use vars in if conditions:

Author: masci

.github/workflows/pre_release.yml

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           commit-message: Prepare release
           signoff: false
-          branch: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_BRANCH_NAME }}
+          branch: ${{ var.RELEASE_BRANCH_NAME }}
           delete-branch: true
           title: "Release ${{ steps.prepare.outputs.version }}"
           draft: false

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ on:
 
 jobs:
   publish-core:
-    if: github.repository == 'run-llama/llama_index' && github.event.pull_request.merged == true && github.event.pull_request.head.ref == secrets.RELEASE_BRANCH_NAME
+    if: github.repository == 'run-llama/llama_index' && github.event.pull_request.merged == true && github.event.pull_request.head.ref == var.RELEASE_BRANCH_NAME
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     outputs:
       version: ${{ steps.build-publish-core.outputs.version }}