diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml
index 45d6a60..cf77b88 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -54,27 +54,33 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           if [ "${GITHUB_EVENT_NAME}" = "push" ]; then
-            # Tag push from local: tag already exists, just verify + extract version
+            # Tag pushed locally: tag already exists, just extract version
             tag="${GITHUB_REF_NAME}"
             ver="${tag#v}"
-            if ! printf '%s' "$ver" | grep -Eq '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+([-.][0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$'; then
-              echo "::error::'$ver' is not a semver version (expected e.g. 0.4.0)"
-              exit 1
-            fi
           else
-            # Manual dispatch: validate input, stamp, verify tag doesn't exist yet
+            # Manual dispatch from Gitea UI: use the input version
             ver="${VERSION#v}"
+            tag="v${ver}"
             if ! printf '%s' "$ver" | grep -Eq '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+([-.][0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$'; then
               echo "::error::'$ver' is not a semver version (expected e.g. 0.4.0)"
               exit 1
             fi
-            tag="v$ver"
-            if git rev-parse -q --verify "refs/tags/$tag" >/dev/null \
-              || git ls-remote --exit-code --tags origin "$tag" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-              echo "::error::tag $tag already exists"
-              exit 1
+            # If the tag already exists locally, skip version stamping.
+            # This covers the case where the tag was created outside this
+            # workflow — we just need the version number for downstream jobs.
+            if git rev-parse -q --verify "refs/tags/$tag" >/dev/null && \
+               ! git ls-remote --exit-code --tags origin "$tag" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+              echo "Tag already exists locally — skipping version stamp."
+            else
+              echo "Stamping version $ver …"
+              bash scripts/set-version.sh "$ver"
             fi
-            bash scripts/set-version.sh "$ver"
+          fi
+          # Verify the Cargo.toml version matches so downstream jobs are safe.
+          manifest_ver=$(grep '^version' Cargo.toml | head -1 | sed 's/version = "//;s/"//')
+          if [ "$ver" != "$manifest_ver" ]; then
+            echo "::error::version mismatch: step says $ver but Cargo.toml says $manifest_ver"
+            exit 1
           fi
           echo "version=$ver" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "tag=$tag" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"