diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index b9128e26..42c1bb04 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ on:
         default: true
         type: boolean
 
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+
 jobs:
   build-and-publish:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -26,6 +29,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           
       - name: Set up Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v4
@@ -98,6 +102,11 @@ jobs:
           
           echo "Updated version to $NEW_VERSION in pyproject.toml and __init__.py"
           
+      - name: Configure Git
+        run: |
+          git config --local user.email "action@github.com"
+          git config --local user.name "GitHub Action"
+          
       - name: Commit version bump
         run: |
           git add pyproject.toml stagehand/__init__.py