diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 47fa8ae..2cdc04c 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -158,11 +158,12 @@ performance_tests_dev:
   image: python:3.11-alpine
   only:
     - devel
+  when: on_success  # Run automatically after successful deployment verification
   variables:
     DEV_URL: "https://dev.libravatar.org"
   before_script:
     - apk add --no-cache curl
-    - pip install requests
+    - pip install requests Pillow prettytable pyLibravatar
   script:
     - echo "Running performance tests against dev.libravatar.org..."
     - python3 scripts/performance_tests.py --base-url $DEV_URL --concurrent-users 5 --output performance_dev.json
@@ -172,7 +173,8 @@ performance_tests_dev:
     expire_in: 7 days
   allow_failure: true  # Don't fail deployment on performance issues
   needs:
-    - verify_dev_deployment  # Run after deployment verification
+    - job: verify_dev_deployment
+      artifacts: false  # Run after deployment verification succeeds
 
 # Performance testing against production server (master branch only)
 performance_tests_prod:
@@ -180,12 +182,12 @@ performance_tests_prod:
   image: python:3.11-alpine
   only:
     - master
-  when: manual  # Manual trigger to avoid impacting production unnecessarily
+  when: on_success  # Run automatically after successful deployment verification
   variables:
     PROD_URL: "https://libravatar.org"
   before_script:
     - apk add --no-cache curl
-    - pip install requests
+    - pip install requests Pillow prettytable pyLibravatar
   script:
     - echo "Running performance tests against libravatar.org..."
     - python3 scripts/performance_tests.py --base-url $PROD_URL --concurrent-users 3 --output performance_prod.json
@@ -195,7 +197,29 @@ performance_tests_prod:
     expire_in: 30 days  # Keep production results longer
   allow_failure: true  # Don't fail deployment on performance issues
   needs:
-    - verify_prod_deployment  # Run after deployment verification
+    - job: verify_prod_deployment
+      artifacts: false  # Run after deployment verification succeeds
+
+# Manual performance testing against production (for on-demand testing)
+performance_tests_prod_manual:
+  stage: deploy
+  image: python:3.11-alpine
+  only:
+    - master
+  when: manual  # Manual trigger for on-demand performance testing
+  variables:
+    PROD_URL: "https://libravatar.org"
+  before_script:
+    - apk add --no-cache curl
+    - pip install requests
+  script:
+    - echo "Running manual performance tests against libravatar.org..."
+    - python3 scripts/performance_tests.py --base-url $PROD_URL --concurrent-users 5 --output performance_prod_manual.json
+  artifacts:
+    paths:
+      - performance_prod_manual.json
+    expire_in: 30 days
+  allow_failure: true
 
 # Deployment verification jobs
 verify_dev_deployment:
diff --git a/scripts/performance_tests.py b/scripts/performance_tests.py
index 1fdd568..c83f937 100644
--- a/scripts/performance_tests.py
+++ b/scripts/performance_tests.py
@@ -11,18 +11,39 @@ import sys
 import time
 import statistics
 import hashlib
+import random
+import string
 from typing import Dict, List, Any, Optional, Tuple
 
 # Add project root to path
 sys.path.append(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))))
 
-# Import utilities
-from ivatar.utils import generate_random_email
 from libravatar import libravatar_url
 from urllib.parse import urlsplit
 from prettytable import PrettyTable
 
 
+def random_string(length=10):
+    """Return some random string with default length 10"""
+    return "".join(
+        random.SystemRandom().choice(string.ascii_lowercase + string.digits)
+        for _ in range(length)
+    )
+
+
+# Try to import Django utilities for local testing, fallback to local implementation
+try:
+    from ivatar.utils import generate_random_email
+except ImportError:
+    # Use local version for external testing
+    def generate_random_email():
+        """Generate a random email address using the same pattern as test_views.py"""
+        username = random_string()
+        domain = random_string()
+        tld = random_string(2)
+        return f"{username}@{domain}.{tld}"
+
+
 # Django setup - only for local testing
 def setup_django() -> None:
     """Setup Django for local testing"""