diff --git a/dev-bin/release.sh b/dev-bin/release.sh
index 6c40791b..e033be17 100755
--- a/dev-bin/release.sh
+++ b/dev-bin/release.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,38 @@
 
 set -eu -o pipefail
 
+# Pre-flight checks - verify all required tools are available and configured
+# before making any changes to the repository
+
+check_command() {
+    if ! command -v "$1" &>/dev/null; then
+        echo "Error: $1 is not installed or not in PATH"
+        exit 1
+    fi
+}
+
+# Verify gh CLI is authenticated
+if ! gh auth status &>/dev/null; then
+    echo "Error: gh CLI is not authenticated. Run 'gh auth login' first."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Verify we can access this repository via gh
+if ! gh repo view --json name &>/dev/null; then
+    echo "Error: Cannot access repository via gh. Check your authentication and repository access."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+# Verify git can connect to the remote (catches SSH key issues, etc.)
+if ! git ls-remote origin &>/dev/null; then
+    echo "Error: Cannot connect to git remote. Check your git credentials/SSH keys."
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+check_command perl
+check_command php
+check_command wget
+
 # Check that we're not on the main branch
 current_branch=$(git branch --show-current)
 if [ "$current_branch" = "main" ]; then
@@ -25,7 +57,7 @@ phar='geoip2.phar'
 changelog=$(cat CHANGELOG.md)
 
 regex='
-([0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+) \(([0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2})\)
+([0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-[a-zA-Z0-9.]+)?) \(([0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2})\)
 -*
 
 ((.|
@@ -33,15 +65,15 @@ regex='
 '
 
 if [[ ! $changelog =~ $regex ]]; then
-      echo "Could not find date line in change log!"
-      exit 1
+    echo "Could not find date line in change log!"
+    exit 1
 fi
 
 version="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
-date="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
-notes="$(echo "${BASH_REMATCH[3]}" | sed -n -e '/^[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+/,$!p')"
+date="${BASH_REMATCH[3]}"
+notes="$(echo "${BASH_REMATCH[4]}" | sed -n -E '/^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-[a-zA-Z0-9.]+)?/,$!p')"
 
-if [[ "$date" !=  $(date +"%Y-%m-%d") ]]; then
+if [[ "$date" != "$(date +"%Y-%m-%d")" ]]; then
     echo "$date is not today!"
     exit 1
 fi
@@ -63,7 +95,6 @@ php composer.phar update --no-dev
 perl -pi -e "s/(?<=const VERSION = ').+?(?=';)/$tag/g" src/WebService/Client.php
 perl -pi -e "s{(?<=php composer\.phar require geoip2/geoip2:).+}{^$version}g" README.md
 
-
 box_phar_hash='f98cf885a7c07c84df66e33888f1d93f063298598e0a5f41ca322aeb9683179b  box.phar'
 
 if ! echo "$box_phar_hash" | sha256sum -c; then
@@ -105,7 +136,6 @@ else
     popd
 fi
 
-
 if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then
     echo ".gh-pages is not clean" >&2
     exit 1
@@ -139,7 +169,7 @@ php phpDocumentor.phar \
 rm -rf "$cachedir"
 
 page=index.md
-cat <<EOF > $page
+cat <<EOF >$page
 ---
 layout: default
 title: MaxMind GeoIP2 PHP API
@@ -149,14 +179,14 @@ version: $tag
 
 EOF
 
-cat ../README.md >> $page
+cat ../README.md >>$page
 
 git add doc/
 
 echo "Release notes for $tag:"
 echo "$notes"
 
-read -e -p "Commit changes and push to origin? " should_push
+read -r -e -p "Commit changes and push to origin? " should_push
 
 if [ "$should_push" != "y" ]; then
     echo "Aborting"
@@ -173,5 +203,3 @@ git commit -m "Update for $tag" -a
 git push
 
 gh release create --target "$(git branch --show-current)" -t "$version" -n "$notes" "$tag" "$phar"
-
-git push --tags