diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 49c92788..9a8daa93 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ On next release:
 - [ ] update src/Kernel.php (REPMAN_VERSION)
 - [ ] update docker-compose.yml (image tags)
 
+### Fixed
+- Prefer VCS tag/branch name over hardcoded `version` in composer.json when syncing packages (tags were silently skipped, webhook/sync looked successful but the release never appeared)
+
 ## [1.3.4] - 2021-06-25
 ### Security
 - Upgrade flysystem to 1.1.4 - fix [CVE-2021-32708](https://github.com/thephpleague/flysystem/security/advisories/GHSA-9f46-5r25-5wfm)
diff --git a/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/ComposerPackageSynchronizer.php b/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/ComposerPackageSynchronizer.php
index eda1d6bd..0a72d20a 100644
--- a/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/ComposerPackageSynchronizer.php
+++ b/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/ComposerPackageSynchronizer.php
@@ -60,8 +60,7 @@ public function synchronize(Package $package): void
     {
         try {
             $io = $this->createIO($package);
-            /** @var RepositoryInterface $repository */
-            $repository = current(RepositoryFactory::defaultRepos($io, $this->createConfig($package, $io)));
+            $repository = $this->createRepository($package, $io);
             $json = ['packages' => []];
             $packages = $repository->getPackages();
 
@@ -271,6 +270,24 @@ private function accessToken(Package $package): string
         return $package->oauthToken()->accessToken($this->tokenRefresher);
     }
 
+    private function createRepository(Package $package, IOInterface $io): RepositoryInterface
+    {
+        $config = $this->createConfig($package, $io);
+        $repoType = $this->repositoryType($package);
+
+        if ($this->isVcsRepositoryType($repoType)) {
+            return new PreferTagVcsRepository([
+                'type' => $repoType,
+                'url' => $package->repositoryUrl(),
+            ], $io, $config);
+        }
+
+        /** @var RepositoryInterface $repository */
+        $repository = current(RepositoryFactory::defaultRepos($io, $config));
+
+        return $repository;
+    }
+
     private function createConfig(Package $package, IOInterface $io): Config
     {
         unset(Config::$defaultRepositories['packagist.org']);
@@ -278,7 +295,7 @@ private function createConfig(Package $package, IOInterface $io): Config
         $config->merge([
             'repositories' => [
                 [
-                    'type' => strpos($package->type(), '-oauth') !== false ? 'vcs' : $package->type(),
+                    'type' => $this->repositoryType($package),
                     'url' => $package->repositoryUrl(),
                 ],
             ],
@@ -293,4 +310,14 @@ private function createConfig(Package $package, IOInterface $io): Config
 
