diff --git a/scripts/release.ts b/scripts/release.ts
index 6146a97762d..e0f510fc88e 100644
--- a/scripts/release.ts
+++ b/scripts/release.ts
@@ -121,29 +121,27 @@ async function main() {
   const packages = PHASES[phaseInt].packages;
   const deps = PHASES[phaseInt].deps || [];
 
+  const dir = `${TMP_DIR}/tfjs`;
+  mkdirp(TMP_DIR, err => {
+    if (err) {
+      console.log('Error creating temp dir', TMP_DIR);
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+  });
+  $(`rm -f -r ${dir}/*`);
+  $(`rm -f -r ${dir}`);
+  $(`mkdir ${dir}`);
+  $(`git clone https://github.com/tensorflow/tfjs ${dir} --depth=1`);
+  shell.cd(dir);
+
   const newVersions = [];
   for (let i = 0; i < packages.length; i++) {
     const packageName = packages[i];
-
-    mkdirp(TMP_DIR, (err) => {
-      if (err) {
-        console.log('Error creating temp dir', TMP_DIR);
-        process.exit(1);
-      }
-    });
-    $(`rm -f -r ${TMP_DIR}/${packageName}/*`);
-    $(`rm -f -r ${TMP_DIR}/${packageName}`);
+    shell.cd(packageName);
 
     const depsLatestVersion: string[] =
         deps.map(dep => $(`npm view @tensorflow/${dep} dist-tags.latest`));
 
-    const dir = `${TMP_DIR}/${packageName}`;
-    $(`mkdir ${dir}`);
-    $(`git clone https://github.com/tensorflow/tfjs ${dir} --depth=1`);
-
-    shell.cd(dir);
-    shell.cd(packageName);
-
     // Update the version.
     let pkg = `${fs.readFileSync(`${dir}/${packageName}/package.json`)}`;
     const parsedPkg = JSON.parse(`${pkg}`);
@@ -210,6 +208,7 @@ async function main() {
     }
 
     newVersions.push(newVersion);
+    shell.cd('..');
   }
 
   const packageNames = packages.join(', ');