diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-fastmcp-tasks.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-fastmcp-tasks.yml
index 9aa5326a7..29fc38554 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-fastmcp-tasks.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-fastmcp-tasks.yml
@@ -23,13 +23,29 @@ jobs:
           fetch-depth: 0
           ref: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.head_sha || github.sha }}
 
+      # Maintenance branches predate the standalone fastmcp-tasks package and
+      # resolve the `tasks` extra through fastmcp-slim instead. This workflow
+      # runs from the default branch for every fastmcp-slim release, including
+      # those tags, so detect the package rather than assume it is there.
+      - name: Check whether this ref builds fastmcp-tasks
+        id: package_present
+        run: |
+          if [ -d fastmcp_tasks ]; then
+            echo "present=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "present=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+            echo "This ref has no fastmcp_tasks package; nothing to publish."
+          fi
+
       - name: Install uv
         uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
 
       - name: Build fastmcp-tasks
+        if: steps.package_present.outputs.present == 'true'
         run: uv build --package fastmcp-tasks
 
       - name: Verify matching fastmcp-slim is published
+        if: steps.package_present.outputs.present == 'true'
         run: |
           SLIM_VERSION=$(python - <<'PY'
           import email.parser
@@ -84,4 +100,5 @@ jobs:
           exit 1
 
       - name: Publish fastmcp-tasks to PyPI
+        if: steps.package_present.outputs.present == 'true'
         run: uv publish -v dist/fastmcp_tasks-*.tar.gz dist/fastmcp_tasks-*.whl
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-fastmcp.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-fastmcp.yml
index 52b319d5c..dc32179cb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-fastmcp.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-fastmcp.yml
@@ -134,17 +134,24 @@ jobs:
           # fastmcp-tasks is pinned via the optional `tasks` extra, so its
           # Requires-Dist entry carries an `extra == "tasks"` marker — unlike the
           # base slim dependency, do not skip marked entries here.
+          #
+          # Print nothing when there is no such pin. Release lines that resolve
+          # the `tasks` extra through fastmcp-slim instead of a standalone
+          # fastmcp-tasks package have nothing here to verify.
           for value in metadata.get_all("Requires-Dist", []):
               requirement, _, _marker = value.partition(";")
               match = re.fullmatch(r"fastmcp-tasks==([^;\s]+)", requirement.strip())
               if match:
                   print(match.group(1))
                   break
-          else:
-              raise RuntimeError("Could not find the fastmcp-tasks extra dependency")
           PY
           )
 
+          if [ -z "$TASKS_VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "This build does not pin fastmcp-tasks; the [tasks] extra cannot be uninstallable, so there is nothing to verify."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
           for attempt in {1..12}; do
             if python - "$TASKS_VERSION" <<'PY'
           import json