diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 2fcc8532..cb3af600 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -24,10 +24,13 @@ jobs:
           wget -O- https://github.com/intuit/auto/releases/download/v10.16.1/auto-linux.gz | gunzip > ~/auto
           chmod a+x ~/auto
 
-      - name: Check whether a release is due
+      - name: Query 'auto' on type of the release
         id: auto-version
         run: |
-          version="$(~/auto version)"
+          # to be able to debug if something goes wrong
+          set -o pipefail
+          auto version -vv | tee /tmp/auto-version
+          version="$(sed -ne '/Calculated SEMVER bump:/s,.*: *,,p' /tmp/auto-version)"
           echo "version=$version" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}