diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_and_release.yml b/.github/workflows/build_and_release.yml
index d491400ea..bc3e8b284 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_and_release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_and_release.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ jobs:
       name: pypi
     permissions:
       id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for trusted publishing
-      contents: write
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Set up Python 3.9
@@ -31,7 +30,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: "3.9"
       - name: Install dependencies
-        run: python3 -m pip install --upgrade setuptools wheel twine semver packaging
+        run: python3 -m pip install setuptools wheel twine semver packaging
       - name: Get correct version for TestPyPI release  
         id: check_version  
         run: |  
@@ -42,11 +41,11 @@ jobs:
           echo "Version to be used for TestPyPI release: $NEW_VERSION"  
           echo "::set-output name=version::$NEW_VERSION"  
       - name: Update version in setup.py
-        run: sed -i '/#replace_package_version_marker/{n;s/__version__="[^"]*"/__version__="${{ steps.check_version.outputs.version }}"/;}' ./dspy/__metadata__.py
+        run: sed -i '/#replace_package_version_marker/{n;s/version="[^"]*"/version="${{ steps.check_version.outputs.version }}"/;}' setup.py
       - name: Update version in pyproject.toml
         run: sed -i '/#replace_package_version_marker/{n;s/version="[^"]*"/version="${{ steps.check_version.outputs.version }}"/;}' pyproject.toml        
       - name: Update package name in setup.py
-        run: sed -i '/#replace_package_name_marker/{n;s/__name__="[^"]*"/__name__="dspy-ai-test"/;}' ./dspy/__metadata__.py
+        run: sed -i '/#replace_package_name_marker/{n;s/name="[^"]*"/name="dspy-ai-test"/;}' setup.py 
       - name: Update package name in pyproject.toml
         run: sed -i '/#replace_package_name_marker/{n;s/name="[^"]*"/name="dspy-ai-test"/;}' pyproject.toml  
       - name: Build a binary wheel
@@ -63,7 +62,6 @@ jobs:
       name: pypi
     permissions:
       id-token: write  # IMPORTANT: mandatory for trusted publishing
-      contents: write
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       - name: Set up Python 3.9
@@ -71,15 +69,15 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: "3.9"
       - name: Install dependencies
-        run: python3 -m pip install --upgrade setuptools wheel twine
+        run: python3 -m pip install setuptools wheel twine
       - name: Update version in setup.py (dspy)
-        run: sed -i '/#replace_package_version_marker/{n;s/__version__="[^"]*"/__version__="${{ needs.extract-tag.outputs.version }}"/;}' ./dspy/__metadata__.py
+        run: sed -i '/#replace_package_version_marker/{n;s/version="[^"]*"/version="${{ needs.extract-tag.outputs.version }}"/;}' setup.py
       - name: Update version in pyproject.toml
         run: sed -i '/#replace_package_version_marker/{n;s/version="[^"]*"/version="${{ needs.extract-tag.outputs.version }}"/;}' pyproject.toml
       # Publish to dspy
       - name: Update package name in setup.py  
         run: |
-          sed -i '/#replace_package_name_marker/{n;s/__name__="[^"]*"/__name__="dspy"/;}' ./dspy/__metadata__.py
+          sed -i '/#replace_package_name_marker/{n;s/name="[^"]*"/name="dspy"/;}' setup.py
       - name: Update package name in pyproject.toml
         run: sed -i '/#replace_package_name_marker/{n;s/name="[^"]*"/name="dspy"/;}' pyproject.toml
       - name: Build a binary wheel
@@ -88,7 +86,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1 # This requires a trusted publisher to be setup in pypi
         with: 
           attestations: false
-      # Publish to dspy-ai
+        # Publish to dspy-ai
       - name: Update version in setup.py (dspy-ai)
         run: sed -i '/#replace_package_version_marker/{n;s/version="[^"]*"/version="${{ needs.extract-tag.outputs.version }}"/;}' ./dspy/.internal_dspyai/setup.py
       - name: Update package name in setup.py  
@@ -101,23 +99,4 @@ jobs:
       - name: Publish distribution 📦 to PyPI (dspy-ai)
         uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1 # This requires a trusted publisher to be setup in pypi
         with: 
-          attestations: false
-      - uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v5 # auto commit changes to main
-        with:
-          commit_message: Update versions
-          create_branch: true
-          branch: release-${{ needs.extract-tag.outputs.version }}
-      - name: Checkout main branch  
-        run: |  
-          git fetch origin  
-          git checkout main  
-      - name: Configure git user
-        run: | 
-          git config --global user.email "actions@github.com"
-          git config --global user.name "Github Actions"
-      - name: Merge release branch into main  
-        run: |  
-          git merge --no-ff release-${{ needs.extract-tag.outputs.version }}          
-      - name: Push changes to main
-        run: |  
-          git push origin main  
\ No newline at end of file
+          attestations: false
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.prettierignore b/.prettierignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 6d2eaaa41..000000000
--- a/.prettierignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-.github/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/dspy/__init__.py b/dspy/__init__.py
index 49fb5f944..fea48caca 100644
--- a/dspy/__init__.py
+++ b/dspy/__init__.py
@@ -24,14 +24,6 @@
 configure = settings.configure
 context = settings.context
 
-from .__metadata__ import (
-    __name__,
-    __version__,
-    __description__,
-    __url__,
-    __author__,
-    __author_email__
-)
 
 import dspy.teleprompt
 
diff --git a/dspy/__metadata__.py b/dspy/__metadata__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 93793d44d..000000000
--- a/dspy/__metadata__.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-#replace_package_name_marker
-__name__="dspy"
-#replace_package_version_marker
-__version__="2.5.43"
-__description__="DSPy"
-__url__="https://github.com/stanfordnlp/dspy"
-__author__="Omar Khattab"
-__author_email__="okhattab@stanford.edu"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 28fbcb7c6..40359586b 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -3,12 +3,10 @@ requires = ["setuptools>=40.8.0", "wheel"]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
-# Do not add spaces around the '=' sign for any of the fields 
-# preceeded by a marker comment as it affects the publish workflow. 
 #replace_package_name_marker
-name="dspy"
+name = "dspy"
 #replace_package_version_marker
-version="2.5.43"
+version = "2.5.43"
 description = "DSPy"
 readme = "README.md"
 authors = [{ name = "Omar Khattab", email = "okhattab@stanford.edu" }]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c2a993194..dace8c814 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 from setuptools import find_packages, setup
-import os
 
 # Read the content of the README file
 with open("README.md", encoding="utf-8") as f:
@@ -9,25 +8,20 @@
 with open("requirements.txt", encoding="utf-8") as f:
     requirements = f.read().splitlines()
 
-metadata = {}
-here = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
-with open(os.path.join(here, "dspy", "__metadata__.py"), "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-    exec(f.read(), metadata)
-f.close()
-
-
 setup(	
-    name=metadata["__name__"],
-    version=metadata["__version__"],
-    description=metadata["__description__"],
-    url=metadata["__url__"],
-    author=metadata["__author__"],
-    author_email=metadata["__author_email__"],
+    #replace_package_name_marker
+    name="dspy",
+    #replace_package_version_marker
+    version="2.5.43", 	
+    description="DSPy",	
     long_description=long_description,	
     long_description_content_type="text/markdown",	
+    url="https://github.com/stanfordnlp/dspy",	
+    author="Omar Khattab",	
+    author_email="okhattab@stanford.edu",	
     license="MIT License",	
     packages=find_packages(include=["dspy.*", "dspy"]),	
-    python_requires=">=3.9",
+    python_requires=">=3.9",	
     install_requires=requirements,	
 
     extras_require={