diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish_npm.yml b/.github/workflows/publish_npm.yml
index 60b5d55..4b8ebaa 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish_npm.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish_npm.yml
@@ -28,11 +28,10 @@ jobs:
       - name: Setup Node.js and npm
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
-          node-version: 26
+          # Use the current LTS release for publishing; Node 26's bundled npm can
+          # fail to resolve npm's optional sigstore dependency during provenance setup.
+          node-version: 24
           registry-url: https://registry.npmjs.org/
 
-      - name: Update npm
-        run: npm install -g npm@latest
-
       - name: Publish to NPM
         run: cd npm && npm publish --access public
diff --git a/deno.json b/deno.json
index 7433c96..363f7f4 100644
--- a/deno.json
+++ b/deno.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@bytebury/toolkit",
-  "version": "2.3.0",
+  "version": "2.4.0",
   "exports": {
     ".": "./mod.ts",
     "./core": "./src/core.ts",