diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 47114ceb..87ffe656 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -104,9 +104,9 @@ jobs:
           set -euo pipefail
           # The `./` prefix is load-bearing: npm reads a slash-bearing arg without it
           # (`artifact/relavium-X.tgz`) as a GitHub `owner/repo` shorthand and tries to git-clone it.
-          # `./artifact/…` forces the local-file spec. (Verified via npm-package-arg.)
-          TGZ="./$(ls artifact/*.tgz)"
-          npm install -g "$TGZ"
+          # `./artifact/…` forces the local-file spec (verified via npm-package-arg); the glob expands to
+          # the single packed tarball, so no `ls`/subshell is needed.
+          npm install -g ./artifact/*.tgz
           echo "## relavium --help" && relavium --help >/dev/null
           echo "## relavium --version matches the published package version"
           VER="$(relavium --version)"
@@ -135,6 +135,14 @@ jobs:
       contents: read
       id-token: write # npm provenance attestation
     steps:
+      # Checkout ONLY `.nvmrc` (sparse, non-cone) so `setup-node` can read the single Node-version source the
+      # pack/smoke jobs use too; publish needs no other repo files — it pushes the downloaded tarball, not a
+      # fresh build. (fetch-depth defaults to 1, so it is not set again.)
+      - uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4.3.1
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+          sparse-checkout: .nvmrc
+          sparse-checkout-cone-mode: false
       - name: Set up Node (npm registry)
         uses: actions/setup-node@49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020 # v4.4.0
         with:
@@ -149,6 +157,9 @@ jobs:
       # resolved in the packed manifest, so `npm publish <tarball>` is correct here (pnpm-pack did the resolving).
       - name: Publish
         shell: bash
-        run: npm publish "$(ls artifact/*.tgz)" --provenance --access public
+        # `./` for the same reason as the smoke install: a bare `artifact/…tgz` is read by npm as a GitHub
+        # `owner/repo` shorthand, not the local tarball. The `./artifact/*.tgz` glob forces the file spec and
+        # expands to the single downloaded tarball — no `ls`/subshell needed.
+        run: npm publish ./artifact/*.tgz --provenance --access public
         env:
           NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}