diff --git a/acceptance/acceptance_test.go b/acceptance/acceptance_test.go
index 07a4fc1763..0c5b43ed66 100644
--- a/acceptance/acceptance_test.go
+++ b/acceptance/acceptance_test.go
@@ -337,7 +337,13 @@ func testAccept(t *testing.T, inprocessMode bool, singleTest string) int {
 				t.Parallel()
 			}
 
-			expanded := internal.ExpandEnvMatrix(config.EnvMatrix, config.EnvMatrixExclude)
+			// Build extra vars for exclusion matching (config state as env vars)
+			var extraVars []string
+			if cloudEnv != "" {
+				extraVars = append(extraVars, "CONFIG_Cloud=true")
+			}
+
+			expanded := internal.ExpandEnvMatrix(config.EnvMatrix, config.EnvMatrixExclude, extraVars)
 
 			if len(expanded) == 1 {
 				// env vars aren't part of the test case name, so log them for debugging
diff --git a/acceptance/bundle/invariant/test.toml b/acceptance/bundle/invariant/test.toml
index 01c885b02e..93282bda60 100644
--- a/acceptance/bundle/invariant/test.toml
+++ b/acceptance/bundle/invariant/test.toml
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ EnvMatrix.INPUT_CONFIG = [
     "volume.yml.tmpl",
 ]
 
+[EnvMatrixExclude]
+no_alert_on_cloud = ["CONFIG_Cloud=true", "INPUT_CONFIG=alert.yml.tmpl"]
+
 # Fake SQL endpoint for local tests
 [[Server]]
 Pattern = "POST /api/2.0/sql/statements/"
diff --git a/acceptance/internal/config.go b/acceptance/internal/config.go
index afa13a0d8e..fbf1ce3807 100644
--- a/acceptance/internal/config.go
+++ b/acceptance/internal/config.go
@@ -102,9 +102,10 @@ type TestConfig struct {
 
 	// Environment variables matrix exclusion list.
 	// Exclude certain configuration from the grid generated by EnvMatrix.
-	// They key is arbitrary string and the value is a list of KEY=value pairs to exclude.
+	// The key is arbitrary string and the value is a list of KEY=value pairs to exclude.
 	// For example:
 	//   EnvMatrixExclude.noplantf = ["READPLAN=1", "DATABRICKS_BUNDLE_ENGINE=terraform"]
+	// Special pseudo-var CONFIG_Cloud=true is available for excluding combinations on cloud runs.
 	EnvMatrixExclude map[string][]string
 
 	// List of keys for which to do string replacement value -> [KEY]. If not set, defaults to true.
@@ -262,7 +263,9 @@ func (t mapTransformer) Transformer(typ reflect.Type) func(dst, src reflect.Valu
 //
 // If any entries is an empty list, that variable is dropped from the matrix before processing.
 // The exclude parameter specifies combinations to exclude from the result.
-func ExpandEnvMatrix(matrix, exclude map[string][]string) [][]string {
+// The extraVars parameter specifies additional env vars to include for exclusion matching only;
+// they are stripped from the final result.
+func ExpandEnvMatrix(matrix, exclude map[string][]string, extraVars []string) [][]string {
 	result := [][]string{{}}
 
 	if len(matrix) == 0 {
@@ -307,11 +310,35 @@ func ExpandEnvMatrix(matrix, exclude map[string][]string) [][]string {
 		result = newResult
 	}
 
+	// Add extraVars to each envset for exclusion matching
+	if len(extraVars) > 0 {
+		for i := range result {
+			result[i] = append(result[i], extraVars...)
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Filter out excluded combinations
 	if len(exclude) > 0 {
 		result = filterExcludedEnvSets(result, exclude)
 	}
 
+	// Strip extraVars from the final result
+	if len(extraVars) > 0 {
+		extraSet := make(map[string]bool, len(extraVars))
+		for _, v := range extraVars {
+			extraSet[v] = true
+		}
+		for i, envset := range result {
+			filtered := envset[:0]
+			for _, kv := range envset {
+				if !extraSet[kv] {
+					filtered = append(filtered, kv)
+				}
+			}
+			result[i] = filtered
+		}
+	}
+
 	return result
 }
 
diff --git a/acceptance/internal/config_test.go b/acceptance/internal/config_test.go
index ea06335c5d..c2701337f5 100644
--- a/acceptance/internal/config_test.go
+++ b/acceptance/internal/config_test.go
@@ -8,10 +8,11 @@ import (
 
 func TestExpandEnvMatrix(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
-		name     string
-		matrix   map[string][]string
-		exclude  map[string][]string
-		expected [][]string
+		name      string
+		matrix    map[string][]string
+		exclude   map[string][]string
+		extraVars []string
+		expected  [][]string
 	}{
 		{
 			name:     "empty matrix",
@@ -160,11 +161,38 @@ func TestExpandEnvMatrix(t *testing.T) {
 				{"KEY1=A"},
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name: "extraVars used for exclusion matching but stripped from result",
+			matrix: map[string][]string{
+				"KEY": {"A", "B"},
+			},
+			exclude: map[string][]string{
+				"rule1": {"KEY=A", "CONFIG_Cloud=true"},
+			},
+			extraVars: []string{"CONFIG_Cloud=true"},
+			expected: [][]string{
+				{"KEY=B"},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "extraVars not matching exclusion rule",
+			matrix: map[string][]string{
+				"KEY": {"A", "B"},
+			},
+			exclude: map[string][]string{
+				"rule1": {"KEY=A", "CONFIG_Cloud=true"},
+			},
+			extraVars: nil,
+			expected: [][]string{
+				{"KEY=A"},
+				{"KEY=B"},
+			},
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			result := ExpandEnvMatrix(tt.matrix, tt.exclude)
+			result := ExpandEnvMatrix(tt.matrix, tt.exclude, tt.extraVars)
 			assert.Equal(t, tt.expected, result)
 		})
 	}