diff --git a/script/notify b/script/notify
index 781659c2..7c7827a2 100755
--- a/script/notify
+++ b/script/notify
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-if [[ $# -lt 1 ]]; then
+if [[ "$CI" != "true" ]]; then
+  echo "(notify bailing: not in CI)"
+  exit
+elif [[ $# -lt 1 ]]; then
   echo "No status provided!" >&2
   exit 1
 fi
diff --git a/script/release b/script/release
index e585d610..557aac99 100755
--- a/script/release
+++ b/script/release
@@ -2,5 +2,7 @@
 set -e
 echo "📦  Publishing latest release..."
 script/notify pending
-lerna exec -- npm publish
+# note: try-publish should exit cleanly if it detects a duplicate
+# published version
+lerna exec -- $(pwd)/script/try-publish
 script/notify success
diff --git a/script/release-candidate b/script/release-candidate
index 438ddb09..85f4608b 100755
--- a/script/release-candidate
+++ b/script/release-candidate
@@ -60,5 +60,6 @@ done
 
 # publish all the things!
 script/notify pending
-lerna exec --bail=false -- npm publish --tag=$npm_tag
+# note: this should NOT fail, so --bail=true applies
+lerna exec -- npm publish --tag=$npm_tag
 script/notify success
diff --git a/script/try-publish b/script/try-publish
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..746916af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/script/try-publish
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -e
+# pwd
+package=$(jq .name package.json)
+version=$(jq .version package.json)
+published=$(npm info "$package@$version")
+if [[ "$version" = "$published" ]]; then
+  echo "⚠️   $package@$version is already published!"
+else
+  echo "📦  npm publish: $package@$version"
+  npm publish $@
+fi