diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-evm.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-evm.yml
index 87d346138..4063b7cea 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-evm.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-evm.yml
@@ -9,13 +9,12 @@ permissions:
     contents: read
 
 on:
-    push:
-        branches:
-            - "evm"
+    pull_request:
+        types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
 
 jobs:
     build:
-        if: contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'release:') && contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'evm')
+        # if: contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'release:') && contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'evm')
 
         strategy:
             fail-fast: false
@@ -78,7 +77,7 @@ jobs:
 
     publish:
         name: Publish
-        if: contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'release:') && contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'evm')
+        # if: contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'release:') && contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'evm')
         runs-on: ubuntu-latest
         needs:
             - build
@@ -134,7 +133,12 @@ jobs:
 
             - name: Publish to NPM
               run: |
-                  pnpm run release -- --publish-branch=evm --tag=evm --no-git-checks
+                  pnpm run release --no-bail -- --publish-branch=evm --tag=evm --no-git-checks
+              env:
+                  NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{secrets.NPM_TOKEN}}
+
+            - name: Publish native packages
+              run: pnpm run release:napi -- --tag=evm --publish-branch=evm --no-git-checks
               env:
                   NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{secrets.NPM_TOKEN}}
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-rc.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-rc.yml
index 54be9e1c2..227dbb7a8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-rc.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-rc.yml
@@ -132,6 +132,11 @@ jobs:
               run: ls -R ./npm
               shell: bash
 
+            - name: Publish native packages
+              run: pnpm run release:napi -- --tag=rc --publish-branch=develop --no-git-checks
+              env:
+                  NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{secrets.NPM_TOKEN}}
+
             - name: Publish to NPM
               run: |
                   pnpm run release -- --publish-branch=develop --tag=rc --no-git-checks
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a2b573240..8e005f21e 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 		"prettier:dry": "prettier --check \"./*.{ts,js,json,md}\" \"./packages/**/*.{ts,js,json,md}\"",
 		"references": "node ./scripts/references/update-references.js",
 		"release": "lerna run release --concurrency=1",
+		"release:napi": "bash ./scripts/publish-evm-native.sh",
 		"setup": "pnpm install && pnpm run build",
 		"sort": "sort-package-json \"package.json\" \"packages/*/package.json\"",
 		"sort:dry": "sort-package-json --check \"package.json\" \"packages/*/package.json\"",
diff --git a/packages/evm/package.json b/packages/evm/package.json
index 6413353b6..e7317354d 100644
--- a/packages/evm/package.json
+++ b/packages/evm/package.json
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
 		"build-napi:debug": "napi build --platform --output-dir ./ --manifest-path bindings/Cargo.toml",
 		"build-rs": "pnpm run clean && pnpm run build-napi",
 		"clean": "rm -f index.js && rm -f index.d.ts && rm -f evm.*.node && rm -rf target",
-		"prepublishOnly": "napi prepublish -t pnpm",
 		"release": "pnpm publish --access public",
 		"test": "cargo test --release",
 		"test:coverage": "mkdir -p coverage && cargo llvm-cov --lcov --output-path coverage/lcov.info --remap-path-prefix",
diff --git a/scripts/publish-evm-native.sh b/scripts/publish-evm-native.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..37213dbc9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/publish-evm-native.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Publishes the EVM native platform packages (@mainsail/evm-*) to npm.
+#
+# Run this BEFORE `pnpm run release`. It first lets napi sync the platform package versions and the
+# main package's optionalDependencies (without publishing them or creating a GitHub release), then
+# publishes each platform package, forwarding every flag passed on the command line straight to
+# `pnpm publish`. `napi prepublish` would otherwise publish them with a bare `npm publish` (no
+# --tag), which npm rejects for prerelease versions, and pnpm strips npm_config_* from the
+# lifecycle-script env so a dist-tag cannot be injected that way.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   pnpm run release:napi -- --tag=evm --publish-branch=evm     --no-git-checks
+#   pnpm run release:napi -- --tag=rc  --publish-branch=develop --no-git-checks
+
+cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../packages/evm"
+
+# `pnpm run release:napi -- <flags>` forwards the literal `--` separator into "$@" as well; drop it
+# so the flags reach `pnpm publish` as options instead of being treated as a positional argument.
+if [ "${1:-}" = "--" ]; then
+	shift
+fi
+
+# Sync versions + optionalDependencies only; we publish the platform packages ourselves below.
+pnpm exec napi prepublish -t pnpm --skip-optional-publish --no-gh-release
+
+for dir in npm/*/; do
+	echo "Publishing ${dir%/} $*"
+	(cd "$dir" && pnpm publish --access public "$@")
+done