diff --git a/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index dfca6dacc..bc611f11c 100644
--- a/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/synthtool/gcp/templates/node_library/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 on:
   push:
     branches:
-      - $default-branch
+      - {{metadata['repo']['default_branch']}}
   pull_request:
 name: ci
 jobs: