diff --git a/.changeset/happy-seals-fly.md b/.changeset/happy-seals-fly.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e9b6a41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/happy-seals-fly.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"create-cardinal-app": patch
+---
+
+(cli): rewrite scaffolding logic for broken installers
diff --git a/.github/canary-release.js b/.github/canary-release.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ed40ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/canary-release.js
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import fs from 'fs';
+import { exec } from 'child_process';
+
+const pkgJsonPaths = [
+  "cli/package.json"
+]
+
+try {
+  exec("git rev-parse --short HEAD", (err, stdout) => {
+    if (err) {
+      console.log(err);
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+    const commitHash = stdout.trim();
+
+    for (const pkgJsonPath of pkgJsonPaths) {
+      const pkg = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(pkgJsonPath, "utf-8"));
+      const oldVersion = pkg.version;
+      const [major, minor, patch] = oldVersion.split(".").map(Number);
+      const newVersion = `${major}.${minor}.${patch + 1}-canary.${commitHash}`;
+      pkg.version = newVersion;
+      const content = JSON.stringify(pkg, null, "\t") + "\n";
+
+      fs.writeFileSync(pkgJsonPath, content);
+    }
+  });
+} catch (error) {
+  console.error(error);
+  process.exit(1);
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/canary_release.yaml b/.github/workflows/canary_release.yaml
index be966df..66e0a1b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/canary_release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/canary_release.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ on:
     branches:
       - canary
 
+permissions: 
+  id-token: write
+
 jobs:
   release-canary:
     if: ${{ github.repository_owner == 'ernesto-oss' }}
@@ -45,31 +48,19 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build
         run: pnpm turbo --filter=create-cardinal-app build
 
-      - name: Create Version PR or Publish Canary to NPM
-        id: changeset
-        uses: changesets/action@v1
-        with:
-          commit: "chore(release-canary): version packages"
-          title: "chore(release-canary): version packages"
-          version: "npx changeset version --snapshot canary"
-          publish: "npx changeset publish --no-git-tag --tag canary"
+      ## The change made to package.json here is ephemeral, as it will only run in CI
+      - name: Bump version to canary
+        run: node .github/canary-release.js
+
+      - name: Install NPM
+        run: npm i -g npm@9.6.7 # need latest version for provenance 
+
+      - name: Authenticate to npm and publish
         env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
-          NODE_ENV: "production"
-
-      - name: Get ID of latest Github release
-        id: releaseId
-        if: steps.changeset.outputs.published == 'true'
         run: |
-          releaseId="$(gh release view --json id -R ernesto-oss/cardinal --jq '.id')"
-          echo 'RELEASE_ID='$releaseId >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-
-      - name: Edit latest release to pre-release
-        if: steps.changeset.outputs.published == 'true'
-        uses: irongut/EditRelease@v1.2.0
-        with:
-          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          id: ${{ steps.releaseId.outputs.releaseId }}
+          pnpm build:cli
+          echo "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=$NPM_TOKEN" >> ~/.npmrc
+          cd ./cli
+          npm publish --provenance --access public --ignore-scripts --tag canary
+          
diff --git a/cli/CHANGELOG.md b/cli/CHANGELOG.md
index a60504d..96ca7eb 100644
--- a/cli/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/cli/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-# create-cardinal-app
-
 ## 0.2.1
 
 ### Patch Changes
diff --git a/cli/src/installers/authInstaller.ts b/cli/src/installers/authInstaller.ts
index a85b7f2..17c6497 100644
--- a/cli/src/installers/authInstaller.ts
+++ b/cli/src/installers/authInstaller.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ import {
   authDependencyMap,
   type AvailableAuthDependenciesKeys,
 } from "@/helpers/addPackageDependency.js";
-import { removeArtifacts } from "@/helpers/removeArtifacts.js";
 import { type ProjectOptions } from "@/index.js";
 
 export const authInstaller = ({
@@ -23,13 +22,19 @@ export const authInstaller = ({
   const authTemplateRoot = path.join(TEMPLATE_DIR, "auth");
   const authDestination = path.join(projectDir, "packages/auth");
 
-  const copyDir = (fileName: string) =>
-    fs.copySync(path.join(authTemplateRoot, fileName), authDestination, {
-      filter: removeArtifacts,
-    });
+  const getTemplateTypeDirectory = () => {
+    let templateTypeDirectory = "";
 
-  if (databaseProvider === "planetscale" && frontendFramework === "next")
-    copyDir("auth-planetscale-next");
+    if (databaseProvider === "planetscale" && frontendFramework === "next")
+      templateTypeDirectory = "auth-planetscale-next";
+
+    return templateTypeDirectory;
+  };
+
+  fs.copySync(
+    path.join(authTemplateRoot, getTemplateTypeDirectory()),
+    path.join(authDestination),
+  );
 
   /* Write `tsconfig.json` */
   const templateAuthTsConfig = fs.readJsonSync(
diff --git a/cli/src/installers/databaseInstaller.ts b/cli/src/installers/databaseInstaller.ts
index b950bb3..f4f0800 100644
--- a/cli/src/installers/databaseInstaller.ts
+++ b/cli/src/installers/databaseInstaller.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ import {
   createPackageScripts,
   databaseScriptsMap,
 } from "@/helpers/createPackageScripts.js";
-import { removeArtifacts } from "@/helpers/removeArtifacts.js";
 import { type ProjectOptions } from "@/index.js";
 import { type PackageManager } from "@/utils/getUserPackageManager.js";
 
