diff --git a/.github/scripts/commit-and-tag.cjs b/.github/scripts/commit-and-tag.cjs
index 53d63f542..405ebe719 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/commit-and-tag.cjs
+++ b/.github/scripts/commit-and-tag.cjs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ module.exports = async ({ github, context }) => {
   const parent = context.sha;
   if (!version) throw new Error("VERSION is not defined");
 
-  const files = ["Cargo.toml", "Cargo.lock"];
+  const files = ["LETRO_VERSION"];
 
   /** @type {{path: string, mode: "100644", type: "blob", sha: string}[]} */
   const tree = [];
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yaml b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
index cd9cb0368..dfddc44b4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ name: Build
 on:
   push:
     branches:
-      - main
+      # - main
       - "release/**"
     tags:
       - "letro-v*"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-branch.yaml b/.github/workflows/release-branch.yaml
index f0843f717..ca2ba0762 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-branch.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-branch.yaml
@@ -36,15 +36,12 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout the code
         uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
-      - name: Install Rust toolchain
-        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
-
       - name: Compute the new minor RC
         id: next
         env:
           BUMP: pre${{ inputs.kind }}
         run: |
-          CURRENT_VERSION="$(cargo metadata --format-version 1 --no-deps | jq -r '.packages[] | select(.name == "mas-cli") | .version')"
+          CURRENT_VERSION="$(cat LETRO_VERSION | tr -d '[:space:]')"
           NEXT_VERSION="$(npx --yes semver@7.5.4 -i "$BUMP" --preid rc "${CURRENT_VERSION}")"
           # compute the short minor version, e.g. 0.1.0-rc.1 -> 0.1
           SHORT_VERSION="$(echo "${NEXT_VERSION}" | cut -d. -f1-2)"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-bump.yaml b/.github/workflows/release-bump.yaml
index a2a20791a..06d540daa 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-bump.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-bump.yaml
@@ -35,12 +35,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout the code
         uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
-      - name: Install Rust toolchain
-        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
-
       - name: Extract the current version
         id: current
-        run: echo "version=$(cargo metadata --format-version 1 --no-deps | jq -r '.packages[] | select(.name == "mas-cli") | .version')" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        run: echo "version=$(cat LETRO_VERSION | tr -d '[:space:]')" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
       - name: Compute the new minor RC
         id: next
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tag.yaml b/.github/workflows/tag.yaml
index c6c394c81..00257a9ef 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tag.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tag.yaml
@@ -32,18 +32,10 @@ jobs:
       - name: Checkout the code
         uses: actions/checkout@v6
 
-      - name: Install Rust toolchain
-        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
-
-      - name: Set the crates version
+      - name: Set the fork version
         env:
           VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
-        run: |
-          sed -i "s/^package.version = .*/package.version = \"$VERSION\"/" Cargo.toml
-          sed -i "/path = \".\/crates\//s/version = \".*\"/version = \"=$VERSION\"/" Cargo.toml
-
-      - name: Run `cargo metadata` to make sure the lockfile is up to date
-        run: cargo metadata --format-version 1
+        run: echo "$VERSION" > LETRO_VERSION
 
       - name: Commit and tag using the GitHub API
         uses: actions/github-script@v8.0.0
diff --git a/LETRO_VERSION b/LETRO_VERSION
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b6ea92554
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LETRO_VERSION
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+1.16.0-rc.0