diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-shell-pkg.yaml b/.github/workflows/release-shell-pkg.yaml
index 12e50b6ef20..7a0879f2a0b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-shell-pkg.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-shell-pkg.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ on:
   push:
     tags:
         - 'shell-pkg-v*'
+        - 'creators-pkg-v*'
 
 jobs:
   build:
@@ -21,6 +22,12 @@ jobs:
       with:
         node-version-file: '.nvmrc'
 
+    - name: Check Tags Version Matching
+      env:
+        TAG: ${{github.ref_name}}
+      run: ./.github/workflows/scripts/check-package-tag-version.sh
+      shell: bash
+
     - name: Validate Plugin build system
       run: ./shell/scripts/test-plugins-build.sh
       shell: bash
@@ -47,4 +54,5 @@ jobs:
     - name: Publish Shell Package to npm
       run: ./shell/scripts/publish-shell.sh --npm
       env:
+        TAG: ${{github.ref_name}}
         NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/scripts/check-package-tag-version.sh b/.github/workflows/scripts/check-package-tag-version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..58092a18b52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/scripts/check-package-tag-version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+echo "Checking package tag version matching"
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" &>/dev/null && pwd)"
+BASE_DIR="$(
+  cd $SCRIPT_DIR && cd ../.. &
+  pwd
+)"
+SHELL_DIR=$BASE_DIR/shell
+CREATORS_DIR=$BASE_DIR/shell/creators/extension
+
+echo "TAG ${TAG}"
+
+# let's get the package name and version from the tag
+PKG_NAME=$(sed 's/-pkg-v.*//' <<< "$TAG")
+PKG_VERSION=$(sed 's/.*-pkg-v//'<<< "$TAG")
+
+echo "PKG_NAME ${PKG_NAME}"
+echo "PKG_VERSION ${PKG_VERSION}"
+
+# version comparison checks
+case $PKG_NAME in
+  "shell")
+    SHELL_VERSION=$(jq -r .version ${SHELL_DIR}/package.json)
+    if [ "$SHELL_VERSION" == "$PKG_VERSION" ]; then
+      echo "tag check: shell versions match"
+      exit 0
+    else 
+      echo "Version mismatch for the shell package publish => shell: ${SHELL_VERSION} vs tag: ${PKG_VERSION}. Please redo the tagging properly"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    ;;
+  "creators")
+    CREATORS_VERSION=$(jq -r .version ${CREATORS_DIR}/package.json)
+    if [ "$CREATORS_VERSION" == "$PKG_VERSION" ]; then
+      echo "tag check: creators versions match"
+      exit 0
+    else 
+      echo "Version mismatch for the creators package publish => creators: ${CREATORS_VERSION} vs tag: ${PKG_VERSION}. Please redo the tagging properly"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    ;;
+  *)
+    echo "something went wrong with the tagging or versioning => TAG: ${TAG} , PKG_NAME: ${PKG_NAME}, PKG_VERSION: ${PKG_VERSION}"
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+esac
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/shell/creators/extension/package.json b/shell/creators/extension/package.json
index b82138fb251..d5a7d1ac833 100644
--- a/shell/creators/extension/package.json
+++ b/shell/creators/extension/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "@rancher/create-extension",
   "description": "Rancher UI Extension generator",
-  "version": "0.0.0",
+  "version": "0.1.0",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "author": "SUSE",
   "private": false,
diff --git a/shell/scripts/publish-shell.sh b/shell/scripts/publish-shell.sh
index 2a2d9dcbaa1..6f657ea4ffe 100755
--- a/shell/scripts/publish-shell.sh
+++ b/shell/scripts/publish-shell.sh
@@ -6,11 +6,17 @@ BASE_DIR="$(
   pwd
 )"
 SHELL_DIR=$BASE_DIR/shell/
-TMP_DIR=$BASE_DIR/tmp
-PUBLISH_ARGS="--no-git-tag-version --access public $PUBLISH_ARGS"
+CREATORS_DIR=$BASE_DIR/shell/creators/extension
+PUBLISH_ARGS="--no-git-tag-version --access public $NPM_TAG"
 FORCE_PUBLISH_TO_NPM="false"
 DEFAULT_YARN_REGISTRY="https://registry.npmjs.org"
 
+# if TAG doesn't exist, we can exit as it's needed for any type of publish.
+if [ -z "$TAG" ]; then
+  echo "You need to set the TAG variable first!"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
 if [ ! -d "${BASE_DIR}/node_modules" ]; then
   echo "You need to run 'yarn install' first"
   exit 1
@@ -26,33 +32,25 @@ if [ "$FORCE_PUBLISH_TO_NPM" == "true" ]; then
   export YARN_REGISTRY=$DEFAULT_YARN_REGISTRY
 fi
 