@@ -31,17 +30,21 @@ export const databaseInstaller = ({
   const databaseTemplateRoot = path.join(TEMPLATE_DIR, "database");
   const databaseDestination = path.join(projectDir, "packages/database");
 
-  const copyDir = (fileName: string) =>
-    fs.copySync(
-      path.join(databaseTemplateRoot, fileName),
-      databaseDestination,
-      { filter: removeArtifacts },
-    );
+  const getTemplateTypeDirectory = () => {
+    let templateTypeDirectory = "";
 
-  if (databaseProvider === "planetscale")
-    authentication
-      ? copyDir("database-planetscale-auth")
-      : copyDir("database-planetscale");
+    if (databaseProvider === "planetscale")
+      authentication
+        ? (templateTypeDirectory = "database-planetscale-auth")
+        : (templateTypeDirectory = "database-planetscale");
+
+    return templateTypeDirectory;
+  };
+
+  fs.copySync(
+    path.join(databaseTemplateRoot, getTemplateTypeDirectory()),
+    path.join(databaseDestination),
+  );
 
   /* Write `tsconfig.json` */
   const templateDatabaseTsConfig = fs.readJsonSync(
diff --git a/cli/src/installers/graphqlInstaller.ts b/cli/src/installers/graphqlInstaller.ts
index 68cfd21..ab38ae1 100644
--- a/cli/src/installers/graphqlInstaller.ts
+++ b/cli/src/installers/graphqlInstaller.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ import {
   createPackageScripts,
   graphQLScriptsMap,
 } from "@/helpers/createPackageScripts.js";
-import { removeArtifacts } from "@/helpers/removeArtifacts.js";
 import { type ProjectOptions } from "@/index.js";
 import { type PackageManager } from "@/utils/getUserPackageManager.js";
 
@@ -36,19 +35,25 @@ export const graphQLInstaller = ({
   const graphqlTemplateRoot = path.join(TEMPLATE_DIR, "graphql");
   const graphQLDestination = path.join(projectDir, "packages/api");
 
-  const copyDir = (fileName: string) =>
-    fs.copySync(path.join(graphqlTemplateRoot, fileName), graphQLDestination, {
-      filter: removeArtifacts,
-    });
+  const getTemplateTypeDirectory = () => {
+    let templateTypeDirectory = "";
 
-  if (frontendFramework === "next") {
-    databaseProvider === "planetscale" && authentication
-      ? copyDir("graphql-next-planetscale-auth")
-      : null;
-    databaseProvider === "planetscale" && !authentication
-      ? copyDir("graphql-next-planetscale")
-      : null;
-  }
+    if (frontendFramework === "next") {
+      databaseProvider === "planetscale" && authentication
+        ? (templateTypeDirectory = "graphql-next-planetscale-auth")
+        : null;
+      databaseProvider === "planetscale" && !authentication
+        ? (templateTypeDirectory = "graphql-next-planetscale")
+        : null;
+    }
+
+    return templateTypeDirectory;
+  };
+
+  fs.copySync(
+    path.join(graphqlTemplateRoot, getTemplateTypeDirectory()),
+    path.join(graphQLDestination),
+  );
 
   /* Write `tsconfig.json` */
   const templateGraphqlTsConfig = fs.readJsonSync(
diff --git a/cli/src/installers/nextjsInstaller.ts b/cli/src/installers/nextjsInstaller.ts
index 76ed77e..c31b57a 100644
--- a/cli/src/installers/nextjsInstaller.ts
+++ b/cli/src/installers/nextjsInstaller.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ import {
   createPackageScripts,
   nextScriptsMap,
 } from "@/helpers/createPackageScripts.js";
-import { removeArtifacts } from "@/helpers/removeArtifacts.js";
 import { type ProjectOptions } from "@/index.js";
 import { type PackageManager } from "@/utils/getUserPackageManager.js";
 
@@ -33,14 +32,19 @@ export const nextjsInstaller = ({
   const nextTemplateRoot = path.join(TEMPLATE_DIR, "next");
   const nextDestination = path.join(projectDir, "packages/web");
 
-  const copyDir = (fileName: string) =>
-    fs.copySync(path.join(nextTemplateRoot, fileName), nextDestination, {
-      filter: removeArtifacts,
-    });
+  const getTemplateTypeDirectory = () => {
+    if (backendType === "graphql") {
+      if (authentication) return "next-graphql-auth";
+      return "next-graphql";
+    }
 
-  if (backendType === "graphql") {
-    authentication ? copyDir("next-graphql-auth") : copyDir("next-graphql");
-  }
+    return "";
+  };
+
+  fs.copySync(
+    path.join(nextTemplateRoot, getTemplateTypeDirectory()),
+    path.join(nextDestination),
+  );
 
   /* Write `tsconfig.json` */
   const templateNextTsConfig = fs.readJsonSync(