diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index 4746c714930..5dffc0d1413 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -203,7 +203,9 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
-          pip install ninja packaging setuptools wheel twine
+          pip install ninja packaging wheel twine
+          # Install latest setuptools with support for pypi metadata 2.2 (improved compat w/ uv)
+          pip install setuptools==75.8.0
           # We don't want to download anything CUDA-related here
           pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu