diff --git a/release-policy.json b/release-policy.json
index f506e5e8..2eba9eaf 100644
--- a/release-policy.json
+++ b/release-policy.json
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
     "publish": true,
     "registry": null,
     "access": "public",
-    "tag": "latest",
+    "tag": "next",
     "packages": ["@kaelio/ktx"]
   },
   "python": {
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
   },
   "publishedPackageSmoke": {
     "packageName": "@kaelio/ktx",
-    "version": "0.1.0",
+    "version": "0.1.0-rc.0",
     "registry": null
   },
   "runtimeInstaller": {
diff --git a/scripts/build-public-npm-package.mjs b/scripts/build-public-npm-package.mjs
index 806fd1f6..97008087 100644
--- a/scripts/build-public-npm-package.mjs
+++ b/scripts/build-public-npm-package.mjs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { promisify } from 'node:util';
 const execFileAsync = promisify(execFile);
 
 export const PUBLIC_NPM_PACKAGE_NAME = '@kaelio/ktx';
-export const PUBLIC_NPM_PACKAGE_VERSION = '0.1.0';
+export const PUBLIC_NPM_PACKAGE_VERSION = '0.1.0-rc.0';
 
 export function publicNpmPackageTarballName(version = PUBLIC_NPM_PACKAGE_VERSION) {
   return `kaelio-ktx-${version}.tgz`;
diff --git a/scripts/build-public-npm-package.test.mjs b/scripts/build-public-npm-package.test.mjs
index 9b2c3959..3b43b07d 100644
--- a/scripts/build-public-npm-package.test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/build-public-npm-package.test.mjs
@@ -142,9 +142,9 @@ describe('publicNpmPackageLayout', () => {
   it('uses the first public npm release version for the tarball name', () => {
     const layout = publicNpmPackageLayout('/repo/ktx');
 
-    assert.equal(PUBLIC_NPM_PACKAGE_VERSION, '0.1.0');
-    assert.equal(publicNpmPackageTarballName(), 'kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz');
-    assert.equal(layout.tarballPath, '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz');
+    assert.equal(PUBLIC_NPM_PACKAGE_VERSION, '0.1.0-rc.0');
+    assert.equal(publicNpmPackageTarballName(), 'kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz');
+    assert.equal(layout.tarballPath, '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz');
   });
 });
 
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ describe('publicNpmPackageJson', () => {
     );
 
     assert.equal(packageJson.name, PUBLIC_NPM_PACKAGE_NAME);
-    assert.equal(packageJson.version, '0.1.0');
+    assert.equal(packageJson.version, '0.1.0-rc.0');
     assert.equal(packageJson.private, false);
     assert.deepEqual(packageJson.bin, { ktx: './dist/bin.js' });
     assert.deepEqual(packageJson.dependencies, { commander: '14.0.3' });
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ describe('publicNpmPackCommand', () => {
         '--config.node-linker=hoisted',
         'pack',
         '--out',
-        '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz',
+        '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz',
       ],
       cwd: '/repo/ktx/dist/public-npm-package',
     });
diff --git a/scripts/local-embeddings-runtime-smoke.test.mjs b/scripts/local-embeddings-runtime-smoke.test.mjs
index af9ee6e3..9c13c2a0 100644
--- a/scripts/local-embeddings-runtime-smoke.test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/local-embeddings-runtime-smoke.test.mjs
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ describe('localEmbeddingsSmokeOptIn', () => {
 describe('publicKtxTarballName', () => {
   it('selects the public @kaelio/ktx tarball name', () => {
     assert.equal(
-      publicKtxTarballName(['kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz', 'ignore-me.tgz']),
-      'kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz',
+      publicKtxTarballName(['kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz', 'ignore-me.tgz']),
+      'kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz',
     );
   });
 
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ describe('publicKtxTarballName', () => {
 
   it('fails when multiple public package tarballs are present', () => {
     assert.throws(
-      () => publicKtxTarballName(['kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz', 'kaelio-ktx-0.2.0.tgz']),
+      () => publicKtxTarballName(['kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz', 'kaelio-ktx-0.2.0.tgz']),
       /Expected exactly one @kaelio\/ktx tarball/,
     );
   });
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ describe('expectedPublicKtxVersionPattern', () => {
   it('matches the public package version and rejects the private workspace version', () => {
     const pattern = expectedPublicKtxVersionPattern();
 
