diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish_canary.yml b/.github/workflows/publish_canary.yml
index c127951888..3b905a55a4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish_canary.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish_canary.yml
@@ -26,25 +26,34 @@ jobs:
     - name: "@next: publish with commit timestamp (triggered manually)"
       if: contains(github.ref, 'master') && github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
       run: |
-        node utils/build/update_canary_version.js --commit-timestamp
-        utils/publish_all_packages.sh --next
+        node utils/build/update_canary_version.js --alpha --commit-timestamp
+        utils/publish_all_packages.sh --alpha
       env:
         NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
     - name: "@next: publish with today's date (triggered automatically)"
       if: contains(github.ref, 'master') && github.event_name != 'workflow_dispatch'
       run: |
-        node utils/build/update_canary_version.js --today-date
-        utils/publish_all_packages.sh --next
+        node utils/build/update_canary_version.js --alpha --today-date
+        utils/publish_all_packages.sh --alpha
       env:
         NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
     - name: "@beta: publish with commit timestamp (triggered automatically)"
       if: contains(github.ref, 'release') && github.event_name != 'workflow_dispatch'
       run: |
-        node utils/build/update_canary_version.js --commit-timestamp
+        node utils/build/update_canary_version.js --beta --commit-timestamp
         utils/publish_all_packages.sh --beta
       env:
         NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
-    - run: |
+    - name: build & publish driver
+      env:
+        AZ_UPLOAD_FOLDER: driver/next
+        AZ_ACCOUNT_KEY: ${{ secrets.AZ_ACCOUNT_KEY }}
+        AZ_ACCOUNT_NAME: ${{ secrets.AZ_ACCOUNT_NAME }}
+      run: |
+        utils/build/build-playwright-driver.sh
+        utils/build/upload-playwright-driver.sh
+    - name: trigger docker build
+      run: |
         VERSION=$(node -e 'console.log(require("./package.json").version)')
         if [[ "${VERSION}" != *-* ]]; then
           echo "ERROR: canary version must have dash inside, received '${VERSION}' instead"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish_canary_driver.yml b/.github/workflows/publish_canary_driver.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index c0307d3bae..0000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/publish_canary_driver.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,32 +0,0 @@
-name: "devrelease:driver"
-
-on:
-  workflow_dispatch:
-  schedule:
-    - cron: "10 0 * * *"
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - release-*
-
-jobs:
-  publish-canary-driver:
-    name: "publish playwright driver to CDN"
-    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
-    if: github.repository == 'microsoft/playwright'
-    steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-    - uses: actions/setup-node@v2
-      with:
-        node-version: 12
-        registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
-    - run: npm i -g npm@8
-    - run: npm ci
-    - run: npm run build
-    - run: npx playwright install-deps
-    - run: node utils/build/update_canary_version.js --commit-timestamp
-    - run: utils/build/build-playwright-driver.sh
-    - run: utils/build/upload-playwright-driver.sh
-      env:
-        AZ_UPLOAD_FOLDER: driver/next
-        AZ_ACCOUNT_KEY: ${{ secrets.AZ_ACCOUNT_KEY }}
-        AZ_ACCOUNT_NAME: ${{ secrets.AZ_ACCOUNT_NAME }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests_secondary.yml b/.github/workflows/tests_secondary.yml
index 0ec8760314..8318a5a108 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests_secondary.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests_secondary.yml
@@ -709,5 +709,4 @@ jobs:
     - run: npm ci
     - run: npm run build
     - run: npx playwright install-deps
-    - run: node utils/build/update_canary_version.js --today-date
     - run: utils/build/build-playwright-driver.sh
diff --git a/utils/build/update_canary_version.js b/utils/build/update_canary_version.js
index a611c1b6a4..43004e8c70 100755
--- a/utils/build/update_canary_version.js
+++ b/utils/build/update_canary_version.js
@@ -20,17 +20,28 @@ const path = require('path');
 const { execSync } = require('child_process');
 
 const packageJSON = require('../../package.json');
-if (process.argv[2] === '--today-date') {
+const baseVersion = packageJSON.version.split('-')[0];
+
+let prefix = '';
+if (process.argv[2] === '--alpha') {
+  prefix = 'alpha';
+} else if (process.argv[2] === '--beta') {
+  prefix = 'beta';
+} else {
+  throw new Error('only --alpha or --beta prefixes are allowed');
+}
+
+if (process.argv[3] === '--today-date') {
   const date = new Date();
   const month = ['jan', 'feb', 'mar', 'apr', 'may', 'jun', 'jul', 'aug', 'sep', 'oct', 'nov', 'dec'][date.getMonth()];
   const day = date.getDate();
   const year = date.getFullYear();
-  packageJSON.version = `${packageJSON.version}-alpha-${month}-${day}-${year}`;
-} else if (process.argv[2] === '--commit-timestamp') {
+  packageJSON.version = `${baseVersion}-${prefix}-${month}-${day}-${year}`;
+} else if (process.argv[3] === '--commit-timestamp') {
   const timestamp = execSync('git show -s --format=%ct HEAD', {
     stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'ignore']
   }).toString('utf8').trim();
-  packageJSON.version = `${packageJSON.version}-${timestamp}000`;
+  packageJSON.version = `${baseVersion}-${prefix}-${timestamp}000`;
 } else {
   throw new Error('This script must be run with either --commit-timestamp or --today-date parameter');
 }
diff --git a/utils/publish_all_packages.sh b/utils/publish_all_packages.sh
index 459df1c847..fd16514006 100755
--- a/utils/publish_all_packages.sh
+++ b/utils/publish_all_packages.sh
@@ -15,18 +15,19 @@ trap "cleanup; cd $(pwd -P)" EXIT
 cd "$(dirname $0)"
 
 if [[ $1 == "--help" ]]; then
-  echo "usage: $(basename $0) [--release|--next|--beta]"
+  echo "usage: $(basename $0) [--release|--release-candidate|--alpha|--beta]"
   echo
   echo "Publishes all packages."
   echo
   echo "--release                publish @latest version of all packages"
-  echo "--next                   publish @next version of all packages"
+  echo "--release-candidate      publish @rc version of all packages"
+  echo "--alpha                  publish @next version of all packages"
   echo "--beta                   publish @beta version of all packages"
   exit 1
 fi
 
 if [[ $# < 1 ]]; then
-  echo "Please specify either --release, --beta or --next"
+  echo "Please specify either --release, --beta or --alpha or --release-candidate"
   exit 1
 fi
 
@@ -68,17 +69,17 @@ elif [[ "$1" == "--release-candidate" ]]; then
     exit 1
   fi
   NPM_PUBLISH_TAG="rc"
-elif [[ "$1" == "--next" ]]; then
-  # Ensure package version contains dash.
-  if [[ "${VERSION}" != *-* ]]; then
-    echo "ERROR: cannot publish release version with --next flag"
+elif [[ "$1" == "--alpha" ]]; then
+  # Ensure package version contains alpha and does not contain rc
+  if [[ "${VERSION}" != *-alpha* || "${VERSION}" == *-rc* ]]; then
+    echo "ERROR: cannot publish release version with --alpha flag"
     exit 1
   fi
 
   NPM_PUBLISH_TAG="next"
 elif [[ "$1" == "--beta" ]]; then
   # Ensure package version contains dash.
-  if [[ "${VERSION}" != *-* ]]; then
+  if [[ "${VERSION}" != *-beta* || "${VERSION}" == *-rc* ]]; then
     echo "ERROR: cannot publish release version with --beta flag"
     exit 1
   fi