diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-mcp-server.yml b/.github/workflows/release-mcp-server.yml
index 76f29c24..62ff8609 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-mcp-server.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-mcp-server.yml
@@ -90,14 +90,18 @@ jobs:
         id: graphiti
         run: |
           # Query PyPI for the latest graphiti-core version with error handling
-          set -e
-          GRAPHITI_VERSION=$(curl -sf https://pypi.org/pypi/graphiti-core/json | python -c "import sys, json; data=json.load(sys.stdin); print(data['info']['version'])" 2>&1)
+          set -eo pipefail
 
-          if [ -z "$GRAPHITI_VERSION" ] || [ "$?" -ne 0 ]; then
+          if ! GRAPHITI_VERSION=$(curl -sf https://pypi.org/pypi/graphiti-core/json | python -c "import sys, json; data=json.load(sys.stdin); print(data['info']['version'])"); then
             echo "Error: Failed to fetch graphiti-core version from PyPI"
             exit 1
           fi
 
+          if [ -z "$GRAPHITI_VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "Error: Empty version returned from PyPI"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
           echo "graphiti_version=${GRAPHITI_VERSION}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
           echo "Latest Graphiti Core version from PyPI: ${GRAPHITI_VERSION}"