diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7d53ac05..295891a2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 
 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.
 
+### [8.2.8](https://github.com/soulcraftlabs/brainy/compare/v8.2.7...v8.2.8) (2026-07-13)
+
+- fix: honest index readiness — no silently-empty queries on a cold index (d0f69c7)
+
+
 ### [8.2.7](https://github.com/soulcraftlabs/brainy/compare/v8.2.6...v8.2.7) (2026-07-13)
 
 - fix: restore loadBinaryBlob fault-propagation (native column-store lockstep) (b6c7039)
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index d81b67e9..b2b3ce8c 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@soulcraft/brainy",
-  "version": "8.2.7",
+  "version": "8.2.8",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@soulcraft/brainy",
-      "version": "8.2.7",
+      "version": "8.2.8",
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@msgpack/msgpack": "^3.1.2",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5d7ed63d..095737c4 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@soulcraft/brainy",
-  "version": "8.2.7",
+  "version": "8.2.8",
   "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",