diff --git a/.goreleaser.yaml b/.goreleaser.yaml
index 4e170d4..75f433e 100644
--- a/.goreleaser.yaml
+++ b/.goreleaser.yaml
@@ -76,6 +76,10 @@ release:
   # that existing release instead of failing on "release already exists". If the
   # release does not yet exist, goreleaser creates it.
   mode: append
+  # Mark the GitHub release as a pre-release when the tag carries a pre-release
+  # identifier (e.g. v0.4.0-beta.1). Without this, append mode resets the
+  # release to a full (latest) release even for beta tags.
+  prerelease: auto
 
 changelog:
   # release.sh owns the human-facing release notes; keep goreleaser's autogenerated