diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yaml b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
index 241a0d0e..7e7b2d10 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yaml
@@ -80,10 +80,14 @@ jobs:
           --set security.tls.autoGenerated=true
       - name: Check out code
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-tags: true
       - name: Update version number
-        if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
         run: | 
-          sed -i -e "s/0.0.0/${GITHUB_REF##*/}/" pyproject.toml
+          # always replaces the version with the latest tag
+          # both for testing and version release
+          sed -i -e "s/0.0.0/$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 | sed 's/^v//')/" pyproject.toml
       - name: Set up Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v4
         with: