diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/release.yml b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
index 84d86e5..4f795b2 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/release.yml
@@ -18,8 +18,32 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build per-addon zip(s)
         run: bash tools/build_zip.sh
 
-      - name: Publish release
-        uses: https://gitea.com/actions/release-action@main
-        with:
-          files: dist/*.zip
-          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}  # auto-injected per job; no org secret needed
+      - name: Publish release (Gitea API direct; no action dependency)
+        env:
+          GITEA_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+          TAG:  ${{ github.ref_name }}
+          API:  ${{ github.server_url }}/api/v1
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          # Create the release (or reuse if it already exists for this tag).
+          RID=$(curl -sf -H "Authorization: token $GITEA_TOKEN" \
+            "$API/repos/$REPO/releases/tags/$TAG" 2>/dev/null \
+            | jq -r '.id // empty')
+          if [ -z "$RID" ]; then
+            RID=$(curl -sf -X POST -H "Authorization: token $GITEA_TOKEN" \
+              -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+              "$API/repos/$REPO/releases" \
+              -d "$(jq -nc --arg t "$TAG" '{tag_name:$t,name:$t,draft:false,prerelease:false}')" \
+              | jq -r '.id')
+          fi
+          echo "release id: $RID"
+          # Upload every dist/*.zip
+          for f in dist/*.zip; do
+            name=$(basename "$f")
+            echo "uploading $name"
+            curl -sf -X POST -H "Authorization: token $GITEA_TOKEN" \
+              -F "attachment=@$f" \
+              "$API/repos/$REPO/releases/$RID/assets?name=$name" \
+              | jq -r '"  -> " + .browser_download_url'
+          done