diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index c771818..6d0de96 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -97,6 +97,15 @@ jobs:
         with:
           targets: ${{ matrix.target }}
       - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
+        with:
+          # REQUIRED. Without `workspaces:` this action looks for ONE Cargo workspace at the
+          # checkout root, and nothing is checked out there: every checkout above uses `path:`.
+          # It logged "could not find Cargo.toml" and carried on WITHOUT failing, so this job
+          # rebuilt everything from scratch on every run while the log said the cache step
+          # succeeded. Each workspace this job actually builds must be named.
+          workspaces: |
+            store-sqlite
+            busbarAI
 
       - name: Build the store-sqlite plugin cdylib
         working-directory: store-sqlite