diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3040fca54d607adcc378a1c9121a380560cc75f8..7bc418137d546057087c998ab5a901729d453663 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+# [7.9.0](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/7.8.3...7.9.0) (2025-03-10)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* skip GCP ADC authent when GCP_JWT is not present ([b43207f](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/commit/b43207f6eee26a8d17bc75ed19b54208534b3ad9))
+
 ## [7.8.3](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/7.8.2...7.8.3) (2025-02-23)
 
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a48ca9e5f247f3ec7f83a85598c8fdff4673f083..f2a905e48c786a8daa0080ebcd43940eb4164c70 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`:
 ```yaml
 include:
   # 1: include the component
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.8.3
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.9.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.12-slim
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`:
 include:
   # 1: include the template
   - project: 'to-be-continuous/python'
-    ref: '7.8.3'
+    ref: '7.9.0'
     file: '/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml'
 
 variables:
@@ -563,9 +563,9 @@ With:
 ```yaml
 include:
   # main component
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.8.3
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.9.0
   # Vault variant
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@7.8.3
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@7.9.0
     inputs:
       vault-base-url: "https://vault.acme.host/v1"
       # audience claim for JWT
@@ -604,13 +604,13 @@ The variant requires the additional configuration parameters:
 
 ```yaml
 include:
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.8.3
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.9.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.12-slim
       pytest-enabled: true
 
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-gcp@7.8.3
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-gcp@7.9.0
     inputs:
       # common OIDC config for non-prod envs
       gcp-oidc-provider: "projects/<gcp_nonprod_proj_id>/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/<pool_id>/providers/<provider_id>"
@@ -670,13 +670,13 @@ then set the required configuration.
 
 ```yaml
 include:
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.8.3
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.9.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.12-slim
       pytest-enabled: true
 
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-aws-codeartifact@7.8.3
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-aws-codeartifact@7.9.0
     inputs:
       aws-region: "us-east-1"
       aws-codeartifact-domain: "acme"
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
index 2a462be960e921064c3831d447d347137c93faac..b99b3ab6fe13f8ab185145ccd91b5fedec89de6e 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ variables:
   image: $PYTHON_IMAGE
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.8.3"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.9.0"]
   id_tokens:
     GCP_JWT:
       aud: "$GCP_OIDC_AUD"
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
index 5cdbb353fe89fa67e5e753f11712a871393618c7..25ee7ba3a6e09355465a64ca3c4e9cb0795da78c 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ variables:
 .python-base:
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.8.3"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.9.0"]
     - name: "$TBC_VAULT_IMAGE"
       alias: "vault-secrets-provider"
   variables:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
index 60f403bc52ca2d6a724194eb384df1f3c17d7442..f8967140c273b8d2696ec414fc9fe4074f861f5b 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
@@ -982,7 +982,7 @@ stages:
   image: $PYTHON_IMAGE
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.8.3"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.9.0"]
   variables:
     # set local cache dir; most Python tools honour XDG specs
     XDG_CACHE_HOME: "$CI_PROJECT_DIR/.cache"