diff --git a/.github/release-please-config.json b/.github/release-please-config.json
index e9fbda4b..e7ecc230 100644
--- a/.github/release-please-config.json
+++ b/.github/release-please-config.json
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/main/schemas/config.json",
+  "last-release-sha": "9f7d5b3f1476234e552b783415527cc4bac55b39",
   "packages": {
     ".": {
       "release-type": "python",
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-cherry-pick.yml b/.github/workflows/release-cherry-pick.yml
index fd25f734..bf2247c4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-cherry-pick.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-cherry-pick.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-# Cherry-picks a commit from main to the release/candidate branch.
-# Use this to include bug fixes in an in-progress release.
+# Step 3 (optional): Cherry-picks a commit from main to the release/candidate branch.
+# Use between step 1 and step 4 to include bug fixes in an in-progress release.
 name: "Release: Cherry-pick"
 
 on:
@@ -42,5 +42,5 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
         run: |
-          gh workflow run release-please.yml --repo ${{ github.repository }}
+          gh workflow run release-please.yml --repo ${{ github.repository }} --ref release/candidate
           echo "Triggered Release Please workflow"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-cut.yml b/.github/workflows/release-cut.yml
index 3e8643b6..8dbed404 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-cut.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-cut.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-# Starts the release process by creating a release/candidate branch.
-# Triggers release-please to generate a changelog PR.
+# Step 1: Starts the release process by creating a release/candidate branch.
+# Generates a changelog PR for review (step 2).
 name: "Release: Cut"
 
 on:
@@ -42,5 +42,5 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
         run: |
-          gh workflow run release-please.yml --repo ${{ github.repository }}
+          gh workflow run release-please.yml --repo ${{ github.repository }} --ref release/candidate
           echo "Triggered Release Please workflow"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-finalize.yml b/.github/workflows/release-finalize.yml
index 9864aaab..ade58ec2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-finalize.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-finalize.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-# Triggers when release-please PR is merged to release/candidate.
-# Creates the final release/v{version} branch and deletes the candidate branch.
+# Step 4: Triggers when the changelog PR is merged to release/candidate.
+# Records last-release-sha and renames release/candidate to release/v{version}.
 name: "Release: Finalize"
 
 on:
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ jobs:
         if: steps.check.outputs.is_release_pr == 'true'
         with:
           ref: release/candidate
+          token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PAT }}
+          fetch-depth: 0
 
       - name: Extract version from manifest
         if: steps.check.outputs.is_release_pr == 'true'
@@ -42,18 +44,33 @@ jobs:
           echo "version=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           echo "Extracted version: $VERSION"
 
-      - name: Create release branch
+      - name: Configure git identity from RELEASE_PAT
         if: steps.check.outputs.is_release_pr == 'true'
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PAT }}
         run: |
-          git checkout -b "release/v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"
-          git push origin "release/v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"
-          echo "Created branch: release/v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"
+          USER_JSON=$(gh api user)
+          git config user.name "$(echo "$USER_JSON" | jq -r '.login')"
+          git config user.email "$(echo "$USER_JSON" | jq -r '.id')+$(echo "$USER_JSON" | jq -r '.login')@users.noreply.github.com"
 
-      - name: Delete release/candidate branch
+      - name: Record last-release-sha for release-please
         if: steps.check.outputs.is_release_pr == 'true'
         run: |
-          git push origin --delete release/candidate
-          echo "Deleted branch: release/candidate"
+          git fetch origin main
+          CUT_SHA=$(git merge-base origin/main HEAD)
+          echo "Release was cut from main at: $CUT_SHA"
+          jq --arg sha "$CUT_SHA" '. + {"last-release-sha": $sha}' \
+            .github/release-please-config.json > tmp.json && mv tmp.json .github/release-please-config.json
+          git add .github/release-please-config.json
+          git commit -m "chore: update last-release-sha for next release"
+          git push origin release/candidate
+
+      - name: Rename release/candidate to release/v{version}
+        if: steps.check.outputs.is_release_pr == 'true'
+        run: |
+          VERSION="v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"
+          git push origin "release/candidate:refs/heads/release/$VERSION" ":release/candidate"
+          echo "Renamed release/candidate to release/$VERSION"
 
       - name: Update PR label to tagged
         if: steps.check.outputs.is_release_pr == 'true'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
index b2540e9f..791d84a5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Runs release-please to create/update a PR with version bump and changelog.
-# Triggered by pushes to release/candidate or manually.
+# Triggered automatically by step 1 (cut) or step 3 (cherry-pick).
 name: "Release: Please"
 
 on:
@@ -18,11 +18,25 @@ jobs:
     if: "!startsWith(github.event.head_commit.message, 'chore(release')"
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
+      - name: Check if release/candidate still exists
+        id: check
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+        run: |
+          if gh api repos/${{ github.repository }}/branches/release/candidate --silent 2>/dev/null; then
+            echo "exists=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          else
+            echo "release/candidate branch no longer exists, skipping"
+            echo "exists=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          fi
+
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        if: steps.check.outputs.exists == 'true'
         with:
           ref: release/candidate
 
       - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
+        if: steps.check.outputs.exists == 'true'
         with:
           token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PAT }}
           config-file: .github/release-please-config.json
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-publish.yml b/.github/workflows/release-publish.yml
index 51623d57..5979cd9c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-publish.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-# Builds and publishes the package to PyPI from a release branch.
-# Creates a merge-back PR to sync release changes to main.
+# Step 6: Builds and publishes the package to PyPI from a release/v{version} branch.
+# Creates a merge-back PR (step 7) to sync release changes to main.
 name: "Release: Publish to PyPi"
 
 on: