diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 1937d97cc70..380f4214d15 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ default:
         ln -s "$(pwd)/.mvn/caches/equo" "$HOME/.m2/repository/dev/equo"
       fi
     - export GRADLE_OPTS="-Dorg.gradle.jvmargs='-Xms$GRADLE_MEMORY_MIN -Xmx$GRADLE_MEMORY_MAX -XX:ErrorFile=/tmp/hs_err_pid%p.log -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -XX:HeapDumpPath=/tmp'"
-    - export GRADLE_ARGS=" --build-cache --stacktrace --no-daemon --parallel --max-workers=$GRADLE_WORKERS"
+    - export GRADLE_ARGS=" --info --build-cache --stacktrace --no-daemon --parallel --max-workers=$GRADLE_WORKERS"
     - *normalize_node_index
     # GitLab's cache helper restores .gradle as root, but we run as non-root-user (uid 1001),
     # and Gradle does `chmod 700 .gradle` on startup which requires user ownership.
@@ -337,6 +337,7 @@ build:
   script:
     - if [ $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule" ] ; then ./gradlew resolveAndLockAll --write-locks $GRADLE_ARGS; fi
     - ./gradlew --version
+    - if [ -n "$CI_COMMIT_TAG" ]; then GRADLE_ARGS="$GRADLE_ARGS -I .gitlab/release-build-cache.init.gradle"; echo "=== RELEASE BUILD - assembling agent jar with build cache reads disabled but results pushed to cache for downstream jobs ==="; fi
     - ./gradlew clean :dd-java-agent:shadowJar :dd-java-agent:check :dd-trace-api:jar :dd-trace-ot:shadowJar -PskipTests -x spotlessCheck $GRADLE_ARGS
     - echo UPSTREAM_TRACER_VERSION=$(java -jar workspace/dd-java-agent/build/libs/*.jar) >> upstream.env
     - echo "BUILD_JOB_NAME=$CI_JOB_NAME" >> build.env
diff --git a/.gitlab/release-build-cache.init.gradle b/.gitlab/release-build-cache.init.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b81d90b809c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitlab/release-build-cache.init.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+// Used during release builds to disable build cache reads while keeping writes enabled.
+//
+// This ensures the release agent jar is assembled via fresh task execution while still
+// pushing results to the build cache where downstream jobs (e.g. `deploy_to_maven_central`)
+// pull from. Pushing the freshly built jar to this cache is necessary to ensure the same
+// release binary is published across all platforms.
+gradle.settingsEvaluated { settings ->
+  settings.buildCache.remote?.with {
+    pull = false
+  }
+}