diff --git a/.chainloop.yml b/.chainloop.yml
index 270d91117..0b193832c 100644
--- a/.chainloop.yml
+++ b/.chainloop.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-# This can indicate the next version and by default it will be marked as pre-release
-projectVersion: v1.56.0
+# This indicates the [current version]+next
+# to indicate that we are building a new version of the project
+projectVersion: v1.55.0+next
 
 # Experimental feature used by Chainloop labs shared workflow https://github.com/chainloop-dev/labs
 # It maps the material names with location in disk so they get automatically attested
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index ee001cab2..68e411ebd 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -164,7 +164,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Bump Chart and Dagger Version
         run: .github/workflows/utils/bump-chart-and-dagger-version.sh deployment/chainloop extras/dagger ${{ github.ref_name }}
       - name: Bump Project Version
-        run: .github/workflows/utils/bump-project-version.sh
+        run: .github/workflows/utils/bump-project-version.sh ${{ github.ref_name }}
 
       - name: Create Pull Request
         uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@153407881ec5c347639a548ade7d8ad1d6740e38 # v5.0.2
diff --git a/.github/workflows/utils/bump-project-version.sh b/.github/workflows/utils/bump-project-version.sh
index 14e9febbe..11b763788 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/utils/bump-project-version.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/utils/bump-project-version.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-# Bump the Chainloop project version to the next minor version to the version defined .chainloop.yml
+# Update the Chainloop project version in .chainloop.yml to the provided version + "+next"
 
 set -e
 
 die () {
    echo >&2 "$@"
-   echo "usage: bump-project-version.sh [configFile]"
+   echo "usage: bump-project-version.sh <version> [configFile]"
    exit 1
 }
 
@@ -15,35 +15,18 @@ if [[ -n "${DEBUG}" ]]; then
    set -x
 fi
 
+[ "$#" -ge 1 ] || die "Version argument is required"
+
+version="${1}"
 project_yaml=".chainloop.yml"
 # manual override
-if [[ -n "${1}" ]]; then
-   project_yaml="${1}"
+if [[ -n "${2}" ]]; then
+   project_yaml="${2}"
 fi
 
-if [[ -n "$GITHUB_REF_NAME" ]]; then
-  # Bump from provided version tag
-  version=$(echo $GITHUB_REF_NAME | awk -F'[ .]' '{print $1"."$2+1"."0}')
-else
-  # Load the previous version and bump appropriately
-  version=$(cat "${project_yaml}" | awk '/^projectVersion:/ {
-      version = $2;
-      if (version ~ /-rc/) {
-          # Handle release candidate versions (e.g., v1.0.0-rc.1 -> v1.0.0-rc.2)
-          split(version, parts, /-rc\./);
-          rc_num = parts[2] + 1;
-          print parts[1] "-rc." rc_num;
-      }
-      else {
-          # Load the previous version and BUMP THE MINOR
-          # Handle minor version bumps (e.g., v1.0.0 -> v1.1.0)
-          split(version, ver_parts, /\./);
-          ver_parts[2] = ver_parts[2] + 1;
-          print ver_parts[1] "." ver_parts[2] ".0";
-      }
-  }')
-fi
+# Append "+next" to the version
+version_with_next="${version}+next"
 
 # Update the project yaml file
-sed -i "s#^projectVersion:.*#projectVersion: ${version}#g" "${project_yaml}"
+sed -i "s#^projectVersion:.*#projectVersion: ${version_with_next}#g" "${project_yaml}"