diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 6d9ca3c..cf37c93 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -35,7 +35,11 @@ on:
     branches: [main]
 
 permissions:
-  contents: write
+  contents: write # tag ref + gh release create + the bump push
+  # Two consumers (a declared permissions: block zeroes every unspecified
+  # scope): the decide step's label read (commits/<sha>/pulls) and the bump
+  # fallback's `gh pr create --label`.
+  pull-requests: write
 
 jobs:
   release:
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d1862bb..27383db 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -36,19 +36,24 @@ on the way to cutting its first release, and this file starts there.
 
 ### Added
 
-- **Merging a release-labeled PR IS the release** (#47) — the rig twin of
-  heavy-duty/box#96, born of the ceremony retro: the tag was a separate,
-  manual, silent-when-forgotten step, and a forgotten tag produces no red
-  X. `release.yml` now also fires when a PR into main closes, gated on
-  merged AND the `release` label, and asserts in order — fail-loud,
-  creating nothing: `VERSION` at the merge commit is non-`-dev`; `VERSION`
-  *changed in this PR* (the interlock that fails a mislabeled ordinary PR);
-  the changelog section for that version extracts non-empty via the same
-  `changelog_section`; no tag or release exists yet. Then, in the same job,
-  it API-creates the tag at the merge commit and publishes the release with
-  the extracted notes. A `GITHUB_TOKEN`-created tag never fires the
-  tag-push trigger, so the paths cannot double-publish — and that tag-push
-  path survives intact as the documented manual fallback and backfill.
+- **Merging a release-labeled PR IS the release — and the release re-arms
+  main itself** (#47) — the rig twin of heavy-duty/box#96, born of the
+  ceremony retro: the tag was a separate, manual, silent-when-forgotten
+  step, and a forgotten tag produces no red X. `release.yml` now fires on
+  pushes to main (fork-sourced ceremony PRs get a read-only token on
+  `pull_request` events), reading the transition from the push itself:
+  `event.before` to the pushed head. A decide step answers four states —
+  release-flow *work* merged under the `release` label (`-dev` endstates,
+  the post-release window) no-ops green with a NOTICE; the two genuinely
+  ambiguous bare states refuse loudly; a true transition then requires a
+  merged, `release`-labeled PR behind the commit (read via the API — the
+  label is the operator's declared intent). Then, in the same job, it
+  API-creates the tag at the merge commit, publishes with the extracted
+  notes — and bumps main to `X.Y.(Z+1)-dev` itself, direct push with a
+  loud open-a-PR fallback, so no follow-up bump PR exists on the paved
+  road. A `GITHUB_TOKEN`-created tag never fires the tag-push trigger, so
+  the paths cannot double-publish — and that tag-push path survives intact
+  as the documented manual fallback and backfill.
 
 - **Tagged releases, and an installer that installs them** (#32) — the rig
   half of the flow designed in heavy-duty/box#83, near-verbatim. A release
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 384277d..ecccb28 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -61,9 +61,12 @@ top of #32/box#83's tag flow):
    box's tag scheme) and publishes the GitHub release with that section as
    the body. No assets — the source tarball for the tag is the package
    `install.sh` downloads.
-3. A follow-up (or the next feature PR) bumps main's `VERSION` to
-   `X.Y.(Z+1)-dev`, so a dev install never impersonates the release in the
-   `versions/<v>` layout.
+3. The release re-arms main itself: the same workflow run bumps `VERSION`
+   to `X.Y.(Z+1)-dev` and pushes the commit straight to main — no
+   follow-up PR (it opens one only if branch protection refuses the
+   direct push, loudly). A dev install therefore never impersonates the
+   release in the `versions/<v>` layout. On the *manual* tag path the
+   bump stays yours: open the one-line PR after publishing.
 
 Manual fallback (and backfill): if the merge-path run fails, fix what it
 named, then tag the merge commit `X.Y.Z` by hand and push the tag — the