diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
index d3a577ce91..dc748edbab 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit_tests.yml
@@ -116,9 +116,10 @@ jobs:
         GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{secrets.TEST_GITHUB_TOKEN}}
       run: |
         # don't install GitHub token when testing with Lmod 7.x or non-Lmod module tools,
+        # and only when testing with Lua as module syntax,
         # to avoid hitting GitHub rate limit;
         # tests that require a GitHub token are skipped automatically when no GitHub token is available
-        if [[ ! "${{matrix.modules_tool}}" =~ 'Lmod-7' ]] && [[ ! "${{matrix.modules_tool}}" =~ 'modules-' ]]; then
+        if [[ ! "${{matrix.modules_tool}}" =~ 'Lmod-7' ]] && [[ ! "${{matrix.modules_tool}}" =~ 'modules-' ]] && [[ "${{matrix.modules_syntax}}" == 'Lua' ]]; then
           if [ ! -z $GITHUB_TOKEN ]; then
             if [ "x${{matrix.python}}" == 'x2.6' ];
               then SET_KEYRING="keyring.set_keyring(keyring.backends.file.PlaintextKeyring())";
diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES b/RELEASE_NOTES
index 14980d7d43..65a91ff1bb 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ update/bugfix release
   - deprecate use of (actual) patch files that don't have a filename ending with .patch (#3920)
   - remove version restriction for keyring in requirements.txt to test with latest version (#3925)
   - simplify requirements.txt by removing Python 2.6 support (#3927)
+  - only run GitHub tests when testing with Lua module syntax, to avoid hitting GitHub rate limit when running tests (#3938)
 
 
 v4.5.1 (December 13th 2021)