diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 85ad09f6..0e7a1fe0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -118,18 +118,33 @@ jobs:
       # at 4.5.0 here. Asking each registry directly also makes a re-run heal it.
       - name: Which registries are behind package.json?
         id: lag
+        env:
+          CHANGESETS_PUBLISHED: ${{ steps.changesets.outputs.published }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           VERSION=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")
           echo "Target version: ${VERSION}"
 
-          # npm is the source of truth for "this version is released". The
+          # Is ${VERSION} actually released? Two independent yeses, because
+          # neither alone is sufficient:
+          #
+          #   - changesets published it in THIS run. Authoritative immediately,
+          #     and necessary because npm reads are eventually consistent: a
+          #     `npm view` moments after a successful publish still 404s, which
+          #     skipped all four steps for 4.5.4 and left them a version behind.
+          #   - npm already serves it. This is the backfill path — it lets a
+          #     re-run catch up registries that an earlier run left behind.
+          #
+          # Neither true means package.json is bumped but unreleased. The
           # changesets action leaves the workspace on the version branch, so in a
-          # run that only OPENS the version PR, package.json is already bumped to
-          # a version nothing has published yet — without this gate the four
-          # steps below would ship it ahead of npm, from an unmerged branch.
-          if ! npm view "@smooai/logger@${VERSION}" version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-            echo "npm does not have ${VERSION} yet — nothing to backfill."
+          # run that only OPENS the version PR this is exactly the case, and
+          # publishing here would ship ahead of npm from an unmerged branch.
+          if [ "${CHANGESETS_PUBLISHED:-false}" = "true" ]; then
+            echo "changesets published ${VERSION} in this run."
+          elif npm view "@smooai/logger@${VERSION}" version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            echo "npm already serves ${VERSION} — checking the others for backfill."
+          else
+            echo "${VERSION} is not released (not published here, not on npm) — nothing to do."
             {
               echo "pypi=no"; echo "crates=no"; echo "nuget=no"; echo "gotag=no"
             } >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"