diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 434b5e16718..df46a53ea87 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ concurrency:
 
 env:
   CI_FAILFAST_TEST_LEAVE_DANGLING: 1  # GHA does not care about dangling processes and setting this variable avoids killing the CI script itself on error
-  REPO_USE_WARP_RUNNERS: 'bitcoin/bitcoin' # Use warp runners for this repo, instead of falling back to the slow GHA runners
 
 defaults:
   run:
@@ -28,12 +27,16 @@ defaults:
     shell: bash
 
 jobs:
-  runners:
-    name: '[meta] determine runners'
-    runs-on: ubuntu-slim
-    outputs:
-      provider: ${{ steps.runners.outputs.provider }}
+  test-each-commit:
+    name: 'test ancestor commits'
+    runs-on: ${{ github.repository == 'bitcoin/bitcoin' && 'warp-ubuntu-latest-x64-8x' || 'ubuntu-latest' }}
+    env:
+      TEST_RUNNER_PORT_MIN: "14000"  # Use a larger port range to avoid colliding with other CI services.
+    if: github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.event.pull_request.commits != 1
+    timeout-minutes: 360  # Use maximum time, see https://docs.github.com/en/actions/writing-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idtimeout-minutes.
     steps:
+      - name: Determine fetch depth
+        run: echo "FETCH_DEPTH=$((${{ github.event.pull_request.commits }} + 2))" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
       - &ANNOTATION_PR_NUMBER
         name: Annotate with pull request number
         # This annotation is machine-readable and can be used to assign a check
@@ -44,28 +47,6 @@ jobs:
           if [ "${{ github.event_name }}" = "pull_request" ]; then
             echo "::notice title=debug_pull_request_number_str::${{ github.event.number }}"
           fi
-      - id: runners
-        run: |
-          if [[ "${REPO_USE_WARP_RUNNERS}" == "${{ github.repository }}" ]]; then
-            echo "provider=warp" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-            echo "::notice title=Runner Selection::Using Warp Runners"
-          else
-            echo "provider=gha" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-            echo "::notice title=Runner Selection::Using GitHub-hosted runners"
-          fi
-
-  test-each-commit:
-    name: 'test ancestor commits'
-    needs: runners
-    runs-on: ${{ needs.runners.outputs.provider == 'warp' && 'warp-ubuntu-latest-x64-8x' || 'ubuntu-latest' }}
-    env:
-      TEST_RUNNER_PORT_MIN: "14000"  # Use a larger port range to avoid colliding with other CI services.
-    if: github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.event.pull_request.commits != 1
-    timeout-minutes: 360  # Use maximum time, see https://docs.github.com/en/actions/writing-workflows/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#jobsjob_idtimeout-minutes.
-    steps:
-      - name: Determine fetch depth
-        run: echo "FETCH_DEPTH=$((${{ github.event.pull_request.commits }} + 2))" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
-      - *ANNOTATION_PR_NUMBER
       - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
           ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
@@ -324,8 +305,8 @@ jobs:
 
   windows-cross:
     name: 'Windows-cross to x86_64, ${{ matrix.crt }}'
-    needs: [runners, record-frozen-commit]
-    runs-on: ${{ needs.runners.outputs.provider == 'warp' && 'warp-ubuntu-latest-x64-4x' || 'ubuntu-latest' }}
+    needs: record-frozen-commit
+    runs-on: ${{ github.repository == 'bitcoin/bitcoin' && 'warp-ubuntu-latest-x64-4x' || 'ubuntu-latest' }}
     if: ${{ vars.SKIP_BRANCH_PUSH != 'true' || github.event_name == 'pull_request' }}
 
     strategy:
@@ -359,7 +340,7 @@ jobs:
         id: restore-cache
         uses: ./.github/actions/cache/restore
         with:
-          provider: ${{ needs.runners.outputs.provider }}
+          provider: ${{ github.repository == 'bitcoin/bitcoin' && 'warp' || 'gha' }}
 
       - name: Configure Docker
         uses: ./.github/actions/configure-docker
@@ -372,7 +353,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Save caches
         uses: ./.github/actions/cache/save
         with:
-          provider: ${{ needs.runners.outputs.provider }}
+          provider: ${{ github.repository == 'bitcoin/bitcoin' && 'warp' || 'gha' }}
 
       - name: Upload built executables
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
@@ -439,8 +420,7 @@ jobs:
 
   ci-matrix:
     name: ${{ matrix.name }}
-    needs: runners
-    runs-on: ${{ needs.runners.outputs.provider == 'warp' && matrix.warp-runner || matrix.fallback-runner }}
+    runs-on: ${{ github.repository == 'bitcoin/bitcoin' && matrix.warp-runner || matrix.fallback-runner }}
     if: ${{ vars.SKIP_BRANCH_PUSH != 'true' || github.event_name == 'pull_request' }}
     timeout-minutes: ${{ matrix.timeout-minutes }}
 
@@ -555,7 +535,7 @@ jobs:
         id: restore-cache
         uses: ./.github/actions/cache/restore
         with:
-          provider: ${{ matrix.provider || needs.runners.outputs.provider }}
+          provider: ${{ matrix.provider || (github.repository == 'bitcoin/bitcoin' && 'warp' || 'gha') }}
 
       - name: Configure Docker
         uses: ./.github/actions/configure-docker
@@ -563,7 +543,7 @@ jobs:
           provider: ${{ matrix.provider || needs.runners.outputs.provider }}
 
       - name: Clear unnecessary files
-        if: ${{ needs.runners.outputs.provider == 'gha' && true || false }} # Only needed on GHA runners
+        if: ${{ github.repository != 'bitcoin/bitcoin' || matrix.provider == 'gha' }} # Only needed on GHA runners
         uses: ./.github/actions/clear-files
 
       - name: Enable bpfcc script
@@ -583,12 +563,11 @@ jobs:
       - name: Save caches
         uses: ./.github/actions/cache/save
         with:
-          provider: ${{ matrix.provider || needs.runners.outputs.provider }}
+          provider: ${{ matrix.provider || (github.repository == 'bitcoin/bitcoin' && 'warp' || 'gha') }}
 
   lint:
     name: 'lint'
-    needs: runners
-    runs-on: ${{ needs.runners.outputs.provider == 'warp' && 'warp-ubuntu-latest-x64-2x' || 'ubuntu-latest' }}
+    runs-on: ${{ github.repository == 'bitcoin/bitcoin' && 'warp-ubuntu-latest-x64-2x' || 'ubuntu-latest' }}
     if: ${{ vars.SKIP_BRANCH_PUSH != 'true' || github.event_name == 'pull_request' }}
     timeout-minutes: 20
     env: