diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 52c755c..9971e37 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -103,6 +103,21 @@ jobs:
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
 
+      - name: Validate current version metadata
+        run: |
+          PACKAGE_VERSION=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")
+          COMPOSER_VERSION=$(node -p "require('./composer.json').version")
+          SDK_VERSION=$(grep -E "public const VERSION = '[^']+'" lib/PostHog.php | sed -E "s/.*'([^']+)'.*/\1/")
+
+          echo "package.json version: $PACKAGE_VERSION"
+          echo "composer.json version: $COMPOSER_VERSION"
+          echo "lib/PostHog.php version: $SDK_VERSION"
+
+          if [ "$PACKAGE_VERSION" != "$COMPOSER_VERSION" ] || [ "$PACKAGE_VERSION" != "$SDK_VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Version metadata is out of sync. package.json, composer.json, and lib/PostHog.php must match before running a release."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
       - name: Apply changesets and update version
         id: apply-changesets
         run: |
@@ -112,6 +127,21 @@ jobs:
           echo "new-version=$NEW_VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
           echo "New version: $NEW_VERSION"
 
+      - name: Check release version is available
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.releaser.outputs.token }}
+          NEW_VERSION: ${{ steps.apply-changesets.outputs.new-version }}
+        run: |
+          if git rev-parse -q --verify "refs/tags/$NEW_VERSION" >/dev/null; then
+            echo "::error::Tag $NEW_VERSION already exists. The release metadata may be stale; refusing to commit a duplicate version bump."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if gh release view "$NEW_VERSION" --repo "${{ github.repository }}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            echo "::error::GitHub release $NEW_VERSION already exists. Refusing to commit a duplicate version bump."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
       - name: Check for version bump changes
         id: check-changes
         run: |
@@ -125,21 +155,23 @@ jobs:
       - name: Commit version bump
         id: commit-version-bump
         if: steps.check-changes.outputs.committed == 'true'
-        uses: planetscale/ghcommit-action@25309d8005ac7c3bcd61d3fe19b69e0fe47dbdde # v0.2.20
-        with:
-          commit_message: "chore: release ${{ steps.apply-changesets.outputs.new-version }} [version bump] [skip ci]"
-          repo: ${{ github.repository }}
-          branch: main
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ steps.releaser.outputs.token }}
+          COMMIT_RETRY_ATTEMPTS: 4
+        run: |
+          node scripts/create-github-signed-commit.mjs \
+            --repo "${{ github.repository }}" \
+            --branch main \
+            --message "chore: release ${{ steps.apply-changesets.outputs.new-version }} [version bump] [skip ci]"
       - name: Create GitHub release
         if: steps.commit-version-bump.outputs.commit-hash != ''
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.releaser.outputs.token }}
           NEW_VERSION: ${{ steps.apply-changesets.outputs.new-version }}
+          VERSION_BUMP_COMMIT: ${{ steps.commit-version-bump.outputs.commit-hash }}
         run: |
           CHANGELOG_ENTRY=$(awk -v defText="see CHANGELOG.md" '/^## /{if (flag) exit; flag=1} flag && /^##$/{exit} flag; END{if (!flag) print defText}' CHANGELOG.md)
-          gh release create "$NEW_VERSION" --target main --title "$NEW_VERSION" --notes "$CHANGELOG_ENTRY"
+          gh release create "$NEW_VERSION" --target "$VERSION_BUMP_COMMIT" --title "$NEW_VERSION" --notes "$CHANGELOG_ENTRY"
 
       - name: Send failure event to PostHog
         if: failure()
diff --git a/scripts/create-github-signed-commit.mjs b/scripts/create-github-signed-commit.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..946a059
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/create-github-signed-commit.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,220 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
+import { appendFileSync, readFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process'
+import { setTimeout as sleep } from 'node:timers/promises'
+
+function getArg(name) {
+    const index = process.argv.indexOf(`--${name}`)
+    return index === -1 ? undefined : process.argv[index + 1]
+}
+
+function hasArg(name) {
+    return process.argv.includes(`--${name}`)
+}
+
+function git(args, options = {}) {
+    return execFileSync('git', args, { encoding: 'utf8', ...options }).trimEnd()
+}
+
+function parseMessage(message) {
+    const [headline, ...bodyParts] = message.split('\n')
+    return { headline, body: bodyParts.join('\n') }
+}
+
+function collectChanges() {
+    const output = execFileSync('git', ['status', '--porcelain=v1', '-z', '--', '.'])
+    const entries = output.toString('utf8').split('\0')
+    const additions = new Set()
+    const deletions = new Set()
+
+    for (let i = 0; i < entries.length; i++) {
+        const line = entries[i]
+        if (!line) {
+            continue
+        }
+
+        const indexStatus = line[0]
+        const treeStatus = line[1]
+
+        if (indexStatus === 'R' || treeStatus === 'R') {
+            const newPath = line.slice(3)
+            const oldPath = entries[++i]
+            if (newPath) {
+                additions.add(newPath)
+            }
+            if (oldPath) {
+                deletions.add(oldPath)
+            }
+            continue
+        }
+
+        const filePath = line.slice(3)
+        if (!filePath) {
+            continue
+        }
+
+        if (/[AMT]/.test(indexStatus) || /[AMT]/.test(treeStatus) || (indexStatus === '?' && treeStatus === '?')) {
+            additions.add(filePath)
+        }
+
+        if (indexStatus === 'D' || treeStatus === 'D') {
+            deletions.add(filePath)
+        }
+    }
+
+    return {
+        additions: [...additions].sort(),
+        deletions: [...deletions].sort(),
+    }
+}
+
+function isRetryable(error) {
+    const message = String(error?.message ?? error)
+    return (
+        /Something went wrong while executing your query/i.test(message) ||
+        /HTTP 5\d\d/i.test(message) ||
+        /ECONNRESET|ETIMEDOUT|EAI_AGAIN|fetch failed/i.test(message)
+    )
+}
+
+async function createCommit({ token, repo, branch, message, additions, deletions, expectedHeadOid }) {
+    const { headline, body } = parseMessage(message)
+    const query = `
+        mutation CreateCommitOnBranch($input: CreateCommitOnBranchInput!) {
+            createCommitOnBranch(input: $input) {
+                commit {
+                    oid
+                    url
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    `
+
+    const variables = {
+        input: {
+            branch: {
+                repositoryNameWithOwner: repo,
+                branchName: branch,
+            },
+            message: {
+                headline,
+                body,
+            },
+            fileChanges: {
+                additions: additions.map((filePath) => ({
+                    path: filePath,
+                    contents: readFileSync(filePath).toString('base64'),
+                })),
+                deletions: deletions.map((filePath) => ({ path: filePath })),
+            },
+            expectedHeadOid,
+        },
+    }
+
+    const response = await fetch(process.env.GITHUB_GRAPHQL_URL || 'https://api.github.com/graphql', {
+        method: 'POST',
+        headers: {
+            authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
+            'content-type': 'application/json',
+            'user-agent': 'posthog-php-release-workflow',
+        },
+        body: JSON.stringify({ query, variables }),
+    })
+
+    const responseText = await response.text()
+    let payload
+    try {
+        payload = JSON.parse(responseText)
+    } catch (error) {
+        throw new Error(`GitHub GraphQL returned non-JSON response: HTTP ${response.status} ${responseText}`)
+    }
+
+    if (!response.ok) {
+        throw new Error(`GitHub GraphQL HTTP ${response.status}: ${JSON.stringify(payload)}`)
+    }
+
+    if (payload.errors?.length) {
+        throw new Error(`GitHub GraphQL errors: ${payload.errors.map((error) => error.message).join('; ')}`)
+    }
+
+    return payload.data.createCommitOnBranch.commit
+}
+
+async function main() {
+    const repo = getArg('repo') || process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY
+    const branch = getArg('branch') || process.env.GITHUB_REF_NAME || 'main'
+    const message = getArg('message') || process.env.COMMIT_MESSAGE
+    const token = process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN || process.env.GH_TOKEN
+    const dryRun = hasArg('dry-run')
+    const retryAttempts = Number(process.env.COMMIT_RETRY_ATTEMPTS || '4')
+
+    if (!repo) {
+        throw new Error('Missing --repo or GITHUB_REPOSITORY')
+    }
+    if (!branch) {
+        throw new Error('Missing --branch or GITHUB_REF_NAME')
+    }
+    if (!message) {
+        throw new Error('Missing --message or COMMIT_MESSAGE')
+    }
+    if (!token && !dryRun) {
+        throw new Error('Missing GITHUB_TOKEN or GH_TOKEN')
+    }
+
+    const expectedHeadOid = git(['rev-parse', 'HEAD'])
+    const { additions, deletions } = collectChanges()
+
+    console.log(`Repository: ${repo}`)
+    console.log(`Branch: ${branch}`)
+    console.log(`Expected head: ${expectedHeadOid}`)
+    console.log(`Files to add/update: ${additions.length}`)
+    for (const filePath of additions) {
+        console.log(`  add ${filePath}`)
+    }
+    console.log(`Files to delete: ${deletions.length}`)
+    for (const filePath of deletions) {
+        console.log(`  delete ${filePath}`)
+    }
+
+    if (additions.length === 0 && deletions.length === 0) {
+        console.log('No changes detected, exiting')
+        return
+    }
+
+    if (dryRun) {
+        console.log('Dry run complete; no commit created')
+        return
+    }
+
+    let lastError
+    for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= retryAttempts; attempt++) {
+        try {
+            const commit = await createCommit({ token, repo, branch, message, additions, deletions, expectedHeadOid })
+            console.log(`Success. New commit: ${commit.url}`)
+
+            if (process.env.GITHUB_OUTPUT) {
+                appendFileSync(process.env.GITHUB_OUTPUT, `commit-url=${commit.url}\n`)
+                appendFileSync(process.env.GITHUB_OUTPUT, `commit-hash=${commit.oid}\n`)
+            }
+            return
+        } catch (error) {
+            lastError = error
+            if (attempt === retryAttempts || !isRetryable(error)) {
+                throw error
+            }
+
+            const waitSeconds = Math.min(60, 5 * 2 ** (attempt - 1))
+            console.warn(`Commit attempt ${attempt}/${retryAttempts} failed with a retryable error: ${error.message}`)
+            console.warn(`Retrying in ${waitSeconds}s...`)
+            await sleep(waitSeconds * 1000)
+        }
+    }
+
+    throw lastError
+}
+
+main().catch((error) => {
+    console.error(error.message || error)
+    process.exit(1)
+})