diff --git a/pipeline/frontend/yaml/constraint/constraint.go b/pipeline/frontend/yaml/constraint/constraint.go
index c6c3afedc..7f77193f0 100644
--- a/pipeline/frontend/yaml/constraint/constraint.go
+++ b/pipeline/frontend/yaml/constraint/constraint.go
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ import (
 	"go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3/shared/optional"
 )
 
+const (
+	statusFailure = "failure"
+	statusSuccess = "success"
+)
+
 type (
 	// When defines a set of runtime constraints.
 	When struct {
@@ -42,7 +47,7 @@ type (
 		Platform List                        `yaml:"platform,omitempty"`
 		Branch   List                        `yaml:"branch,omitempty"`
 		Cron     List                        `yaml:"cron,omitempty"`
-		Status   List                        `yaml:"status,omitempty"`
+		Status   []string                    `yaml:"status,omitempty"`
 		Matrix   Map                         `yaml:"matrix,omitempty"`
 		Local    optional.Option[bool]       `yaml:"local,omitempty"`
 		Path     Path                        `yaml:"path,omitempty"`
@@ -77,7 +82,7 @@ func (when *When) Match(metadata metadata.Metadata, global bool, env map[string]
 
 func (when *When) IncludesStatusFailure() bool {
 	for _, c := range when.Constraints {
-		if c.Status.Includes("failure") {
+		if slices.Contains(c.Status, statusFailure) {
 			return true
 		}
 	}
@@ -93,7 +98,7 @@ func (when *When) IncludesStatusSuccess() bool {
 		return true
 	}
 	for _, c := range when.Constraints {
-		if len(c.Status.Include) == 0 || c.Status.Includes("success") {
+		if len(c.Status) == 0 || slices.Contains(c.Status, statusSuccess) {
 			return true
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pipeline/frontend/yaml/constraint/constraint_test.go b/pipeline/frontend/yaml/constraint/constraint_test.go
index 2f7f3376d..4812390c8 100644
--- a/pipeline/frontend/yaml/constraint/constraint_test.go
+++ b/pipeline/frontend/yaml/constraint/constraint_test.go
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ func TestConstraintStatusSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 		{conf: "{status: [failure]}", want: false},
 		{conf: "{status: [success]}", want: true},
 		{conf: "{status: [failure, success]}", want: true},
-		{conf: "{status: {exclude: [success], include: [failure]}}", want: false},
-		{conf: "{status: {exclude: [failure], include: [success]}}", want: true},
 	}
 	for _, test := range testdata {
 		c := parseConstraints(t, test.conf)
diff --git a/pipeline/frontend/yaml/linter/schema/.woodpecker/test-when.yaml b/pipeline/frontend/yaml/linter/schema/.woodpecker/test-when.yaml
index 93b462192..390420956 100644
--- a/pipeline/frontend/yaml/linter/schema/.woodpecker/test-when.yaml
+++ b/pipeline/frontend/yaml/linter/schema/.woodpecker/test-when.yaml
@@ -43,7 +43,10 @@ steps:
     commands:
       - echo "test"
     when:
-      ref: 'refs/tags/v**'
+      - ref: 'refs/tags/v**'
+      - ref:
+          include: 'refs/tags/v**'
+          exclude: 'refs/tags/v1.**'
 
   when-status:
     image: alpine
diff --git a/pipeline/frontend/yaml/linter/schema/schema.json b/pipeline/frontend/yaml/linter/schema/schema.json
index 5b20b1ee0..f3cf824a5 100644
--- a/pipeline/frontend/yaml/linter/schema/schema.json
+++ b/pipeline/frontend/yaml/linter/schema/schema.json
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@
         },
         "ref": {
           "description": "Read more: https://woodpecker-ci.org/docs/usage/workflow-syntax#ref",
-          "type": "string"
+          "$ref": "#/definitions/constraint_list"
         },
         "cron": {
           "description": "filter cron by title. Read more: https://woodpecker-ci.org/docs/usage/workflow-syntax#cron",
@@ -420,7 +420,7 @@
         },
         "ref": {
           "description": "Read more: https://woodpecker-ci.org/docs/usage/workflow-syntax#ref",
-          "type": "string"
+          "$ref": "#/definitions/constraint_list"
         },
         "cron": {
           "description": "filter cron by title. Read more: https://woodpecker-ci.org/docs/usage/workflow-syntax#cron",