        # workflow_run events, github.ref is always the default branch where this
+        # file lives, so we must use workflow_run.head_branch to gate on the
+        # parent's actual branch. For workflow_dispatch, restrict to Playground
+        # maintainers running on trunk.
         if: >
-            github.repository == 'WordPress/wordpress-playground' &&
-            github.ref == 'refs/heads/trunk' && (
-                github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'success' ||
-                github.actor == 'adamziel' ||
-                github.actor == 'dmsnell' ||
-                github.actor == 'bgrgicak' ||
-                github.actor == 'brandonpayton' ||
-                github.actor == 'zaerl' ||
-                github.actor == 'janjakes' ||
-                github.actor == 'mho22' ||
-                github.actor == 'ashfame'
+            github.repository == 'WordPress/wordpress-playground' && (
+                (
+                    github.event_name == 'workflow_run' &&
+                    github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'success' &&
+                    github.event.workflow_run.head_branch == 'trunk'
+                ) ||
+                (
+                    github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' &&
+                    github.ref == 'refs/heads/trunk' &&
+                    (
+                        github.actor == 'adamziel' ||
+                        github.actor == 'dmsnell' ||
+                        github.actor == 'bgrgicak' ||
+                        github.actor == 'brandonpayton' ||
+                        github.actor == 'zaerl' ||
+                        github.actor == 'janjakes' ||
+                        github.actor == 'mho22' ||
+                        github.actor == 'ashfame'
+                    )
+                )
             )
 
         # Specify runner + deployment step