diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-pypi.yml b/.github/workflows/build-publish-pypi.yml
similarity index 88%
rename from .github/workflows/publish-pypi.yml
rename to .github/workflows/build-publish-pypi.yml
index 683f2a4..ad56af5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-pypi.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-publish-pypi.yml
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Build package using Hatch
         run: |
-          hatch build
+          hatch run build:check
           echo ""
           echo "Generated files:"
           ls -lh dist/
@@ -49,10 +49,13 @@ jobs:
         with:
           name: python-package-distributions
           path: dist/
+  # The publish step will only run on a release from the pyopensci repository
+  # There are several checks in place including setting up the pypi environment in
+  # GitHub so that only people on your maintainer team can allow the deployment
   publish:
     name: >-
       Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to PyPI
-    if: github.repository_owner == 'pyopensci'
+    if: github.repository_owner == 'pyopensci' && github.event_name == 'release'
     needs:
       - build
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 2ff7fef..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,77 +0,0 @@
-name: Publish to PyPI
-
-on:
-  release:
-    types: [published]
-
-jobs:
-  prerequisites:
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/test.yml
-  # Setup build separate from publish for added security
-  # See https://github.com/pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish/issues/217#issuecomment-1965727093
-  build:
-    needs: [prerequisites]
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    # Environment is encouraged for increased security
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # v5.0.0
-        with:
-          # This fetch element is only important if you are use SCM based
-          # versioning (that looks at git tags to gather the version).
-          # setuptools-scm needs tags to form a valid version number
-          fetch-tags: true
-
-      - name: Setup Python
-        uses: actions/setup-python@e797f83bcb11b83ae66e0230d6156d7c80228e7c #v6.0.0
-        with:
-          # You can modify what version of Python you want to use for your release
-          python-version: "3.11"
-
-      # Whenever possible, pin your project development dependencies to a specific version
-      - name: Install Hatch
-        run: |
-          pip install hatch==1.15.1
-
-      - name: Build package using Hatch
-        run: |
-          hatch build
-          echo ""
-          echo "Generated files:"
-          ls -lh dist/
-
-      # Store an artifact of the build to use in the publish step below
-      - name: Store the distribution packages
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@330a01c490aca151604b8cf639adc76d48f6c5d4 #v5.0.0
-        with:
-          name: python-package-distributions
-          path: dist/
-          if-no-files-found: error
-  publish:
-    name: >-
-      Publish Python 🐍 distribution 📦 to PyPI
-    # Modify the repo name below to be your project's repo name.
-    if: github.repository_owner == "pyopensci"
-    needs:
-      - build
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    # Environment required here for trusted publisher
-    # You can set permissions for this environment so it can only be used by
-    # certain people
-    environment:
-      name: pypi
-      # Modify the url to be the name of your package
-      url: https://pypi.org/p/pyospackage
-    permissions:
-      id-token: write  # this permission is mandatory for PyPI publishing
-    steps:
-      - name: Download dists
-        uses: actions/download-artifact@018cc2cf5baa6db3ef3c5f8a56943fffe632ef53 #v6.0.0
-        with:
-          name: python-package-distributions
-          path: dist/
-          merge-multiple: true
-      - name: Publish package to PyPI
-        # Only publish to real PyPI on release
-        if: github.event_name == 'release' && github.event.action == 'published'
-        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/ed0c53931b1dc9bd32cbe73a98c7f6766f8a527e # v1.13.0
diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index c5704e2..2c4ae32 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 This release fixes many issues with the original template run in "full mode"
 
+* Fix: release.yml broken and combine publish and release builds (@lwasser, #71)
 * Add: fix ci, linting, docs and tests run docs separately (@lwasser)
 * Fix readthedocs build issues fixed by updating .readthedocs.yaml to install docs dependencies and build docs directly & redundant api docs (@lwasser)
 * Add: Move to optional-dependency groups and call those groups in hatch envs (@lwasser)