diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5c915ba..d83f61e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,23 +9,46 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Added
 
-- GitHub Actions CI workflow that compiles and runs all tests (pre-commit, golangci-lint, backend and frontend tests) on pull requests
-- GitHub Actions release workflow that builds cross-platform binaries (linux amd64/arm64, macos arm64, windows amd64/arm64) and attaches them to the GitHub release on version tags
-- Renovate configuration for automated dependency update PRs (frontend, Go, and Docker)
+### Changed
+
+### Fixed
+
+## [0.5.1] - 2026-08-07
+
+### Added
+
 
 ### Changed
 
+- refactor(scripts): release via branch, PR, CI wait, merge, then tag
+- update CHANGELOG for release workflow
+- ci: add release workflow to build cross-platform binaries on tags
+- ci: run workflow only on pull_request events
+- fix(ci): build frontend before running Go tooling for go:embed
+- refactor(ci): use official pre-commit/action step
+- fix(ci): reinstall pre-commit before running hooks
+- docs(changelog): document mise-based version centralization
+- refactor(ci): centralize tool versions with mise
+- fix(ci): use Node 24 and golangci-lint v2 built with Go 1.25
+- docs(changelog): prepare Unreleased section for next release
+- Fix CI: install frontend dependencies before pre-commit
+- Add renovate config for automated dependency updates
+- Improve Dockerfile security by running as non-root user
+- Add CI workflow with pre-commit checks first
+
+### Fixed
+
+- resolve golangci-lint errcheck violations
+- GitHub Actions CI workflow that compiles and runs all tests (pre-commit, golangci-lint, backend and frontend tests) on pull requests
+- GitHub Actions release workflow that builds cross-platform binaries (linux amd64/arm64, macos arm64, windows amd64/arm64) and attaches them to the GitHub release on version tags
+- Renovate configuration for automated dependency update PRs (frontend, Go, and Docker)
 - Docker image now runs as a non-root user (`stern`) instead of root
 - Centralized developer tooling versions (Go, Node, golangci-lint) in a single `mise.toml`, consumed by CI via `jdx/mise-action` and auto-updated by Renovate
 - Docker frontend build stage now uses Node 24 instead of the deprecated Node 20 base image
 - CI now provisions all tool runtimes through mise instead of separate setup-node/setup-go/golangci-lint actions
 - CI workflow now runs on pull requests only (previously also ran on pushes to main/develop)
-
-### Fixed
-
 - CI failing when eslint was not yet installed before the pre-commit checks ran
 - golangci-lint failing to run because the pinned version was built with an older Go toolchain than the module targets
-
 ## [0.5.0] - 2026-08-06
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/release.sh
index 66f0003..6f43f49 100755
--- a/scripts/release.sh
+++ b/scripts/release.sh
@@ -494,16 +494,22 @@ wait_for_checks() {
     info "Waiting for CI checks on $pr_url..."
 
     while [ "$elapsed" -lt "$timeout_secs" ]; do
-        # Abort early if any check failed
-        if gh pr view "$pr_url" --json statusCheckRollup \
-            --jq '[.statusCheckRollup[] | select(.conclusion == "FAILURE" or .conclusion == "CANCELLED" or .conclusion == "TIMED_OUT")] | length' \
-            | grep -q '[1-9]'; then
-            error "One or more CI checks failed on $pr_url"
-        fi
-
-        if gh pr checks "$pr_url" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-            success "All CI checks passed"
-            return 0
+        local rollup
+        rollup=$(gh pr view "$pr_url" --json statusCheckRollup --jq '.statusCheckRollup' 2>/dev/null || echo "[]")
+
+        # Skip while there are no checks reported yet
+        if [ "$rollup" != "[]" ] && [ -n "$rollup" ]; then
+            # Abort early if any check failed
+            if printf '%s' "$rollup" | jq -r '.[].conclusion // empty' \
+                | grep -qE '^FAILURE$|^CANCELLED$|^TIMED_OUT$|^STARTUP_FAILURE$'; then
+                error "One or more CI checks failed on $pr_url"
+            fi
+
+            # If every check has completed, we are done
+            if ! printf '%s' "$rollup" | jq -r '.[].status' | grep -qE 'QUEUED|IN_PROGRESS|PENDING'; then
+                success "All CI checks passed"
+                return 0
+            fi
         fi
 
         sleep "$interval"