diff --git a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/dev/ua/theroer/magicutils/build/release/MagicUtilsReleaseTasks.kt b/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/dev/ua/theroer/magicutils/build/release/MagicUtilsReleaseTasks.kt
index 3fcab99e..7f9d6ab0 100644
--- a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/dev/ua/theroer/magicutils/build/release/MagicUtilsReleaseTasks.kt
+++ b/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/dev/ua/theroer/magicutils/build/release/MagicUtilsReleaseTasks.kt
@@ -35,8 +35,11 @@ private const val RELEASE_GROUP = "release"
 
 internal fun registerReleaseTasks(project: Project, publishingSpec: MagicUtilsPublishingSpec) {
     val gradlePropertiesFile = project.rootProject.file("gradle.properties")
+    // Read the raw -Pversion from the start parameter, not project.version: the
+    // target plugin overwrites project.version with the +<minecraft> suffix
+    // (e.g. 1.23.0+1.21.10), which is not a plain semver a release can validate.
     val versionProvider = project.provider {
-        (project.findProperty("version") as? String)
+        project.gradle.startParameter.projectProperties["version"]
             ?: throw org.gradle.api.GradleException("Pass the release version via -Pversion=X.Y.Z.")
     }
 
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index 2c472a2b..0d8b9ffe 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 org.gradle.caching=true
 org.gradle.parallel=true
 org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx2g -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
-version=1.22.0
+version=1.23.0
 # Minecraft version is now managed by gradle/targets.properties
 # You can set it via -Ptarget=... when running Gradle