exclude-paths ignoring every commit?

[Onurfesci]

Hi, I'm trying to configure my monorepo release process. I want certain packages not to trigger releases for other packages. Here is my configuration:

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/main/schemas/config.json",
  "packages": {
    "apps/email-templates": {
      "exclude-paths": ["packages/aspire-next-config"]
    },
    "apps/keycloak-theme": {
      "exclude-paths": ["packages/aspire-next-config"]
    },
    "apps/webapp-customer": {
      "exclude-paths": ["apps/bff-backoffice"]
    },
    "apps/webapp-marketing": {
      "exclude-paths": ["apps/bff-backoffice"]
    },
    "apps/webapp-backoffice": {
      "exclude-paths": ["apps/bff-backoffice"]
    },
    "apps/bff-backoffice": {
      "exclude-paths": [
        "packages/aspire-ui",
        "packages/aspire-icons",
        "packages/aspire-next-config"
      ]
    
  },
  "release-type": "node",
  "tag-separator": "@",
  "separate-pull-requests": true,
  "sequential-calls": true
}

I make changes within apps/bff-backoffice, commit with e.g. feat(bff-backoffice): something, open a PR, merge it, and a release PR is not generated for bff-backoffice.

I've also tried git commit --allow-empty -m "feat(bff-backoffice): release 1.6.0" -m "Release-As: 1.6.0", and the same thing happens.

Is there something I'm not understanding about this config? I expect the above behaviour to generate a release PR for bff-backoffice.

Thanks for any help!