diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index 1faaf14be3..50a180c5ec 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -20,7 +20,10 @@ name: Publish
 on:
   push:
     tags:
-      - "*"
+      # Trigger this workflow when tag follows the versioning format: v<major>.<minor>.<patch> OR v<major>.<minor>.<patch>-rc.<release_candidate>
+      # Example valid tags: v0.4.0, v0.4.0-rc.1
+      - "v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+"
+      - "v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+-rc.[0-9]+"
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 env:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release_python.yml b/.github/workflows/release_python.yml
index 5e83868988..170869419d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release_python.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release_python.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ env:
   rust_msrv: "1.85"
 
 concurrency:
-  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}-${{ github.event_name }}
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.event.workflow_run.head_branch }}-${{ github.event_name }}
   cancel-in-progress: true
 
 permissions:
@@ -42,11 +42,62 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - run: echo 'The Publish workflow passed or was manually triggered'
 
-  sdist:
+  validate-release-tag:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: [check-cargo-publish]
+    outputs:
+      cargo-version: ${{ steps.validate.outputs.cargo-version }}
+      is-rc: ${{ steps.validate.outputs.is-rc }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Validate release tag format
+        id: validate
+        # Note, `workflow_run.head_branch` does not contain `refs/tags/` prefix, just the tag name, i.e. `v0.4.0` or `v0.4.0-rc.1`
+        # Valid formats: v<major>.<minor>.<patch> OR v<major>.<minor>.<patch>-rc.<release_candidate>
+        run: |
+          RELEASE_TAG="${{ github.event.workflow_run.head_branch }}"
+          echo "Validating release tag: $RELEASE_TAG"
+          if [[ ! "$RELEASE_TAG" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-rc\.[0-9]+)?$ ]]; then
+            echo "❌ Invalid release tag format: $RELEASE_TAG"
+            echo "Expected format: v<major>.<minor>.<patch> OR v<major>.<minor>.<patch>-rc.<release_candidate>"
+            echo "Examples: v0.4.0, v1.2.3-rc.1"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "✅ Release tag format is valid: $RELEASE_TAG"
+          
+          # Strip 'v' prefix for cargo version
+          CARGO_VERSION="${RELEASE_TAG#v}"
+          echo "Cargo version (without v prefix): $CARGO_VERSION"
+          
+          # Check if this is a release candidate
+          if [[ "$RELEASE_TAG" =~ -rc\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+            IS_RC="true"
+            echo "This is a release candidate"
+          else
+            IS_RC="false"
+            echo "This is a stable release"
+          fi
+          
+          # Set outputs for other jobs to use
+          echo "cargo-version=$CARGO_VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "is-rc=$IS_RC" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+  sdist:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [validate-release-tag]
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Install cargo-edit
+        if: ${{ needs.validate-release-tag.outputs.is-rc == 'true' }}
+        run: cargo install cargo-edit
+      
+      - name: Set cargo version for RC
+        if: ${{ needs.validate-release-tag.outputs.is-rc == 'true' }}
+        working-directory: "bindings/python"
+        run: |
+          echo "Setting cargo version to: ${{ needs.validate-release-tag.outputs.cargo-version }}"
+          cargo set-version ${{ needs.validate-release-tag.outputs.cargo-version }}
+
       - uses: PyO3/maturin-action@v1
         with:
           working-directory: "bindings/python"
@@ -60,7 +111,7 @@ jobs:
 
   wheels:
     runs-on: "${{ matrix.os }}"
-    needs: [check-cargo-publish]
+    needs: [validate-release-tag]
     strategy:
       matrix:
         include:
@@ -75,6 +126,18 @@ jobs:
           - { os: ubuntu-latest, target: "armv7l" }
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Install cargo-edit
+        if: ${{ needs.validate-release-tag.outputs.is-rc == 'true' }}
+        run: cargo install cargo-edit
+      
+      - name: Set cargo version for RC
+        if: ${{ needs.validate-release-tag.outputs.is-rc == 'true' }}
+        working-directory: "bindings/python"
+        run: |
+          echo "Setting cargo version to: ${{ needs.validate-release-tag.outputs.cargo-version }}"
+          cargo set-version ${{ needs.validate-release-tag.outputs.cargo-version }}
+
       - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
           python-version: 3.9
@@ -99,9 +162,6 @@ jobs:
     name: Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to Pypi
     needs: [sdist, wheels]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    # Only publish to PyPi if the tag is not a pre-release OR if manually triggered
-    # Note, `workflow_run.head_branch` does not contain `refs/tags/` prefix, just the tag name, i.e. `v0.4.0` or `v0.4.0-rc.1`
-    if: ${{ !contains(github.event.workflow_run.head_branch, '-') || github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' }}
 
     environment:
       name: pypi