diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index a7b0044b..95bd9a5d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [standard-version](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/standard-version) for commit guidelines.
 
+### [8.5.1](https://github.com/soulcraftlabs/brainy/compare/v8.5.0...v8.5.1) (2026-07-17)
+
+- fix: aggregation state adoption on reopen + single-flight backfill + query-cap ratchet removal (da55be7)
+- docs: external-backups/sparse-storage guide + generation fact log concept (593bb8b)
+
+
 ### [8.5.0](https://github.com/soulcraftlabs/brainy/compare/v8.4.0...v8.5.0) (2026-07-15)
 
 - test: tolerant timing assertion in the execution-time measure test (4dc0a92)
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 183974d8..1f3f343a 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@soulcraft/brainy",
-  "version": "8.5.0",
+  "version": "8.5.1",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@soulcraft/brainy",
-      "version": "8.5.0",
+      "version": "8.5.1",
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@msgpack/msgpack": "^3.1.2",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 92b1ba33..a5664887 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@soulcraft/brainy",
-  "version": "8.5.0",
+  "version": "8.5.1",
   "description": "Universal Knowledge Protocol™ - World's first Triple Intelligence database unifying vector, graph, and document search in one API. Stage 3 CANONICAL: 42 nouns × 127 verbs covering 96-97% of all human knowledge.",
   "main": "dist/index.js",
   "module": "dist/index.js",