diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-dispatch.yaml b/.github/workflows/test-dispatch.yaml
index ae05a517f4b4..1b62eb708676 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-dispatch.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-dispatch.yaml
@@ -48,6 +48,18 @@ on:
 
 run-name: ${{ inputs.description }}
 jobs:
+  setup:
+    name: Setup runner labels for deploy
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    environment: ${{ inputs.environment }}
+    outputs:
+      deployrunner: ${{ steps.step1.outputs.deployrunner }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Set runs-on for deploy
+        id: step1
+        run: |
+          local_var="\'[\"${{ inputs.hw-config }}\", \"${{ inputs.runner-label }}\"]\'"
+          echo "deployrunner=$local_var" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
   # build-artifact:
   #   uses: ./.github/workflows/build-artifact.yaml
   #   with:
@@ -56,6 +68,7 @@ jobs:
   #     tracy: ${{ inputs.tracy }}
   #   secrets: inherit
   test-dispatch:
+    needs: setup
     # needs: build-artifact
     timeout-minutes: 1440
     env:
@@ -63,10 +76,7 @@ jobs:
       ARCH_NAME: ${{ inputs.arch }}
       LD_LIBRARY_PATH: ${{ github.workspace }}/build/lib
     environment: dev
-    runs-on:
-      - ${{ inputs.runner-label }}
-      # ${{ format(''["{0}", "{1}"]'', inputs.runner-label, inputs.hw-config ) }}
-      - ${{ inputs.hw-config }}
+    runs-on: ${{ fromJSON(needs.setup.outputs.deployrunner) }}
     steps:
       - uses: tenstorrent-metal/metal-workflows/.github/actions/checkout-with-submodule-lfs@v2.0.0
       - name: Ensure weka mount is active