diff --git a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-binaries-in-docker.sh b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-binaries-in-docker.sh
index 850871576f..c297b17710 100755
--- a/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-binaries-in-docker.sh
+++ b/tools/packaging/kata-deploy/local-build/kata-deploy-binaries-in-docker.sh
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ ARTEFACT_REGISTRY_PASSWORD="${ARTEFACT_REGISTRY_PASSWORD:-}"
 TARGET_BRANCH="${TARGET_BRANCH:-}"
 BUILDER_REGISTRY="${BUILDER_REGISTRY:-}"
 PUSH_TO_REGISTRY="${PUSH_TO_REGISTRY:-"no"}"
+RELEASE="${RELEASE:-"no"}"
 AGENT_CONTAINER_BUILDER="${AGENT_CONTAINER_BUILDER:-}"
 COCO_GUEST_COMPONENTS_CONTAINER_BUILDER="${COCO_GUEST_COMPONENTS_CONTAINER_BUILDER:-}"
 INITRAMFS_CONTAINER_BUILDER="${INITRAMFS_CONTAINER_BUILDER:-}"
@@ -112,6 +113,7 @@ docker run \
 	--env ARTEFACT_REGISTRY_USERNAME="${ARTEFACT_REGISTRY_USERNAME}" \
 	--env ARTEFACT_REGISTRY_PASSWORD="${ARTEFACT_REGISTRY_PASSWORD}" \
 	--env TARGET_BRANCH="${TARGET_BRANCH}" \
+	--env RELEASE="${RELEASE}" \
 	--env BUILDER_REGISTRY="${BUILDER_REGISTRY}" \
 	--env PUSH_TO_REGISTRY="${PUSH_TO_REGISTRY}" \
 	--env AGENT_CONTAINER_BUILDER="${AGENT_CONTAINER_BUILDER}" \