diff --git a/lerna.json b/lerna.json
index 48c2167187..2c518cb553 100644
--- a/lerna.json
+++ b/lerna.json
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
   "version": "10.3.0",
   "npmClient": "npm",
   "$schema": "node_modules/lerna/schemas/lerna-schema.json"
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index af82769d45..eb4af03254 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
         "@emotion/react": "^11.13.3",
         "@eslint/eslintrc": "^3.1.0",
         "@eslint/js": "^9.11.1",
-        "@instructure/browserslist-config-instui": "10.3.0",
-        "@instructure/pkg-utils": "10.3.0",
+        "@instructure/browserslist-config-instui": "workspace:*",
+        "@instructure/pkg-utils": "workspace:*",
         "@testing-library/dom": "^10.4.0",
         "@testing-library/jest-dom": "^6.4.6",
         "@testing-library/react": "^16.0.1",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index f9ea376d07..caf0c78f68 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@
     "@emotion/react": "^11.13.3",
     "@eslint/eslintrc": "^3.1.0",
     "@eslint/js": "^9.11.1",
-    "@instructure/browserslist-config-instui": "10.3.0",
-    "@instructure/pkg-utils": "10.3.0",
+    "@instructure/browserslist-config-instui": "workspace:*",
+    "@instructure/pkg-utils": "workspace:*",
     "@testing-library/dom": "^10.4.0",
     "@testing-library/jest-dom": "^6.4.6",
     "@testing-library/react": "^16.0.1",
diff --git a/packages/ui-scripts/lib/utils/git.js b/packages/ui-scripts/lib/utils/git.js
index 75a1ded862..702f03ba08 100644
--- a/packages/ui-scripts/lib/utils/git.js
+++ b/packages/ui-scripts/lib/utils/git.js
@@ -63,9 +63,14 @@ export const isReleaseCommit = (version) => {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Checks whether the folder has any changes with `git status`.
+ * If there are any the process exits with an error code
+ */
 export function checkWorkingDirectory() {
   let result
   try {
+    // --porcelain outputs in a machine-readable format
     result = runGitCommand(['status', '--porcelain'])
   } catch (e) {
     error(e)
diff --git a/packages/ui-scripts/lib/utils/npm.js b/packages/ui-scripts/lib/utils/npm.js
index a818227b01..b343b94bc2 100644
--- a/packages/ui-scripts/lib/utils/npm.js
+++ b/packages/ui-scripts/lib/utils/npm.js
@@ -87,12 +87,12 @@ export async function bumpPackages(packageName, requestedVersion) {
     await runCommandAsync('lerna', [
       'version',
       ...args,
-      '--exact',
-      '--include-merged-tags',
-      '--no-push',
-      '--no-git-tag-version',
-      '--force-publish=*',
-      '--conventional-commits'
+      '--exact', // exact versions, no ^ when bumping
+      '--include-merged-tags', // Include tags from merged branches
+      '--no-push', // do not execute `git push`
+      '--no-git-tag-version', // do not add git tag or commit
+      '--force-publish=*', // bump all packages even if they have no changes
+      '--conventional-commits' // determines new version and updates Changelog
     ])
 
     releaseVersion = await syncRootPackageVersion(true)