diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/release.yml b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
index 4615366..623ac5a 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
@@ -20,16 +20,12 @@ on:
     push:
         tags:
             - "v*"
-    # Manual recovery trigger. Use when a tag was pushed but the auto-run
-    # was missed or failed: `gh workflow run release.yml -f tag=v0.6.1`.
-    # The tag input is validated against the same semver regex as the
-    # auto-trigger before any string interpolation happens.
+    # Manual recovery trigger. Use Gitea's "Run workflow" UI and select the
+    # tag (e.g. v1.4.4) from the Ref dropdown - not main. The Validate tag
+    # ref step below hard-fails if a non-tag ref is selected, because the
+    # release-action reads GITHUB_REF directly and rejects anything that
+    # does not start with refs/tags/.
     workflow_dispatch:
-        inputs:
-            tag:
-                description: "Existing tag to (re)release, e.g. v0.6.1"
-                required: true
-                type: string
 
 permissions:
     contents: write
@@ -41,14 +37,21 @@ jobs:
         timeout-minutes: 20
 
         steps:
-            # On push:tags, github.ref_name is the tag — checkout default works.
-            # On workflow_dispatch, ref defaults to the branch the action was
-            # invoked from; we need to explicitly check out the tag the user
-            # supplied so the build comes from the tagged commit, not main.
+            # release-action@main reads GITHUB_REF directly (its action.yml
+            # does not declare a tag_name input). Validate up-front so manual
+            # dispatches from a branch ref fail loud here instead of burning
+            # a full build before the final step errors out with "ref X is
+            # not a tag".
+            - name: Validate tag ref
+              run: |
+                  if [[ "${GITHUB_REF}" != refs/tags/v* ]]; then
+                      echo "::error::Release workflow must run on a v*.X.Y tag ref, got ${GITHUB_REF}"
+                      echo "::error::Push a tag, or pick the tag (not main) in the workflow_dispatch Ref dropdown."
+                      exit 1
+                  fi
+
             - name: Checkout
               uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6
-              with:
-                  ref: ${{ github.event.inputs.tag || github.ref }}
 
             - name: Setup .NET 10
               uses: actions/setup-dotnet@c2fa09f4bde5ebb9d1777cf28262a3eb3db3ced7 # v5
@@ -89,12 +92,11 @@ jobs:
             - name: Generate release body
               shell: pwsh
               env:
-                  # workflow_dispatch carries the user-supplied tag in inputs.tag;
-                  # push:tags carries it in github.ref_name. Either way the value
-                  # is treated as a PowerShell variable (env-var pass), not as
-                  # inline shell text, and validated against the semver regex
-                  # below before any string interpolation.
-                  TAG_NAME: ${{ github.event.inputs.tag || github.ref_name }}
+                  # github.ref_name is the tag because Validate tag ref above
+                  # already enforced refs/tags/v*. Read via env: so the value
+                  # is a PowerShell variable, not inline shell text, and gets
+                  # re-validated against the semver regex below.
+                  TAG_NAME: ${{ github.ref_name }}
               run: |
                   $tag = $env:TAG_NAME
                   if ($tag -notmatch '^v\d+\.\d+\.\d+$') {
@@ -154,19 +156,28 @@ jobs:
                   Write-Host $body
                   Write-Host "----------------------------------------"
 
+            # release-action@main only declares files/title/body/pre_release/
+            # draft/api_key/insecure as inputs (see its action.yml). It silently
+            # ignores anything else, including body_path and tag_name. The tag
+            # itself comes from GITHUB_REF, the body must be passed inline via
+            # body:, so we re-emit release-body.md as a step output first.
+            - name: Expose release body for release-action
+              id: body
+              shell: bash
+              run: |
+                  {
+                      echo 'content<<RELEASE_BODY_EOF'
+                      cat release-body.md
+                      echo 'RELEASE_BODY_EOF'
+                  } >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
             # Gitea-native release action. Creates the release if the tag has no
-            # release yet, or updates the existing one. body_path provides the
-            # generated release body, files attaches latest.zip. The auto-injected
-            # GITHUB_TOKEN on Gitea Actions has Gitea-API scope and is sufficient
-            # for release write.
+            # release yet, or updates the existing one with latest.zip attached
+            # and the generated body. The auto-injected GITHUB_TOKEN on Gitea
+            # Actions has Gitea-API scope and is sufficient for release write.
             - name: Attach to Gitea release
               uses: https://gitea.com/actions/release-action@main
               with:
-                  # Explicit tag_name so the action targets the correct release in
-                  # both push:tags (auto) and workflow_dispatch (manual recovery)
-                  # modes. Without this, dispatch runs would default to the branch
-                  # ref (main) and fail to find the release.
-                  tag_name: ${{ github.event.inputs.tag || github.ref_name }}
                   files: ${{ steps.locate.outputs.path }}
-                  body_path: release-body.md
+                  body: ${{ steps.body.outputs.content }}
                   api_key: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}