diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 23da64293..54a066a64 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ on:
       - 'openchallenges/v*'
 
 env:
+  DOCKER_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+  DOCKER_USERNAME: ${{ github.actor }}
   VERSION: ''
 
 jobs:
@@ -21,7 +23,7 @@ jobs:
         id: extract_version
         run: |
           # Get the tag name and remove 'openchallenges/' prefix
-          VERSION=${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/openchallenges/}
+          VERSION=${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/openchallenges/v}
           echo "VERSION=${VERSION}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           echo "Docker image tag will be: ${VERSION}"
 
diff --git a/apps/openchallenges/apex/project.json b/apps/openchallenges/apex/project.json
index b7c36c54f..6f33a0241 100644
--- a/apps/openchallenges/apex/project.json
+++ b/apps/openchallenges/apex/project.json
@@ -22,13 +22,14 @@
       "options": {
         "context": "{projectRoot}",
         "metadata": {
-          "images": ["ghcr.io/sage-bionetworks/{projectName}"],
-          "tags": ["type=edge,branch=main", "type=raw,value=local", "type=sha"]
+          "images": ["ghcr.io/sage-bionetworks/{projectName}"]
         },
         "push": false
       },
       "configurations": {
-        "local": {},
+        "local": {
+          "tags": ["type=edge,branch=main", "type=raw,value=local", "type=sha"]
+        },
         "ci": {
           "cache-from": ["type=gha"],
           "cache-to": ["type=gha,mode=max"],