diff --git a/test/ci_workflow_gen.go b/test/ci_workflow_gen.go
index 1407d0a0808..1e7696a6f4a 100644
--- a/test/ci_workflow_gen.go
+++ b/test/ci_workflow_gen.go
@@ -32,11 +32,43 @@ const (
 	unitTestDatabases = "percona56, mysql57, mysql80, mariadb101, mariadb102, mariadb103"
 
 	clusterTestTemplate = "templates/cluster_endtoend_test.tpl"
-	clusterList         = "11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,26,27,vreplication_basic,vreplication_multicell,vreplication_cellalias,vreplication_v2,onlineddl_ghost,onlineddl_vrepl,onlineddl_vrepl_stress,vreplication_migrate,onlineddl_revert"
+)
+
+var (
+	clusterList = []string{
+		"11",
+		"12",
+		"13",
+		"14",
+		"15",
+		"16",
+		"17",
+		"18",
+		"19",
+		"20",
+		"21",
+		"22",
+		"23",
+		"24",
+		"26",
+		"27",
+		"vreplication_basic",
+		"vreplication_multicell",
+		"vreplication_cellalias",
+		"vreplication_v2",
+		"onlineddl_ghost",
+		"onlineddl_vrepl",
+		"onlineddl_vrepl_stress",
+		"vreplication_migrate",
+		"onlineddl_revert",
+	}
 	// TODO: currently some percona tools including xtrabackup are installed on all clusters, we can possibly optimize
 	// this by only installing them in the required clusters
 	clustersRequiringXtraBackup = clusterList
-	clustersRequiringMakeTools  = "18,24"
+	clustersRequiringMakeTools  = []string{
+		"18",
+		"24",
+	}
 )
 
 type unitTest struct {
@@ -72,6 +104,16 @@ func main() {
 	generateClusterWorkflows()
 }
 
+func canonnizeList(list []string) []string {
+	var output []string
+	for _, item := range list {
+		item = strings.TrimSpace(item)
+		if item != "" {
+			output = append(output, item)
+		}
+	}
+	return output
+}
 func parseList(csvList string) []string {
 	var list []string
 	for _, item := range strings.Split(csvList, ",") {
@@ -81,20 +123,20 @@ func parseList(csvList string) []string {
 }
 
 func generateClusterWorkflows() {
-	clusters := parseList(clusterList)
+	clusters := canonnizeList(clusterList)
 	for _, cluster := range clusters {
 		test := &clusterTest{
 			Name:  fmt.Sprintf("Cluster (%s)", cluster),
 			Shard: cluster,
 		}
-		makeToolClusters := parseList(clustersRequiringMakeTools)
+		makeToolClusters := canonnizeList(clustersRequiringMakeTools)
 		for _, makeToolCluster := range makeToolClusters {
 			if makeToolCluster == cluster {
 				test.MakeTools = true
 				break
 			}
 		}
-		xtraBackupClusters := parseList(clustersRequiringXtraBackup)
+		xtraBackupClusters := canonnizeList(clustersRequiringXtraBackup)
 		for _, xtraBackupCluster := range xtraBackupClusters {
 			if xtraBackupCluster == cluster {
 				test.InstallXtraBackup = true