diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index c816275230f6cf..2cbfcd20943b7f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ name: Release
 permissions:
   contents: write
 
-# This task will run whenever you push a git tag that looks like a version
+# This task will run whenever you workflow_dispatch with a tag that looks like a version
 # like "1.0.0", "v0.1.0-prerelease.1", "my-app/0.1.0", "releases/v1.0.0", etc.
 # Various formats will be parsed into a VERSION and an optional PACKAGE_NAME, where
 # PACKAGE_NAME must be the name of a Cargo package in your workspace, and VERSION
@@ -39,9 +39,13 @@ permissions:
 # will be marked as a prerelease.
 on:
   pull_request:
-  push:
-    tags:
-      - '**[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*'
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      tag:
+        description: Release Tag
+        required: true
+        default: dry-run
+        type: string
 
 jobs:
   # Run 'cargo dist plan' (or host) to determine what tasks we need to do
@@ -49,9 +53,9 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: "ubuntu-20.04"
     outputs:
       val: ${{ steps.plan.outputs.manifest }}
-      tag: ${{ !github.event.pull_request && github.ref_name || '' }}
-      tag-flag: ${{ !github.event.pull_request && format('--tag={0}', github.ref_name) || '' }}
-      publishing: ${{ !github.event.pull_request }}
+      tag: ${{ (inputs.tag != 'dry-run' && inputs.tag) || '' }}
+      tag-flag: ${{ inputs.tag && inputs.tag != 'dry-run' && format('--tag={0}', inputs.tag) || '' }}
+      publishing: ${{ inputs.tag && inputs.tag != 'dry-run' }}
     env:
       GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
     steps:
@@ -70,7 +74,7 @@ jobs:
       # but also really annoying to build CI around when it needs secrets to work right.)
       - id: plan
         run: |
-          cargo dist ${{ (!github.event.pull_request && format('host --steps=create --tag={0}', github.ref_name)) || 'plan' }} --output-format=json > plan-dist-manifest.json
+          cargo dist ${{ (inputs.tag && inputs.tag != 'dry-run' && format('host --steps=create --tag={0}', inputs.tag)) || 'plan' }} --output-format=json > plan-dist-manifest.json
           echo "cargo dist ran successfully"
           cat plan-dist-manifest.json
           echo "manifest=$(jq -c "." plan-dist-manifest.json)" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
@@ -86,7 +90,7 @@ jobs:
     # Let the initial task tell us to not run (currently very blunt)
     needs:
       - plan
-    if: ${{ fromJson(needs.plan.outputs.val).ci.github.artifacts_matrix.include != null && (needs.plan.outputs.publishing == 'true' || fromJson(needs.plan.outputs.val).ci.github.pr_run_mode == 'upload') }}
+    if: ${{ fromJson(needs.plan.outputs.val).ci.github.artifacts_matrix.include != null && (needs.plan.outputs.publishing == 'true' || fromJson(needs.plan.outputs.val).ci.github.pr_run_mode == 'upload') || inputs.tag == 'dry-run' }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       # Target platforms/runners are computed by cargo-dist in create-release.
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index d57b588e27e420..43d6f8e4073fd6 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -97,7 +97,8 @@ windows-archive = ".tar.gz"
 unix-archive = ".tar.gz"
 # Publish jobs to run in CI
 pr-run-mode = "plan"
-dispatch-release = true
+# Whether CI should trigger releases with dispatches instead of tag pushes
+dispatch-releases = true
 
 [workspace.metadata.dist.dependencies.homebrew]
 protobuf = "*"