diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index 67eb901..28295c6 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ volumes:
     host:
       path: /var/run/docker.sock
 
+steps:
 steps:
   - name: fetch-tags
     image: docker:24
@@ -25,13 +26,22 @@ steps:
       - apk add --no-cache git
       - git fetch --tags
       - |
+        # Get latest Git tag and trim newline
         LATEST_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\n')
-        if [ -z "$LATEST_TAG" ]; then
+        echo "Latest Git tag fetched: $LATEST_TAG"
+
+        # Save to file for downstream steps
+        echo "$LATEST_TAG" > /drone/src/LATEST_TAG.txt
+
+        # Read back for verification
+        IMAGE_TAG=$(cat /drone/src/LATEST_TAG.txt | tr -d '\n')
+        echo "Image tag read from file: $IMAGE_TAG"
+
+        # Validate
+        if [ -z "$IMAGE_TAG" ]; then
           echo "❌ No git tags found! Cannot continue."
           exit 1
         fi
-        echo "Latest Git tag fetched: $LATEST_TAG"
-        echo "$LATEST_TAG" > /drone/src/LATEST_TAG.txt
 
   # - name: check-remote-image
   #   image: docker:24