diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 1ce20834d1..0f2a31d4b3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 name: Release
 
 on:
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - 'main'
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      artifact_version:
+        description: 'Target version for artifacts to build and publish'
+        required: true
 
 jobs:
   gradle:
@@ -19,4 +21,5 @@ jobs:
     - name: Run Gradle Test
       uses: ./actions/gradle-test
       with:
+        artifacts_version: "${{ inputs.artifact_version }}"
         gradle_args: "-PreleaseBuild=true"
diff --git a/actions/gradle-test/action.yml b/actions/gradle-test/action.yml
index 98d379b42d..f180e0745b 100644
--- a/actions/gradle-test/action.yml
+++ b/actions/gradle-test/action.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 name: Gradle Test
 
 inputs:
+  artifact_version:
+    description: 'Version of final artifacts to build'
+    required: false
+    default: ''
   fdb_version:
     description: 'Version of FDB to run'
     required: false
@@ -42,7 +46,7 @@ runs:
     run: sed -i -e "s/^org\.gradle\..*/#&/g" gradle.properties
   - name: Run build and test
     shell: bash
-    run: GRADLE_OPTS="-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -Xverify:none -XX:+TieredCompilation -Xmx4096m -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Duser.country -Duser.language=en -Duser.variant --add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.lang.invoke=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.prefs/java.util.prefs=ALL-UNNAMED" ./gradlew --no-daemon --console=plain -b ./build.gradle build destructiveTest -PcoreNotStrict ${{ inputs.gradle_args }}
+    run: ARTIFACT_VERSION="${{ inputs.artifact_version }}" GRADLE_OPTS="-XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -Xverify:none -XX:+TieredCompilation -Xmx4096m -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Duser.country -Duser.language=en -Duser.variant --add-opens=java.base/java.lang=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.lang.invoke=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.base/java.util=ALL-UNNAMED --add-opens=java.prefs/java.util.prefs=ALL-UNNAMED" ./gradlew --no-daemon --console=plain -b ./build.gradle build destructiveTest -PcoreNotStrict ${{ inputs.gradle_args }}
   - name: Copy Test Reports
     shell: bash
     if: always()
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 99e546c68b..c0527d1521 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -170,10 +170,12 @@ allprojects {
     }
 
     repositories {
-        if (System.getenv("ARTIFACT_VERSION") != null) {
-           version = "${System.getenv('ARTIFACT_VERSION')}"
-        } else if (System.getenv("RECORD_LAYER_BUILD_NUMBER") != null) {
-           version = "${version}.${System.getenv('RECORD_LAYER_BUILD_NUMBER')}"
+        var artifactVersion = System.getenv("ARTIFACT_VERSION")
+        var buildNumber = System.getenv("RECORD_LAYER_BUILD_NUMBER")
+        if (artifactVersion != null && !artifactVersion.isEmpty()) {
+           version = artifactVersion
+        } else if (buildNumber != null && !buildNumber.isEmpty()) {
+           version = "${version}.${buildNumber}"
         }
         if (Boolean.parseBoolean(mavenLocalEnabled)) {
             mavenLocal()