diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index 189a79e..bc5e1af 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,18 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Extract version from tag
         id: version
-        run: echo "VERSION=${GITHUB_REF_NAME#v}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+        # Use the release payload's tag_name, not GITHUB_REF_NAME: when a release
+        # is published from a draft, GITHUB_REF_NAME does not resolve to the tag and
+        # comes back empty, which silently writes empty `version` fields and breaks
+        # `bun publish` ("name and version fields must be non-empty strings").
+        run: |
+          VERSION="${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}"
+          VERSION="${VERSION#v}"
+          if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Could not determine version from release tag '${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}'"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "VERSION=$VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
       - name: Update package versions
         run: |