diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-on-publish.yml b/.github/workflows/release-on-publish.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 483ede6..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/release-on-publish.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-name: release-on-publish
-
-# Listens for a published GitHub Release and starts release.yml via
-# workflow_dispatch. GitHub documents that workflow_dispatch always creates a
-# new run (even when triggered by GITHUB_TOKEN), unlike some release:published
-# deliveries that never started release.yml in this repo (see repo events API
-# 2026-08-14T16:44:21Z vs Actions run list).
-
-on:
-  release:
-    types: [published]
-
-permissions:
-  actions: write
-  contents: read
-
-jobs:
-  dispatch:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - name: Derive SemVer from release tag
-        id: version
-        env:
-          RELEASE_TAG: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-          raw="${RELEASE_TAG#v}"
-          if ! [[ "$raw" =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
-            echo "::error::release tag is not SemVer vX.Y.Z (${RELEASE_TAG})"
-            exit 1
-          fi
-          #region agent log
-          echo "::group::agent-log release-on-publish"
-          echo "release_tag=${RELEASE_TAG} version=${raw} release_id=${{ github.event.release.id }} draft=${{ github.event.release.draft }}"
-          echo "::endgroup::"
-          #endregion
-          echo "version=${raw}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
-      - name: Start release workflow
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        run: |
-          gh workflow run release.yml \
-            --repo "${{ github.repository }}" \
-            --ref main \
-            -f "version=${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index edb5832..dbe013c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -2,9 +2,8 @@ name: release
 
 # Publishes an immutable, version-tagged image on ghcr.io (spec 10.1).
 # Ordinary commits and bare git tag pushes do not publish anything. A published
-# GitHub Release starts release-on-publish.yml, which dispatches this workflow
-# with the release version. You can also run it manually via workflow_dispatch
-# with an explicit SemVer X.Y.Z version.
+# GitHub Release runs this workflow directly (same pattern as gosentry / imap-scrub).
+# You can also run it manually via workflow_dispatch with an explicit SemVer X.Y.Z.
 #
 # Native per-architecture builds (see docs/development.md), not qemu:
 # running the full Postfix/OpenDKIM stack under emulation for the e2e gate
@@ -12,10 +11,12 @@ name: release
 # tag on its own native runner; a merge job then combines them into the one
 # manifest tag documented in deploy/docker-compose.yml. "test, then push" (not
 # push-by-digest then test) is deliberate: it means the bytes that get tagged
-# are exactly the bytes that passed e2e, at the cost of per-arch tags lingering
-# in the registry as a side effect (harmless — the version tag's immutability,
-# spec 10.1, is about that tag, not these).
+# are exactly the bytes that passed e2e. Per-arch tags are pushed only so
+# imagetools can assemble the multi-arch manifest; merge removes them from GHCR
+# so operators see a single version tag (spec 10.1).
 on:
+  release:
+    types: [published]
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
       version:
@@ -37,20 +38,20 @@ jobs:
         id: version
         env:
           INPUT_VERSION: ${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+          RELEASE_TAG: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
           EVENT_NAME: ${{ github.event_name }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-          raw="${INPUT_VERSION:-}"
+          if [ "$EVENT_NAME" = "release" ]; then
+            raw="${RELEASE_TAG:-}"
+          else
+            raw="${INPUT_VERSION:-}"
+          fi
           raw="${raw#v}"
           if ! [[ "$raw" =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
-            echo "::error::release version is not SemVer X.Y.Z (event=${EVENT_NAME}; pass inputs.version on workflow_dispatch). Refusing to publish ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}:${raw:-?}"
+            echo "::error::release version is not SemVer X.Y.Z (event=${EVENT_NAME}; tag=${RELEASE_TAG:-} input=${INPUT_VERSION:-}). Refusing to publish ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}:${raw:-?}"
             exit 1
           fi
-          #region agent log
-          echo "::group::agent-log prepare version"
-          echo "event=${EVENT_NAME} version=${raw} checkout_ref=v${raw}"
-          echo "::endgroup::"
-          #endregion
           echo "version=${raw}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
 
   build:
@@ -136,24 +137,6 @@ jobs:
         with:
           ref: v${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}
 
-      - name: Debug — snapshot GitHub Release state (agent)
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          VERSION: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}
-        run: |
-          #region agent log
-          set -euo pipefail
-          tag="v${VERSION}"
-          echo "::group::agent-log release snapshot for ${tag}"
-          if out=$(gh release view "$tag" --repo "${{ github.repository }}" --json isDraft,tagName,publishedAt,url 2>&1); then
-            echo "release-exists: ${out}"
-          else
-            echo "release-missing: ${out}"
-          fi
-          echo "event=${{ github.event_name }} ref=${GITHUB_REF_NAME}"
-          echo "::endgroup::"
-          #endregion
-
       - uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v3
 
       - name: Log in to ghcr.io
@@ -181,12 +164,6 @@ jobs:
             set -e
             if [ "$rc" -eq 0 ]; then
               printf '%s\n' "$out"
-              #region agent log
-              echo "::group::agent-log ghcr tags published"
-              echo "version=${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }} event=${{ github.event_name }} ref=${GITHUB_REF_NAME}"
-              echo "tags_pushed=${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }},${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}-amd64,${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}-arm64"
-              echo "::endgroup::"
-              #endregion
               exit 0
             fi
             printf '%s\n' "$out" >&2
@@ -199,3 +176,23 @@ jobs:
             attempt=$((attempt + 1))
             backoff=$((backoff * 2))
           done
+
+      - name: Remove per-arch tags from GHCR
+        # Side-effect tags for imagetools assembly only — not part of the public
+        # version surface (deploy/docker-compose.yml pins X.Y.Z, not X.Y.Z-amd64).
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          repo="ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}"
+          version="${{ needs.prepare.outputs.version }}"
+          for suffix in amd64 arm64; do
+            tag="${repo}:${version}-${suffix}"
+            set +e
+            out=$(docker buildx imagetools rm "$tag" 2>&1)
+            rc=$?
+            set -e
+            if [ "$rc" -eq 0 ]; then
+              printf '%s\n' "$out"
+            else
+              echo "::warning::could not remove ${tag}: ${out}" >&2
+            fi
+          done
diff --git a/docs/development.md b/docs/development.md
index 9121540..3296ceb 100644
--- a/docs/development.md
+++ b/docs/development.md
@@ -205,9 +205,8 @@ the binaries so they cannot drift apart.
    local-trial image references) in the **same** release commit.
 2. Create and push git tag `vX.Y.Z` on that commit.
 3. Publish the GitHub Release for `vX.Y.Z` (not a draft).
-4. Workflow [release-on-publish.yml](../.github/workflows/release-on-publish.yml)
-   starts [release.yml](../.github/workflows/release.yml) with that version;
-   the build checks out tag `vX.Y.Z` (not `main` HEAD).
+4. Workflow [release.yml](../.github/workflows/release.yml) builds, e2e-gates,
+   and publishes `ghcr.io/mixeme/selfpost:X.Y.Z` (checks out tag `vX.Y.Z`).
 
 **GitHub Release vs GHCR.** The public [Releases](https://github.com/mixeme/selfpost/releases)
 page lists only **published** releases. A draft is visible to maintainers only —
@@ -307,29 +306,31 @@ Workflows in [.github/workflows/](../.github/workflows/). What each job runs —
 
 ### `release.yml` — published GitHub Release, or `workflow_dispatch` with SemVer
 
-Publishing a GitHub Release runs [release-on-publish.yml](../.github/workflows/release-on-publish.yml),
-which dispatches `release.yml` with the version parsed from the release tag.
-You can also run `release.yml` manually via `workflow_dispatch` and an
-explicit `X.Y.Z` input. A bare git tag push does not run either workflow.
-The build always checks out `vX.Y.Z`, not `main` HEAD.
+Publishing a GitHub Release runs `release.yml` directly (`release: published`,
+same pattern as gosentry / imap-scrub). You can also run it manually via
+`workflow_dispatch` with an explicit `X.Y.Z` input. A bare git tag push does not
+run the workflow. The build always checks out `vX.Y.Z`, not `main` HEAD.
 
-`prepare` takes the version from the `workflow_dispatch` `version` input. A
-dispatch whose input is missing or not `X.Y.Z` fails in `prepare`.
+`prepare` takes the version from `github.event.release.tag_name` on a release
+event, or from the `workflow_dispatch` `version` input. A dispatch whose input
+is missing or not `X.Y.Z` fails in `prepare`.
 
 ```
-release-on-publish (release: published → workflow_dispatch)
-prepare (version from workflow_dispatch input; checkout vX.Y.Z)
+release: published
+prepare (version from release tag or workflow_dispatch input; checkout vX.Y.Z)
   → build [matrix: ubuntu-latest / ubuntu-24.04-arm]
       → docker build --load (VERSION from prepare)
       → e2e (test/e2e)
       → push ghcr.io/...:X.Y.Z-amd64 | X.Y.Z-arm64
   → merge
       → docker buildx imagetools create → unified manifest X.Y.Z
+      → imagetools rm → drop X.Y.Z-amd64 and X.Y.Z-arm64 from GHCR
 ```
 
 Native per-arch matrix (no QEMU): running the full Postfix/OpenDKIM stack under
 emulation for e2e is impractical. E2e first, then push — the registry receives
-the bytes that passed the gate.
+the bytes that passed the gate. Only `ghcr.io/mixeme/selfpost:X.Y.Z` remains
+tagged in GHCR; per-arch names exist briefly during the merge job.
 
 A failed e2e **blocks** image publication.