diff --git a/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml b/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml
index 9b4ebcc7..c8ab41be 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/freebsd.yml
@@ -3,14 +3,16 @@
 # The `package` job checks packaging/freebsd/package.sh (the release job runs it for real).
 name: FreeBSD
 
+# The VM build is slow, so it runs nightly on main and on pushes to `release`, not on every push
+# or dependency change: a drifted dependency still shows up within a day, and always before a
+# release ships. PRs that change the FreeBSD packaging itself still run it.
 on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "7 4 * * *"
   push:
-    branches: [main]
+    branches: [release]
   pull_request:
     paths:
-      - Cargo.toml
-      - Cargo.lock
-      - "**/Cargo.toml"
       - .github/workflows/freebsd.yml
       - packaging/freebsd/**
       - packaging/env.sh
@@ -61,8 +63,8 @@ jobs:
 
   package:
     name: FreeBSD 14 (package)
-    # The release build takes a while: only for PRs that touch FreeBSD packaging (or dependencies)
-    # and on demand, not on every push to main.
+    # The release build takes a while: only nightly, for PRs that touch FreeBSD packaging and on
+    # demand. Not on pushes to `release`, where release.yml packages it for real.
     if: github.event_name != 'push'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 150
diff --git a/.github/workflows/windows-arm64.yml b/.github/workflows/windows-arm64.yml
index 7c8c4a23..093380e0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/windows-arm64.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/windows-arm64.yml
@@ -4,19 +4,17 @@
 # out for now: PdfCraft saw an intermittent access violation in egui UI tests there.)
 name: Windows ARM64
 
+# Nightly on main and on pushes to `release` (dependency and runner-image drift shows up within a
+# day, and always before a release ships), and on PRs that change the Windows packaging itself.
 on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "3 6 * * *"
   push:
-    branches: [main]
+    branches: [release]
   pull_request:
     paths:
-      - Cargo.toml
-      - Cargo.lock
-      - "**/Cargo.toml"
-      - "**/build.rs"
       - .github/workflows/windows-arm64.yml
       - packaging/windows/**
-  schedule:
-    - cron: "41 4 * * 1" # weekly, so drift in the runner images shows up
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 concurrency: