diff --git a/components/git/release.js b/components/git/release.js
index c74ba5ab..ae82e0ae 100644
--- a/components/git/release.js
+++ b/components/git/release.js
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ async function main(state, argv, cli, dir) {
   if (state === PREPARE) {
     const prep = new ReleasePreparation(argv, cli, dir);
 
+    await prep.prepareLocalBranch();
+
     if (prep.warnForWrongBranch()) return;
 
     // If the new version was automatically calculated, confirm it.
diff --git a/lib/prepare_release.js b/lib/prepare_release.js
index 5b64d79f..9f3c3866 100644
--- a/lib/prepare_release.js
+++ b/lib/prepare_release.js
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import { promises as fs } from 'node:fs';
 import semver from 'semver';
 import { replaceInFile } from 'replace-in-file';
 
-import { getMergedConfig } from './config.js';
 import { runAsync, runSync } from './run.js';
 import { writeJson, readJson } from './file.js';
 import Request from './request.js';
@@ -15,58 +14,25 @@ import {
   updateTestProcessRelease
 } from './release/utils.js';
 import CherryPick from './cherry_pick.js';
+import Session from './session.js';
 
 const isWindows = process.platform === 'win32';
 
-export default class ReleasePreparation {
+export default class ReleasePreparation extends Session {
   constructor(argv, cli, dir) {
-    this.cli = cli;
-    this.dir = dir;
+    super(cli, dir);
     this.isSecurityRelease = argv.security;
     this.isLTS = false;
     this.isLTSTransition = argv.startLTS;
     this.runBranchDiff = !argv.skipBranchDiff;
     this.ltsCodename = '';
     this.date = '';
-    this.config = getMergedConfig(this.dir);
     this.filterLabels = argv.filterLabel && argv.filterLabel.split(',');
+    this.newVersion = argv.newVersion;
+  }
 
-    // Ensure the preparer has set an upstream and username.
-    if (this.warnForMissing()) {
-      cli.error('Failed to begin the release preparation process.');
-      return;
-    }
-
-    // Allow passing optional new version.
-    if (argv.newVersion) {
-      const newVersion = semver.clean(argv.newVersion);
-      if (!semver.valid(newVersion)) {
-        cli.warn(`${newVersion} is not a valid semantic version.`);
-        return;
-      }
-      this.newVersion = newVersion;
-    } else {
-      this.newVersion = this.calculateNewVersion();
-    }
-
-    const { upstream, owner, repo, newVersion } = this;
-
-    this.versionComponents = {
-      major: semver.major(newVersion),
-      minor: semver.minor(newVersion),
-      patch: semver.patch(newVersion)
-    };
-
-    this.stagingBranch = `v${this.versionComponents.major}.x-staging`;
-    this.releaseBranch = `v${this.versionComponents.major}.x`;
-
-    const upstreamHref = runSync('git', [
-      'config', '--get',
-      `remote.${upstream}.url`]).trim();
-    if (!new RegExp(`${owner}/${repo}(?:.git)?$`).test(upstreamHref)) {
-      cli.warn('Remote repository URL does not point to the expected ' +
-        `repository ${owner}/${repo}`);
-    }
+  get branch() {
+    return this.stagingBranch;
   }
 
   warnForNonMergeablePR(pr) {
@@ -369,24 +335,29 @@ export default class ReleasePreparation {
     return missing;
   }
 
-  calculateNewVersion() {
-    let newVersion;
+  async calculateNewVersion(major) {
+    const { cli } = this;
 
-    const lastTagVersion = semver.clean(this.getLastRef());
-    const lastTag = {
-      major: semver.major(lastTagVersion),
-      minor: semver.minor(lastTagVersion),
-      patch: semver.patch(lastTagVersion)
-    };
+    cli.startSpinner(`Parsing CHANGELOG for most recent release of v${major}.x`);
+    const data = await fs.readFile(
+      path.resolve(`doc/changelogs/CHANGELOG_V${major}.md`),
+      'utf8'
+    );
+    const [,, minor, patch] = /<a href="#(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)">\1\.\2\.\3<\/a><br\/>/.exec(data);
 
