diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 93683e5f5..8853a3cea 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -32,12 +32,6 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: Install jq
-        run: |
-          if ! command -v jq >/dev/null; then
-            sudo apt-get update
-            sudo apt-get install -y jq
-          fi
       - name: get secrets
         uses: launchdarkly/gh-actions/actions/release-secrets@release-secrets-v1.2.0
         with:
@@ -58,8 +52,6 @@ jobs:
           fi
 
           make build
-      - name: prepare release
-        run: ./scripts/release/prepare-release.sh
       - name: publish
         run: |
           if [[ "$DRY_RUN" = true ]]; then
diff --git a/scripts/release/prepare-release.sh b/scripts/release/prepare-release.sh
index a23adacba..3717dcd70 100755
--- a/scripts/release/prepare-release.sh
+++ b/scripts/release/prepare-release.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,18 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
-RELEASE_TAG="v${LD_RELEASE_VERSION}"
+release_tag="v${LD_RELEASE_VERSION}"
+
+stage_artifacts() (
+  local target=$1
+
+  echo "$DOCKER_TOKEN" | sudo docker login --username "$DOCKER_USERNAME" --password-stdin
+
+  sudo PATH="$PATH" GITHUB_TOKEN="$GITHUB_TOKEN" make "$target"
+
+  mkdir -p "$ARTIFACT_DIRECTORY"
+  cp ./dist/*.deb ./dist/*.rpm ./dist/*.tar.gz ./dist/*.txt "$ARTIFACT_DIRECTORY"
+)
 
 update_go() (
   sed -i "s/const Version =.*/const Version = \"${LD_RELEASE_VERSION}\"/g" internal/version/version.go
@@ -14,7 +25,7 @@ update_orb() (
 )
 
 update_gha() (
-  sed -i "s#launchdarkly/find-code-references@v.*#launchdarkly/find-code-references@${RELEASE_TAG}#g" build/metadata/github-actions/README.md
+  sed -i "s#launchdarkly/find-code-references@v.*#launchdarkly/find-code-references@${release_tag}#g" build/metadata/github-actions/README.md
   sed -i "s#launchdarkly/ld-find-code-refs-github-action:.*#launchdarkly/ld-find-code-refs-github-action:${LD_RELEASE_VERSION}#g" build/metadata/github-actions/Dockerfile
 )
 
@@ -23,7 +34,13 @@ update_bitbucket() (
   sed -i "s#image: launchdarkly/ld-find-code-refs-bitbucket-pipeline:.*#image: launchdarkly/ld-find-code-refs-bitbucket-pipeline:${LD_RELEASE_VERSION}#g" build/metadata/bitbucket/pipe.yml
 )
 
-update_go
-update_orb
-update_gha
-update_bitbucket
+prepare_release() (
+  # create artifacts with goreleaser
+  stage_artifacts $1
+
+  # update metadata files
+  update_go
+  update_orb
+  update_gha
+  update_bitbucket
+)
diff --git a/scripts/release/publish-dry-run.sh b/scripts/release/publish-dry-run.sh
index efd0a1421..818084037 100755
--- a/scripts/release/publish-dry-run.sh
+++ b/scripts/release/publish-dry-run.sh
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
-source $(dirname $0)/stage-artifacts.sh
-stage_artifacts products-for-release
+source $(dirname $0)/prepare_release.sh
+prepare_release products-for-release
 
 # Copy the Docker image that goreleaser just built into the artifacts - we only do
 # this in a dry run, because in a real release the image will be available from
diff --git a/scripts/release/publish.sh b/scripts/release/publish.sh
index 62a7a5f8d..3de16725d 100755
--- a/scripts/release/publish.sh
+++ b/scripts/release/publish.sh
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
-source $(dirname $0)/stage-artifacts.sh
-stage_artifacts publish
+source $(dirname $0)/prepare-release.sh
+prepare_release publish
 
 # make bitbucket and github known hosts to push successfully
 mkdir -m700 ~/.ssh
diff --git a/scripts/release/stage-artifacts.sh b/scripts/release/stage-artifacts.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 1c9e98240..000000000
--- a/scripts/release/stage-artifacts.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -euo pipefail
-
-stage_artifacts() {
-  TARGET=$1
-
-  echo "$DOCKER_TOKEN" | sudo docker login --username "$DOCKER_USERNAME" --password-stdin
-
-  sudo PATH="$PATH" GITHUB_TOKEN="$GITHUB_TOKEN" make "$TARGET"
-
-  mkdir -p "$ARTIFACT_DIRECTORY"
-  cp ./dist/*.deb ./dist/*.rpm ./dist/*.tar.gz ./dist/*.txt "$ARTIFACT_DIRECTORY"
-}