diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index 7acae54..7124add 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ jobs:
       id-token: write
 
     steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
       - name: Import VERSION environment variable
         run: |
           echo "VERSION=${{ needs.build.outputs.VERSION }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
@@ -103,9 +106,6 @@ jobs:
         uses: sigstore/gh-action-sigstore-python@v3.0.0
         with:
           inputs: ./dist/*.tar.gz ./dist/*.whl
-      
-      - name: Checkout code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
       - name: Create GitHub Release
         env:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d754c8d..494e7f6 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "bambulabs_api"
-version = "2.5.11"
+version = "2.5.12-rc1"
 authors = [
   { name="Chris Ioannidis", email="chris.ioannidis23@imperial.ac.uk" },
   { name="Haotian Wu", email="64962148+ohmdelta@users.noreply.github.com"}