diff --git a/.github/workflows/create-github-release.yml b/.github/workflows/create-github-release.yml
index 2307f036..8efe116d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/create-github-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/create-github-release.yml
@@ -26,6 +26,6 @@ jobs:
 # Leaving this step here for when we want to publish API docs.
 #  docs:
 #    needs: release
-#    if: github.ref_name == 'main'
-#    uses: salesforcecli/github-workflows/.github/workflows/publishTypedoc.yml@main
 #    secrets: inherit
+#    if: ${{ github.ref_name == 'main' }}
+#    uses: salesforcecli/github-workflows/.github/workflows/publishTypedoc.yml@main
diff --git a/.github/workflows/failureNotifications.yml b/.github/workflows/failureNotifications.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..949f555d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/failureNotifications.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+name: failureNotifications
+on:
+  workflow_run:
+    workflows:
+      - publish
+      - create-github-release
+    types:
+      - completed
+jobs:
+  failure-notify:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'failure' }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Announce Failure
+        id: slack
+        uses: slackapi/slack-github-action@v1.26.0
+        env:
+          # for non-CLI-team-owned plugins, you can send this anywhere you like
+          SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: ${{ secrets.IDEE_RELEASE_ALERT_SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
+          SLACK_WEBHOOK_TYPE: INCOMING_WEBHOOK
+        with:
+          # Payload can be visually tested here: https://app.slack.com/block-kit-builder/T01GST6QY0G#%7B%22blocks%22:%5B%5D%7D
+          # Only copy over the "blocks" array to the Block Kit Builder
+          payload: |
+            {
+              "text": "Workflow \"${{ github.event.workflow_run.name }}\" failed in ${{ github.event.workflow_run.repository.name }}",
+              "blocks": [
+                {
+                  "type": "header",
+                  "text": {
+                    "type": "plain_text",
+                    "text": ":bh-alert: Workflow \"${{ github.event.workflow_run.name }}\" failed in ${{ github.event.workflow_run.repository.name }} :bh-alert:"
+                  }
+                },
+                {
+                  "type": "section",
+                  "text": {
+                    "type": "mrkdwn",
+                    "text": "*Repo:* ${{ github.event.workflow_run.repository.html_url }}\n*Workflow name:* `${{ github.event.workflow_run.name }}`\n*Job url:* ${{ github.event.workflow_run.html_url }}"
+                  }
+                }
+              ]
+            }
diff --git a/.github/workflows/onRelease.yml b/.github/workflows/onRelease.yml
index 26dc7dad..369ac538 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/onRelease.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/onRelease.yml
@@ -1,17 +1,16 @@
 name: publish
-
 on:
   release:
+    # both release and prereleases
     types: [published]
   # support manual release in case something goes wrong and needs to be repeated or tested
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
       tag:
-        description: tag that needs to publish
+        description: github tag that needs to publish
         type: string
         required: true
 jobs:
-  # parses the package.json version and detects prerelease tag (ex: beta from 4.4.4-beta.0)
   getDistTag:
     outputs:
       tag: ${{ steps.distTag.outputs.tag }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/testCommitExceptMain.yml b/.github/workflows/testCommitExceptMain.yml
index bab875d7..21e76f0c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/testCommitExceptMain.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/testCommitExceptMain.yml
@@ -4,15 +4,22 @@ on:
     branches-ignore: [main]
 
 jobs:
-  unit-tests:
-    uses: salesforcecli/github-workflows/.github/workflows/unitTest.yml@main
+  yarn-lockfile-check:
+    uses: salesforcecli/github-workflows/.github/workflows/lockFileCheck.yml@main
+  # Since the Windows unit tests take much longer, we run the linux unit tests first and then run the windows unit tests in parallel with NUTs
+  linux-unit-tests:
+    needs: yarn-lockfile-check
+    uses: salesforcecli/github-workflows/.github/workflows/unitTestsLinux.yml@main
+  windows-unit-tests:
+    needs: linux-unit-tests
+    uses: salesforcecli/github-workflows/.github/workflows/unitTestsWindows.yml@main
   test-bundle:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     name: test bundling
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
-        with: 
+        with:
           node-version: lts/*
           cache: yarn
       - uses: salesforcecli/github-workflows/.github/actions/yarnInstallWithRetries@main
@@ -21,7 +28,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: check if bundling runs into failures
         run: node scripts/testEsbuild.js
   xNuts:
-    needs: unit-tests
+    needs: linux-unit-tests
     name: external NUTs
     uses: salesforcecli/github-workflows/.github/workflows/externalNut.yml@main
     strategy: