diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-build.yml b/.github/workflows/python-build.yml
index 94778e4..7d5b874 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-build.yml
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ on:
         description: "env to set for docker compose as a JSON string"
         required: false
         type: string
-        default: ""
+        default: "{}"
       python-versions-to-test:
         description: "List of versions of python to run, as a JSON string"
         required: false
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Stand up required service containers, and run code generation
         if: inputs.docker-container != ''
-        env: ${{ fromJSON(inputs.docker-compose-env }}
+        env: ${{ fromJSON(inputs.docker-compose-env) }}
         run: |
           docker compose up ${{ inputs.docker-container }}
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-lib-release.yml b/.github/workflows/python-lib-release.yml
index 6aaa2af..c0f88da 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-lib-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-lib-release.yml
@@ -27,12 +27,16 @@ on:
         description: "env to set for docker compose as a JSON string"
         required: false
         type: string
-        default: ""
+        default: "{}"
       python-version:
         description: "Python versions to run 'build'"
         required: false
         type: string
         default: 3.10
+      package-release-version:
+        description: "Version to release"
+        required: false
+        type: string
 
     secrets:
       CI_GITHUB_TOKEN:
@@ -88,6 +92,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Release checks and update version for release
         id: check
+        if: ${{ !inputs.package-release-version }}
         run: |
           /scripts/release-checks.sh --python pyproject.toml
           /scripts/finalize-version.sh --python pyproject.toml
@@ -95,6 +100,23 @@ jobs:
           echo "version=$version" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
         shell: bash
 
+      - name: Release checks and update version for release (version override)
+        id: version-override
+        if: ${{ inputs.package-release-version }}
+        run: |
+          git config --global user.email "ci@zepben.com"
+          git config --global user.name "CI"
+          git checkout -b release
+          ls
+          echo "version=${{ inputs.package-release-version }}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
+          sed -i 's#version = "[0-9]\.[0-9]\.[0-9]b[0-9]"#version = "${{ inputs.package-release-version }}"#g' pyproject.toml
+          sed -i 's#version = "edge"#version = "0.0.0b1"#g' pyproject.toml
+          cat pyproject.toml
+          git add pyproject.toml
+          git commit -m "Release ${{ inputs.package-release-version }} [skip ci]" --allow-empty
+          git push -u origin release
+        shell: bash
+
       - name: Cache licence-check
         uses: actions/cache@v4
         with:
@@ -141,6 +163,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Test changelog format
         id: changelog
+        if: ${{ !inputs.package-release-version }}
         shell: bash
         run: |
           changelog=$(sed -n -E "/${{ steps.check.outputs.version }}/,/## [[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+]/ { /## \[/d;p }" changelog.md)
@@ -180,7 +203,6 @@ jobs:
     needs: [release-checks, build-docs]
     if: always() && !failure() && !cancelled()
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    container: python:${{ inputs.python-version }}
     outputs:
       artifact: ${{ steps.build.outputs.artifact }}
     steps:
@@ -196,6 +218,12 @@ jobs:
 
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ inputs.python-version }}
+          architecture: 'x64'
+
+
       - name: Checkout release branch
         run: |
           git config remote.origin.fetch "+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*"
@@ -210,7 +238,8 @@ jobs:
           echo "[pypi]" > ~/.pypirc
           echo "username = __token__" >> ~/.pypirc
           echo "password = $PYPI_API_TOKEN" >> ~/.pypirc
-          echo "\n" >> ~/.pypirc
+          echo >> ~/.pypirc
+          cat ~/.pypirc
 
       - name: Login to Docker Hub
         if: inputs.docker-container != ''
@@ -222,17 +251,16 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Stand up required service containers, and run code generation
         if: inputs.docker-container != ''
-        env: ${{ fromJSON(inputs.docker-compose-env }}
+        env: ${{ fromJSON(inputs.docker-compose-env) }}
         run: |
           docker compose up ${{ inputs.docker-container }}
 
       - name: Build and publish
         id: build
         run: |
-          tox -e py${{ inputs.python-version }}
+          tox -e build
           twine upload --non-interactive --config-file ~/.pypirc dist/*
-          artifact_id=$(cat pyproject.toml | grep '[[:space:]]*name[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*".*"$' | cut -d\" -f2 | tr -d '"' | sed 's-\.-_-g')
-          artifact="${artifact_id}-${{ needs.release-checks.outputs.version }}-py3-none-any.whl"
+          artifact=`ls dist | grep py3-none-any.whl`
           echo "artifact=$artifact" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
           echo "artifact-path=dist/$artifact" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
 
@@ -286,6 +314,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Merge and Tag
         id: merge
+        if: ${{ !inputs.package-release-version }}
         run: |
           git config remote.origin.fetch "+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*"
           git fetch --all
@@ -298,6 +327,20 @@ jobs:
         shell: bash
         continue-on-error: true
 
+      - name: Tag and delete release branch (version override)
+        id: tag
+        if: ${{ inputs.package-release-version }}
+        run: |
+          git config remote.origin.fetch "+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*"
+          git fetch --all
+          git branch -a
+          git checkout origin/release
+          git tag "v${{ inputs.package-release-version }}"
+          git push --tags
+          echo "tag=v${{ inputs.package-release-version }}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
+        shell: bash
+        continue-on-error: true
+
       - name: Delete release branch if merge failed and fail
         if: steps.merge.outcome == 'failure'
         run: |
@@ -321,7 +364,7 @@ jobs:
         continue-on-error: true
 
       - name: Create Release and upload assets
-        if: success()
+        if: ${{ success() && !inputs.package-release-version }}
         id: create_release
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
         env:
@@ -335,9 +378,24 @@ jobs:
             built-artifacts/${{ needs.deploy.outputs.artifact }}
         continue-on-error: true
 
+      - name: Create Release and upload assets (version-override)
+        if: ${{ success() && inputs.package-release-version }}
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        with:
+          tag_name: ${{ steps.tag.outputs.tag }}
+          body_path: latest_changelog.txt
+          draft: false
+          prerelease: false
+          files: |
+            built-artifacts/${{ needs.deploy.outputs.artifact }}
+        continue-on-error: true
+
+
   update-version:
     needs: [create-release]
-    if: always() && !failure() && !cancelled()
+    if: ${{ always() && !failure() && !cancelled() && !inputs.package-release-version }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     container: zepben/pipeline-basic
     env:
@@ -372,3 +430,28 @@ jobs:
       PRODUCT: ${{ needs.build-docs.outputs.product }}
       ARTIFACT: ${{ needs.build-docs.outputs.artifact }}
     secrets: inherit
+
+
+  delete-release-branch:
+    needs: [create-release, update-version]
+    if: failure()
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    env:
+      DEBUG: ${{ secrets.DEBUG }}
+      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CI_GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      SLACK_NOTIFICATION: ${{ secrets.SLACK_NOTIFICATION }}
+      SLACK_WEBHOOK: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ env.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      - name: Delete release branch
+        run: |
+          git config --global user.email "ci@zepben.com"
+          git config --global user.name "CI"
+          git push origin -d release
+          echo "There was a failure in the workflow. release branch was deleted."
+          exit 0
+        shell: bash
+
diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-lib-snapshot.yml b/.github/workflows/python-lib-snapshot.yml
index 2a26c89..c702f72 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-lib-snapshot.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-lib-snapshot.yml
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ on:
         description: "Docker container to run as part of build"
         required: false
         type: string
+      docker-compose-env:
+        description: "env to set for docker compose as a JSON string"
+        required: false
+        type: string
+        default: "{}"
       python-version:
         description: "Python versions to run 'build'"
         required: false
@@ -147,6 +152,7 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Stand up required service containers, and run code generation
         if: inputs.docker-container != ''
+        env: ${{ fromJSON(inputs.docker-compose-env) }}
         run: |
           docker compose up ${{ inputs.docker-container }}
 
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9f11b75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+.idea/