diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-publish.yml b/.github/workflows/release-rust.yml
similarity index 93%
rename from .github/workflows/release-publish.yml
rename to .github/workflows/release-rust.yml
index ea49614248..10bbe29a55 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-rust.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: Publish Release
+name: Publish Rust Release
 
 on:
   pull_request:
@@ -21,14 +21,16 @@ jobs:
           fetch-depth: 0
           token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
+      - name: Fetch PR commits
+        run: |
+          git fetch origin ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
+          git fetch origin ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
+
       - name: Set up Rust
         uses: actions-rust-lang/setup-rust-toolchain@v1
         with:
           toolchain: stable
 
-      - name: Install cargo-release
-        run: cargo install cargo-release
-
       - name: Configure git
         run: |
           git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index eec2218324..0000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,167 +0,0 @@
-name: Release
-
-on:
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - main
-
-jobs:
-  release:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout sources
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: Setup and build
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-and-build
-
-      - name: Install cargo-workspaces
-        run: |
-          source ./scripts/devenv.sh
-          cargo install cargo-release cargo-workspaces
-
-      - name: Extract project
-        id: extract-project
-        shell: bash
-        run: |
-          COMMIT_MESSAGE=$(git log -1 --pretty=format:'%s' | sed 's/([^()]*)//g' | head -n 1)
-          PACKAGE=""
-          LANGUAGE=""
-          echo "Commit message: $COMMIT_MESSAGE"
-
-          if [[ "$COMMIT_MESSAGE" == "chore: Bump version of all Rust projects" ]]; then
-            PACKAGE="all"
-            LANGUAGE="rust"
-          elif [[ "$COMMIT_MESSAGE" == *"Bump version of all TypeScript"* ]]; then
-            PACKAGE="all"
-            LANGUAGE="ts"
-          elif [[ "$COMMIT_MESSAGE" == "chore: Bump version of Rust project "* ]]; then
-            PACKAGE=$(echo "$COMMIT_MESSAGE" | sed -n 's/chore: Bump version of Rust project \(.*\)/\1/p')
-            LANGUAGE="rust"
-          elif [[ "$COMMIT_MESSAGE" == *"Bump version of TypeScript project"* ]]; then
-            PACKAGE=$(echo "$COMMIT_MESSAGE" | grep -o "version of TypeScript project [^ ]*" | cut -d " " -f5)
-            LANGUAGE="rust"
-          fi
-
-          # Needed for Anchor.
-          PACKAGE_SNAKE_CASE=$(echo "$PACKAGE" | tr '-' '_')
-
-          printf "package=%s\package-snake-case=%s\nlanguage=%s\n" "$PACKAGE" "$PACKAGE_SNAKE_CASE" "$LANGUAGE" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
-      - name: Set Git user configuration
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.language != ''
-        run: |
-          git config user.name "GitHub Actions"
-          git config user.email "github-actions@github.com"
-
-      - name: Tag all Rust projects
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.package == 'all' && steps.extract-project.outputs.language == 'rust'
-        run: |
-          for PACKAGE in $(cargo ws list); do
-            VERSION=$(cargo pkgid -p "$PACKAGE" | cut -d "@" -f2)
-            echo "Creating tag for Rust package: $PACKAGE v$VERSION"
-            git tag "${PACKAGE}-v${VERSION}"
-            git push origin "${PACKAGE}-v${VERSION}"
-          done
-
-      - name: Tag all TypeScript projects
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.package == 'all' && steps.extract-project.outputs.language == 'ts'
-        run: |
-          for dir in $(pnpm m ls --depth -1 --porcelain | grep -v examples | grep -v tsconfig | tail -n+2); do
-            pushd "$dir"
-            PACKAGE=$(basename "$dir")
-            VERSION=$(pnpm list --depth 0 --json | jq -r '.[0].version')
-            echo "Creating tag for TypeScript package: $PACKAGE v$VERSION"
-            git tag "${PACKAGE}-v${VERSION}"
-            git push origin "${PACKAGE}-v${VERSION}"
-            popd
-          done
-
-      - name: Tag Rust project
-        id: tag-rust
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.package != 'all' && steps.extract-project.outputs.language == 'rust'
-        env:
-          PACKAGE: ${{ steps.extract-project.outputs.version }}
-        run: |
-          VERSION=$(cargo pkgid -p "$PACKAGE" | cut -d "@" -f2)
-          echo "Creating tag for package: $PACKAGE v$VERSION"
-          git tag "${PACKAGE}-v${VERSION}"
-          git push origin "${PACKAGE}-v${VERSION}"
-
-      - name: Tag TypeScript project
-        id: tag-ts
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.package != 'all' && steps.extract-project.outputs.language == 'ts'
-        env:
-          PACKAGE: ${{ steps.extract-project.outputs.version }}
-        run: |
-          VERSION=$(pnpm list --filter "$1" --depth 0 --json | jq -r '.[0].version')
-          echo "Creating tag for package: $PACKAGE v$VERSION"
-          git tag "${PACKAGE}-v${VERSION}"
-          git push origin "${PACKAGE}-v${VERSION}"
-
-      - name: Log in to crates.io
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.language == 'rust'
-        run: |
-          cargo login "${{ secrets.CRATES_IO_TOKEN }}"
-
-      - name: Release all Rust projects
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.package == 'all' && steps.extract-project.outputs.language == 'rust'
-        shell: bash
-        env:
-          CARGO_REGISTRY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CRATES_IO_TOKEN }}
-          PACKAGE: ${{ steps.extract-project.outputs.package }}
-        run: |
-          source ./scripts/devenv.sh
-
-          npx nx build @lightprotocol/programs
-          cp -r ./target/deploy/*.so .
-
-          PACKAGES=("aligned-sized" "light-heap" "light-utils" "light-bounded-vec" "light-hasher" "light-macros" "light-hash-set" "light-merkle-tree-reference" "light-concurrent-merkle-tree" "light-indexed-merkle-tree" "light-prover-client" "light-verifier" "account-compression" "light-registry" "light-system-program" "light-compressed-token" "light-test-utils")
-          for PACKAGE in "${PACKAGES[@]}"; do
-            for attempt in {1..3}; do
-              echo "Attempt $attempt: Publishing $PACKAGE..."
-              cargo release publish --package "$PACKAGE" --execute --no-confirm && break || echo "Attempt $attempt failed, retrying in 60..."
-              sleep 60
-            done
-            echo "Sleeping for 60 seconds to handle rate limits..."
-            sleep 60
-          done
-
-      - name: Release Rust project
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.package != 'all' && steps.extract-project.outputs.language == 'rust'
-        shell: bash
-        env:
-          CARGO_REGISTRY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CRATES_IO_TOKEN }}
-          PACKAGE: ${{ steps.extract-project.outputs.package }}
-          PACKAGE_SNAKE_CASE: ${{ steps.extract-project.outputs.package-snake-case }}
-        run: |
-          source ./scripts/devenv.sh
-
-          # Check whether we are building an on-chain program.
-          if [[ $(anchor keys list | grep "$PACKAGE_SNAKE_CASE") -eq 0 ]]; then
-            anchor build -p "$PACKAGE_SNAKE_CASE"
-          fi
-          cp -r ./target/deploy/*.so .
-
-          cargo release publish \
-            --package "$PACKAGE"
-
-      - name: Release TypeScript
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.package != 'all' && steps.extract-project.outputs.language == 'ts'
-        shell: bash
-        env:
-          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
-          NPM_CONFIG_PROVENANCE: true
-          PACKAGE: ${{ steps.extract-project.outputs.package }}
-        run: |
-          SUBDIR=$(grep "$PACKAGE" pnpm-workspace.yaml | awk -F '"' '{gsub("/\\*\\*", "", $2); print $2}')
-          cd "$SUBDIR"
-          pnpm publish --access public --no-git-checks
-
-      - name: GitHub release
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
-        if: steps.extract-project.outputs.language != ''
-        with:
-          token: ${{ secrets.PAT_TOKEN }}
-          files: |
-            *.so
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index fdc108471a..2dcd9aa4f9 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -233,18 +233,3 @@ solana-program-runtime = { git = "https://github.com/Lightprotocol/agave", rev =
 solana-bpf-loader-program = { git = "https://github.com/Lightprotocol/agave", rev = "be34dc76559e14921a2c8610f2fa2402bf0684bb" }
 # Patch solana-program-memory to use older version where is_nonoverlapping is public
 solana-program-memory = { git = "https://github.com/anza-xyz/solana-sdk", rev = "1c1d667f161666f12f5a43ebef8eda9470a8c6ee" }
-
-[workspace.metadata.release]
-allow-branch = ["main", "release/*"]
-tag-name = "{{crate_name}}-v{{version}}"
-publish = true
-push = true
-shared-version = false
-sign-commit = false
-sign-tag = false
-# Update workspace dependencies when releasing
-dependent-version = "upgrade"
-# Don't consolidate commits - create one commit per package
-consolidate-commits = false
-# Don't verify (skip tests/build checks)
-verify = false
diff --git a/scripts/create-release-pr.sh b/scripts/create-release-pr.sh
index 38eae0648c..db074d0b74 100755
--- a/scripts/create-release-pr.sh
+++ b/scripts/create-release-pr.sh
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ echo "$VERSION_CHANGES"
 
