diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_steps.sh b/.github/workflows/build_steps.sh
index 6cc80792..3a562e5a 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/build_steps.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_steps.sh
@@ -233,15 +233,13 @@ build_test_wasm() {
 package_wasm() {
     echo "Publishing WASM bindings..."
     cp wasm/package.npm.json wasm/dist/package.json
-    cp wasm/README.md wasm/dist/README.md || true
+    cp wasm/README.md wasm/dist/README.md
 
     VERSION=${GITHUB_REF#refs/tags/}
     npm --prefix wasm/dist version "${VERSION}" --no-git-tag-version
-    if [ -z "${NPM_TOKEN}" ]; then
-        echo "NPM_TOKEN is not set or is invalid; aborting publish"
-        exit 1
-    fi
-    echo "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}" > ~/.npmrc
+
+    echo '//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${NPM_TOKEN}' > ~/.npmrc
+
     npm pack --dry-run ./wasm/dist
     npm publish ./wasm/dist --access public
 }