diff --git a/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml b/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml
index 53579a2e..d0d532c8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ jobs:
             context.payload.pull_request.body.includes("BREAKING CHANGES") ||
             context.payload.pull_request.body.includes("Features")
           ) {
-            console.log( "Not autoreleasing (not a dependency-update-only release). " );
             return;
           }
 
@@ -39,18 +38,14 @@ jobs:
             state: 'open'
           });
 
-          if (result === null || result === 'undefined' || result.length === 0) {
-            console.log( "No open pull requests in this repo" );
-            return;
-          }
-
           const pulls = await github.paginate(result);
 
           // return if there are open depedency update PRs
-          for (const pull of pulls) {
-            if (pull.title.startsWith("deps: update dependency ")) {
-              console.log( "No open dependency update pull requests in this repo" );
-              return;
+          if ( pulls !== 'undefined' ) {
+            for (const pull of pulls) {
+              if (pull.title.startsWith("deps: update dependency ")) {
+                return;
+              }
             }
           }