-# We use the version from the shell package for the creator packages
-# Need to copy them to a temporary location, so we can patch the version number
-# before publishing
-
-# To set a token for NPM registry auth: `npm config set //registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken <TOKEN>``
-
-PKG_DIST=$BASE_DIR/dist-pkg/creators
-mkdir -p ${PKG_DIST}
-rm -rf ${PKG_DIST}/extension
-
 pushd ${SHELL_DIR} >/dev/null
 
-PKG_VERSION=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")
-popd >/dev/null
-
-echo "Publishing version: $PKG_VERSION"
-
-cp -R ${SHELL_DIR}/creators/extension ${PKG_DIST}
-
-sed -i.bak -e "s/\"0.0.0/"\"$PKG_VERSION"/g" ${PKG_DIST}/extension/package.json
-
-rm ${PKG_DIST}/extension/package.json.bak
-
 function publish() {
   NAME=$1
   FOLDER=$2
 
+  # if we pass a third arg, that is the version number
+  # that we want to actually publish on NPM
+  # they should match with the package.json version stated 
+  # because of the check in the "Check Tags Version Matching" step in the workflow
+  if [ -n "$3" ]; then
+    PKG_VERSION=$3
+  fi
+
+  # if the PKG_VERSION has a - it means it will be a pre-release
+  if [[ $PKG_VERSION == *"-"* ]]; then
+    PUBLISH_ARGS="--no-git-tag-version --access public --tag pre-release"
+  fi
+
   echo "Publishing ${NAME} from ${FOLDER}"
   pushd ${FOLDER} >/dev/null
 
@@ -63,19 +61,6 @@ function publish() {
     cp -R ${BASE_DIR}/pkg/rancher-components/src/components ./rancher-components/
   fi
 
-  if [ "$NAME" == "Update" ]; then
-    # Add files from the app and pkg creators to the update package
-    mkdir -p ./extension
-    cp -R ${BASE_DIR}/shell/creators/extension/* ./extension
-    # Remove index.ts from pkg files, as we don't want to replace that
-    rm -f ./extension/pkg/files/index.ts
-
-    # Update the package.json for the extension
-    cd extension
-    node ${SCRIPT_DIR}/record-deps.js
-    cd ..
-  fi
-
   # Make a note of dependency versions, if required
   node ${SCRIPT_DIR}/record-deps.js
 
@@ -93,10 +78,27 @@ function publish() {
 # Generate the type definitions for the shell
 ${SCRIPT_DIR}/typegen.sh
 
-# Publish the packages - don't tag the git repo and don't auto-increment the version number
-publish "Shell" ${SHELL_DIR}
-publish "Extension creator" ${PKG_DIST}/extension/
-
-echo "Done"
-
-
+echo "TAG ${TAG}"
+  
+  # let's get the package name and version from the tag
+PKG_NAME=$(sed 's/-pkg-v.*//' <<< "$TAG")
+PKG_V=$(sed 's/.*-pkg-v//'<<< "$TAG")
+
+echo "PKG_NAME ${PKG_NAME}"
+echo "PKG_V ${PKG_V}"
+
+# version comparison checks
+case $PKG_NAME in
+  "shell")
+    echo "Publishing only Shell pkg via tagged release"
+    publish "Shell" ${SHELL_DIR} ${PKG_V}
+    ;;
+  "creators")
+    echo "Publishing only Creators pkg via tagged release"
+    publish "Extension creator" ${CREATORS_DIR} ${PKG_V}
+    ;;
+  *)
+    echo "something went wrong with the tagging name => TAG: ${TAG} , PKG_NAME: ${PKG_NAME}. Admissable names are 'shell' and 'creator'"
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+esac
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/shell/scripts/test-plugins-build.sh b/shell/scripts/test-plugins-build.sh
index 0a2e5246e2e..e1a73bc44a1 100755
--- a/shell/scripts/test-plugins-build.sh
+++ b/shell/scripts/test-plugins-build.sh
@@ -88,9 +88,15 @@ rm ${SHELL_DIR}/package.json.bak
 # We might have bumped the version number but its not published yet, so this will fail
 sed -i.bak -e "s/\"version\": \"[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*\(-alpha\.[0-9]*\|-release[0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*\|-rc\.[0-9]*\)\{0,1\}\",/\"version\": \"${SHELL_VERSION}\",/g" ${BASE_DIR}/pkg/rancher-components/package.json
 
-# Publish shell
-echo "Publishing shell packages to local registry"
+# Publish shell pkg (tag is needed as publish-shell is optimized to work with release-shell-pkg workflow)
+echo "Publishing Shell package to local registry"
 yarn install
+export TAG="shell-pkg-v${SHELL_VERSION}"
+${SHELL_DIR}/scripts/publish-shell.sh
+
+# Publish creators pkg (tag is needed as publish-shell is optimized to work with release-shell-pkg workflow)
+echo "Publishing Creators package to local registry"
+export TAG="creators-pkg-v${SHELL_VERSION}"
 ${SHELL_DIR}/scripts/publish-shell.sh
 
 # Publish rancher components