diff --git a/scripts/release/bump.mts b/scripts/release/bump.mts
index e3579f4d7..960cac22e 100644
--- a/scripts/release/bump.mts
+++ b/scripts/release/bump.mts
@@ -159,8 +159,8 @@ function readPackageJson(): { parsed: PackageJsonShape; raw: string } {
  */
 export function writeManifestVersion(raw: string, version: string): string {
   const replaced = raw.replace(
-    /^(\s*"version":\s*")[^"]*(")/m,
-    `$1${version}$2`,
+    /("version":\s*")[^"]+(")/,
+    (_m, pre: string, post: string) => `${pre}${version}${post}`,
   )
   if (replaced === raw) {
     throw new Error(
diff --git a/test/release-bump.test.mts b/test/release-bump.test.mts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1dcd8bfad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/release-bump.test.mts
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { writeManifestVersion } from '../scripts/release/bump.mts'
+
+describe('writeManifestVersion', () => {
+  it('rewrites the top-level version field, leaving everything else byte-for-byte', () => {
+    const raw = [
+      '{',
+      '  "name": "socket",',
+      '  "version": "1.1.159",',
+      '  "description": "CLI for Socket.dev"',
+      '}',
+      '',
+    ].join('\n')
+    expect(writeManifestVersion(raw, '1.1.160')).toBe(
+      raw.replace('1.1.159', '1.1.160'),
+    )
+  })
+
+  // The prior `^(\s*"version":\s*")[^"]*(")/m` anchor required the field to
+  // start a line. A minified (or otherwise reformatted) manifest still
+  // parses fine with JSON.parse, but broke that anchor and threw a false
+  // "no top-level version line" error — this is the exact failure this repo
+  // has hit intermittently on CI. The unanchored, non-multiline pattern
+  // matches the first "version": "…" occurrence regardless of surrounding
+  // whitespace.
+  it('rewrites the version field even when the manifest is minified', () => {
+    const raw = '{"name":"socket","version":"1.1.159","private":false}'
+    expect(writeManifestVersion(raw, '1.1.160')).toBe(
+      '{"name":"socket","version":"1.1.160","private":false}',
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('throws when the manifest has no version field', () => {
+    const raw = '{\n  "name": "socket"\n}\n'
+    expect(() => writeManifestVersion(raw, '1.1.160')).toThrow(
+      /could not rewrite the package\.json version field/,
+    )
+  })
+
+  it('throws when the version field is already empty', () => {
+    const raw = '{\n  "name": "socket",\n  "version": ""\n}\n'
+    expect(() => writeManifestVersion(raw, '1.1.160')).toThrow(
+      /could not rewrite the package\.json version field/,
+    )
+  })
+})