diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 8cce9e4..235b994 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -32,15 +32,43 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Rust toolchain
         uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
 
+      - name: Cache Bun dependencies
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: ~/.bun/install/cache
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-bun-${{ hashFiles('bun.lock') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            ${{ runner.os }}-bun-
+
+      - name: Cache Rust build output
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: |
+            ~/.cargo/git
+            ~/.cargo/registry
+            src-tauri/target
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-cargo-${{ hashFiles('src-tauri/Cargo.lock') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            ${{ runner.os }}-cargo-
+
       - name: Install frontend dependencies
         run: bun install --frozen-lockfile
 
       - name: Run release checks
-        run: bun run check:release
+        run: |
+          bun run check:versions
+          bunx tsc --noEmit
+          cargo check --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml
+          bun run smoke:hotkey
 
       - name: Build macOS bundles
-        run: bun run tauri build
+        run: |
+          bun run prepare:sidecars
+          bun run build
+          bun run tauri build
         env:
+          TALKIS_STT_RELEASE: "1"
+          TALKIS_SKIP_BEFORE_BUILD: "1"
           TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY }}
           TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD }}
 
diff --git a/scripts/before-tauri-build.mjs b/scripts/before-tauri-build.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..91f95df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/before-tauri-build.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
+
+if (process.env.TALKIS_SKIP_BEFORE_BUILD === "1") {
+  console.log("Skipping Tauri beforeBuildCommand because TALKIS_SKIP_BEFORE_BUILD=1");
+  process.exit(0);
+}
+
+execFileSync("bun", ["run", "prepare:sidecars"], { stdio: "inherit" });
+execFileSync("bun", ["run", "build"], { stdio: "inherit" });
diff --git a/scripts/build-release-macos.sh b/scripts/build-release-macos.sh
index 49f0515..69f4b62 100755
--- a/scripts/build-release-macos.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-release-macos.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 set -euo pipefail
 
 export MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET="${MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET:-11.0}"
+export TALKIS_STT_RELEASE=1
 
 if [[ -z "${TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY:-}" && -n "${TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH:-}" ]]; then
   if [[ ! -f "${TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH}" ]]; then
@@ -14,6 +15,7 @@ if [[ -z "${TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY:-}" && -n "${TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PAT
   TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY="$(cat "${TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH}")"
 fi
 
-TALKIS_STT_RELEASE=1 bun run prepare:sidecars
-bun run tauri build
+bun run prepare:sidecars
+bun run build
+TALKIS_SKIP_BEFORE_BUILD=1 bun run tauri build
 bun run postprocess:macos-release
diff --git a/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-aarch64-apple-darwin b/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-aarch64-apple-darwin
index 3ab3e02..8a07daa 100755
Binary files a/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-aarch64-apple-darwin and b/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-aarch64-apple-darwin differ
diff --git a/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-nvidia-aarch64-apple-darwin b/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-nvidia-aarch64-apple-darwin
index 6a342e0..b4323d4 100755
Binary files a/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-nvidia-aarch64-apple-darwin and b/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-nvidia-aarch64-apple-darwin differ
diff --git a/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-qwen-aarch64-apple-darwin b/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-qwen-aarch64-apple-darwin
index 19e8e26..7ce799e 100755
Binary files a/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-qwen-aarch64-apple-darwin and b/src-tauri/binaries/talkis-stt-qwen-aarch64-apple-darwin differ
diff --git a/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json b/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
index e32bc1a..41f2dbd 100644
--- a/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
+++ b/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
   "build": {
     "beforeDevCommand": "bun run prepare:sidecars && bun run dev",
     "devUrl": "http://localhost:1420",
-    "beforeBuildCommand": "bun run prepare:sidecars && bun run build",
+    "beforeBuildCommand": "bun scripts/before-tauri-build.mjs",
     "frontendDist": "../dist"
   },
   "app": {