diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-ubuntu-host/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup-ubuntu-host/action.yml
index 8ab3c2a4c..ec1a93286 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-ubuntu-host/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-ubuntu-host/action.yml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ runs:
     - name: setup python
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
-        python-version: ${{inputs.python-version}}
+        python-version: '${{ inputs.python-version }}'
         cache: 'pip' # caching pip dependencies
     - name: Install dependencies
       shell: bash
diff --git a/.github/actions/switch-context/action.yml b/.github/actions/switch-context/action.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ece7fab80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/switch-context/action.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+name: 'Switch context and export all environment variables'
+inputs:
+  context-name:
+    description: 'Context name to switch to'
+    required: true
+runs:
+  using: "composite"
+  steps:
+    - name: Switch context
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        echo "Initializing context files"
+        cp scripts/dev/contexts/gha-private-context scripts/dev/contexts/private-context
+        scripts/dev/switch_context.sh ${{inputs.context-name}}
+        echo "Finished initializing to the ${{inputs.context-name}}"
+        while read line; do
+          echo "$line" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+        done < <(tail -n +5 .generated/context.env | sed 's/\"//g')
diff --git a/.github/workflows/preview_release_notes.yml b/.github/workflows/preview_release_notes.yml
index fcd684ac9..316c3176a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/preview_release_notes.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/preview_release_notes.yml
@@ -21,18 +21,22 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: '0'
+      - name: Switch to root context
+        id: switch_context
+        uses: ./.github/actions/switch-context
+        with:
+          context-name: 'root-context'
       - name: Setup host
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-ubuntu-host
         with:
-          python-version: '${{ vars.PYTHON_VERSION }}'
+          python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
       - name: Generate Release Notes
-        id: generate_release_notes
         run: python -m scripts.release.release_notes -s $INITIAL_COMMIT_SHA -v $INITIAL_VERSION -o release_notes_tmp.md
         env:
           # We can not use environments set via GitHub UI because they will
           # not be available in the pull requests running from forks.
-          INITIAL_COMMIT_SHA: 9ed5f98fc70c5b3442f633d2393265fb8a2aba0c
-          INITIAL_VERSION: 1.3.0
+          INITIAL_COMMIT_SHA: ${{ env.INITIAL_COMMIT_SHA }}
+          INITIAL_VERSION: ${{ env.INITIAL_VERSION }}
       - name: Add disclaimer to release notes preview
         run: |
           echo -e "_:warning: (this preview might not be accurate if the PR is not rebased on current master branch)_\n" > release_notes_preview.md
diff --git a/.github/workflows/require_changelog.yml b/.github/workflows/require_changelog.yml
index d5811d36d..3c5f86c93 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/require_changelog.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/require_changelog.yml
@@ -22,10 +22,15 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: '0'
+      - name: Switch to root context
+        id: switch_context
+        uses: ./.github/actions/switch-context
+        with:
+          context-name: 'root-context'
       - name: Setup host
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-ubuntu-host
         with:
-          python-version: '${{ vars.PYTHON_VERSION }}'
+          python-version: ${{ env.PYTHON_VERSION }}
       - name: Check if changelog entry file was added in this PR
         run: |
           set -o pipefail
diff --git a/scripts/dev/contexts/gha-private-context b/scripts/dev/contexts/gha-private-context
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c5a189fb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/dev/contexts/gha-private-context
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -Eeou pipefail
+
+export NAMESPACE=""
+export CLUSTER_NAME=""
+export LOCAL_OPERATOR="false"
+export BASE_REPO_URL=""
diff --git a/scripts/dev/contexts/root-context b/scripts/dev/contexts/root-context
index 7b147aa34..888039232 100644
--- a/scripts/dev/contexts/root-context
+++ b/scripts/dev/contexts/root-context
@@ -129,3 +129,7 @@ fi
 # but we can unify once we are done with unified operator
 # installation for both multicluster and single cluster setups.
 export OPERATOR_NAME="mongodb-kubernetes-operator"
+
+# Variables used for release process
+export INITIAL_COMMIT_SHA="9ed5f98fc70c5b3442f633d2393265fb8a2aba0c"
+export INITIAL_VERSION="1.3.0"
diff --git a/scripts/dev/switch_context.sh b/scripts/dev/switch_context.sh
index ef2705451..06ffb085e 100755
--- a/scripts/dev/switch_context.sh
+++ b/scripts/dev/switch_context.sh
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ else
   fi
   # Execute the command in a clean environment and capture exported variables
   # Let's use our PATH as a base to have utilities available.
-  current_envs=$(env -i PATH="${PATH}" CURRENT_VARIANT_CONTEXT="${context}" bash -c "${base_command} && export -p")
+  current_envs=$(env -i PWD="${PWD}" PATH="${PATH}" CURRENT_VARIANT_CONTEXT="${context}" bash -c "${base_command} && export -p")
 
   # `export -p` instead of `env` ensures we can safely re-source variables which we rely on further
   # below like our operator.print.env script
@@ -76,7 +76,8 @@ else
 fi
 
 # convert declare -x key=value into key=value
-current_envs=$(echo "${current_envs[@]}" | sed 's/^declare -x //g' | sed 's/=/=/'| sort | uniq)
+# filter out variables that don't have value (missing '=')
+current_envs=$(echo "${current_envs[@]}" | grep '=' | sed 's/^declare -x //g' | sed 's/=/=/'| sort | uniq)
 
 echo -e "## This file is automatically generated by switch_context.sh\n## Do not edit it!" > "${destination_envs_file}.env"
 # shellcheck disable=SC2129