diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index ed8f4b8..ca8da7a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -1,38 +1,49 @@
 name: Publish
 
-# Tag-triggered publish to npm, authenticated by npm's trusted publisher rather
-# than a stored token. It runs only on a pushed v* tag, and only once a
-# maintainer approves the npm-publish environment. Publishing therefore needs
-# the trusted publisher registered on npmjs.com against this repository, this
-# workflow filename and that environment; no NPM_TOKEN is involved.
+# Tag-triggered publish to npm, split into a build job and a publish job so no
+# credential is ever present while this repository's own code runs. The build
+# job checks the release gates, installs, builds, tests and packs a tarball; it
+# holds no id-token and no environment, so it runs on the tag push, before
+# anyone approves, and its result is what the approver judges. The publish job
+# holds the OIDC id-token alone, beside the prebuilt tarball and nothing else.
+# Authentication is npm's trusted publisher rather than a stored token, so
+# publishing needs that publisher registered on npmjs.com against this
+# repository, this workflow filename and the npm-publish environment; no
+# NPM_TOKEN is involved.
 on:
   push:
     tags: ['v*']
 
 jobs:
-  publish:
+  build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    # Required-reviewer environment: a pushed tag queues the publish until a
-    # maintainer approves the run, and npm's trusted publisher config pins to
-    # this environment name so no other workflow can mint a publish token.
-    environment: npm-publish
+    # No id-token and no environment on this job: a lifecycle script anywhere
+    # in the dependency tree runs here, so there is nothing for it to read.
     permissions:
       contents: read
-      id-token: write
     steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          # Full history, so the tag-on-main gate below can decide ancestry.
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Verify the tag is on main
+        # Fails a tag pushed on a commit that is not on main, so an approval
+        # can never cover a commit off the release line. The ref is spelled
+        # refs/remotes/origin/main because git resolves the ambiguous
+        # origin/main as refs/tags/origin/main first, so a tag named
+        # origin/main would otherwise defeat this gate.
+        run: |
+          if ! git merge-base --is-ancestor HEAD refs/remotes/origin/main; then
+            echo "Tag $GITHUB_REF_NAME is not on main" >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
 
-      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@820762786026740c76f36085b0efc47a31fe5020 # v7.0.0
         with:
           node-version: 22
-          registry-url: https://registry.npmjs.org
           cache: yarn
 
-      - name: Upgrade npm
-        # Trusted publishing (OIDC) needs npm >= 11.5.1; the Node 22 image
-        # ships npm 10.x.
-        run: npm install -g npm@latest
-
       - name: Verify tag matches package version
         run: |
           version="$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")"
@@ -50,10 +61,51 @@ jobs:
       - name: Test
         run: yarn run test
 
+      - name: Pack
+        # prepack runs here, where no credential exists. The publish job ships
+        # this tarball as packed.
+        run: npm pack
+
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          name: package-tarball
+          path: '*.tgz'
+          if-no-files-found: error
+
+  publish:
+    needs: build
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    # Required-reviewer environment: the packed tarball waits here until a
+    # maintainer approves the run, and npm's trusted publisher pins this
+    # repository, this workflow file and this environment name, so no other
+    # workflow can mint a publish credential.
+    environment: npm-publish
+    # id-token alone, and no checkout and no dependency install in this job, so
+    # the credential sits beside a prebuilt tarball and nothing else.
+    permissions:
+      id-token: write
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/download-artifact@3e5f45b2cfb9172054b4087a40e8e0b5a5461e7c # v8.0.1
+        with:
+          name: package-tarball
+
+      # No registry-url: it writes an .npmrc _authToken line, and npm stops at
+      # that unresolvable credential instead of falling through to OIDC. No
+      # cache either, because this job has no checkout and so no lockfile to
+      # hash.
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@820762786026740c76f36085b0efc47a31fe5020 # v7.0.0
+        with:
+          node-version: 22
+
+      - name: Install npm
+        # Trusted publishing needs npm >= 11.5.1, and the Node 22 image ships
+        # an older npm. The version is pinned exact so no floating executable
+        # runs beside the credential.
+        run: npm install -g --ignore-scripts npm@12.0.2
+
       - name: Publish
-        # No NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: npm mints a short-lived credential from the OIDC
-        # token this job requests, against the trusted publisher npmjs.com pins
-        # to this repo, workflow and environment. Supplying a token instead
-        # takes the classic auth path, which demands an interactive OTP and so
-        # can never complete unattended.
-        run: npm publish --access public --provenance
+        # The tarball came from the build job, and a tarball publish runs no
+        # lifecycle scripts; --ignore-scripts holds that whatever npm does
+        # later. No NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: npm exchanges this job's OIDC token for a
+        # short-lived credential, which also signs the provenance attestation.
+        run: npm publish ./*.tgz --access public --provenance --ignore-scripts
diff --git a/RELEASING.md b/RELEASING.md
index 5475772..e821d9d 100644
--- a/RELEASING.md
+++ b/RELEASING.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ How a version of this package reaches npm and GitHub. A release ends at a render
     git tag vX.Y.Z && git push origin vX.Y.Z
     ```
 
