diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 6745fa3fc..000000000
--- a/.dockerignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-.github/
-.dockerignore
-releases/
-bin/
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release/Dockerfile b/.github/workflows/release/Dockerfile
index b889b59f1..b00f41468 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release/Dockerfile
+++ b/.github/workflows/release/Dockerfile
@@ -50,5 +50,10 @@ RUN \
 	make release cri-release cri-cni-release && \
 	for f in $(find bin -executable -type f); do xx-verify $f; done
 
+# check git working tree after build
+RUN \
+	export GIT_STATUS_OUTPUT=$(git status --porcelain) && \
+	test -z $GIT_STATUS_OUTPUT || (echo $GIT_STATUS_OUTPUT && exit 1)
+
 FROM scratch AS release
 COPY --from=target /go/src/github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/ /