diff --git a/ci-operator/config/openshift/lvm-operator/openshift-lvm-operator-main__zstream.yaml b/ci-operator/config/openshift/lvm-operator/openshift-lvm-operator-main__zstream.yaml
index 1d40a48da494b..5ea1bf05e597d 100644
--- a/ci-operator/config/openshift/lvm-operator/openshift-lvm-operator-main__zstream.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/config/openshift/lvm-operator/openshift-lvm-operator-main__zstream.yaml
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ tests:
 - as: trigger
   cron: 0 6 * * *
   steps:
+    env:
+      LVMS_ZSTREAM_RELEASES: 4.14,4.16,4.18,4.19,4.20,4.21
     test:
     - ref: lvms-zstream-trigger
 zz_generated_metadata:
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/lvms/zstream/trigger/lvms-zstream-trigger-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/lvms/zstream/trigger/lvms-zstream-trigger-commands.sh
index 717e985c998e9..5ae8b375a4401 100755
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/lvms/zstream/trigger/lvms-zstream-trigger-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/lvms/zstream/trigger/lvms-zstream-trigger-commands.sh
@@ -11,7 +11,11 @@ set -euo pipefail
 # Skips releases with no open PR or where the digest hasn't changed since
 # the last run (tracked via a state file).
 
-RELEASES="4.14,4.16,4.18,4.19,4.20,4.21"
+if [[ -z "${LVMS_ZSTREAM_RELEASES:-}" ]]; then
+    err "LVMS_ZSTREAM_RELEASES environment variable is required"
+    exit 1
+fi
+RELEASES="${LVMS_ZSTREAM_RELEASES}"
 DRY_RUN=false
 FORCE=false
 WORKDIR="${ARTIFACT_DIR}/zstream"
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/lvms/zstream/trigger/lvms-zstream-trigger-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/lvms/zstream/trigger/lvms-zstream-trigger-ref.yaml
index 44ee5264a3154..a8ad3d362651f 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/lvms/zstream/trigger/lvms-zstream-trigger-ref.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/lvms/zstream/trigger/lvms-zstream-trigger-ref.yaml
@@ -5,6 +5,9 @@ ref:
     name: cli-jq
     tag: latest
   commands: lvms-zstream-trigger-commands.sh
+  env:
+  - name: LVMS_ZSTREAM_RELEASES
+    documentation: Comma-separated list of OCP releases to check for z-stream PRs (e.g. "4.18,4.19,4.20,4.21")
   resources:
     requests:
       cpu: 100m