diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 63b37405..a21d9c57 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -299,6 +299,7 @@ jobs:
           ls -lAR ./automated-release-build/
 
           # create checksum file for the attestations
+          mkdir -p ./dist
           shasum --algorithm 256 ./automated-release-build/* | tee ./dist/attestation-subject-checksums.sha256.txt
 
           # create checksum file for the release