diff --git a/.github/release-please-config.json b/.github/release-please-config.json
index 273b838..40a37fd 100644
--- a/.github/release-please-config.json
+++ b/.github/release-please-config.json
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
     ".": {
       "release-type": "simple",
       "package-name": "cli",
-      "release-as": "3.0.2",
       "exclude-paths": [
         "AGENTS.md",
         "CLAUDE.md",
@@ -47,7 +46,6 @@
     "plugins/compound-engineering": {
       "release-type": "simple",
       "package-name": "compound-engineering",
-      "release-as": "3.0.2",
       "extra-files": [
         {
           "type": "json",
diff --git a/src/release/config.ts b/src/release/config.ts
index e2e74ca..5dd0f44 100644
--- a/src/release/config.ts
+++ b/src/release/config.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import path from "path"
 type ReleasePleasePackageConfig = {
   "changelog-path"?: string
   "skip-changelog"?: boolean
+  "release-as"?: string
 }
 
 type ReleasePleaseConfig = {
@@ -13,6 +14,13 @@ export function validateReleasePleaseConfig(config: ReleasePleaseConfig): string
   const errors: string[] = []
 
   for (const [packagePath, packageConfig] of Object.entries(config.packages)) {
+    const releaseAs = packageConfig["release-as"]
+    if (releaseAs) {
+      errors.push(
+        `Package "${packagePath}" uses temporary release-as pin "${releaseAs}". Remove release-as after the pinned release ships so future releases can bump normally.`,
+      )
+    }
+
     const changelogPath = packageConfig["changelog-path"]
     if (!changelogPath) continue
 
diff --git a/tests/release-config.test.ts b/tests/release-config.test.ts
index 4b2a746..4f869a9 100644
--- a/tests/release-config.test.ts
+++ b/tests/release-config.test.ts
@@ -36,4 +36,23 @@ describe("release-please config validation", () => {
 
     expect(errors).toEqual([])
   })
+
+  test("rejects checked-in release-as pins", () => {
+    const errors = validateReleasePleaseConfig({
+      packages: {
+        ".": {
+          "release-as": "3.0.2",
+        },
+        "plugins/compound-engineering": {
+          "release-as": "3.0.2",
+        },
+      },
+    })
+
+    expect(errors).toHaveLength(2)
+    expect(errors[0]).toContain('Package "."')
+    expect(errors[0]).toContain("release-as")
+    expect(errors[1]).toContain('Package "plugins/compound-engineering"')
+    expect(errors[1]).toContain("3.0.2")
+  })
 })