diff --git a/script/publish.ts b/script/publish.ts
index 994d0bf2c1..6cd244e0e6 100755
--- a/script/publish.ts
+++ b/script/publish.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import { fileURLToPath } from "url"
 console.log("=== publishing ===\n")
 
 const tag = `v${Script.version}`
-const release_commit = `release: ${tag}`
 
 const pkgjsons = await Array.fromAsync(
   new Bun.Glob("**/package.json").scan({
@@ -21,10 +20,8 @@ async function hasChanges() {
   return (await $`git diff --quiet && git diff --cached --quiet`.nothrow()).exitCode !== 0
 }
 
-async function releaseTagReady() {
-  const ref = await $`git rev-parse -q --verify refs/tags/${tag}`.nothrow()
-  if (ref.exitCode !== 0) return false
-  return (await $`git log -1 --format=%s refs/tags/${tag}`.text()).trim() === release_commit
+async function releaseTagExists() {
+  return (await $`git rev-parse -q --verify refs/tags/${tag}`.nothrow()).exitCode === 0
 }
 
 async function prepareReleaseFiles() {
@@ -47,18 +44,16 @@ async function prepareReleaseFiles() {
 
 if (Script.release && !Script.preview) {
   await $`git fetch origin --tags`
-  if (await releaseTagReady()) await $`git switch --detach refs/tags/${tag}`
-  else await $`git switch --detach`
+  await $`git switch --detach`
 }
 
 await prepareReleaseFiles()
 
-if (Script.release && !Script.preview && !(await releaseTagReady())) {
-  await $`git commit -am ${release_commit}`
-  if ((await $`git rev-parse -q --verify refs/tags/${tag}`.nothrow()).exitCode === 0) {
-    await $`git tag -f ${tag}`
-    await $`git push origin refs/tags/${tag} --force --no-verify`
+if (Script.release && !Script.preview) {
+  if (await releaseTagExists()) {
+    console.log(`release tag ${tag} already exists, skipping tag creation`)
   } else {
+    await $`git commit -am "release: ${tag}"`
     await $`git tag ${tag}`
     await $`git push origin refs/tags/${tag} --no-verify`
     await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 5_000))
diff --git a/script/version.ts b/script/version.ts
index c2dbd6c189..c1ad021b69 100755
--- a/script/version.ts
+++ b/script/version.ts
@@ -5,33 +5,6 @@ import { $ } from "bun"
 
 const output = [`version=${Script.version}`]
 const sha = process.env.GITHUB_SHA ?? (await $`git rev-parse HEAD`.text()).trim()
-const repo = process.env.GH_REPO
-
-async function releaseView() {
-  if (repo) return await $`gh release view v${Script.version} --json tagName,databaseId --repo ${repo}`.json()
-  return await $`gh release view v${Script.version} --json tagName,databaseId`.json()
-}
-
-async function ensureRelease(notesFile?: string) {
-  const existing = repo
-    ? await $`gh release view v${Script.version} --json tagName,databaseId --repo ${repo}`.nothrow()
-    : await $`gh release view v${Script.version} --json tagName,databaseId`.nothrow()
-  if (existing.exitCode === 0) return await releaseView()
-  if (notesFile) {
-    if (repo) {
-      await $`gh release create v${Script.version} -d --target ${sha} --title "v${Script.version}" --notes-file ${notesFile} --repo ${repo}`
-      return await releaseView()
-    }
-    await $`gh release create v${Script.version} -d --target ${sha} --title "v${Script.version}" --notes-file ${notesFile}`
-    return await releaseView()
-  }
-  if (repo) {
-    await $`gh release create v${Script.version} -d --target ${sha} --title "v${Script.version}" --repo ${repo}`
-    return await releaseView()
-  }
-  await $`gh release create v${Script.version} -d --target ${sha} --title "v${Script.version}"`
-  return await releaseView()
-}
 
 if (!Script.preview) {
   await $`bun script/changelog.ts --to ${sha}`.cwd(process.cwd())
@@ -42,11 +15,14 @@ if (!Script.preview) {
   const dir = process.env.RUNNER_TEMP ?? "/tmp"
   const notesFile = `${dir}/opencode-release-notes.txt`
   await Bun.write(notesFile, body)
-  const release = await ensureRelease(notesFile)
+  await $`gh release create v${Script.version} -d --target ${sha} --title "v${Script.version}" --notes-file ${notesFile}`
+  const release = await $`gh release view v${Script.version} --json tagName,databaseId`.json()
   output.push(`release=${release.databaseId}`)
   output.push(`tag=${release.tagName}`)
 } else if (Script.channel === "beta") {
-  const release = await ensureRelease()
+  await $`gh release create v${Script.version} -d --target ${sha} --title "v${Script.version}" --repo ${process.env.GH_REPO}`
+  const release =
+    await $`gh release view v${Script.version} --json tagName,databaseId --repo ${process.env.GH_REPO}`.json()
   output.push(`release=${release.databaseId}`)
   output.push(`tag=${release.tagName}`)
 }