diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/draft-release.yaml b/.forgejo/workflows/draft-release.yaml
index 00979ff..fde88e4 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/draft-release.yaml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/draft-release.yaml
@@ -40,14 +40,19 @@ jobs:
       - create-artifacts
     if: var.RELEASE_TO_FORGEJO
     steps:
-      - name: download artifacts
+      - name: Download artifacts
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
         with:
           merge-multiple: true
 
-      - name: update manifest
+      - name: Update manifest
+        run: node scripts/updateManifest.mjs
+        env:
+          # TODO: determine fully qualified URLs
+          DOWNLOAD_URL: "${{FORGEJO_SERVER_URL}}/${{FORGEJO_REPOSITORY}}/releases/"
+          LATEST_URL: "${{FORGEJO_SERVER_URL}}/${{FORGEJO_REPOSITORY}}/releases/"
 
-      - name: create draft release
+      - name: Create draft release
 
 
   github-release:
@@ -56,11 +61,16 @@ jobs:
       - create-artifacts
     if: var.RELEASE_TO_GITHUB
     steps:
-      - name: download artifacts
+      - name: Download artifacts
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
         with:
           merge-multiple: true
 
-      - name: update manifest
+      - name: Update manifest
+        run: node scripts/updateManifest.mjs
+        env:
+          # TODO: determine fully qualified URLs
+          DOWNLOAD_URL: "https://github.com/${{vars.GH_USER}}/${{vars.GH_REPO}}/releases"
+          LATEST_URL: "https://github.com/${{vars.GH_USER}}/${{vars.GH_REPO}}/releases"
 
-      - name: create draft release
+      - name: Create draft release
diff --git a/scripts/prepareManifest.mjs b/scripts/prepareManifest.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee20ff3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/prepareManifest.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+The intent of this script is to do all of the modifications of the
+manifest file that we need to do in order to release the system.
+This can include removing dev-only fields/attributes that end
+users will never, and should never, care about nor need.
+*/
+import { readFile, writeFile } from "fs/promises";
+
+const MANIFEST_PATH = `system.json`;
+
+const {
+	DOWNLOAD_URL,
+	LATEST_URL,
+} = process.env;
+
+let manifest;
+try {
+	manifest = JSON.parse(await readFile(MANIFEST_PATH, `utf-8`));
+} catch {
+	console.error(`Failed to parse manifest file.`);
+	process.exit(1);
+};
+
+
+// Filter out dev-only resources
+if (manifest.esmodules) {
+	manifest.esmodules = manifest.esmodules.filter(
+		filepath => !filepath.startsWith(`dev/`)
+	);
+};
+
+// Remove dev flags
+delete manifest.flags?.hotReload;
+
+if (Object.keys(manifest.flags).length === 0) {
+	delete manifest.flags;
+};
+
+await writeFile(MANIFEST_PATH, JSON.stringify(manifest, undefined, `\t`));