diff --git a/dist/index.js b/dist/index.js
index bca5f01..e912acc 100644
--- a/dist/index.js
+++ b/dist/index.js
@@ -141542,11 +141542,12 @@ function compress(dir, outputFile) {
 }
 function prepareNPMArtifacts() {
     return __awaiter(this, void 0, void 0, function* () {
+        var _a;
         const statusCmd = manifestKey ? `esy ${manifestKey} status` : "esy status";
         try {
             const manifestFilePath = JSON.parse(external_child_process_.execSync(statusCmd).toString()).rootPackageConfigPath;
             const manifest = JSON.parse(external_fs_.readFileSync(manifestFilePath).toString());
-            if (manifest.esy.release) {
+            if ((_a = manifest.esy) === null || _a === void 0 ? void 0 : _a.release) {
                 yield runEsyCommand("Running esy npm-release", ["npm-release"]);
             }
             let tarFile = `npm-tarball.tgz`;
diff --git a/index.ts b/index.ts
index eef1ada..1f5281a 100644
--- a/index.ts
+++ b/index.ts
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ async function prepareNPMArtifacts() {
       cp.execSync(statusCmd).toString()
     ).rootPackageConfigPath;
     const manifest = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(manifestFilePath).toString());
-    if (manifest.esy.release) {
+    if (manifest.esy?.release) {
       await runEsyCommand("Running esy npm-release", ["npm-release"]);
     }
     let tarFile = `npm-tarball.tgz`;