diff --git a/scripts/install.ps1 b/scripts/install.ps1
index 3a8c803..1f43285 100644
--- a/scripts/install.ps1
+++ b/scripts/install.ps1
@@ -35,8 +35,13 @@ $arch = switch ($procArch) {
 
 # --- resolve version ------------------------------------------------------
 
-$version = $env:EMAILABLE_VERSION
-if (-not $version) {
+# Resolve the latest version, validating against semver so a prerelease-only
+# repo (whose /releases/latest has no /tag/) fails here instead of 404ing on a
+# bogus download URL. Prereleases aren't auto-selected; set $env:EMAILABLE_VERSION.
+$SemVer = '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$'
+
+function Get-LatestVersion {
+  # Prefer the redirect over the API to dodge unauthenticated rate limits.
   try {
     $resp = Invoke-WebRequest -UseBasicParsing -MaximumRedirection 0 `
       -Uri "https://github.com/$Repo/releases/latest" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
@@ -45,8 +50,29 @@ if (-not $version) {
   }
   $location = $null
   if ($resp -and $resp.Headers) { $location = $resp.Headers['Location'] }
-  if (-not $location) { Abort "could not determine latest version" }
-  $version = ($location -split '/tag/')[-1]
+  if ($location) {
+    $v = (($location -split '/')[-1]).TrimStart('v')
+    if ($v -match $SemVer) { return $v }
+  }
+
+  # Fall back to the API if redirect parsing fails.
+  try {
+    $json = Invoke-RestMethod -UseBasicParsing `
+      -Headers @{ 'Accept' = 'application/vnd.github+json'; 'User-Agent' = 'emailable-cli-installer' } `
+      -Uri "https://api.github.com/repos/$Repo/releases/latest"
+    $v = ([string]$json.tag_name).TrimStart('v')
+    if ($v -match $SemVer) { return $v }
+  } catch {}
+
+  return $null
+}
+
+$version = $env:EMAILABLE_VERSION
+if (-not $version) {
+  $version = Get-LatestVersion
+  if (-not $version) {
+    Abort "could not determine the latest version; set `$env:EMAILABLE_VERSION to install a specific release"
+  }
 }
 $version = $version.TrimStart('v')
 $tag     = "v$version"
diff --git a/scripts/install.sh b/scripts/install.sh
index 10a944c..82bf13f 100755
--- a/scripts/install.sh
+++ b/scripts/install.sh
@@ -58,13 +58,42 @@ esac
 
 # --- resolve version --------------------------------------------------------
 
+# Resolve the latest version, validating against semver so a prerelease-only
+# repo (whose /releases/latest has no /tag/) fails here instead of 404ing on a
+# bogus download URL. Prereleases aren't auto-selected; set EMAILABLE_VERSION.
+latest_version() {
+  local url version json
+
+  # Prefer the redirect over the API to dodge unauthenticated rate limits.
+  if url=$(curl -fsSLI -o /dev/null -w '%{url_effective}' \
+             "https://github.com/${REPO}/releases/latest" 2>/dev/null); then
+    version="${url##*/}"
+    version="${version#v}"
+    if [[ "$version" =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$ ]]; then
+      printf '%s\n' "$version"
+      return 0
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  if json=$(curl -fsSL -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github+json' \
+              -H 'User-Agent: emailable-cli-installer' \
+              "https://api.github.com/repos/${REPO}/releases/latest" 2>/dev/null); then
+    if [[ "$json" =~ \"tag_name\"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*\"v?([^\"]+)\" ]]; then
+      version="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+      if [[ "$version" =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?$ ]]; then
+        printf '%s\n' "$version"
+        return 0
+      fi
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  return 1
+}
+
 version="${EMAILABLE_VERSION:-}"
 if [ -z "$version" ]; then
-  # Use the redirect target of /releases/latest rather than the API to avoid
-  # unauthenticated rate limits.
-  version=$(curl -fsSLI -o /dev/null -w '%{url_effective}' \
-    "https://github.com/${REPO}/releases/latest" | sed 's#.*/tag/##')
-  [ -n "$version" ] || abort "could not determine latest version"
+  version=$(latest_version) || \
+    abort "could not determine the latest version; set EMAILABLE_VERSION to install a specific release"
 fi
 version="${version#v}"
 tag="v${version}"