diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 8dcaf810..870db485 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -195,7 +195,8 @@ jobs:
     needs: [preflight, merge, release-please]
     if: ${{ always() && needs.preflight.result == 'success' && (needs.merge.result == 'success' || needs.release-please.outputs.tag != '' || inputs.release_tag != '') }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
-    timeout-minutes: 30
+    # Builds and checks take about ten minutes, and npm can hide new versions for up to 20.
+    timeout-minutes: 45
     permissions:
       contents: write
       id-token: write
diff --git a/docs/releases/README.md b/docs/releases/README.md
index 228db758..f3a7e844 100644
--- a/docs/releases/README.md
+++ b/docs/releases/README.md
@@ -38,6 +38,6 @@ During migration, the existing `RELEASE_IT_GITHUB_TOKEN` secret is accepted as a
 
 Use GitHub's **Re-run failed jobs** to continue the same release after fixing a transient failure or completing required reviews. If a tag and draft already exist, start the Release workflow on the same branch with **release_tag** set to `vX.Y.Z`. This skips the version bump and release PR.
 
-Publication retries skip a package only when the existing npm version records the same Git commit. The workflow refuses a version published from another commit. An APK failure leaves the GitHub release as a draft; retrying attaches the APK and publishes the assembled notes without another version bump.
+Publication retries skip a package only when the existing npm version records the same Git commit. The workflow refuses a version published from another commit. npm hides a new version for several minutes while it processes it, so the workflow waits up to 20 minutes for every published version to appear. A retry during that time still succeeds when the hidden version comes from the same commit. An APK failure leaves the GitHub release as a draft; retrying attaches the APK and publishes the assembled notes without another version bump.
 
 The migration must be merged or cherry-picked onto an older maintenance branch before running this workflow there. The workflow selects its baseline at runtime, so no branch-specific Release Please configuration is needed.
diff --git a/scripts/publish-release.test.ts b/scripts/publish-release.test.ts
index 363dde93..bc0ebeb9 100644
--- a/scripts/publish-release.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/publish-release.test.ts
@@ -72,6 +72,29 @@ test('retry skips a package already published from the selected commit', () => {
   assert.match(published[1]!, /^npm:react-native-nitro-sqlite-drizzle:/)
 })
 
+test('a retry continues when npm still processes a version from the same commit', () => {
+  const result = runPublication({ PUBLISH_TEST_CORE_STAGED: '1' })
+  assert.equal(result.status, 0, result.stderr)
+  assert.match(result.stderr, /previously staged version/)
+  assert.deepEqual(
+    result.calls
+      .filter((line) => line.startsWith('npm:'))
+      .map((line) => line.split(':')[1]),
+    [
+      'react-native-nitro-sqlite',
+      'react-native-nitro-sqlite-vec',
+      'react-native-nitro-sqlite-drizzle',
+    ],
+  )
+})
+
+test('other npm publish failures stop before the next package', () => {
+  const result = runPublication({ PUBLISH_TEST_CORE_FAILS: '1' })
+  assert.notEqual(result.status, 0)
+  assert.match(result.stderr, /react-native-nitro-sqlite: npm publish failed/)
+  assert.equal(result.calls.filter((line) => line.startsWith('npm:')).length, 1)
+})
+
 function runPublication(extraEnv: Record<string, string> = {}) {
   const directory = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'nitro-publish-test-'))
   const project = join(directory, 'project')
@@ -122,6 +145,12 @@ function runPublication(extraEnv: Record<string, string> = {}) {
           'if [ "' +
             command +
             '" = "bun" ] && [ "$(basename "$PWD")" = "react-native-nitro-sqlite-vec" ] && [ "$*" = "run typecheck" ] && [ "$PUBLISH_TEST_FAIL_VALIDATION" = "1" ]; then exit 1; fi',
+          'if [ "' +
+            command +
+            '" = "npm" ] && [ "$(basename "$PWD")" = "react-native-nitro-sqlite" ] && [ -n "$PUBLISH_TEST_CORE_STAGED" ]; then echo "npm error 409 Conflict - Cannot publish over previously staged version \\"1.0.0\\"." >&2; exit 1; fi',
+          'if [ "' +
+            command +
+            '" = "npm" ] && [ "$(basename "$PWD")" = "react-native-nitro-sqlite" ] && [ -n "$PUBLISH_TEST_CORE_FAILS" ]; then echo "npm error 403 Forbidden" >&2; exit 1; fi',
         ].join('\n'),
         { mode: 0o755 },
       )
diff --git a/scripts/publish-release.ts b/scripts/publish-release.ts
index 1558b9cf..8f5ce02e 100644
--- a/scripts/publish-release.ts
+++ b/scripts/publish-release.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process'
+import { execFileSync, spawnSync } from 'node:child_process'
 import { resolve } from 'node:path'
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
 import { git, validateReleaseVersions } from './release-plan.ts'
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import {
 /** Build and validate both packages before publishing either package from the selected tag.
  * Checks internal versions, lockfiles, source cleanliness, existing publications and both trusted publishers.
  * Retries skip packages whose registry metadata records the same release commit.
+ * A version npm still processes from an earlier attempt counts as published once verification confirms its commit.
  * @param version Exact version already committed and tagged by Release Please.
  * @throws Before publication on failed validation, or after publication if registry verification fails.
  */
@@ -40,7 +41,7 @@ export async function publishRelease(version: string): Promise<void> {
   const tag = await distributionTag(version)
   for (const name of pending) {
     // npm's CLI exchanges GitHub OIDC credentials and records provenance without a publishing token.
-    execFileSync(
+    const result = spawnSync(
       'npm',
       [
         'publish',
@@ -51,10 +52,21 @@ export async function publishRelease(version: string): Promise<void> {
         tag,
         '--workspaces=false',
       ],
-      { cwd: `packages/${name}`, stdio: 'inherit' },
+      {
+        cwd: `packages/${name}`,
+        stdio: ['inherit', 'inherit', 'pipe'],
+        encoding: 'utf8',
+      },
     )
-    await verifyPublication(name, version, commit)
+    const stderr = result.stderr ?? ''
+    process.stderr.write(stderr)
+    // npm hides a new version for several minutes and rejects a second publish of it until then.
+    const stagedByEarlierAttempt = /previously staged version/.test(stderr)
+    if (result.status !== 0 && !stagedByEarlierAttempt)
+      throw new Error(`${name}: npm publish failed.`, { cause: result.error })
   }
+  // Verify after publishing every package, so npm's processing delays overlap.
+  for (const name of pending) await verifyPublication(name, version, commit)
 }
 
