diff --git a/install.ps1 b/install.ps1
index 57acc25..8eb5de7 100644
--- a/install.ps1
+++ b/install.ps1
@@ -23,12 +23,24 @@ $Arch = switch ($env:PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE) {
 }
 
 if ($Version -eq "latest") {
-    Write-Host "Resolving the latest SciMesh release..."
-    $Url = "https://github.com/$Repo/releases/latest/download/coordinator-windows-$Arch.exe"
-} else {
-    $Url = "https://github.com/$Repo/releases/download/$Version/coordinator-windows-$Arch.exe"
+    Write-Host "Resolving the newest SciMesh release (including pre-releases)..."
+    # /releases/latest only sees stable releases; the API list is newest-first
+    # across all channels.
+    try {
+        $Releases = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.github.com/repos/$Repo/releases?per_page=1"
+        if ($Releases -and $Releases[0].tag_name) {
+            $Version = $Releases[0].tag_name
+            Write-Host "  -> $Version"
+        } else {
+            Write-Host "  -> falling back to the stable latest release"
+        }
+    } catch {
+        Write-Host "  -> falling back to the stable latest release"
+    }
 }
 
+$Url = "https://github.com/$Repo/releases/download/$Version/coordinator-windows-$Arch.exe"
+
 New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $InstallDir | Out-Null
 $Target = Join-Path $InstallDir "coordinator.exe"
 
diff --git a/install.sh b/install.sh
index 039a202..fee72e8 100644
--- a/install.sh
+++ b/install.sh
@@ -27,15 +27,23 @@ case "$(uname -m)" in
 esac
 
 if [ "$VERSION" = "latest" ]; then
-  echo "Resolving the latest SciMesh release..."
-  URL="https://github.com/${REPO}/releases/latest/download/coordinator-${OS}-${ARCH}"
-else
-  URL="https://github.com/${REPO}/releases/download/${VERSION}/coordinator-${OS}-${ARCH}"
+  echo "Resolving the newest SciMesh release (including pre-releases)..."
+  # GitHub's /releases/latest only sees stable releases; the API list is
+  # newest-first across all channels. Without jq, pull the first tag_name.
+  RESOLVED=$(curl -fsSL "https://api.github.com/repos/${REPO}/releases?per_page=1" \
+    | sed -n 's/.*"tag_name"[[:space:]]*:[[:space:]]*"\([^"]*\)".*/\1/p' | head -1)
+  if [ -n "$RESOLVED" ]; then
+    VERSION="$RESOLVED"
+    echo "  -> $VERSION"
+  else
+    echo "  -> falling back to the stable latest release"
+  fi
 fi
 
 mkdir -p "$INSTALL_DIR"
 TARGET="$INSTALL_DIR/coordinator"
 
+URL="https://github.com/${REPO}/releases/download/${VERSION}/coordinator-${OS}-${ARCH}"
 echo "Downloading $URL"
 curl -fsSL -o "$TARGET.tmp" "$URL"
 chmod +x "$TARGET.tmp"