PR #1627's npm install -g npm@latest step crashed mid-install with MODULE_NOT_FOUND: promise-retry — a known fragility when npm self-upgrades. Node 22's bundled npm is 10.9.x (no OIDC). Fix: bump publish job's node-version to 24, which ships with npm 11.x natively. Package consumers unaffected (this Node version is only used during publish; engines.node is >=22.0.0; ci-tests.yml continues testing on Node 22).