         return $config;
     }
+
+    private function repositoryType(Package $package): string
+    {
+        return strpos($package->type(), '-oauth') !== false ? 'vcs' : $package->type();
+    }
+
+    private function isVcsRepositoryType(string $type): bool
+    {
+        return \in_array($type, ['vcs', 'git', 'github', 'gitlab', 'bitbucket'], true);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriver.php b/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriver.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d9b1d5d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriver.php
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Buddy\Repman\Service\PackageSynchronizer;
+
+use Composer\Config;
+use Composer\IO\IOInterface;
+use Composer\Repository\Vcs\VcsDriverInterface;
+
+/**
+ * Drops composer.json "version" so Composer uses the VCS tag/branch name instead.
+ *
+ * Without this, Composer silently skips tags when the hardcoded version does not match
+ * the tag (sync succeeds, webhook returns 202, but the new release never appears).
+ */
+final class IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriver implements VcsDriverInterface
+{
+    private VcsDriverInterface $driver;
+
+    public function __construct(VcsDriverInterface $driver)
+    {
+        $this->driver = $driver;
+    }
+
+    public function initialize(): void
+    {
+        $this->driver->initialize();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param string $identifier
+     *
+     * @return mixed[]|null
+     */
+    public function getComposerInformation($identifier)
+    {
+        $data = $this->driver->getComposerInformation($identifier);
+
+        if (\is_array($data)) {
+            unset($data['version']);
+        }
+
+        return $data;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param string $file
+     * @param string $identifier
+     *
+     * @return string|null
+     */
+    public function getFileContent($file, $identifier)
+    {
+        return $this->driver->getFileContent($file, $identifier);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param string $identifier
+     *
+     * @return \DateTime|null
+     */
+    public function getChangeDate($identifier)
+    {
+        return $this->driver->getChangeDate($identifier);
+    }
+
+    public function getRootIdentifier(): string
+    {
+        return $this->driver->getRootIdentifier();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return array<string, string>
+     */
+    public function getBranches(): array
+    {
+        return $this->driver->getBranches();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return array<string, string>
+     */
+    public function getTags(): array
+    {
+        return $this->driver->getTags();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param string $identifier
+     *
+     * @return mixed[]|null
+     */
+    public function getDist($identifier)
+    {
+        return $this->driver->getDist($identifier);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param string $identifier
+     *
+     * @return mixed[]
+     */
+    public function getSource($identifier)
+    {
+        return $this->driver->getSource($identifier);
+    }
+
+    public function getUrl(): string
+    {
+        return $this->driver->getUrl();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param string $identifier
+     */
+    public function hasComposerFile($identifier): bool
+    {
+        return $this->driver->hasComposerFile($identifier);
+    }
+
+    public function cleanup(): void
+    {
+        $this->driver->cleanup();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param string $url
+     * @param bool   $deep
+     */
+    public static function supports(IOInterface $io, Config $config, $url, $deep = false): bool
+    {
+        return false;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/PreferTagVcsRepository.php b/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/PreferTagVcsRepository.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1c581bfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Service/PackageSynchronizer/PreferTagVcsRepository.php
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Buddy\Repman\Service\PackageSynchronizer;
+
+use Composer\Repository\Vcs\VcsDriverInterface;
+use Composer\Repository\VcsRepository;
+
+final class PreferTagVcsRepository extends VcsRepository
+{
+    private ?VcsDriverInterface $wrappedDriver = null;
+
+    public function getDriver(): ?VcsDriverInterface
+    {
+        if ($this->wrappedDriver !== null) {
+            return $this->wrappedDriver;
+        }
+
+        $driver = parent::getDriver();
+        if ($driver === null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        return $this->wrappedDriver = new IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriver($driver);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/Unit/Service/PackageSynchronizer/IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriverTest.php b/tests/Unit/Service/PackageSynchronizer/IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriverTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2fd6e8ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/Service/PackageSynchronizer/IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriverTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Buddy\Repman\Tests\Unit\Service\PackageSynchronizer;
+
+use Buddy\Repman\Service\PackageSynchronizer\IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriver;
+use Composer\Repository\Vcs\VcsDriverInterface;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+
+final class IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriverTest extends TestCase
+{
+    public function testRemovesVersionFromComposerInformation(): void
+    {
+        $inner = $this->createMock(VcsDriverInterface::class);
+        $inner->method('getComposerInformation')->with('abc123')->willReturn([
+            'name' => 'buddy-works/example',
+            'version' => '1.0.0',
+            'description' => 'Example package',
+        ]);
+
+        $driver = new IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriver($inner);
+
+        self::assertSame([
+            'name' => 'buddy-works/example',
+            'description' => 'Example package',
+        ], $driver->getComposerInformation('abc123'));
+    }
+
+    public function testReturnsNonArrayComposerInformationUnchanged(): void
+    {
+        $inner = $this->createMock(VcsDriverInterface::class);
+        $inner->method('getComposerInformation')->willReturn(null);
+
+        $driver = new IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriver($inner);
+
+        self::assertNull($driver->getComposerInformation('abc123'));
+    }
+
+    public function testDelegatesTagsAndUrl(): void
+    {
+        $inner = $this->createMock(VcsDriverInterface::class);
+        $inner->method('getTags')->willReturn(['1.0.0' => 'aaa', '1.0.1' => 'bbb']);
+        $inner->method('getUrl')->willReturn('https://example.com/repo.git');
+
+        $driver = new IgnoreComposerJsonVersionVcsDriver($inner);
+
+        self::assertSame(['1.0.0' => 'aaa', '1.0.1' => 'bbb'], $driver->getTags());
+        self::assertSame('https://example.com/repo.git', $driver->getUrl());
+    }
+}