diff --git a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/minor-release.md b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/minor-release.md
index 945a16ed3da01..59f17a239b698 100644
--- a/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/minor-release.md
+++ b/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/minor-release.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ The week before the release:
   - `git fetch && git checkout origin/master && git checkout -b v0.<new version number> && git push -u`
 - [ ] Create a new release preparation branch from `master`
   - `git checkout -b prepare-v0.<new version number> && git push -u`
+- [ ] Pin VRL to latest released version rather than `main`
 - [ ] Check if there is a newer version of Alpine or Debian available to update the release images
       in `distribution/docker/`. Update if so.
 - [ ] Run `cargo vdev build release-cue` to generate a new cue file for the release
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index c9bc1b3965367..61589b7b1bb95 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1843,6 +1843,18 @@ version = "1.3.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "a3e368af43e418a04d52505cf3dbc23dda4e3407ae2fa99fd0e4f308ce546acc"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "cargo-lock"
+version = "9.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e11c675378efb449ed3ce8de78d75d0d80542fc98487c26aba28eb3b82feac72"
+dependencies = [
+ "semver 1.0.23",
+ "serde",
+ "toml 0.7.8",
+ "url",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "cargo_toml"
 version = "0.20.5"
@@ -1850,7 +1862,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "88da5a13c620b4ca0078845707ea9c3faf11edbc3ffd8497d11d686211cd1ac0"
 dependencies = [
  "serde",
- "toml",
+ "toml 0.8.19",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2274,7 +2286,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "directories",
  "serde",
  "thiserror",
- "toml",
+ "toml 0.8.19",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -3394,8 +3406,8 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "531e46835a22af56d1e3b66f04844bed63158bc094a628bec1d321d9b4c44bf2"
 dependencies = [
  "bit-set",
- "regex-automata 0.4.4",
- "regex-syntax 0.8.2",
+ "regex-automata 0.4.8",
+ "regex-syntax 0.8.5",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -5117,11 +5129,12 @@ checksum = "3f35c735096c0293d313e8f2a641627472b83d01b937177fe76e5e2708d31e0d"
 
 [[package]]
 name = "lalrpop-util"
-version = "0.21.0"
+version = "0.22.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "108dc8f5dabad92c65a03523055577d847f5dcc00f3e7d3a68bc4d48e01d8fe1"
+checksum = "feee752d43abd0f4807a921958ab4131f692a44d4d599733d4419c5d586176ce"
 dependencies = [
  "regex-automata 0.4.8",
+ "rustversion",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -8437,7 +8450,7 @@ version = "0.3.8"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "93b4e415d6bff989e5e48649ca9b8b4d4997cb069a0c90a84bfd38c7df5e3968"
 dependencies = [
- "toml",
+ "toml 0.8.19",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -9614,6 +9627,18 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "toml"
+version = "0.7.8"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "dd79e69d3b627db300ff956027cc6c3798cef26d22526befdfcd12feeb6d2257"
+dependencies = [
+ "serde",
+ "serde_spanned",
+ "toml_datetime",
+ "toml_edit 0.19.15",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "toml"
 version = "0.8.19"
@@ -9642,6 +9667,8 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "1b5bb770da30e5cbfde35a2d7b9b8a2c4b8ef89548a7a6aeab5c9a576e3e7421"
 dependencies = [
  "indexmap 2.5.0",
+ "serde",
+ "serde_spanned",
  "toml_datetime",
  "winnow 0.5.18",
 ]
@@ -10351,7 +10378,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_yaml 0.9.34+deprecated",
  "sha2",
  "tempfile",
- "toml",
+ "toml 0.8.19",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -10522,7 +10549,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio-test",
  "tokio-tungstenite 0.20.1",
  "tokio-util",
- "toml",
+ "toml 0.8.19",
  "tonic",
  "tonic-build 0.11.0",
  "tower",
@@ -10662,7 +10689,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde_json",
  "serde_with 3.9.0",
  "snafu 0.7.5",
- "toml",
+ "toml 0.8.19",
  "tracing 0.1.40",
  "url",
  "vector-config-common",
@@ -10766,7 +10793,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio-stream",
  "tokio-test",
  "tokio-util",
- "toml",
+ "toml 0.8.19",
  "tonic",
  "tracing 0.1.40",
  "tracing-core 0.1.32",
@@ -10901,6 +10928,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "vector-vrl-web-playground"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "cargo-lock",
  "cargo_toml",
  "enrichment",
  "getrandom 0.2.15",
@@ -10927,8 +10955,7 @@ checksum = "6a02e4885ed3bc0f2de90ea6dd45ebcbb66dacffe03547fadbb0eeae2770887d"
 [[package]]
 name = "vrl"
 version = "0.19.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "5c22ec61cbd43e563df185521f9a2fb2f42f6ab96604a574c82f6564049fb431"
+source = "git+https://github.com/vectordotdev/vrl?branch=main#3295458dc84142abab4637095248771ca6087800"
 dependencies = [
  "aes",
  "ansi_term",
@@ -10971,7 +10998,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "influxdb-line-protocol",
  "itertools 0.13.0",
  "lalrpop",
- "lalrpop-util 0.21.0",
+ "lalrpop-util 0.22.0",
  "md-5",
  "mlua",
  "nom",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 8614887728df8..4309d30a7e6be 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ toml = { version = "0.8.19", default-features = false, features = ["display", "p
 tonic = { version = "0.11", default-features = false, features = ["transport", "codegen", "prost", "tls", "tls-roots", "gzip"] }
 tonic-build = { version = "0.11", default-features = false, features = ["transport", "prost"] }
 uuid = { version = "1.10.0", features = ["v4", "v7", "serde"] }
-vrl = { version = "0.19.0", features = ["arbitrary", "cli", "test", "test_framework"] }
+# pinned during Vector releases, but use latest version on master/nightlies
+vrl = { git = "https://github.com/vectordotdev/vrl", branch = "main", features = ["arbitrary", "cli", "test", "test_framework"] }
 
 [dependencies]
 pin-project.workspace = true
diff --git a/lib/vector-vrl/web-playground/Cargo.toml b/lib/vector-vrl/web-playground/Cargo.toml
index 60ffe4e5d9f8c..fd54e801578d6 100644
--- a/lib/vector-vrl/web-playground/Cargo.toml
+++ b/lib/vector-vrl/web-playground/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,4 +19,4 @@ vector-vrl-functions = { path = "../functions" }
 enrichment = { path = "../../enrichment" }
 
 [build-dependencies]
-cargo_toml = "0.20.5"
+cargo-lock = "9.0.0"
diff --git a/lib/vector-vrl/web-playground/build.rs b/lib/vector-vrl/web-playground/build.rs
index d6abdbbd3090e..b6bc46a33cc80 100644
--- a/lib/vector-vrl/web-playground/build.rs
+++ b/lib/vector-vrl/web-playground/build.rs
@@ -1,11 +1,12 @@
-use cargo_toml::Manifest;
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::io::Write;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::process::Command;
 use std::{env, fs, io};
 
-fn get_vector_toml_path() -> PathBuf {
+use cargo_lock::{package::SourceKind, Lockfile};
+
+fn get_vector_lock_path() -> PathBuf {
     let path = fs::canonicalize(env::var("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR").unwrap()).unwrap();
 
     // Remove the "lib/vector-vrl/web-playground" suffix
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ fn get_vector_toml_path() -> PathBuf {
         .and_then(|p| p.parent());
     parent_path
         .expect("Failed to find vector repo root")
-        .join("Cargo.toml")
+        .join("Cargo.lock")
         .to_path_buf()
 }
 
@@ -47,27 +48,39 @@ fn write_vector_constants(output_file: &mut File) {
         .expect("Failed to write Vector version constant");
 }
 
-fn write_vrl_constants(manifest: &Manifest, output_file: &mut File) {
-    let vrl_dep = manifest
-        .dependencies
-        .get("vrl")
-        .expect("missing VRL dependency")
-        .detail()
-        .expect("expected detail dependency format");
+fn write_vrl_constants(lockfile: &Lockfile, output_file: &mut File) {
+    let vrl_dep = lockfile
+        .packages
+        .iter()
+        .find(|&package| package.name.as_str() == "vrl")
+        .expect("missing VRL dependency");
+
+    let vrl_source = vrl_dep.source.clone().expect("missing VRL source id");
 
-    let (version, link) = match &vrl_dep.version {
-        None => {
-            let repo = vrl_dep
-                .git
-                .as_ref()
-                .expect("VRL dependency should use 'version' or 'git'");
-            let version = vrl_dep
-                .rev
-                .as_ref()
-                .expect("VRL git revision not specified");
-            (version.clone(), format!("{repo}/tree/{version}"))
+    let (version, link) = match vrl_source.kind() {
+        SourceKind::Git(_) => {
+            let precise = vrl_source
+                .precise()
+                .expect("git reference should have precise")
+                .to_string();
+            (
+                precise.clone(),
+                format!("{}/tree/{precise}", vrl_source.url()),
+            )
+        }
+        SourceKind::Registry if vrl_source.is_default_registry() => {
+            let version = vrl_dep.version.to_string();
+            (
+                version.to_string(),
+                format!("https://crates.io/crates/vrl/{version}"),
+            )
         }
-        Some(v) => (v.clone(), format!("https://crates.io/crates/vrl/{v}")),
+        SourceKind::Path
+        | SourceKind::Registry
+        | SourceKind::SparseRegistry
+        | SourceKind::LocalRegistry
+        | SourceKind::Directory => unimplemented!("unhandled source kind: {:?}", vrl_source.kind()),
+        _ => unimplemented!("unknown source kind: {:?}", vrl_source.kind()),
     };
 
     output_file
@@ -79,19 +92,19 @@ fn write_vrl_constants(manifest: &Manifest, output_file: &mut File) {
         .expect("Failed to write VRL_LINK constant");
 }
 
-fn write_build_constants(manifest: &Manifest, dest_path: &Path) -> io::Result<()> {
+fn write_build_constants(lockfile: &Lockfile, dest_path: &Path) -> io::Result<()> {
     let mut output_file = File::create(dest_path)?;
     output_file.write_all(
         "// AUTOGENERATED CONSTANTS. SEE BUILD.RS AT REPOSITORY ROOT. DO NOT MODIFY.\n".as_ref(),
     )?;
     write_vector_constants(&mut output_file);
-    write_vrl_constants(manifest, &mut output_file);
+    write_vrl_constants(lockfile, &mut output_file);
     Ok(())
 }
 
 fn main() {
-    let manifest =
-        Manifest::from_path(get_vector_toml_path()).expect("Failed to load Vector Cargo.toml");
+    let lockfile =
+        Lockfile::load(get_vector_lock_path()).expect("Failed to load Vector Cargo.lock");
     let dst = Path::new(&env::var("OUT_DIR").unwrap()).join("built.rs");
-    write_build_constants(&manifest, &dst).expect("Failed to write constants");
+    write_build_constants(&lockfile, &dst).expect("Failed to write constants");
 }