diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 52db4e5a..4ac8907b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,17 @@
 
 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.
 
+### [8.0.0-rc.5](https://github.com/soulcraftlabs/brainy/compare/v8.0.0-rc.4...v8.0.0-rc.5) (2026-06-29)
+
+- docs(8.0): RELEASES.md — rc.5 hardening + the breaking operator removal (6c9a438)
+- refactor(8.0): remove the 4 deprecated query-operator aliases (clean break) (ddcc0c7)
+- refactor(8.0): remove dead/deprecated code (legacy sweep) (b9369f2)
+- refactor(8.0): API-surface + quality polish from the readiness audit (a52dba2)
+- fix(8.0): close GA-blocking correctness gaps from the readiness audit (47e8031)
+- docs(8.0): correct public docs to the real 8.0 API + honest perf claims (40d2cd5)
+- fix(8.0): re-validate find() results against the predicate (index-integrity guard) (3d11619)
+
+
 ### [8.0.0-rc.4](https://github.com/soulcraftlabs/brainy/compare/v8.0.0-rc.3...v8.0.0-rc.4) (2026-06-24)
 
 - docs(8.0): drop the DeletedItemsIndex section + pseudo-code from index-architecture (e7b50cf)
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index dcbb3200..1f96a635 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@soulcraft/brainy",
-  "version": "8.0.0-rc.4",
+  "version": "8.0.0-rc.5",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@soulcraft/brainy",
-      "version": "8.0.0-rc.4",
+      "version": "8.0.0-rc.5",
       "license": "MIT",
       "dependencies": {
         "@msgpack/msgpack": "^3.1.2",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index dc703168..cd318a71 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@soulcraft/brainy",
-  "version": "8.0.0-rc.4",
+  "version": "8.0.0-rc.5",
   "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",