diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e66176c..642a2d6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,28 @@ which records not just what changed but what each drill run proved.
 
 ### Added
 
+- **The installer defaults to the latest release, and releases publish
+  themselves** (#83) — `curl | bash` used to hand out whatever `main` was at
+  that second: the 0.6.0 release was a bookmark, not a package, and two
+  operators "on 0.6.0" could be running different trees. `install.sh` now
+  resolves the latest release tag by following GitHub's `releases/latest`
+  redirect (one HEAD request — no API, no token, no rate-limit pain) and
+  downloads that tag's tarball; a failed resolution refuses loudly, naming
+  `BOX_REF` as the way out — it never hangs and never silently falls back to
+  `main`. A set `BOX_REF` is tried as a tag first, then as a branch, so one
+  knob yields three channels: default = latest release, `BOX_REF=0.6.0` =
+  pinned, `BOX_REF=main` = dev. A new `release.yml` (on a bare `X.Y.Z` tag
+  push — the `0.6.0` tag set the no-`v` precedent) asserts the tag names the
+  tree's own `VERSION` (a mismatch fails loudly and creates nothing) and
+  publishes the GitHub release with that version's `CHANGELOG.md` section as
+  the body (`.github/scripts/release-notes.sh` — the curated prose, not the
+  generated PR list; no assets, the source tarball for the tag IS the
+  package). And `main`'s `VERSION` now carries `-dev` between releases
+  (this PR: `0.6.1-dev`): the versioned layout names install trees after
+  `VERSION`, so a `main` install without the bump would land in
+  `versions/0.6.0` and impersonate the released tree. `test/release.sh`
+  drives all of it offline — the extraction against fixtures and the real
+  changelog, the resolution and every channel against a shim curl.
 - **`setup-host` auto-picks a free subnet — nested box-in-box with zero
   flags** (#80, completing its fix #1: "refuse … or automatically select a
   non-colliding subnet"). A bare `box setup-host` now decides the subnet
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 2013c37..aff4a2e 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -41,6 +41,29 @@ labels tell you where everything is without opening anything.
 7. **Checks must be green**: `shellcheck` and `bash test/cli.sh` locally
    mirror what CI runs; the multi-user rehearsal runs in CI on a real Incus.
 
+## Releases
+
+A release is a PR, then a tag ([#83](https://github.com/heavy-duty/box/issues/83)):
+
+1. **The release PR** — `release: X.Y.Z`, labeled `release` — bumps `VERSION`
+   from `X.Y.Z-dev` and stamps the `## Unreleased` section with version +
+   date (feature PRs land their changelog entry as part of the PR, so the
+   section is already written). This PR is where the release ritual hangs:
+   the full drill on real hardware, recorded in
+   [drill/RUNS.md](drill/RUNS.md) — CI proves the tier's semantics on every
+   PR, a release still proves the boundary.
+2. **Merge, then tag the merge commit** bare `X.Y.Z` — no `v` prefix, the
+   `0.6.0` tag set the precedent — and push the tag.
+   [release.yml](.github/workflows/release.yml) takes it from there: it
+   asserts the tag names the tree's own `VERSION` (a mismatch fails loudly
+   and creates nothing) and publishes the GitHub release with that version's
+   `CHANGELOG.md` section as the body. No assets — the source tarball for
+   the tag is the package, and `install.sh` downloads exactly that.
+3. **Immediately after: bump `main`'s `VERSION` to `X.Y.(Z+1)-dev`.** Not
+   cosmetic — the versioned layout names install trees after `VERSION`, so a
+   `main` install without the bump would land in `versions/X.Y.Z` and
+   impersonate the release you just cut.
+
 ## Labels — who sets what
 
 The full taxonomy lives in [LABELS.md](LABELS.md). What matters day to day is
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f0d82f3..3e09390 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -45,6 +45,22 @@ design rationale.
 curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/heavy-duty/box/main/install.sh | bash
 ```
 
+By default that installs the **latest release** — the installer resolves the
+release tag off GitHub's `releases/latest` redirect (no API, no token) and
+downloads exactly that tree, so two operators running it get the same box.
+If the resolution fails it says so and stops — it never silently hands out
+`main`. `BOX_REF` picks another channel (a set ref is tried as a tag first,
+then as a branch — [#83](https://github.com/heavy-duty/box/issues/83)):
+
+```sh
+curl -fsSL .../install.sh | bash                  # the latest release (default)
+curl -fsSL .../install.sh | BOX_REF=0.6.0 bash    # pin a release
+curl -fsSL .../install.sh | BOX_REF=main bash     # the development tip
+```
+
+(A dev tree's `VERSION` carries a `-dev` suffix, so it lands beside your
+releases under `versions/`, never on top of one.)
+
 It asks first — **"Install box?"** — then downloads the tree into a
 **versioned** install (the way plenty of CLIs manage theirs), links `box` onto
 your `PATH`, and on a fresh host asks a second question: **"Set up this