diff --git a/.changeset/fix-npm-auth.md b/.changeset/fix-npm-auth.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0548fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-npm-auth.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@scope3/agentic-client": patch
+---
+
+Fix npm authentication in release workflow by manually configuring .npmrc file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index e9955be..6c35ea4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
           node-version: '20'
-          registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
 
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: npm ci
@@ -33,6 +32,12 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build
         run: npm run build
 
+      - name: Configure npm authentication
+        run: |
+          echo "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=\${NPM_TOKEN}" > .npmrc
+        env:
+          NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
+
       - name: Create Release Pull Request or Publish to npm
         id: changesets
         uses: changesets/action@v1
@@ -43,3 +48,4 @@ jobs:
           title: 'chore: version packages'
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PAT_TOKEN || secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}