 echo ""
 echo "========================================="
-echo "Running cargo release dry-run validation..."
+echo "Running cargo publish dry-run validation..."
 echo "========================================="
 echo ""
 
diff --git a/scripts/validate-packages.sh b/scripts/validate-packages.sh
index 861f63eb2f..cdec076f29 100755
--- a/scripts/validate-packages.sh
+++ b/scripts/validate-packages.sh
@@ -48,20 +48,19 @@ done
 
 echo ""
 if [ -n "$EXECUTE_FLAG" ]; then
-  echo "Running: cargo release publish $PACKAGE_ARGS --execute --no-confirm"
+  echo "Running: cargo publish $PACKAGE_ARGS --no-verify"
 else
   echo "Running: cargo publish $PACKAGE_ARGS --dry-run"
 fi
 echo "----------------------------------------"
 
 # Native cargo 1.90.0+ handles dependency ordering for interdependent workspace crates
-# Without --execute: dry-run validation using native cargo publish
-# With --execute: use cargo-release for actual publish to crates.io
 if [ -n "$EXECUTE_FLAG" ]; then
-  cargo release publish $PACKAGE_ARGS --execute --no-confirm
+  # Actual publish to crates.io using native cargo
+  # Skip verification to avoid build issues with interdependent packages
+  cargo publish $PACKAGE_ARGS --no-verify
 else
-  # Use native cargo publish --dry-run with all packages at once
-  # This allows interdependent workspace crates to validate together
+  # Dry-run validation using native cargo publish
   # Allow dirty state and skip verification due to cargo bug with unpublished dep hashes
   cargo publish $PACKAGE_ARGS --dry-run --allow-dirty --no-verify
 fi