diff --git a/ci/validate.yaml b/ci/validate.yaml
index be7ae1b..36799ce 100644
--- a/ci/validate.yaml
+++ b/ci/validate.yaml
@@ -86,10 +86,15 @@
       # Still run the next step if this one fails
       ignore_errors: true
 
-    - name: Compose the base variant
-      ansible.builtin.command:
+    - name: Perform dependency resolution for the base variant
+      ansible.builtin.shell:
         chdir: "{{ zuul.project.src_dir }}"
-        cmd: just compose-image base-atomic
+        cmd: "just compose-dry-run base-atomic"
+
+    # - name: Compose the base variant
+    #   ansible.builtin.command:
+    #     chdir: "{{ zuul.project.src_dir }}"
+    #     cmd: just compose-image base-atomic
 
     - name: Check if any previous dependency resolution steps failed
       ansible.builtin.shell: