diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index ed6ae0c675..ab0460df8b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -398,28 +398,37 @@ jobs:
         # steps below will use and reports every tarball's file list, so a
         # packing regression fails here, before the first immutable npm
         # publish. `pnpm pack` does not run `prepublishOnly`, so the
-        # compiled payloads are built first with the same script CI uses
-        # (mostly warm after the build-artifacts step above). The
+        # publishable projects' src tsconfigs are built first — only those:
+        # the typecheck-everything graph also drags in test tsconfigs,
+        # whose devDependencies this runner's install does not provide
+        # (mostly warm after the build-artifacts step above anyway). The
         # publishable projects are selected by explicit name filters:
         # unlike recursive publish, recursive pack does not skip private
         # packages, and packing the private workspace root would walk the
         # whole repository.
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-          pn compile-only
           verify_dir=$(mktemp -d)
           pn list --filter=!pnpm --filter=!@pnpm/exe --depth=-1 --json > "$verify_dir/projects.json"
           filters=()
-          while IFS= read -r filter; do
-            filters+=("$filter")
+          tsconfig_dirs=()
+          while IFS=$'\t' read -r name dir; do
+            filters+=("--filter=$name")
+            if [ -n "$dir" ]; then
+              tsconfig_dirs+=("$dir")
+            fi
           done < <(node -e '
+            const { existsSync } = require("node:fs")
+            const { join } = require("node:path")
             const projects = JSON.parse(require("node:fs").readFileSync(process.argv[1], "utf8"))
             for (const project of projects) {
               if (!project.private && project.name && project.version && project.path) {
-                console.log(`--filter=${project.name}`)
+                const dir = existsSync(join(project.path, "tsconfig.json")) ? project.path : ""
+                console.log(`${project.name}\t${dir}`)
               }
             }
           ' "$verify_dir/projects.json")
+          pn exec tsgo --build "${tsconfig_dirs[@]}"
           # Recursive pack runs one project at a time, so pack in four
           # concurrent chunks; dry-run packing only reads the tree.
           chunk_size=$(( (${#filters[@]} + 3) / 4 ))