diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-release.yml b/.github/workflows/check-release.yml
index 82c9f8ee..5d08e2ac 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-release.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ on:
     branches: ["*"]
   pull_request:
     branches: ["*"]
+  release:
+    types: [published]
   schedule:
     - cron: "0 0 * * *"
 
diff --git a/jupyter_releaser/changelog.py b/jupyter_releaser/changelog.py
index d2bda04e..86751e6d 100644
--- a/jupyter_releaser/changelog.py
+++ b/jupyter_releaser/changelog.py
@@ -41,15 +41,7 @@ def format_pr_entry(target, number, auth=None):
 
 
 def get_version_entry(
-    branch,
-    repo,
-    version,
-    *,
-    since=None,
-    until=None,
-    auth=None,
-    resolve_backports=False,
-    remote="origin",
+    branch, repo, version, *, since=None, until=None, auth=None, resolve_backports=False
 ):
     """Get a changelog for the changes since the last tag on the given branch.
 
@@ -69,8 +61,6 @@ def get_version_entry(
         The GitHub authorization token
     resolve_backports: bool, optional
         Whether to resolve backports to the original PR
-    remote: str, optional
-        The remote target (default is origin)
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -80,17 +70,15 @@ def get_version_entry(
 
     if not since:
         tags = util.run(
-            f"git --no-pager tag --sort=-creatordate --merged {remote}/{branch}",
-            quiet=True,
+            f"git --no-pager tag --sort=-creatordate --merged {branch}", quiet=True
         )
         if tags:
             since = tags.splitlines()[0]
 
     util.log(f"Getting changes to {repo} since {since} on branch {branch}...")
 
-    until = until or util.run(
-        f'git --no-pager log -n 1 {remote}/{branch} --pretty=format:"%H"'
-    )
+    until = until or util.run(f'git --no-pager log -n 1 {branch} --pretty=format:"%H"')
+
     until = until.replace("%", "")
 
     md = generate_activity_md(
diff --git a/jupyter_releaser/lib.py b/jupyter_releaser/lib.py
index 8532c914..6aaf0a10 100644
--- a/jupyter_releaser/lib.py
+++ b/jupyter_releaser/lib.py
@@ -365,7 +365,9 @@ def publish_assets(dist_dir, npm_token, npm_cmd, twine_cmd, dry_run):
         os.environ.setdefault("TWINE_USERNAME", "__token__")
 
     if len(glob(f"{dist_dir}/*.tgz")):
-        npm.handle_npm_config(npm_token, dist_dir)
+        npm.handle_npm_config(npm_token, os.getcwd())
+        if npm_token:
+            util.run("npm whoami", cwd=os.getcwd())
 
     found = False
     for path in sorted(glob(f"{dist_dir}/*.*")):
diff --git a/jupyter_releaser/npm.py b/jupyter_releaser/npm.py
index be937ca3..d01dca6f 100644
--- a/jupyter_releaser/npm.py
+++ b/jupyter_releaser/npm.py
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ def handle_npm_config(npm_token, dist_dir):
         text += f"\n{registry}:_authToken={npm_token}"
     if npmrc.exists():
         text = npmrc.read_text(encoding="utf-8") + text
+    util.log(f"writing npm config to {npmrc}:\n{text}")
     npmrc.write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")
 
 
diff --git a/jupyter_releaser/tests/test_cli.py b/jupyter_releaser/tests/test_cli.py
index 7211db1f..0348d8f2 100644
--- a/jupyter_releaser/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/jupyter_releaser/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -647,8 +647,6 @@ def wrapped(cmd, **kwargs):
     runner(
         [
             "publish-assets",
-            "--npm-token",
-            "abc",
             "--npm-cmd",
             "npm publish --dry-run",
             "--dist-dir",
diff --git a/jupyter_releaser/tests/test_functions.py b/jupyter_releaser/tests/test_functions.py
index 4284b37e..71881a2b 100644
--- a/jupyter_releaser/tests/test_functions.py
+++ b/jupyter_releaser/tests/test_functions.py
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
 # Copyright (c) Jupyter Development Team.
 # Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
 import json
+import os
 import shutil
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import toml
 
 from jupyter_releaser import changelog
+from jupyter_releaser import npm
 from jupyter_releaser import util
 from jupyter_releaser.tests import util as testutil
 from jupyter_releaser.util import run
@@ -108,6 +110,12 @@ def test_create_release_commit_hybrid(py_package, build_mock):
     assert util.normalize_path("dist/foo-0.0.2a0.tar.gz") in shas
 
 
+def test_handle_npm_config(npm_package):
+    npm.handle_npm_config("abc", os.getcwd())
+    text = Path(".npmrc").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+    assert "_authToken=abc" in text
+
+
 def test_bump_version(py_package):
     for spec in ["1.0.1", "1.0.1.dev1", "1.0.3a4"]:
         util.bump_version(spec)