diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 08fd6863..a03dab04 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ jobs:
           git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
           git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
 
+      - name: Debug auth
+        run: |
+          echo "npm version: $(npm --version)"
+          echo "node version: $(node --version)"
+          npm whoami 2>&1 || echo "whoami failed"
+          cat ~/.npmrc | sed 's/npm_[a-zA-Z0-9]*/npm_REDACTED/g'
+
       - name: Bump & publish core
         if: inputs.package == 'core' || inputs.package == 'both'
         working-directory: packages/core
@@ -64,11 +71,18 @@ jobs:
 
           bun run build
 
+          echo "📋 Package contents:"
+          npm pack --dry-run 2>&1 || true
+
           if [ "${{ inputs.dry-run }}" = "true" ]; then
             echo "🏜️ Dry run — would publish @pascal-app/core@$VERSION"
             npm publish --dry-run --access public
           else
-            npm publish --access public
+            npm publish --access public --loglevel verbose 2>&1 || {
+              echo "❌ Publish failed, dumping debug log:"
+              cat ~/.npm/_logs/*-debug-0.log 2>/dev/null | tail -50
+              exit 1
+            }
             echo "📦 Published @pascal-app/core@$VERSION"
           fi