-    const changelog = this.getChangelog();
+    cli.stopSpinner(`Latest release on ${major}.x line is ${major}.${minor}.${patch}`);
+    const changelog = this.getChangelog(`v${major}.${minor}.${patch}`);
 
+    const newVersion = { major, minor, patch };
     if (changelog.includes('SEMVER-MAJOR')) {
-      newVersion = `${lastTag.major + 1}.0.0`;
+      newVersion.major++;
+      newVersion.minor = 0;
+      newVersion.patch = 0;
     } else if (changelog.includes('SEMVER-MINOR') || this.isLTSTransition) {
-      newVersion = `${lastTag.major}.${lastTag.minor + 1}.0`;
+      newVersion.minor++;
+      newVersion.patch = 0;
     } else {
-      newVersion = `${lastTag.major}.${lastTag.minor}.${lastTag.patch + 1}`;
+      newVersion.patch++;
     }
 
     return newVersion;
@@ -396,11 +367,22 @@ export default class ReleasePreparation {
     return runSync('git', ['rev-parse', '--abbrev-ref', 'HEAD']).trim();
   }
 
-  getLastRef() {
-    return runSync('git', ['describe', '--abbrev=0', '--tags']).trim();
+  getLastRef(tagName) {
+    if (!tagName) {
+      return runSync('git', ['describe', '--abbrev=0', '--tags']).trim();
+    }
+
+    try {
+      runSync('git', ['rev-parse', tagName]);
+    } catch {
+      this.cli.startSpinner(`Error parsing git ref ${tagName}, attempting fetching it as a tag`);
+      runSync('git', ['fetch', this.upstream, 'tag', '-n', tagName]);
+      this.cli.stopSpinner(`Tag fetched: ${tagName}`);
+    }
+    return tagName;
   }
 
-  getChangelog() {
+  getChangelog(tagName) {
     const changelogMaker = new URL(
       '../node_modules/.bin/changelog-maker' + (isWindows ? '.cmd' : ''),
       import.meta.url
@@ -411,7 +393,7 @@ export default class ReleasePreparation {
       '--markdown',
       '--filter-release',
       '--start-ref',
-      this.getLastRef()
+      this.getLastRef(tagName)
     ]).trim();
   }
 
@@ -736,6 +718,45 @@ export default class ReleasePreparation {
     return runSync(branchDiff, branchDiffOptions);
   }
 
+  async prepareLocalBranch() {
+    const { cli } = this;
+    if (this.newVersion) {
+      // If the CLI asked for a specific version:
+      const newVersion = semver.parse(this.newVersion);
+      if (!newVersion) {
+        cli.warn(`${this.newVersion} is not a valid semantic version.`);
+        return;
+      }
+      this.newVersion = newVersion.version;
+      this.versionComponents = {
+        major: newVersion.major,
+        minor: newVersion.minor,
+        patch: newVersion.patch
+      };
+      this.stagingBranch = `v${newVersion.major}.x-staging`;
+      this.releaseBranch = `v${newVersion.major}.x`;
+      await this.tryResetBranch();
+      return;
+    }
+
+    // Otherwise, we need to figure out what's the next version number for the
+    // release line of the branch that's currently checked out.
+    const currentBranch = this.getCurrentBranch();
+    const match = /^v(\d+)\.x-staging$/.exec(currentBranch);
+
+    if (!match) {
+      cli.warn(`Cannot prepare a release from ${currentBranch
+          }. Switch to a staging branch before proceeding.`);
+      return;
+    }
+    this.stagingBranch = currentBranch;
+    await this.tryResetBranch();
+    this.versionComponents = await this.calculateNewVersion(match[1]);
+    const { major, minor, patch } = this.versionComponents;
+    this.newVersion = `${major}.${minor}.${patch}`;
+    this.releaseBranch = `v${major}.x`;
+  }
+
   warnForWrongBranch() {
     const {
       cli,