diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 373097487..89d226ec4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -36,15 +36,19 @@ jobs:
         if: ${{ env.DRY_RUN }}
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: First ref
+      - name: dry run parse
+        id: parse
         if: ${{ env.DRY_RUN }}
         shell: bash
         # match the first wasmtime tag for dry run
-        run: echo "REF=refs/tags/$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 --match "containerd-shim-wasmtime/*")" >> ${GITHUB_ENV}
+        run: |
+          ref=refs/tags/$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 --match "containerd-shim-wasmtime/*")
+          ./scripts/parse_ref.sh "${ref}" >> ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           ref: ${{ env.REF }}
       - id: parse
+        if: ${{ !env.DRY_RUN }}
         name: Parse ref
         shell: bash
         run: ./scripts/parse_ref.sh ${{ env.REF }} >> ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}