diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index a54aa325..b16c80d4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -8,12 +8,14 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
         with:
           ref: ${{ github.head_ref }}
+      - name: 🤝 Set Node version from .nvmrc
+        run: echo NVMRC=`cat .nvmrc` >> $GITHUB_ENV
 
       - name: ⎔ Setup node
         # sets up the .npmrc file to publish to npm
         uses: actions/setup-node@v3
         with:
-          node-version: "16"
+          node-version: ${{ env.NVMRC }}
           registry-url: "https://registry.npmjs.org"
 
       - name: 📥 Download deps
diff --git a/publish.sh b/publish.sh
index 2d72c02d..045c556c 100755
--- a/publish.sh
+++ b/publish.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
+# This script will determine the type of release based on the git branch. When the default branch is used, it will be a `patch` that's published to npm under the `latest` dist-tag. Any other branch will be a `prelease` that's published to npm under the `alpha` dist-tag.
+bump='patch'
+tag='latest'
+
 set -e;
 
 if ! git diff-files --quiet; then
@@ -15,10 +19,20 @@ fi;
 rm -rf node_modules
 npm install
 
-npm test;
+current_branch=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
+default_branch=$(git remote show origin | sed -n '/HEAD branch/s/.*: //p')
 
-npm version ${1-patch}
+if [ "$current_branch" != "$default_branch" ]; then
+  bump='prerelease'
+  tag='alpha'
+  npm --no-git-tag-version version $bump --preid=$tag
+  git push
+  npm publish --tag $tag
+else
+  npm test;
+  npm version ${1-bump}
 
-git push;
-git push --tags;
-npm publish;
+  git push;
+  git push --tags;
+  npm publish;
+fi