-    assert.match('@kaelio/ktx 0.1.0\n', pattern);
+    assert.match('@kaelio/ktx 0.1.0-rc.0\n', pattern);
     assert.doesNotMatch('@kaelio/ktx 0.0.0-private\n', pattern);
   });
 });
diff --git a/scripts/package-artifacts.test.mjs b/scripts/package-artifacts.test.mjs
index 08070464..624248d0 100644
--- a/scripts/package-artifacts.test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/package-artifacts.test.mjs
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ describe('packageArtifactLayout', () => {
     assert.equal(layout.artifactDir, '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts');
     assert.equal(layout.npmDir, '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm');
     assert.equal(layout.pythonDir, '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/python');
-    assert.equal(layout.cliTarball, '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz');
+    assert.equal(layout.cliTarball, '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz');
     assert.deepEqual(Object.keys(layout.npmTarballs), ['@kaelio/ktx']);
   });
 });
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ describe('packageReleaseMetadata', () => {
           ecosystem: 'npm',
           packageName: '@kaelio/ktx',
           packageRoot: 'packages/cli',
-          packageVersion: '0.1.0',
+          packageVersion: '0.1.0-rc.0',
           private: false,
           releaseMode: 'ci-artifact-only',
         },
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ describe('artifact manifest', () => {
             ecosystem: 'npm',
             packageName: '@kaelio/ktx',
             packageRoot: 'packages/cli',
-            packageVersion: '0.1.0',
+            packageVersion: '0.1.0-rc.0',
             private: false,
             releaseMode: 'ci-artifact-only',
           },
@@ -216,8 +216,8 @@ describe('artifact manifest', () => {
             artifactKind: 'tarball',
             ecosystem: 'npm',
             packageName: '@kaelio/ktx',
-            packageVersion: '0.1.0',
-            path: 'npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz',
+            packageVersion: '0.1.0-rc.0',
+            path: 'npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz',
           },
         ],
       );
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ describe('artifact manifest', () => {
         ],
       );
 
-      const npmEntry = manifest.files.find((file) => file.path === 'npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz');
+      const npmEntry = manifest.files.find((file) => file.path === 'npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz');
       assert.ok(npmEntry);
       assert.equal(npmEntry.bytes, Buffer.byteLength('@kaelio/ktx-tarball'));
       assert.equal(npmEntry.sha256, createHash('sha256').update('@kaelio/ktx-tarball').digest('hex'));
diff --git a/scripts/publish-public-npm-package.test.mjs b/scripts/publish-public-npm-package.test.mjs
index 93bed72e..704a8b16 100644
--- a/scripts/publish-public-npm-package.test.mjs
+++ b/scripts/publish-public-npm-package.test.mjs
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ const readyReport = {
   npmPublishEnabled: true,
   npmPublish: {
     packageName: '@kaelio/ktx',
-    version: '0.1.0',
+    version: '0.1.0-rc.0',
     access: 'public',
-    tag: 'latest',
+    tag: 'next',
     registry: null,
   },
 };
@@ -51,18 +51,18 @@ describe('requireNpmPublicReleaseReady', () => {
 describe('buildNpmPublishCommand', () => {
   it('builds a dry-run pnpm publish command by default', () => {
     assert.deepEqual(
-      buildNpmPublishCommand('/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz', readyReport.npmPublish, {
+      buildNpmPublishCommand('/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz', readyReport.npmPublish, {
         live: false,
       }),
       {
         command: 'pnpm',
         args: [
           'publish',
-          '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz',
+          '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz',
           '--access',
           'public',
           '--tag',
-          'latest',
+          'next',
           '--dry-run',
           '--no-git-checks',
         ],
@@ -73,16 +73,16 @@ describe('buildNpmPublishCommand', () => {
 
   it('omits dry-run only for explicit live publish', () => {
     assert.deepEqual(
-      buildNpmPublishCommand('/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz', readyReport.npmPublish, {
+      buildNpmPublishCommand('/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz', readyReport.npmPublish, {
         live: true,
       }).args,
       [
         'publish',
-        '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz',
+        '/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz',
         '--access',
         'public',
         '--tag',
-        'latest',
+        'next',
       ],
     );
   });
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ describe('buildNpmPublishCommand', () => {
     };
 
     assert.deepEqual(
-      buildNpmPublishCommand('/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0.tgz', publish, { live: false }).env,
+      buildNpmPublishCommand('/repo/ktx/dist/artifacts/npm/kaelio-ktx-0.1.0-rc.0.tgz', publish, { live: false }).env,
       { npm_config_registry: 'https://registry.npmjs.org/' },
     );
   });