diff --git a/.github/workflows/pre-release.yml b/.github/workflows/pre-release.yml
index a8b90935..211fac94 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pre-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pre-release.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ on:
         description: 'sdk-java version (without prepending v). Leave empty if you do not want to update it.'
         required: false
         type: string
+      cdkVersion:
+        description: 'cdk version (without prepending v). Leave empty if you do not want to update it.'
+        required: false
+        type: string
 
 jobs:
   updates:
@@ -53,6 +57,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Find and replace restateVersion in build.gradle.kts for kotlin templates
         if: github.event.inputs.sdkJavaVersion != ''
         run: for jvmDir in hello-world-http hello-world-lambda; do sed -i 's/val restateVersion = "[0-9A-Z.-]*"/val restateVersion = "${{ inputs.sdkJavaVersion }}"/' kotlin/$jvmDir/build.gradle.kts; done
+      - name: Find and replace restateVersion in build.gradle.kts for kotlin/hello-world-lambda-cdk
+        if: github.event.inputs.sdkJavaVersion != ''
+        run: sed -i 's/val restateVersion = "[0-9A-Z.-]*"/val restateVersion = "${{ inputs.sdkJavaVersion }}"/' kotlin/hello-world-lambda-cdk/lambda/build.gradle.kts
 
       # When adding a new example add the check task here
       - name: Test java/hello-world-http
@@ -80,11 +87,15 @@ jobs:
           arguments: check
           build-root-directory: kotlin/hello-world-lambda
 
+      - name: Update cdk version
+        if: github.event.inputs.cdkVersion != ''
+        run: npm --prefix kotlin/hello-world-lambda-cdk install @restatedev/restate-cdk@^${{ inputs.cdkVersion }}
+
       # CDK projects are a hybrid of TypeScript CDK stack + platform-specific handler code; the top-level npm CDK build
-      # is responsible for verifying the language-specific handler cod. They are also not a part of the TypeScript
+      # is responsible for verifying the language-specific handler code. They are also not a part of the TypeScript
       # examples workspace, so we test them separately here.
       - name: Test kotlin/hello-world-lambda-cdk
-        if: github.event.inputs.sdkTypescriptVersion != '' && github.event.inputs.sdkJavaVersion != ''
+        if: github.event.inputs.cdkVersion != '' || github.event.inputs.sdkJavaVersion != ''
         run: |
           npm --prefix kotlin/hello-world-lambda-cdk install
           npm --prefix kotlin/hello-world-lambda-cdk run verify