diff --git a/cmd/install.go b/cmd/install.go
index e141cee..a7c0187 100644
--- a/cmd/install.go
+++ b/cmd/install.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ func newInstall(installOpts installOpts, release string) error {
 	}
 	if release == "" {
 		client := gh.NewClient(os.Getenv("GITHUB_PAT"))
-		releases, err := gh.GetReleases(client, false)
+		releases, err := gh.GetReleases(client, 100)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -55,7 +55,10 @@ func newInstall(installOpts installOpts, release string) error {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
-	if release == "latest" {
+
+	// github's latest release is literally their latest release,
+	// not the latest tagged version
+	if release == "release" {
 		client := gh.NewClient(os.Getenv("GITHUB_PAT"))
 		latestRelease, err := gh.GetLatestRelease(client)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -63,6 +66,16 @@ func newInstall(installOpts installOpts, release string) error {
 		}
 		release = latestRelease.GetTagName()
 	}
+
+	if release == "latest" {
+		client := gh.NewClient(os.Getenv("GITHUB_PAT"))
+		releases, err := gh.GetReleases(client, 1)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		release = releases[0].GetTagName()
+	}
+
 	_, ok := iv[release]
 	if ok {
 		log.Infof("quarto version %s is already installed\n", release)
diff --git a/internal/gh/releases.go b/internal/gh/releases.go
index d3283c5..2551c9c 100644
--- a/internal/gh/releases.go
+++ b/internal/gh/releases.go
@@ -32,11 +32,19 @@ func GetLatestRelease(client *github.Client) (*github.RepositoryRelease, error)
 	return rel, err
 }
 
-func GetReleases(client *github.Client, paginate bool) ([]*github.RepositoryRelease, error) {
-	opts := &github.ListOptions{PerPage: 50}
+func GetReleases(client *github.Client, n int) ([]*github.RepositoryRelease, error) {
+	// max of 50 per page
+	perPage := 50
+	remaining := n - perPage
+	if n < 50 {
+		remaining = 0
+		perPage = n
+	}
 	var releases []*github.RepositoryRelease
+	opts := &github.ListOptions{PerPage: perPage}
 	for {
 		start := time.Now()
+		log.Tracef("perpage: %d, remaining: %d", opts.PerPage, remaining)
 		rel, resp, err := client.Repositories.ListReleases(
 			context.Background(),
 			"quarto-dev",
@@ -48,9 +56,15 @@ func GetReleases(client *github.Client, paginate bool) ([]*github.RepositoryRele
 		}
 		releases = append(releases, rel...)
 		log.Tracef("repository release paginator: %s, page: %d", time.Since(start), resp.NextPage)
-		if !paginate || resp.NextPage == 0 {
+		if remaining <= 0 || resp.NextPage == 0 {
 			break
 		}
+		if remaining <= perPage {
+			opts.PerPage = remaining
+			remaining = 0
+		} else {
+			remaining -= perPage
+		}
 		opts.Page = resp.NextPage
 	}
 	return releases, nil