diff --git a/.github/RELEASE-core.md b/.github/RELEASE-core.md
index dcb81ab8bc..01e182c76e 100644
--- a/.github/RELEASE-core.md
+++ b/.github/RELEASE-core.md
@@ -123,41 +123,21 @@ Pushing the tag triggers a CI run automatically. Monitor it in the
 
 ## Upload wheels to PyPI
 
-This is a two-stage process: first publish to TestPyPI, verify, then
-publish to PyPI.
-
-### Stage 1: TestPyPI
+This is a single `CI: Release` workflow run with two sequential stages:
+publish to TestPyPI, then publish the same wheel set to PyPI.
 
 1. Go to **Actions > CI: Release** and run the workflow with:
    - **Component**: `cuda-core`
    - **The release git tag**: `cuda-core-v0.6.0`
-   - **The GHA run ID that generated validated artifacts**: This is the
-     run ID of the successful tag-triggered CI run from the previous step.
-     You can find it in the URL when viewing the run in the Actions tab
-     (e.g. `https://github.com/NVIDIA/cuda-python/actions/runs/123456789`
-     — the run ID is `123456789`).
-   - **Which wheel index to publish to**: `testpypi`
+
    The workflow automatically looks up the successful tag-triggered CI run
    for the selected release tag.
 
-2. Wait for the workflow to complete.
-
-3. Verify the TestPyPI upload by installing and running tests from a
-   checked-out copy of the repository:
-
-   ```bash
-   pip install -i https://test.pypi.org/simple/ \
-       --extra-index-url https://pypi.org/simple/ \
-       cuda-core==0.6.0
-   cd cuda_core/tests && pytest
-   ```
-
-### Stage 2: PyPI
-
-Once TestPyPI verification passes, rerun the same workflow with:
-- **Which wheel index to publish to**: `pypi`
+2. Wait for the workflow to complete. It will:
+   - publish the selected wheels to TestPyPI
+   - publish the same wheel set to PyPI
 
-After completion, verify:
+3. After completion, verify the final PyPI upload:
 
 ```bash
 pip install cuda-core==0.6.0
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index ce88820d51..97d58d8ae5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
 
 name: "CI: Release"
 
-# Manually-triggered release workflow. Creates a release draft if one doesn't exist for the given tag, or uses existing draft.
+# Manually-triggered release workflow. Creates a release draft if one doesn't exist
+# for the given tag, or uses an existing draft, then publishes the selected wheels
+# to TestPyPI followed by PyPI.
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
@@ -28,13 +30,6 @@ on:
         required: false
         type: string
         default: ""
-      wheel-dst:
-        description: "Which wheel index to publish to?"
-        required: true
-        type: choice
-        options:
-          - testpypi
-          - pypi
 
 defaults:
   run:
@@ -60,7 +55,7 @@ jobs:
           echo "Auto-detecting successful tag-triggered run ID for tag: ${{ inputs.git-tag }}"
           RUN_ID=$(./ci/tools/lookup-run-id "${{ inputs.git-tag }}" "${{ github.repository }}")
           echo "Auto-detected run ID: $RUN_ID"
-          echo "run-id=$RUN_ID" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "run-id=$RUN_ID" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
   check-tag:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -74,17 +69,11 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
         run: |
-          tags=
-          for i in $(gh release list -R ${{ github.repository }} --json tagName --jq '.[]| .tagName'); do
-            tags+=( $i )
-          done
-          is_draft=
-          for i in $(gh release list -R ${{ github.repository }} --json isDraft --jq '.[]| .isDraft'); do
-            is_draft+=( $i )
-          done
+          mapfile -t tags < <(gh release list -R "${{ github.repository }}" --json tagName --jq '.[] | .tagName')
+          mapfile -t is_draft < <(gh release list -R "${{ github.repository }}" --json isDraft --jq '.[] | .isDraft')
 
           found=0
-          for idx in ${!tags[@]}; do
+          for idx in "${!tags[@]}"; do
             if [[ "${tags[$idx]}" == "${{ inputs.git-tag }}" ]]; then
               echo "found existing release for ${{ inputs.git-tag }}"
               found=1
@@ -134,16 +123,16 @@ jobs:
       run-id: ${{ needs.determine-run-id.outputs.run-id }}
       component: ${{ inputs.component }}
 
-  publish-wheels:
-    name: Publish wheels
+  publish-testpypi:
+    name: Publish wheels to TestPyPI
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs:
       - check-tag
       - determine-run-id
       - doc
     environment:
-      name: ${{ inputs.wheel-dst }}
-      url: https://${{ (inputs.wheel-dst == 'testpypi' && 'test.') || '' }}pypi.org/p/${{ inputs.component }}/
+      name: testpypi
+      url: https://test.pypi.org/${{ inputs.component != 'all' && format('p/{0}/', inputs.component) || '' }}
     permissions:
       id-token: write
     steps:
@@ -160,14 +149,37 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           ./ci/tools/validate-release-wheels "${{ inputs.git-tag }}" "${{ inputs.component }}" "dist"
 
-      - name: Publish package distributions to PyPI
-        if: ${{ inputs.wheel-dst == 'pypi' }}
-        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@ed0c53931b1dc9bd32cbe73a98c7f6766f8a527e  # v1.13.0
-
       - name: Publish package distributions to TestPyPI
-        if: ${{ inputs.wheel-dst == 'testpypi' }}
         uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@ed0c53931b1dc9bd32cbe73a98c7f6766f8a527e  # v1.13.0
         with:
           repository-url: https://test.pypi.org/legacy/
 
+  publish-pypi:
+    name: Publish wheels to PyPI
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs:
+      - determine-run-id
+      - publish-testpypi
+    environment:
+      name: pypi
+      url: https://pypi.org/${{ inputs.component != 'all' && format('p/{0}/', inputs.component) || '' }}
+    permissions:
+      id-token: write
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Source
+        uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd  # v6.0.2
+
+      - name: Download component wheels
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          ./ci/tools/download-wheels "${{ needs.determine-run-id.outputs.run-id }}" "${{ inputs.component }}" "${{ github.repository }}" "dist"
+
+      - name: Validate wheel versions for release tag
+        run: |
+          ./ci/tools/validate-release-wheels "${{ inputs.git-tag }}" "${{ inputs.component }}" "dist"
+
+      - name: Publish package distributions to PyPI
+        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@ed0c53931b1dc9bd32cbe73a98c7f6766f8a527e  # v1.13.0
+
   # TODO: add another job to make the release leave the draft state?