diff --git a/utils/build/docker/cpp_kong/install_ddtrace.sh b/utils/build/docker/cpp_kong/install_ddtrace.sh
index 70676b30b54..375f20cca3e 100755
--- a/utils/build/docker/cpp_kong/install_ddtrace.sh
+++ b/utils/build/docker/cpp_kong/install_ddtrace.sh
@@ -65,6 +65,8 @@ fi
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # 2. Get Kong plugin files
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+KONG_IS_RELEASE=false
+
 rock_file=""
 for f in kong-plugin-ddtrace*.rock; do
   if [ -e "$f" ]; then
@@ -96,10 +98,12 @@ elif [ -d kong-plugin-ddtrace ]; then
   echo "Using Kong plugin from binaries/kong-plugin-ddtrace"
 
 else
-  KONG_PLUGIN_BRANCH="${KONG_PLUGIN_BRANCH:-main}"
-  echo "Cloning kong-plugin-ddtrace branch ${KONG_PLUGIN_BRANCH}"
-  git clone --depth 1 --branch "$KONG_PLUGIN_BRANCH" \
-      https://github.com/DataDog/kong-plugin-ddtrace.git kong-plugin-ddtrace
+  TAG=$(get_latest_release "DataDog/kong-plugin-ddtrace")
+  echo "Installing kong-plugin-ddtrace from latest release ${TAG}"
+  curl -sL "https://github.com/DataDog/kong-plugin-ddtrace/archive/refs/tags/${TAG}.tar.gz" \
+      | tar -xz
+  mv "kong-plugin-ddtrace-${TAG#v}" kong-plugin-ddtrace
+  KONG_IS_RELEASE=true
 fi
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -108,6 +112,16 @@ fi
 PLUGIN_VERSION=$(grep -oP 'VERSION\s*=\s*"\K[^"]+' \
     kong-plugin-ddtrace/kong/plugins/ddtrace/handler.lua)
 
+if [ "$KONG_IS_RELEASE" = "false" ]; then
+  auth_header=$(get_authentication_header)
+  COMMIT_SHA=$(eval "curl --silent --fail --retry 3 $auth_header \
+      https://api.github.com/repos/DataDog/kong-plugin-ddtrace/commits/main" \
+      | grep '"sha"' | head -1 | cut -d'"' -f4 | cut -c1-7)
+  if [ -n "$COMMIT_SHA" ]; then
+    PLUGIN_VERSION="${PLUGIN_VERSION}-dev+${COMMIT_SHA}"
+  fi
+fi
+
 echo "${PLUGIN_VERSION}" > /builds/SYSTEM_TESTS_LIBRARY_VERSION
 printf '{"status":"ok","library":{"name":"cpp_kong","version":"%s"}}' \
     "$PLUGIN_VERSION" > /builds/healthcheck.json
diff --git a/utils/scripts/load-binary.sh b/utils/scripts/load-binary.sh
index a0bc211ba2d..26613c1a054 100755
--- a/utils/scripts/load-binary.sh
+++ b/utils/scripts/load-binary.sh
@@ -309,17 +309,11 @@ elif [ "$TARGET" = "cpp_httpd" ]; then
 
 elif [ "$TARGET" = "cpp_kong" ]; then
     assert_version_is_dev
-    assert_target_branch_is_not_set
-    RELEASE=$(curl --silent --fail --show-error -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
-        "https://api.github.com/repos/DataDog/kong-plugin-ddtrace/releases/tags/tip")
-    ASSET_NAME=$(echo "$RELEASE" | jq -r '.assets[] | select(.name | test("kong-plugin-ddtrace.*\\.rock")) | .name')
-    ASSET_URL=$(echo "$RELEASE" | jq -r '.assets[] | select(.name | test("kong-plugin-ddtrace.*\\.rock")) | .url')
-    echo "Downloading $ASSET_NAME from kong-plugin-ddtrace tip release"
-    curl --silent --fail --show-error -L \
-        -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
-        -H "Accept: application/octet-stream" \
-        --output "$ASSET_NAME" \
-        "$ASSET_URL"
+    LIBRARY_TARGET_BRANCH="${LIBRARY_TARGET_BRANCH:-main}"
+    echo "Cloning kong-plugin-ddtrace branch ${LIBRARY_TARGET_BRANCH}"
+    git clone --depth 1 --branch "$LIBRARY_TARGET_BRANCH" \
+        https://github.com/DataDog/kong-plugin-ddtrace.git kong-plugin-ddtrace
+    echo "Using kong-plugin-ddtrace@$(git -C kong-plugin-ddtrace rev-parse --short HEAD)"
 
 elif [ "$TARGET" = "cpp_nginx" ]; then
     assert_version_is_dev