diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
index 255f30a..e8e6658 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
@@ -82,6 +82,19 @@ jobs:
           uv build
           uv run --no-project --with packaging python tests/inspect_wheel_metadata.py dist/*.whl
 
+      # release-please's own Python updater misses a version with a dotted prerelease suffix (2.0.0-alpha.1), so
+      # src/copick_shared_ui/__init__.py carries an x-release-please-version marker; refuse to upload if it was still missed.
+      - name: Check the built version is the release's
+        env:
+          RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ needs.release-please.outputs.version }}
+        run: >
+          uv run --no-project --with packaging python -c
+          "import glob, os, sys; from packaging.version import Version;
+          want = Version(os.environ['RELEASE_VERSION']);
+          got = Version(os.path.basename(glob.glob('dist/*.whl')[0]).split('-')[1]);
+          print(f'release {want}, built {got}');
+          sys.exit(0 if got == want else f'Built {got}, but the release is {want}: src/copick_shared_ui/__init__.py was not bumped.')"
+
       - name: Publish distribution 📦 to PyPI
         uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
         with:
diff --git a/release-please.config.json b/release-please.config.json
index 44212b6..dab2dc9 100644
--- a/release-please.config.json
+++ b/release-please.config.json
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
   "packages": {
     ".": {
       "package-name": "copick-shared-ui",
+      "extra-files": [{ "type": "generic", "path": "src/copick_shared_ui/__init__.py" }],
       "tag-prefix": "v",
       "release-type": "python",
       "separate-pull-requests": true,
diff --git a/release-please.prerelease.config.json b/release-please.prerelease.config.json
index 932c7fb..1f3e0be 100644
--- a/release-please.prerelease.config.json
+++ b/release-please.prerelease.config.json
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
   "packages": {
     ".": {
       "package-name": "copick-shared-ui",
+      "extra-files": [{ "type": "generic", "path": "src/copick_shared_ui/__init__.py" }],
       "tag-prefix": "v",
       "release-type": "python",
       "versioning": "prerelease",
diff --git a/src/copick_shared_ui/__init__.py b/src/copick_shared_ui/__init__.py
index dd899e1..35f579e 100644
--- a/src/copick_shared_ui/__init__.py
+++ b/src/copick_shared_ui/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 """Copick shared UI components for cross-platform visualization."""
 
-__version__ = "2.0.0-alpha.1"
+__version__ = "2.0.0-alpha.1"  # x-release-please-version
 
 # Core components
 from copick_shared_ui.core import (