diff --git a/.github/workflows/release_from_version.yml b/.github/workflows/release_from_version.yml
index 5264776..d6b66c1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release_from_version.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release_from_version.yml
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ jobs:
 
     outputs:
       version: ${{ steps.extract.outputs.version }}
-      dev_branch: ${{ steps.extract.outputs.dev_branch }}
+      source_branch: ${{ steps.extract.outputs.source_branch }}
       version_branch: ${{ steps.extract.outputs.version_branch }}
       today_utc: ${{ steps.extract.outputs.today_utc }}
 
@@ -74,16 +74,16 @@ jobs:
           BRANCH="${GITHUB_REF_NAME}"
           echo "Invoked from branch: ${BRANCH}"
 
-          # Gate: only allow manual runs from dev/<major>.<minor>.<patch>
-          echo "${BRANCH}" | grep -E '^dev/[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$'
+          # Gate: only allow manual runs from dev/<major>.<minor>.<patch> or rc/<major>.<minor>.<patch>
+          echo "${BRANCH}" | grep -E '^(dev|rc)/[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$'
 
-          VERSION="${BRANCH#dev/}"
-          DEV_BRANCH="dev/${VERSION}"
+          VERSION="${BRANCH#*/}"
+          SOURCE_BRANCH="${BRANCH}"
           VERSION_BRANCH="version/${VERSION}"
           TODAY_UTC="$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)"
 
           echo "version=${VERSION}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
-          echo "dev_branch=${DEV_BRANCH}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
+          echo "source_branch=${SOURCE_BRANCH}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
           echo "version_branch=${VERSION_BRANCH}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
           echo "today_utc=${TODAY_UTC}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"