diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-desktop.yml b/.github/workflows/release-desktop.yml
index 8e8b5f55..74952d01 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-desktop.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-desktop.yml
@@ -19,73 +19,7 @@ concurrency:
   cancel-in-progress: true
 
 jobs:
-  quality-preflight:
-    name: Quality preflight
-    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-
-      - name: Install Linux dependencies
-        run: |
-          sudo apt-get update
-          sudo apt-get install -y \
-            build-essential curl wget file \
-            libxdo-dev libssl-dev \
-            libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev \
-            libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
-            librsvg2-dev patchelf \
-            libfuse2
-
-      - name: Setup Bun
-        uses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v2
-        with:
-          bun-version: latest
-
-      - name: Setup Node
-        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
-        with:
-          node-version: 22
-          cache: npm
-
-      - name: Setup Rust
-        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
-
-      - name: Install root dependencies
-        run: bun install
-
-      - name: Install desktop dependencies
-        working-directory: desktop
-        run: bun install
-
-      - name: Install adapter dependencies
-        working-directory: adapters
-        run: bun install
-
-      - name: Run release quality preflight
-        run: bun run quality:gate --mode pr --skip coverage --artifacts-dir artifacts/quality-runs
-
-      - name: Summarize quality report
-        if: always()
-        shell: bash
-        run: |
-          latest_report="$(find artifacts/quality-runs -name report.md -print | sort | tail -n 1)"
-          if [ -n "$latest_report" ]; then
-            cat "$latest_report" >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"
-          fi
-
-      - name: Upload quality report
-        if: always()
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-        with:
-          name: release-quality-gate
-          path: artifacts/quality-runs/
-          retention-days: 14
-
   build:
-    needs: quality-preflight
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
diff --git a/scripts/pr/release-workflow.test.ts b/scripts/pr/release-workflow.test.ts
index 2418cc86..13d848aa 100644
--- a/scripts/pr/release-workflow.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/pr/release-workflow.test.ts
@@ -2,15 +2,12 @@ import { describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test'
 import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
 
 describe('release desktop workflow', () => {
-  test('runs a quality preflight before packaging matrix builds', () => {
+  test('build job runs directly without quality preflight dependency', () => {
     const workflow = readFileSync('.github/workflows/release-desktop.yml', 'utf8')
 
-    expect(workflow).toContain('quality-preflight:')
-    expect(workflow).toContain('run: bun run quality:gate --mode pr --skip coverage --artifacts-dir artifacts/quality-runs')
-    expect(workflow).toContain('cat "$latest_report" >> "$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY"')
-    expect(workflow).toContain('name: release-quality-gate')
-    expect(workflow).toContain('path: artifacts/quality-runs/')
-    expect(workflow).toContain('retention-days: 14')
-    expect(workflow).toContain('needs: quality-preflight')
+    expect(workflow).not.toContain('quality-preflight:')
+    expect(workflow).not.toContain('run: bun run quality:gate --mode pr')
+    expect(workflow).not.toContain('needs: quality-preflight')
+    expect(workflow).toContain('name: Build (${{ matrix.label }})')
   })
 })