diff --git a/packages/@aws-cdk-testing/cli-integ/bin/stage-distribution.ts b/packages/@aws-cdk-testing/cli-integ/bin/stage-distribution.ts
index a5cfd6b496e5c..0c8f5e11eac53 100644
--- a/packages/@aws-cdk-testing/cli-integ/bin/stage-distribution.ts
+++ b/packages/@aws-cdk-testing/cli-integ/bin/stage-distribution.ts
@@ -34,6 +34,12 @@ async function main() {
       type: 'boolean',
       requiresArg: false,
     })
+    .option('regression', {
+      description: 'Enable access to previous versions of the staged packages (this is expensive for CodeArtifact so we only do it when necessary)',
+      type: 'boolean',
+      requiresArg: false,
+      default: false,
+    })
     .command('publish <DIRECTORY>', 'Publish a given directory', cmd => cmd
       .positional('DIRECTORY', {
         descripton: 'Directory distribution',
@@ -190,6 +196,7 @@ async function publish(repo: TestRepository, usageDir: UsageDir, args: {
   python?: boolean;
   java?: boolean;
   dotnet?: boolean;
+  regression?: boolean;
 }) {
   const directory = `${args.DIRECTORY}`;
   const login = await repo.loginInformation();
@@ -221,8 +228,10 @@ async function publish(repo: TestRepository, usageDir: UsageDir, args: {
     await uploadDotnetPackages(glob.sync(path.join(directory, 'dotnet', '**', '*.nupkg')), usageDir);
   });
 
-  console.log('🛍 Configuring packages for upstream versions');
-  await repo.markAllUpstreamAllow();
+  if (args.regression) {
+    console.log('🛍 Configuring packages for upstream versions');
+    await repo.markAllUpstreamAllow();
+  }
 }
 
 function whichRepos(args: {
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/test/integ/test-cli-regression-against-current-code.sh b/packages/aws-cdk/test/integ/test-cli-regression-against-current-code.sh
index c735580c9fd58..b8d3684c70ba6 100755
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/test/integ/test-cli-regression-against-current-code.sh
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/test/integ/test-cli-regression-against-current-code.sh
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ previous=$(${INTEG_TOOLS}/bin/query-github last-release --token $GITHUB_TOKEN --
 echo "Previous version is: $previous"
 
 # Old tests, new CLI, new framework
-exec $INTEG_TOOLS/bin/download-and-run-old-tests "$previous" --use-cli-release=$VERSION cli-integ-tests
+exec $INTEG_TOOLS/bin/download-and-run-old-tests "$previous" --regression --use-cli-release=$VERSION cli-integ-tests
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/test/integ/test-cli-regression-against-latest-release.sh b/packages/aws-cdk/test/integ/test-cli-regression-against-latest-release.sh
index 8c828fb2138ce..854eb047c06b9 100755
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/test/integ/test-cli-regression-against-latest-release.sh
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/test/integ/test-cli-regression-against-latest-release.sh
@@ -8,4 +8,4 @@ previous=$(${INTEG_TOOLS}/bin/query-github last-release --token $GITHUB_TOKEN --
 echo "Previous version is: $previous"
 
 # Old tests, new CLI, old framework
-exec $INTEG_TOOLS/bin/download-and-run-old-tests "$previous" --use-cli-release=$VERSION --framework-version=$previous cli-integ-tests
+exec $INTEG_TOOLS/bin/download-and-run-old-tests "$previous" --regression --use-cli-release=$VERSION --framework-version=$previous cli-integ-tests