diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-npm.yml b/.github/workflows/release-npm.yml
index 9caeaebe252..e4bed54a7f8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-npm.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-npm.yml
@@ -135,7 +135,6 @@ jobs:
   tag-nightly:
     name: Tag nightly release
     runs-on: github-hosted-ubuntu-x64-small
-    needs: publish
     if: inputs.version_type == 'nightly'
 
     steps:
@@ -146,4 +145,3 @@ jobs:
 
       # TODO: tag the given release with nightly
 
-
diff --git a/.github/workflows/scripts/validate-commit-in-head.sh b/.github/workflows/scripts/validate-commit-in-head.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..370b2fbd4af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/scripts/validate-commit-in-head.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+if [[ -z "${GIT_COMMIT:-}" ]]; then
+  echo "Error: Environment variable GIT_COMMIT is required"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if git merge-base --is-ancestor "$GIT_COMMIT" HEAD; then
+  echo "Commit $GIT_COMMIT is contained in HEAD"
+else
+  echo "Error: Commit $GIT_COMMIT is not contained in HEAD"
+  exit 1
+fi