diff --git a/.github/workflows/deprecate_release.yml b/.github/workflows/deprecate_release.yml
index 2e17dac6b3..c7e96a2d6f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deprecate_release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deprecate_release.yml
@@ -51,5 +51,8 @@ jobs:
           fetch-depth: 0
       - uses: ./.github/actions/setup_node
       - uses: ./.github/actions/restore_install_cache
+      - name: Start local proxy
+        if: !inputs.useNpmRegistry
+        run: npm run start:npm-proxy
       - name: Deprecate release versions
         run: npx tsx scripts/deprecate_release.ts
diff --git a/.github/workflows/restore_release.yml b/.github/workflows/restore_release.yml
index 5e177d48e4..36a51e6043 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/restore_release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/restore_release.yml
@@ -46,5 +46,8 @@ jobs:
           fetch-depth: 0
       - uses: ./.github/actions/setup_node
       - uses: ./.github/actions/restore_install_cache
+      - name: Start local proxy
+        if: !inputs.useNpmRegistry
+        run: npm run start:npm-proxy
       - name: Restore release versions
         run: npx tsx scripts/restore_release.ts
diff --git a/scripts/components/git_client.ts b/scripts/components/git_client.ts
index 19b0298cf9..fc93acdde0 100644
--- a/scripts/components/git_client.ts
+++ b/scripts/components/git_client.ts
@@ -218,23 +218,20 @@ class GitClient {
     );
 
     // eslint-disable-next-line spellcheck/spell-checker
-    await $`git config ${userEmailKey} "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"`;
-    await $`git config ${userNameKey} "github-actions[bot]"`;
-
-    await $`git config --unset-all ${autoSetupRemoteKey}`;
-    await $`git config ${autoSetupRemoteKey} true`;
+    await $`git config --replace-all ${userEmailKey} "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"`;
+    await $`git config --replace-all ${userNameKey} "github-actions[bot]"`;
+    await $`git config --replace-all ${autoSetupRemoteKey} true`;
 
     this.registerCleanup(async () => {
       // reset config on exit
       if (originalEmail) {
-        await $`git config user.email ${originalEmail}`;
+        await $`git config --replace-all ${userEmailKey} ${originalEmail}`;
       }
       if (originalName) {
-        await $`git config ${userNameKey} ${originalName}`;
+        await $`git config --replace-all ${userNameKey} ${originalName}`;
       }
       if (originalAutoSetupRemote) {
-        await $`git config --unset-all ${autoSetupRemoteKey}`;
-        await $`git config ${autoSetupRemoteKey} ${originalAutoSetupRemote}`;
+        await $`git config --replace-all ${autoSetupRemoteKey} ${originalAutoSetupRemote}`;
       }
     });
     this.isConfigured = true;
diff --git a/scripts/components/release_lifecycle_manager.test.ts b/scripts/components/release_lifecycle_manager.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3cc86bd584
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/components/release_lifecycle_manager.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+import { after, before, beforeEach, describe, it } from 'node:test';
+
+/**
+ * This test suite is more of an integration test than a unit test.
+ * It uses the real file system and git repo but mocks the GitHub API client
+ * It spins up verdaccio to test updating package metadata locally
+ *
+ * Since all of these tests are sharing the same git tree, we're running concurrently to avoid conflicts (mostly around duplicate tag names)
+ */
+void describe('ReleaseLifecycleManager', { concurrency: 1 }, () => {
+  before(async () => {
+    await import('../start_npm_proxy.js');
+  });
+
+  after(async () => {
+    await import('../stop_npm_proxy.js');
+  });
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    // checkout test branch
+    // add changeset that releases minor of package A
+    // run changeset version && publish
+    // add changeset that releases minor of package A and B
+    // run changeset version && publish
+  });
+  void describe('deprecateRelease', () => {
+    void it('deprecates expected versions and updates dist-tags', async () => {});
+
+    void it('does not update dist-tags when deprecating a past release');
+  });
+  void describe('restoreRelease', () => {
+    void it('un-deprecates expected versions and updates dist-tags', async () => {});
+
+    void it('does not update dist-tags when restoring a past release', async () => {});
+  });
+});
diff --git a/scripts/components/release_lifecycle_manager.ts b/scripts/components/release_lifecycle_manager.ts
index 1331ac14fb..f339cfcda5 100644
--- a/scripts/components/release_lifecycle_manager.ts
+++ b/scripts/components/release_lifecycle_manager.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ import { EOL } from 'os';
 import { gitClient as _gitClient } from './git_client.js';
 import { npmClient as _npmClient } from './npm_client.js';
 import { getDistTagFromReleaseTag } from './get_dist_tag_from_release_tag.js';
-import { execa } from 'execa';
 import { githubClient as _githubClient } from './github_client.js';
 
 /**
@@ -107,12 +106,6 @@ export class ReleaseLifecycleManager {
     // if anything fails before this point, we haven't actually modified anything on NPM yet.
     // now we actually update the npm dist tags and mark the packages as deprecated
 
-    if (this.registryTarget === 'local-proxy') {
-      await execa('npm', ['run', 'start:npm-proxy'], { stdio: 'inherit' });
-    }
-
-    await this.npmClient.configureNpmRc({ target: this.registryTarget });
-
     for (const releaseTag of releaseTagsToRestoreDistTagPointers) {
       const distTag = getDistTagFromReleaseTag(releaseTag);
       console.log(
@@ -196,12 +189,6 @@ export class ReleaseLifecycleManager {
     // if anything fails before this point, we haven't actually modified anything on NPM yet.
     // now we actually update the npm dist tags and mark the packages as un-deprecated
 
-    if (this.registryTarget === 'local-proxy') {
-      await execa('npm', ['run', 'start:npm-proxy'], { stdio: 'inherit' });
-    }
-
-    await this.npmClient.configureNpmRc({ target: this.registryTarget });
-
     for (const releaseTag of releaseTagsToRestoreDistTagPointers) {
       const distTag = getDistTagFromReleaseTag(releaseTag);
       console.log(
@@ -225,6 +212,6 @@ export class ReleaseLifecycleManager {
         The release deprecation workflow requires a clean working tree to create the rollback PR.
       `);
     }
-    await this.gitClient.fetchTags();
+    await this.npmClient.configureNpmRc({ target: this.registryTarget });
   };
 }