diff --git a/.github/scripts/create-desktop-update-manifest.mjs b/.github/scripts/create-desktop-update-manifest.mjs
index 5b2dc4ecb..af4fda466 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/create-desktop-update-manifest.mjs
+++ b/.github/scripts/create-desktop-update-manifest.mjs
@@ -23,11 +23,15 @@ const platformArtifacts = [
       'darwin-x86_64',
     ),
   ],
-  ['windows-x86_64', selectArtifact(assets, /-setup\.exe$/i, 'windows-x86_64')],
+  [
+    'windows-x86_64',
+    selectArtifact(assets, /-setup\.exe$/i, 'windows-x86_64', true),
+  ],
   ['linux-x86_64', selectArtifact(assets, /\.AppImage$/i, 'linux-x86_64')],
 ];
 
 for (const [platform, artifact] of platformArtifacts) {
+  if (!artifact) continue;
   const signatureFile = `${artifact}.sig`;
   if (!assets.includes(signatureFile)) {
     throw new Error(`Missing updater signature for ${artifact}`);
@@ -47,8 +51,9 @@ const manifest = {
 };
 fs.writeFileSync(options.output, `${JSON.stringify(manifest, null, 2)}\n`);
 
-function selectArtifact(assets, pattern, platform) {
+function selectArtifact(assets, pattern, platform, optional = false) {
   const matches = assets.filter((asset) => pattern.test(asset));
+  if (optional && matches.length === 0) return undefined;
   if (matches.length !== 1) {
     throw new Error(
       `Expected one updater artifact for ${platform}, found ${matches.length}: ${matches.join(', ')}`,
diff --git a/.github/workflows/desktop-build.yml b/.github/workflows/desktop-build.yml
index 284dd6b25..2db5342c0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/desktop-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/desktop-build.yml
@@ -35,21 +35,10 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        include:
-          - name: 'macOS Apple Silicon'
-            os: 'macos-15'
-            target: 'aarch64-apple-darwin'
-            legacy_arch: 'arm64'
-          - name: 'macOS Intel'
-            os: 'macos-15-intel'
-            target: 'x86_64-apple-darwin'
-            legacy_arch: 'x64'
-          - name: 'Windows x64'
-            os: 'windows-2025'
-            target: 'x86_64-pc-windows-msvc'
-          - name: 'Linux x64'
-            os: 'ubuntu-22.04'
-            target: 'x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu'
+        include: >-
+          ${{ fromJSON(inputs.publish &&
+          '[{"name":"macOS Apple Silicon","os":"macos-15","target":"aarch64-apple-darwin","legacy_arch":"arm64"},{"name":"macOS Intel","os":"macos-15-intel","target":"x86_64-apple-darwin","legacy_arch":"x64"},{"name":"Linux x64","os":"ubuntu-22.04","target":"x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"}]' ||
+          '[{"name":"macOS Apple Silicon","os":"macos-15","target":"aarch64-apple-darwin","legacy_arch":"arm64"},{"name":"macOS Intel","os":"macos-15-intel","target":"x86_64-apple-darwin","legacy_arch":"x64"},{"name":"Windows x64","os":"windows-2025","target":"x86_64-pc-windows-msvc"},{"name":"Linux x64","os":"ubuntu-22.04","target":"x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu"}]') }}
     steps:
       - name: 'Check out source'
         uses: 'actions/checkout@df4cb1c069e1874edd31b4311f1884172cec0e10' # v6.0.3
@@ -352,6 +341,9 @@ jobs:
             for manifest in macos:latest-mac.yml windows:latest.yml linux:latest-linux.yml; do
               platform="${manifest%%:*}"
               output="${manifest#*:}"
+              if [[ "$platform" == 'windows' ]] && ! compgen -G 'release-assets/*-setup.exe' >/dev/null; then
+                continue
+              fi
               node .github/scripts/create-electron-bridge-manifest.mjs --assets release-assets --platform "$platform" --version "$RELEASE_VERSION" --output "release-assets/$output"
             done
           fi
diff --git a/packages/desktop-shell/scripts/test-release.js b/packages/desktop-shell/scripts/test-release.js
index 522dfd608..dbf292f5d 100755
--- a/packages/desktop-shell/scripts/test-release.js
+++ b/packages/desktop-shell/scripts/test-release.js
@@ -22,6 +22,14 @@ const electronBridgeScript = path.join(
   'scripts',
   'create-electron-bridge-manifest.mjs',
 );
+const desktopUpdateScript = path.join(
+  packageDir,
+  '..',
+  '..',
+  '.github',
+  'scripts',
+  'create-desktop-update-manifest.mjs',
+);
 const root = fs.mkdtempSync(
   path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'openwork-desktop-release-test-'),
 );
@@ -32,6 +40,7 @@ try {
   testMacosPermissions();
   testReleaseWorkflow();
   testRuntimePreparationContract();
+  testDesktopUpdateManifest(path.join(root, 'desktop-update'));
   testElectronBridgeManifest(path.join(root, 'electron-bridge'));
   testChecksumRefresh(path.join(root, 'checksums'));
   testVersionSynchronization(path.join(root, 'version'));
@@ -258,10 +267,54 @@ function testReleaseWorkflow() {
     /if: '?inputs\.dry_run == false'?[\s\S]*contents: '?write'?/,
   );
   assert.match(publishJob, /secrets: '?inherit'?/);
+  const matrices = buildWorkflow.match(
+    /fromJSON\(inputs\.publish &&\s*'([^']+)' \|\|\s*'([^']+)'\)/,
+  );
+  assert.ok(matrices);
+  assert.equal(
+    JSON.parse(matrices[1]).some(({ os }) => os.startsWith('windows-')),
+    false,
+  );
+  assert.equal(
+    JSON.parse(matrices[2]).some(({ os }) => os.startsWith('windows-')),
+    true,
+  );
   assert.doesNotMatch(workflow, /uses: [^\n]+@(v\d|stable)\b/);
   assert.doesNotMatch(workflow, /push --force|force-with-lease/);
 }
 
+function testDesktopUpdateManifest(directory) {
+  const assets = path.join(directory, 'assets');
+  const output = path.join(directory, 'latest.json');
+  fs.mkdirSync(assets, { recursive: true });
+  for (const artifact of [
+    'OpenWork-aarch64-apple-darwin.app.tar.gz',
+    'OpenWork-x86_64-apple-darwin.app.tar.gz',
+    'OpenWork_0.2.1_amd64.AppImage',
+  ]) {
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(assets, artifact), artifact);
+    fs.writeFileSync(path.join(assets, `${artifact}.sig`), `signature:${artifact}`);
+  }
+  execFileSync(process.execPath, [
+    desktopUpdateScript,
+    '--assets',
+    assets,
+    '--repository',
+    'modelstudioai/openwork',
+    '--tag',
+    'openwork-v0.2.1',
+    '--version',
+    '0.2.1',
+    '--output',
+    output,
+  ]);
+  assert.deepEqual(Object.keys(JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(output)).platforms), [
+    'darwin-aarch64',
+    'darwin-x86_64',
+    'linux-x86_64',
+  ]);
+}
+
 function testElectronBridgeManifest(directory) {
   const assets = path.join(directory, 'assets');
   fs.mkdirSync(assets, { recursive: true });