diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 5d40e95..d85e66a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -21,8 +21,26 @@ jobs:
       
       - id: extract-version
         name: Extract version
+        env:
+          HEAD_BRANCH: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.ref }}
         run: |
-          echo "version=${GITHUB_HEAD_REF#release-}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          case "$HEAD_BRANCH" in
+            release-*|hotfix-*)
+              version="${HEAD_BRANCH#release-}"
+              version="${version#hotfix-}"
+              ;;
+            *)
+              echo "::error::Branch name must start with release- or hotfix-: $HEAD_BRANCH"
+              exit 1
+              ;;
+          esac
+
+          if [[ ! "$version" =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+            echo "::error::Branch name must end with a semantic version x.y.z: $HEAD_BRANCH"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          echo "version=$version" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
       
       - name: Draft the release
         env: