diff --git a/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/README.md b/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35ccf50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# Release approval guard
+
+Fails a release when someone who approved its environment authored or merged a PR in the push that triggered the run.
+
+This restores what GitHub's "Prevent self-review" environment setting did before merge queues. That setting excludes the run's triggering actor. When a person merged a PR, the actor was that person, so they couldn't approve the release. With a merge queue (GitHub or Trunk), the actor is a bot, so nobody is excluded.
+
+## Usage
+
+Add the step to the job that uses the approval environment, before the job uses its secrets:
+
+```yaml
+jobs:
+    version-bump:
+        environment: 'NPM Release'
+        permissions:
+            contents: read
+            actions: read # approvals of this run
+            pull-requests: read # PRs in the push
+        steps:
+            - uses: PostHog/.github/.github/actions/release-approval-guard@<sha>
+              with:
+                  environment: 'NPM Release'
+```
+
+It needs no checkout. It needs Node, which GitHub-hosted runners include.
+
+## Behavior
+
+- It finds every PR in the push that triggered the run (`before...after`). A merge queue can merge several PRs in one push.
+- It blocks approval by each PR's author and by whoever merged it. With GitHub's merge queue, `merged_by` is the person who added the PR to the queue. With Trunk, it's `trunk-io[bot]`, so only the author is checked.
+- On events other than `push`, it does nothing, because GitHub's own check already excludes whoever triggered the run.
+- It fails closed if the run has no approval for the environment, if a commit in the push isn't part of a merged PR, or if the push range can't be listed in full.
+- The approvals API doesn't say which run attempt an approval belongs to, so every approval in the run counts. After a block, a different approver must approve a **new run**. A re-run can still see the blocked approval.
+- Like the setting it replaces, it only covers the PRs in the triggering push. If a release also publishes earlier unreleased changes, their authors aren't excluded.
+
+Run the tests with `node --test .github/actions/release-approval-guard/guard.test.mjs`.
diff --git a/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/action.yaml b/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/action.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e624f34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/action.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+name: 'Release approval guard'
+description: 'Fail a release when an approver of its environment authored or merged a PR in the push that triggered it'
+
+inputs:
+  environment:
+    description: 'Name of the environment whose approval gates the release, e.g. "NPM Release"'
+    required: true
+  github-token:
+    description: 'Token with `actions: read`, `contents: read` and `pull-requests: read` on the repository'
+    required: false
+    default: ${{ github.token }}
+
+runs:
+  using: 'composite'
+  steps:
+    - name: Check release approvers against the PRs in the push
+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        GH_TOKEN: ${{ inputs.github-token }}
+        ENVIRONMENT: ${{ inputs.environment }}
+        ACTION_PATH: ${{ github.action_path }}
+      run: node "$ACTION_PATH/guard.mjs"
diff --git a/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/guard.mjs b/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/guard.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..edd6232
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/guard.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+import { appendFileSync, readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+export class GuardError extends Error {}
+
+export function createApi({ token, apiUrl = 'https://api.github.com', fetchImpl = fetch, retryDelayMs = 2000 }) {
+    return {
+        async get(path) {
+            for (let attempt = 1; ; attempt++) {
+                const res = await fetchImpl(`${apiUrl}${path}`, {
+                    headers: {
+                        Accept: 'application/vnd.github+json',
+                        Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
+                        'X-GitHub-Api-Version': '2022-11-28',
+                    },
+                });
+                if (res.ok) return res.json();
+                if (res.status >= 500 && attempt < 3) {
+                    await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, retryDelayMs * attempt));
+                    continue;
+                }
+                throw new GuardError(`GitHub API ${res.status} for ${path}: ${await res.text()}`);
+            }
+        },
+    };
+}
+
+// Approvals aren't tied to a run attempt, so every approval in the run counts.
+export async function approversFor(api, repo, runId, environment) {
+    const approvals = await api.get(`/repos/${repo}/actions/runs/${runId}/approvals`);
+    const logins = approvals
+        .filter((a) => a.state === 'approved' && a.environments.some((e) => e.name === environment))
+        .map((a) => a.user.login);
+    return [...new Set(logins)].sort();
+}
+
+export async function pushedPrs(api, repo, before, after) {
+    if (!before || /^0+$/.test(before)) {
+        throw new GuardError(`The push has no previous commit (before=${before}), so its PRs cannot be found.`);
+    }
+    const compare = await api.get(`/repos/${repo}/compare/${before}...${after}`);
+    if (compare.commits.length === 0 || compare.commits.length < compare.total_commits) {
+        throw new GuardError(`Cannot list all ${compare.total_commits} commits between ${before} and ${after}.`);
+    }
+    const numbers = new Set();
+    for (const commit of compare.commits) {
+        const merged = (await api.get(`/repos/${repo}/commits/${commit.sha}/pulls`)).filter((pr) => pr.merged_at);
+        if (merged.length === 0) {
+            throw new GuardError(`Commit ${commit.sha} in the push does not belong to a merged PR.`);
+        }
+        for (const pr of merged) numbers.add(pr.number);
+    }
+    return Promise.all([...numbers].sort((a, b) => a - b).map((n) => api.get(`/repos/${repo}/pulls/${n}`)));
+}
+
+export async function checkReleaseApproval({ api, repo, runId, environment, before, after }) {
+    const approvers = await approversFor(api, repo, runId, environment);
+    if (approvers.length === 0) {
+        throw new GuardError(
+            `No approval for the "${environment}" environment in this run. ` +
+                'Check the environment input and that the environment has required reviewers.',
+        );
+    }
+    const prs = await pushedPrs(api, repo, before, after);
+    const blocked = new Map();
+    const block = (login, reason) => {
+        if (!login) return;
+        const key = login.toLowerCase();
+        if (!blocked.has(key)) blocked.set(key, []);
+        blocked.get(key).push(reason);
+    };
+    for (const pr of prs) {
+        block(pr.user?.login, `author of #${pr.number}`);
+        block(pr.merged_by?.login, `merged #${pr.number}`);
+    }
+    const violations = approvers
+        .filter((login) => blocked.has(login.toLowerCase()))
+        .map((login) => ({ login, reasons: blocked.get(login.toLowerCase()) }));
+    return { approvers, prs: prs.map((pr) => pr.number), violations };
+}
+
+async function main() {
+    const env = process.env;
+    if (env.GITHUB_EVENT_NAME !== 'push') {
+        console.log(
+            `Not a push (${env.GITHUB_EVENT_NAME}), so GitHub's "Prevent self-review" already excludes whoever triggered the run.`,
+        );
+        return;
+    }
+    const environment = env.ENVIRONMENT?.trim();
+    if (!environment) throw new GuardError('The environment input is required.');
+    const event = JSON.parse(readFileSync(env.GITHUB_EVENT_PATH, 'utf8'));
+
+    const result = await checkReleaseApproval({
+        api: createApi({ token: env.GH_TOKEN, apiUrl: env.GITHUB_API_URL }),
+        repo: env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY,
+        runId: env.GITHUB_RUN_ID,
+        environment,
+        before: event.before,
+        after: event.after,
+    });
+
+    console.log(`PRs in the push: ${result.prs.map((n) => `#${n}`).join(', ')}`);
+    console.log(`Approvers of "${environment}": ${result.approvers.join(', ')}`);
+
+    if (result.violations.length > 0) {
+        const lines = result.violations.map((v) => `${v.login} (${v.reasons.join(', ')})`);
+        console.log(
+            `::error title=Release approved by its author::${lines.join('; ')} approved a release ` +
+                'triggered by their own PR. Another approver must approve a new run of this ' +
+                'workflow. A re-run of this run can still see the earlier approval and fail again.',
+        );
+        if (env.GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY) {
+            appendFileSync(
+                env.GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY,
+                `### Release blocked\n\nApproved by the author or merger of a PR in this push:\n\n${lines
+                    .map((l) => `- ${l}`)
+                    .join('\n')}\n`,
+            );
+        }
+        process.exit(1);
+    }
+    console.log('✓ No approver authored or merged a PR in this push.');
+}
+
+if (process.argv[1] === fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)) {
+    main().catch((e) => {
+        console.log(`::error title=Release approval guard::${e.message}`);
+        process.exit(1);
+    });
+}
diff --git a/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/guard.test.mjs b/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/guard.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aad616a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/release-approval-guard/guard.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import test from 'node:test';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+import { checkReleaseApproval, createApi, GuardError } from './guard.mjs';
+
+const repo = 'PostHog/posthog-js';
+const API = 'https://api.github.test';
+const before = 'b'.repeat(40);
+const after = 'a'.repeat(40);
+
+function fakeApi(routes, failures = {}) {
+    const fetchImpl = async (url) => {
+        const path = url.slice(API.length);
+        if (failures[path] > 0) {
+            failures[path]--;
+            return new Response('unavailable', { status: 502 });
+        }
+        if (!(path in routes)) return new Response(`no route ${path}`, { status: 404 });
+        return Response.json(routes[path]);
+    };
+    return createApi({ token: 't', apiUrl: API, fetchImpl, retryDelayMs: 0 });
+}
+
+const approval = (login, environment = 'NPM Release', state = 'approved') => ({
+    state,
+    user: { login },
+    environments: [{ name: environment }],
+});
+
+// Each entry is [commit sha, PR number, author, merged_by].
+function push(approvals, prs) {
+    const routes = {
+        [`/repos/${repo}/actions/runs/7/approvals`]: approvals,
+        [`/repos/${repo}/compare/${before}...${after}`]: {
+            total_commits: prs.length,
+            commits: prs.map(([sha]) => ({ sha })),
+        },
+    };
+    for (const [sha, number, author, mergedBy] of prs) {
+        routes[`/repos/${repo}/commits/${sha}/pulls`] = [{ number, merged_at: '2026-10-01T00:00:00Z' }];
+        routes[`/repos/${repo}/pulls/${number}`] = {
+            number,
+            user: { login: author },
+            merged_by: mergedBy && { login: mergedBy },
+        };
+    }
+    return routes;
+}
+
+const check = (routes, environment = 'NPM Release') =>
+    checkReleaseApproval({ api: fakeApi(routes), repo, runId: 7, environment, before, after });
+
+test('passes when no approver authored or merged a PR in the push', async () => {
+    const result = await check(push([approval('bob')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']]));
+    assert.deepEqual(result.violations, []);
+    assert.deepEqual(result.prs, [1]);
+});
+
+test('blocks the PR author', async () => {
+    const result = await check(push([approval('alice')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'github-merge-queue[bot]']]));
+    assert.deepEqual(result.violations, [{ login: 'alice', reasons: ['author of #1'] }]);
+});
+
+test('blocks whoever merged the PR', async () => {
+    const result = await check(push([approval('bob')], [['c1', 1, 'external', 'bob']]));
+    assert.deepEqual(result.violations, [{ login: 'bob', reasons: ['merged #1'] }]);
+});
+
+test('checks every PR in a batched merge queue push', async () => {
+    const prs = [
+        ['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice'],
+        ['c2', 2, 'carol', 'carol'],
+    ];
+    const result = await check(push([approval('carol')], prs));
+    assert.deepEqual(result.prs, [1, 2]);
+    assert.deepEqual(result.violations.map((v) => v.login), ['carol']);
+});
+
+test('matches logins case-insensitively', async () => {
+    const result = await check(push([approval('Alice')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']]));
+    assert.equal(result.violations[0].login, 'Alice');
+});
+
+test('blocks when any approval in the run came from an author', async () => {
+    const result = await check(push([approval('bob'), approval('alice')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']]));
+    assert.deepEqual(result.violations.map((v) => v.login), ['alice']);
+});
+
+test('ignores approvals that are rejected or for other environments', async () => {
