diff --git a/scripts/circle-env.js b/scripts/circle-env.js
index 09d650fb46f6..50e76d605eaf 100644
--- a/scripts/circle-env.js
+++ b/scripts/circle-env.js
@@ -46,6 +46,13 @@ async function readCircleEnv () {
       throw new Error('COPY_CIRCLE_ARTIFACTS is set, but circleEnv is empty')
     }
 
+    if (Object.keys(circleEnv).length === 3) {
+      // remove known circle variables that are not used if they exist
+      delete circleEnv['CIRCLE_OIDC_TOKEN']
+      delete circleEnv['CIRCLE_OIDC_TOKEN_V2']
+      delete circleEnv['CIRCLE_PLUGIN_TEST']
+    }
+
     return circleEnv
   } catch (err) {
     throw new Error(`An error occurred when reading the environment from Circle task data: ${err}`)
diff --git a/scripts/unit/circle-env-spec.js b/scripts/unit/circle-env-spec.js
index df98851e0c26..86e808fd70c0 100644
--- a/scripts/unit/circle-env-spec.js
+++ b/scripts/unit/circle-env-spec.js
@@ -55,6 +55,56 @@ describe('circle-env', () => {
         }
       })
     })
+
+    context('with circleEnv plus only omitted keys', () => {
+      it('passes', async () => {
+        sinon.stub(fs, 'readFile')
+        .withArgs('/foo.json').resolves(JSON.stringify({
+          Dispatched: { TaskInfo: { Environment: {
+            CIRCLE_OIDC_TOKEN: 'foo',
+            CIRCLE_OIDC_TOKEN_V2: 'bar',
+            CIRCLE_PLUGIN_TEST: 'baz',
+          } } },
+        }))
+
+        sinon.spy(console, 'warn')
+        await _checkCanaries()
+        expect(console.warn).to.be.calledWith('CircleCI env empty, assuming this is a contributor PR. Not checking for canary variables.')
+      })
+
+      it('also passes', async () => {
+        sinon.stub(fs, 'readFile')
+        .withArgs('/foo.json').resolves(JSON.stringify({
+          Dispatched: { TaskInfo: { Environment: {
+            CIRCLE_OIDC_TOKEN: 'foo',
+            CIRCLE_OIDC_TOKEN_V2: 'bar',
+            CIRCLE_PLUGIN_TEST: 'baz',
+            MAIN_CANARY: 'qux',
+            CONTEXT_CANARY: 'quux',
+          } } },
+        }))
+
+        await _checkCanaries()
+      })
+
+      it('fails', async () => {
+        sinon.stub(fs, 'readFile')
+        .withArgs('/foo.json').resolves(JSON.stringify({
+          Dispatched: { TaskInfo: { Environment: {
+            CIRCLE_OIDC_TOKEN: 'foo',
+            CIRCLE_OIDC_TOKEN_V2: 'bar',
+            CIRCLE_PLUGIN_TEST: 'baz',
+            SOME_OTHER_VAR: 'quux',
+          } } },
+        }))
+
+        try {
+          await _checkCanaries()
+        } catch (e) {
+          expect(e.message).to.equal('Missing MAIN_CANARY.')
+        }
+      })
+    })
   })
 
   it('passes with canaries', async () => {