In this paper, we answer a question of Dwyer, Greenlees, and Iyengar by proving a local ring $R$ is a complete intersection if and only if every complex of $R$-modules with finitely generated homology is proxy small. Moreover, we establish that a commutative noetherian ring $R$ is locally a complete intersection if and only if every complex of $R$-modules with finitely generated homology is virtually small.