diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index fc48b2cd196..5873c37e612 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -204,6 +204,30 @@ jobs:
           DOCKER_PUSH: "true"
         run: goreleaser release --clean
 
+      - name: Verify latest tag was pushed
+        env:
+          VERSION: ${{ needs.version.outputs.version }}
+          EVENT: ${{ github.event_name }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          image="${REGISTRY}/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/${BINARY_NAME}"
+          latest_digest=$(docker buildx imagetools inspect "${image}:latest" --format '{{json .Manifest.Digest}}' 2>/dev/null | tr -d '"' || true)
+          if [ -z "$latest_digest" ]; then
+            echo "::error::${image}:latest was not pushed by this release"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          if [ "$EVENT" = "workflow_dispatch" ]; then
+            ver_digest=$(docker buildx imagetools inspect "${image}:${VERSION}" --format '{{json .Manifest.Digest}}' 2>/dev/null | tr -d '"' || true)
+            if [ -z "$ver_digest" ]; then
+              echo "::error::${image}:${VERSION} was not pushed"
+              exit 1
+            fi
+            if [ "$ver_digest" != "$latest_digest" ]; then
+              echo "::error::${image}:latest did not move to ${VERSION}; dev pins latest and would keep serving a stale image"
+              exit 1
+            fi
+          fi
+
 
   build_helm:
     name: "Build Helm Chart"
@@ -246,12 +270,19 @@ jobs:
         continue-on-error: true
 
       - name: Prepare release artifacts
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         run: |
-          set -e
+          set -euo pipefail
           mkdir -p final-artifacts/clients
-          gh release download latest --pattern "*.tar.gz" --pattern "*.zip" --dir final-artifacts/clients || true
 
           # macOS
+          if gh release view latest >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            gh release download latest --pattern "*.tar.gz" --pattern "*.zip" --dir final-artifacts/clients
+          else
+            echo "No previous 'latest' release yet, skipping carry-forward."
+          fi
+
           if [ -d "release-artifacts/fleet-mac-universal" ]; then
             tar -czf "final-artifacts/clients/fleet-macos-universal.tar.gz" \
               -C "release-artifacts/fleet-mac-universal" fleet
@@ -264,6 +295,20 @@ jobs:
 
           ls -lh final-artifacts/clients/
 
+          missing=0
+          if [ ! -f final-artifacts/clients/fleet-macos-universal.tar.gz ]; then
+            echo "::error::fleet-macos-universal.tar.gz missing from release artifacts"
+            missing=1
+          fi
+          if [ ! -f final-artifacts/clients/fleet-windows-amd64.zip ]; then
+            echo "::error::fleet-windows-amd64.zip missing from release artifacts"
+            missing=1
+          fi
+          if [ "$missing" -ne 0 ]; then
+            echo "::error::Release would ship incomplete client binaries, failing."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
       - name: Generate release header
         run: |
           VERSION="${{ needs.version.outputs.version }}"