 if (
diff --git a/scripts/release-registry.ts b/scripts/release-registry.ts
index dd145300..ec24db2f 100644
--- a/scripts/release-registry.ts
+++ b/scripts/release-registry.ts
@@ -118,23 +118,33 @@ export async function checkTrustedPublishers(
 }
 
 /** Confirm the published version records the selected commit, allowing registry propagation.
- * @throws After five minutes if the version is missing or its commit differs.
+ * Registry and connection errors while waiting are retried until the deadline.
+ * @throws After 20 minutes if the version is missing or unreadable, or at once if its commit differs.
  */
 export async function verifyPublication(
   name: string,
   version: string,
   commit: string,
+  pollMs = 5_000,
 ): Promise<void> {
-  // npm can take several minutes to serve a new version. 10.3.0 took more than one.
-  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 60; attempt++) {
-    const metadata = await registry(`${name}/${version}`, true)
+  // npm hides a new version while it processes it. 10.3.0 took over a minute and 11.0.0-nitro-v1.0 about four.
+  const deadline = Date.now() + 20 * 60_000
+  let lastError: unknown
+  while (Date.now() < deadline) {
+    let metadata: Record<string, unknown> | undefined
+    try {
+      metadata = await registry(`${name}/${version}`, true)
+    } catch (error) {
+      lastError = error
+    }
     if (metadata?.gitHead === commit) return
     if (metadata)
       throw new Error(`${name}: published commit differs from the release tag.`)
-    await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 5000))
+    await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, pollMs))
   }
   throw new Error(
     `${name}: published version could not be verified. Resume with release_tag.`,
+    { cause: lastError },
   )
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/release.test.ts b/scripts/release.test.ts
index f688b380..2bbe9cd6 100644
--- a/scripts/release.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/release.test.ts
@@ -393,6 +393,28 @@ test('Release Please replaces a whole hyphenated prerelease version', () => {
   )
 })
 
+test('verification keeps polling through connection errors until npm shows the version', async () => {
+  let requests = 0
+  const stub = mock.method(globalThis, 'fetch', async () => {
+    requests++
+    if (requests === 1) throw new TypeError('fetch failed')
+    if (requests === 2) return new Response('', { status: 404 })
+    if (requests === 3) return new Response('', { status: 503 })
+    return Response.json({ gitHead: 'release-commit' })
+  })
+  try {
+    await verifyPublication(
+      'react-native-nitro-sqlite',
+      '11.0.0-nitro-v1.0',
+      'release-commit',
+      1,
+    )
+    assert.equal(requests, 4)
+  } finally {
+    stub.mock.restore()
+  }
+})
+
 function fixture(run: (directory: string) => void): void {
   const directory = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'nitro-release-plan-'))
   const original = process.cwd()