diff --git a/.github/workflows/push.yml b/.github/workflows/push.yml
index f6f7800..2244c1c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/push.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/push.yml
@@ -1,36 +1,36 @@
-name: "Bump Version"
+name: 'Bump Version'
 
 on:
   push:
     branches:
-      - "master"
+      - 'master'
 
 jobs:
   bump-version:
-    name: "Bump Version on master"
+    name: 'Bump Version on master'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
-      - name: "Checkout source code"
-        uses: "actions/checkout@v2"
+      - name: 'Checkout source code'
+        uses: 'actions/checkout@v2'
         with:
           ref: ${{ github.ref }}
-      - name: "cat package.json"
+      - name: 'cat package.json'
         run: cat ./package.json
-      - name: "Setup Node.js"
-        uses: "actions/setup-node@v1"
+      - name: 'Setup Node.js'
+        uses: 'actions/setup-node@v1'
         with:
           node-version: 12
-      - name: "Automated Version Bump"
+      - name: 'Automated Version Bump'
         id: version-bump
-        uses: "phips28/gh-action-bump-version@master"
+        uses: 'phips28/gh-action-bump-version@master'
         with:
           tag-prefix: 'v'
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-      - name: "cat package.json"
+      - name: 'cat package.json'
         run: cat ./package.json
-      - name:  'Output Step'
+      - name: 'Output Step'
         env:
           NEW_TAG: ${{ steps.version-bump.outputs.newTag }}
         run: echo "new tag $NEW_TAG"
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 263ece8..da9c457 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -16,15 +16,16 @@ Toolkit.run(async (tools) => {
     console.log("Couldn't find any commits in this event, incrementing patch version...");
   }
 
+  const tagPrefix = process.env['INPUT_TAG-PREFIX'] || '';
   const messages = event.commits ? event.commits.map((commit) => commit.message + '\n' + commit.body) : [];
 
   const commitMessage = process.env['INPUT_COMMIT-MESSAGE'] || 'ci: version bump to {{version}}';
   console.log('messages:', messages);
-  const commitMessageRegex = new RegExp(commitMessage.replace(/{{version}}/g, 'v\\d+\\.\\d+\\.\\d+'), 'ig');
+  const commitMessageRegex = new RegExp(commitMessage.replace(/{{version}}/g, `${tagPrefix}\\d+\\.\\d+\\.\\d+`), 'ig');
   const isVersionBump = messages.find((message) => commitMessageRegex.test(message)) !== undefined;
 
   if (isVersionBump) {
-    tools.exit.success('No action necessary!');
+    tools.exit.success('No action necessary because we found a previous bump!');
     return;
   }
 
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ Toolkit.run(async (tools) => {
     await tools.runInWorkspace('npm', ['version', '--allow-same-version=true', '--git-tag-version=false', current]);
     console.log('current:', current, '/', 'version:', version);
     let newVersion = execSync(`npm version --git-tag-version=false ${version}`).toString().trim().replace(/^v/, '');
-    newVersion = `${process.env['INPUT_TAG-PREFIX']}${newVersion}`;
+    newVersion = `${tagPrefix}${newVersion}`;
     await tools.runInWorkspace('git', ['commit', '-a', '-m', commitMessage.replace(/{{version}}/g, newVersion)]);
 
     // now go to the actual branch to perform the same versioning
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ Toolkit.run(async (tools) => {
     await tools.runInWorkspace('npm', ['version', '--allow-same-version=true', '--git-tag-version=false', current]);
     console.log('current:', current, '/', 'version:', version);
     newVersion = execSync(`npm version --git-tag-version=false ${version}`).toString().trim().replace(/^v/, '');
-    newVersion = `${process.env['INPUT_TAG-PREFIX']}${newVersion}`;
+    newVersion = `${tagPrefix}${newVersion}`;
     console.log(`::set-output name=newTag::${newVersion}`);
     try {
       // to support "actions/checkout@v1"
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index f46a768..bcf16fd 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "gh-action-bump-version",
-  "version": "8.2.16",
+  "version": "8.2.17",
   "lockfileVersion": 1,
   "requires": true,
   "dependencies": {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a641d77..1d0796c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "gh-action-bump-version",
-  "version": "8.2.16",
+  "version": "8.2.17",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "git+https://github.com/phips28/gh-action-bump-version.git"