diff --git a/.github/workflows/backend.yml b/.github/workflows/backend.yml
index 9b37a135a373ba..d60ede485eb585 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/backend.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/backend.yml
@@ -195,8 +195,12 @@ jobs:
           mode: migrations
 
       - name: Run test
-        run: |
-          make test-cli
+        env:
+          # This short circuits the create_default_projects post_upgrade hook
+          # which spawns taskworkers which will spin for 5 minutes on kafka
+          # not being up. We don't need the default project here as this is not local dev.
+          SENTRY_NO_CREATE_DEFAULT_PROJECT: 1
+        run: make test-cli
 
       - name: Inspect failure
         if: failure()
diff --git a/src/sentry/receivers/core.py b/src/sentry/receivers/core.py
index c3a6a2d55dcb1c..95a70944c95835 100644
--- a/src/sentry/receivers/core.py
+++ b/src/sentry/receivers/core.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import os
+
 from click import echo
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.auth.models import AnonymousUser
@@ -32,6 +34,14 @@ def create_default_projects(**kwds):
         # No op in production SaaS environments.
         return
 
+    # Temporary patch to stop getsentry migrations-drift ci from timing out
+    # because something in create_default_project triggers taskworkers which
+    # spin for 5m waiting for kafka which isn't up.
+    # (Only postgres+redis is needed for running migrations.)
+    # We still want post_save hooks to run, just not in this specific case.
+    if os.environ.get("SENTRY_NO_CREATE_DEFAULT_PROJECT") == "1":
+        return
+
     create_default_project(
         # This guards against sentry installs that have SENTRY_PROJECT set to None, so
         # that they don't error after every migration. Specifically for single tenant.