diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 1fa607c..c7e7b30 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -17,13 +17,13 @@ on:
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
       version:
-        description: "Version to release, without leading v (e.g. 0.5.0 or 0.5.0-rc.1)"
+        description: "Version to release (e.g. 0.1.0, v0.1.0 or 0.1.0-rc.1)"
         required: true
         type: string
   workflow_call:
     inputs:
       version:
-        description: "Version to release, without leading v (e.g. 0.5.0 or 0.5.0-rc.1)"
+        description: "Version to release (e.g. 0.1.0, v0.1.0 or 0.1.0-rc.1)"
         required: true
         type: string
     secrets:
@@ -43,18 +43,21 @@ jobs:
     timeout-minutes: 10
     steps:
       - name: Validate inputs
+        id: validate
         shell: bash
         env:
           VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
         run: |
+          VERSION="${VERSION#v}"
           if [ "$GITHUB_REF" != "refs/heads/main" ]; then
             echo "::error::Releases must be cut from main (got $GITHUB_REF)"
             exit 1
           fi
           if ! [[ "$VERSION" =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$ ]]; then
-            echo "::error::'$VERSION' is not a valid semver version (expected X.Y.Z or X.Y.Z-pre)"
+            echo "::error::'$VERSION' is not a valid semver version (expected X.Y.Z or X.Y.Z-pre, optionally with a leading v)"
             exit 1
           fi
+          echo "version=$VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
       - name: Create release app token
         id: app-token
@@ -74,17 +77,17 @@ jobs:
       - name: Ensure tag does not exist
         shell: bash
         env:
-          VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
+          VERSION: ${{ steps.validate.outputs.version }}
         run: |
           if git rev-parse -q --verify "refs/tags/v${VERSION}" > /dev/null; then
             echo "::error::Tag v${VERSION} already exists"
             exit 1
           fi
 
-      - name: Pin self-references to v${{ inputs.version }}
+      - name: Pin self-references to the release tag
         shell: bash
         env:
-          VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
+          VERSION: ${{ steps.validate.outputs.version }}
         run: |
           self="${GITHUB_REPOSITORY//./\\.}(/[A-Za-z0-9_./-]+)?"
           mapfile -t files < <(git ls-files '.github/workflows/*.yml' '.github/workflows/*.yaml' \
@@ -100,7 +103,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Commit, tag and push
         shell: bash
         env:
-          VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
+          VERSION: ${{ steps.validate.outputs.version }}
         run: |
           git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
           git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
@@ -113,7 +116,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Create GitHub release
         shell: bash
         env:
-          VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
+          VERSION: ${{ steps.validate.outputs.version }}
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
         run: |
           PRERELEASE=()
@@ -125,7 +128,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Update floating tags
         shell: bash
         env:
-          VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
+          VERSION: ${{ steps.validate.outputs.version }}
         run: |
           if [[ "$VERSION" == *-* ]]; then
             echo "Skipping floating tag update for pre-release v${VERSION}"