diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy-site.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy-site.yml
index 823496157a9..82acaa6667d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy-site.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy-site.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,12 @@ concurrency:
 
 jobs:
   deploy-vercel:
-    if: github.event_name == 'release'
+    # Triggered automatically on release publish (production cuts) and
+    # manually via `gh workflow run deploy-site.yml` when an out-of-band
+    # main commit needs to ship live before the next release tag — e.g.
+    # a skills-index PR that doesn't touch website/** paths and so
+    # doesn't auto-deploy via the deploy-docs path.
+    if: github.event_name == 'release' || github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Trigger Vercel Deploy