diff --git a/.github/release-please/config.json b/.github/release-please/config.json
index 2dcade99d0..3c623f9791 100644
--- a/.github/release-please/config.json
+++ b/.github/release-please/config.json
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/v16.12.0/schemas/config.json",
   "release-type": "node",
+  "versioning": "prerelease",
   "include-component-in-tag": false,
 
   "changelog-sections": [