-    `publish.yml` starts and waits on the `npm-publish` environment. Push the tag before you create the Release, because `--target <short sha>` fails.
+    `publish.yml` starts; its build job runs the release gates (tag matches version, tag on main), the install, the tests, and packs the tarball; its publish job waits on the `npm-publish` environment. Push the tag before you create the Release, because `--target <short sha>` fails.
 
 4. Compose the body, read it, then create the Release:
 
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ How a version of this package reaches npm and GitHub. A release ends at a render
 
     With more than one release in flight, create them in ascending version order.
 
-5. Approve the `npm-publish` environment for the tag. With more than one release waiting, approve in ascending version order, so npm `latest` stays monotonic.
+5. Approve the `npm-publish` environment for the tag once the run is green through the build gates, the tag-on-main check included, which proves the tagged commit sits on `main`. With more than one release waiting, approve in ascending version order, so npm `latest` stays monotonic.
 
 6. Verify the published version and the rendered Release:
 
@@ -34,6 +34,21 @@ How a version of this package reaches npm and GitHub. A release ends at a render
     gh release view vX.Y.Z
     ```
 
+## Publish auth
+
+The publish job authenticates through npm trusted publishing (OIDC). It holds
+no npm token and sets no registry URL on the setup step, so nothing writes an
+`.npmrc` auth entry and npm 11.5.1 or later exchanges the job's OIDC identity
+for a short-lived credential of its own. The `npm-publish` environment is the
+gate on that identity: the build job runs immediately on the pushed tag, and
+the publish job waits until a maintainer approves it.
+
+`publishConfig.provenance` in `package.json` makes a default local npm publish
+fail, because no OIDC identity is available outside CI to satisfy it. It is
+data inside the manifest being published, not an access control. The durable
+control is the npm-side package setting that requires trusted publishing,
+which closes the classic-token path that no workflow change can reach.
+
 ## Body template
 
 The Release title is the tag name verbatim. The body is an optional one-sentence summary, then the sections that have items, then the commit list, then the compare link as the last line. Nothing follows the link, and a section with no items is left out.
diff --git a/scripts/release-notes.sh b/scripts/release-notes.sh
index cb757d6..3b7a37b 100755
--- a/scripts/release-notes.sh
+++ b/scripts/release-notes.sh
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ case "$ORIGIN" in
     ssh://git@github.com/*) SLUG="${ORIGIN#ssh://git@github.com/}" ;;
     https://github.com/*) SLUG="${ORIGIN#https://github.com/}" ;;
     https://*@github.com/*) SLUG="${ORIGIN#https://*@github.com/}" ;;
-    *) die "the origin remote is not a GitHub URL: $ORIGIN" ;;
+    *) die "the origin remote is not a GitHub URL" ;;
 esac
 SLUG="${SLUG%/}"
 SLUG="${SLUG%.git}"