diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 8729e64bdffedeaf12b61efd4c0f4034f83b8037..b4a87559ae028ad4c6ea92ee98cb5e7d813dd91c 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -43,8 +43,13 @@ release-package-json-version-as-git-tag:
   resource_group: repository
   script:
     - NPM_VERSION=$(grep '"version":' package.json -m 1 | cut -d '"' -f 4)
+    # debug
+    - git tag | grep ^${NPM_VERSION}$ || exit_code=$?
     # || exit_code=$? is the recommended way to ignore a non-zero exit code
     - NPM_VERSION_GIT_TAG=$(git tag | grep ^${NPM_VERSION}$ || exit_code=$?)
+    - echo $NPM_VERSION
+    - echo $NPM_VERSION_GIT_TAG
+    - echo $
     - if [ -z "$NPM_VERSION_GIT_TAG" ]; then
     -     echo adding git tag for first commit on main with NPM version ${NPM_VERSION}
     -     git remote remove origin