diff --git a/pkg/ghcredentials/host_real_test.go b/pkg/ghcredentials/host_real_test.go
index 2a3f6afd63..78e22b805b 100644
--- a/pkg/ghcredentials/host_real_test.go
+++ b/pkg/ghcredentials/host_real_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,11 @@ import (
 
 func requireRealGH(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Helper()
+	if testing.Short() {
+		// The CPU-contended -short unit tier can exceed the 1.5s token lookup
+		// budget; the GitHub Credential Host Tests job runs these uncontended.
+		t.Skip("real gh runs in the GitHub Credential Host Tests job")
+	}
 	if _, err := exec.LookPath("gh"); err != nil {
 		if os.Getenv("DEVSY_TEST_REAL_GH") == "1" {
 			require.NoError(t, err)