diff --git a/.github/prepare_release.sh b/.github/prepare_release.sh
index 2a8ea619e..d5874a3ed 100755
--- a/.github/prepare_release.sh
+++ b/.github/prepare_release.sh
@@ -1,22 +1,35 @@
 #!/bin/bash -e
 
-is_minor="$1"    # type is "minor" or "patch"
-is_patch="$2"    # type is "minor" or "patch"
+# The version to publish is read from LLama/LLamaSharp.csproj and used verbatim.
+# Bump <Version> there in the release PR: whatever it says is exactly what ships.
+version=$(dotnet msbuild ./LLama/LLamaSharp.csproj -getProperty:Version)
+version="${version//[$'\t\r\n ']/}"
 
-echo "is_minor: $is_minor"
-echo "is_patch: $is_patch"
+if ! [[ $version =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+  echo "Could not read a valid version from LLama/LLamaSharp.csproj (got '$version')."
+  exit 1
+fi
 
-if [ "$is_minor" = true ] && [ "$is_patch" = true ]; then
-  echo "Only one of minor version and patch version should be specified."
+echo "Releasing version: $version";
+
+# Refuse to rebuild a version that is already on nuget.org, so a re-run of the
+# workflow fails loudly instead of silently doing nothing. This job ends in a push
+# to nuget.org, so if the API cannot be reached there is no point carrying on.
+nuget_index="https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/llamasharp/index.json"
+if ! published=$(curl -sf --connect-timeout 10 --max-time 60 --retry 3 --retry-delay 5 "$nuget_index"); then
+  echo "Could not query nuget.org for the published versions of LLamaSharp."
+  echo "Refusing to release without that check, since the release publishes to nuget.org anyway."
   exit 1
-elif [ "$is_minor" = true ] && [ "$is_patch" = false ]; then
-  type="minor"
-  echo "decided to update minor version"
-elif [ "$is_minor" = false ] && [ "$is_patch" = true ]; then
-  type="patch"
-  echo "decided to update patch version"
-else
-  echo "At least one of minor version and patch version should be specified."
+fi
+
+if ! echo "$published" | grep -Fq '"versions"'; then
+  echo "Unexpected response from $nuget_index, expected a JSON document listing versions."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if echo "$published" | grep -Fq "\"$version\""; then
+  echo "LLamaSharp $version is already published on nuget.org."
+  echo "Bump <Version> in LLama/LLamaSharp.csproj before releasing again."
   exit 1
 fi
 
@@ -25,58 +38,19 @@ mkdir ./temp/runtimes;
 cp ./LLama/runtimes ./temp -R;
 cp ./LLama/runtimes/build/*.* ./temp/;
 
-# get the current version
-cd temp;
-dotnet add package LLamaSharp;
-version=$(dotnet list temp.csproj package | grep LLamaSharp);
-# TODO: This didn´t work on osx...we need a solution
-read -ra arr <<< "$version"
-version="${arr[-1]}"
-echo "The latest version: $version";
-
-
-# update the version
-if [[ $type == "minor" ]]; then
-    regex="[0-9]+\.([0-9]+)\.[0-9]+$"
-    if [[ $version =~ $regex ]]; then
-        b="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
-        b=$((b + 1))
-        updated_version="${version%%.*}.$b.0"
-        echo "Updated version: $updated_version"
-    else
-        echo "Invalid version format"
-        exit 1
-    fi
-elif [[ $type == "patch" ]]; then
-    regex="([0-9]+)$"
-    if [[ $version =~ $regex ]]; then
-        c="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
-        c=$((c + 1))
-        updated_version="${version%.*}.$c"
-        echo "Updated version: $updated_version"
-    else
-        echo "Invalid version format"
-        exit 1
-    fi
-else
-    echo "Invalid type" 
-    exit 1
-fi
-
-cd ..
 # pack the main package
-dotnet pack ./LLama/LLamaSharp.csproj -c Release -o ./temp/ /p:PackageVersion=$updated_version /p:Version=$updated_version /p:IncludeSymbols=true /p:SymbolPackageFormat=snupkg;
+dotnet pack ./LLama/LLamaSharp.csproj -c Release -o ./temp/ /p:PackageVersion=$version /p:Version=$version /p:IncludeSymbols=true /p:SymbolPackageFormat=snupkg;
 
 # pack the backends
 cd temp
 for nuspec in *.nuspec
 do
   echo "Packing $nuspec"
-  nuget pack $nuspec -version $updated_version
+  nuget pack $nuspec -version $version
 done
 
 # write the version to the file
-echo $updated_version > version.txt
+echo $version > version.txt
 
 cd ..
 exit 0
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-minor-trigger.yml b/.github/workflows/release-minor-trigger.yml
index 93e06067e..161baa3f5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-minor-trigger.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-minor-trigger.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ on:
 
 jobs:
   release-minor-trigger:
-    if: contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'minor-release') && !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'patch-release')
+    if: github.event.pull_request.merged == true && contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'minor-release') && !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'patch-release')
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     
     steps:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-minor.yml b/.github/workflows/release-minor.yml
index 3832b56da..d1ef48a13 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-minor.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-minor.yml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ jobs:
         git fetch origin;
         
         chmod +x ./.github/prepare_release.sh
-        ./.github/prepare_release.sh true false
+        ./.github/prepare_release.sh
 
     - name: Upload packages artifacts
       uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-patch-trigger.yml b/.github/workflows/release-patch-trigger.yml
index be14fe715..18b511c33 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-patch-trigger.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-patch-trigger.yml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ on:
 
 jobs:
   release-patch-trigger:
-    if: contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'patch-release') && !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'minor-release')
+    if: github.event.pull_request.merged == true && contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'patch-release') && !contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'minor-release')
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     
     steps:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-patch.yml b/.github/workflows/release-patch.yml
index c9dceb9c0..238bc67e9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-patch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-patch.yml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ jobs:
         git fetch origin;
         
         chmod +x ./.github/prepare_release.sh
-        ./.github/prepare_release.sh false true
+        ./.github/prepare_release.sh
 
     - name: Upload packages artifacts
       uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4