+    const approvals = [approval('alice', 'S3 Upload'), approval('alice', 'NPM Release', 'rejected'), approval('bob')];
+    const result = await check(push(approvals, [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']]));
+    assert.deepEqual(result.approvers, ['bob']);
+    assert.deepEqual(result.violations, []);
+});
+
+test('fails closed when the run has no approval for the environment', async () => {
+    await assert.rejects(check(push([approval('bob', 'Other')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']])), GuardError);
+});
+
+test('fails closed when a commit in the push is not from a merged PR', async () => {
+    const routes = push([approval('bob')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']]);
+    routes[`/repos/${repo}/commits/c1/pulls`] = [{ number: 1, merged_at: null }];
+    await assert.rejects(check(routes), /c1 in the push does not belong to a merged PR/);
+});
+
+test('fails closed when the comparison does not list every commit', async () => {
+    const routes = push([approval('bob')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']]);
+    routes[`/repos/${repo}/compare/${before}...${after}`].total_commits = 300;
+    await assert.rejects(check(routes), /Cannot list all 300 commits/);
+});
+
+test('fails closed when the push has no previous commit', async () => {
+    const routes = push([approval('bob')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']]);
+    await assert.rejects(
+        checkReleaseApproval({ api: fakeApi(routes), repo, runId: 7, environment: 'NPM Release', before: '0'.repeat(40), after }),
+        /has no previous commit/,
+    );
+});
+
+test('surfaces GitHub API errors', async () => {
+    const routes = push([approval('bob')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']]);
+    delete routes[`/repos/${repo}/pulls/1`];
+    await assert.rejects(check(routes), /GitHub API 404/);
+});
+
+test('retries GitHub server errors', async () => {
+    const routes = push([approval('bob')], [['c1', 1, 'alice', 'alice']]);
+    const compare = `/repos/${repo}/compare/${before}...${after}`;
+    const api = fakeApi(routes, { [compare]: 2 });
+    const result = await checkReleaseApproval({ api, repo, runId: 7, environment: 'NPM Release', before, after });
+    assert.deepEqual(result.prs, [1]);
+    await assert.rejects(
+        checkReleaseApproval({ api: fakeApi(routes, { [compare]: 3 }), repo, runId: 7, environment: 'NPM Release', before, after }),
+        /GitHub API 502/,
+    );
+});
+
+test('leaves runs that are not pushes to GitHub\'s own check', () => {
+    const script = fileURLToPath(new URL('./guard.mjs', import.meta.url));
+    const out = execFileSync('node', [script], {
+        env: { ...process.env, GITHUB_EVENT_NAME: 'workflow_dispatch' },
+        encoding: 'utf8',
+    });
+    assert.match(out, /Not a push \(workflow_dispatch\)/);
+});
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-approval-guard-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/release-approval-guard-tests.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2b95e32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-approval-guard-tests.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+name: Release approval guard tests
+
+on:
+    pull_request:
+    merge_group:
+
+permissions:
+    contents: read
+
+jobs:
+    test:
+        runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+        timeout-minutes: 5
+        steps:
+            - name: Checkout
+              uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
+
+            - name: Setup Node
+              uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
+              with:
+                  node-version: '24'
+
+            - name: Test release approval guard
+              run: node --test .github/actions/release-approval-guard/guard.test.mjs
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
index 4e1cfe6..cbfff82 100644
--- a/AGENTS.md
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -24,6 +24,12 @@ No general test suite. Run the changeset hygiene script tests with:
 node --test .github/scripts/check-changeset-coverage.test.mjs
 ```
 
+Run the release approval guard tests with:
+
+```bash
+node --test .github/actions/release-approval-guard/guard.test.mjs
+```
+
 The semgrep rule tests run with:
 
 ```bash