diff --git a/scripts/node_build.sh b/scripts/node_build.sh
index b4676f26..4f9186c9 100755
--- a/scripts/node_build.sh
+++ b/scripts/node_build.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ npm install --build-from-source --target_arch="$TARGET_ARCH"
 ./node_modules/.bin/node-pre-gyp reveal --target_arch="$TARGET_ARCH"
 
 if [[ "$TARGET_ARCH" != "arm64" ]] ; then
-  npm test
+  if [[ ! "$GITHUB_REF" =~ ^(refs/tags/v.+)$ ]] ; then
+    npm test
+  fi
 else
   ARCH=$(file lib/binding/duckdb.node | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
   if [[ "$ARCH" != *"arm"* ]] ; then
diff --git a/scripts/node_build_win.sh b/scripts/node_build_win.sh
index b0a8e36d..3d7f1c53 100644
--- a/scripts/node_build_win.sh
+++ b/scripts/node_build_win.sh
@@ -9,9 +9,13 @@ which node
 make clean
 
 npm install --build-from-source
-npm test
+# no tests on releases
+if [[ ! "$GITHUB_REF" =~ ^(refs/tags/v.+)$ ]] ; then
+  npm test
+fi
 npx node-pre-gyp package testpackage testbinary
 
+
 # TODO
 # if [[ "$GITHUB_REF" =~ ^(refs/heads/main|refs/tags/v.+)$ ]] ; then
 #   npx node-pre-gyp publish