diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5ac5ed0a..0ee1ba8b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Braintrust Ruby SDK
 
-[![Gem Version](https://badge.fury.io/rb/braintrust.svg)](https://badge.fury.io/rb/braintrust)
+[![Gem Version](https://img.shields.io/gem/v/braintrust.svg)](https://rubygems.org/gems/braintrust)
 [![Documentation](https://img.shields.io/badge/docs-rubydoc.info-blue.svg)](https://rubydoc.info/gems/braintrust)
 ![Beta](https://img.shields.io/badge/status-beta-yellow)
 
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index 5e279eef..0ad16d65 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -174,17 +174,18 @@ namespace :release do
     sh "bash scripts/validate-release-tag.sh"
   end
 
-  task :publish do
+  task publish: ["release:validate", :lint, :build] do
     gem_files = FileList["braintrust-*.gem"]
     if gem_files.empty?
-      puts "Error: No gem file found. Run 'rake build' first."
+      puts "Error: No gem file found. Build task should have created it."
       exit 1
     elsif gem_files.length > 1
-      puts "Error: Multiple gem files found. Run 'rake clean' first."
+      puts "Error: Multiple gem files found. Clean task should have removed them."
       puts "Found: #{gem_files.join(", ")}"
       exit 1
     end
     sh "gem push #{gem_files.first}"
+    puts "✓ Gem pushed to RubyGems"
   end
 
   task :changelog do
@@ -192,17 +193,18 @@ namespace :release do
     puts "✓ Changelog generated: changelog.md"
   end
 
-  task :github do
-    unless File.exist?("changelog.md")
-      puts "Error: changelog.md not found. Run 'rake release:changelog' first."
-      exit 1
-    end
-
+  task github: [:changelog] do
     require_relative "lib/braintrust/version"
     tag = "v#{Braintrust::VERSION}"
 
-    sh "gh release create #{tag} --title 'Release #{tag}' --notes-file changelog.md"
+    sh "gh release create #{tag} --title '#{tag}' --notes-file changelog.md"
+
+    # Get the repository URL
+    repo = `gh repo view --json nameWithOwner -q .nameWithOwner`.strip
+    release_url = "https://github.com/#{repo}/releases/tag/#{tag}"
+
     puts "✓ GitHub release created: #{tag}"
+    puts "  #{release_url}"
   end
 
   task :prerelease do
@@ -240,6 +242,6 @@ namespace :release do
   end
 end
 
-task release: ["release:validate", :lint, "release:changelog", :build, "release:publish", "release:github"] do
+task release: ["release:publish", "release:github"] do
   puts "✓ Release completed successfully!"
 end