diff --git a/podman-build-publish/action.yaml b/podman-build-publish/action.yaml
index e6f81f4..49b9314 100644
--- a/podman-build-publish/action.yaml
+++ b/podman-build-publish/action.yaml
@@ -5,17 +5,18 @@ inputs:
   image-name:
     description: Repository/image name path, for example noctrl/gitea-runner
     required: true
+  registry-username:
+    description: Registry username for login.
+    required: true
+  registry-password:
+    description: Registry password for login.
+    required: true
   tags:
     description: |
       Tags to apply and push. Supports newline, comma, or space separated values.
       Example: "latest\nsha-abc123"
-    required: true
-  registry-username:
-    description: Registry username for login.
-    required: false
-  registry-password:
-    description: Registry password for login.
     required: false
+    default: latest
   context:
     description: Build context path.
     required: false
@@ -56,16 +57,10 @@ runs:
         fi
 
     - id: login
-      if: ${{ inputs.push != 'false' }}
       shell: bash
       run: |
         set -euo pipefail
 
-        if [[ -z "${{ inputs.registry-username }}" || -z "${{ inputs.registry-password }}" ]]; then
-          echo "ERROR: registry-username and registry-password are required when push is enabled" >&2
-          exit 1
-        fi
-
         podman_args=(
           --root "${RUNNER_TEMP}/podman-root"
           --runroot "${RUNNER_TEMP}/podman-runroot"