diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index d9ab7154..4be6c117 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -63,12 +63,7 @@ jobs:
     needs: [build-linux, build-macos]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
-      # we check out the repo to get information from tags
-      - name: checkout
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-          fetch-tags: true
+      # release binaries -------------------------------------------------------
       - name: download linux artifact
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
         with:
@@ -84,13 +79,25 @@ jobs:
           chmod +x ./vivify-linux/* ./vivify-macos/*
           tar -czf vivify-linux.tar.gz vivify-linux
           tar -czf vivify-macos.tar.gz vivify-macos
+
+      # release notes ----------------------------------------------------------
+      # we check out the repo to get information from tags
+      - name: checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-tags: true
+      # actions/checkout seems to have a bug where annotated tags are converted
+      # to simple tags so we have to fetch them explicitly again
+      # https://github.com/actions/checkout/issues/882
+      - run: git fetch --tags --force origin
       - name: build release notes
         run: |
           echo -e "## What's changed\n" \
               > release.md
           git tag -l --format="%(contents)" ${{ github.ref_name }} | sed '/^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----/,$d' \
               >> release.md
-          echo -e "\n**Full changelog**: https://github.com/jannis-baum/vivify/compare/$(git tag --sort=version:refname | tail -2 | head -1)...${{ github.ref }}" \
+          echo -e "\n**Full changelog**: https://github.com/jannis-baum/vivify/compare/$(git tag --sort=version:refname | tail -2 | head -1)...${{ github.ref_name }}" \
               >> release.md
           echo -e '\n**SHA256 checksums**\\' \
               >> release.md
@@ -100,6 +107,8 @@ jobs:
               >> release.md
       - name: print release notes for logs
         run: cat release.md
+
+      # release ----------------------------------------------------------------
       - name: release
         if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v')
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2