diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index b5af530..0f883e0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -140,8 +140,6 @@ jobs:
     timeout-minutes: 20
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@11d5960a326750d5838078e36cf38b85af677262 # v4
-        with:
-          ref: ${{ needs.release-context.outputs.tag-name }}
       - uses: actions/download-artifact@d3f86a106a0bac45b974a628896c90dbdf5c8093 # v4
         with:
           name: release-crates
@@ -161,8 +159,6 @@ jobs:
     timeout-minutes: 15
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@11d5960a326750d5838078e36cf38b85af677262 # v4
-        with:
-          ref: ${{ needs.release-context.outputs.tag-name }}
       - uses: actions/setup-node@49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020 # v4
         with:
           node-version: 20
@@ -184,8 +180,6 @@ jobs:
     timeout-minutes: 10
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@11d5960a326750d5838078e36cf38b85af677262 # v4
-        with:
-          ref: ${{ needs.release-context.outputs.tag-name }}
       - uses: actions/setup-node@49933ea5288caeca8642d1e84afbd3f7d6820020 # v4
         with:
           node-version: 20
diff --git a/tools/release/publish-crates.sh b/tools/release/publish-crates.sh
index 7d352a9..fa134b4 100755
--- a/tools/release/publish-crates.sh
+++ b/tools/release/publish-crates.sh
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ publish_crate() {
 
   test -f "$archive"
   status=$(curl --silent --show-error --output /dev/null --write-out '%{http_code}' \
+    --user-agent "stdbr-release-workflow/$version (https://github.com/fullzer4/stdbr)" \
     "https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/$name/$version")
   case "$status" in
     200) echo "$name $version already exists on crates.io; skipping"; return ;;